The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft: which we did. Of course, we knew that something - chronology,
scientific theory, or our own consciousness - was woefully awry;
yet we kept enough poise to guide the plane, observe many things
quite minutely, and take a careful series of photographs which
may yet serve both us and the world in good stead. In my case,
ingrained scientific habit may have helped; for above all my bewilderment
and sense of menace, there burned a dominant curiosity to fathom
more of this age-old secret - to know what sort of beings had
built and lived in this incalculably gigantic place, and what
relation to the general world of its time or of other times so
unique a concentration of life could have had.
At the Mountains of Madness |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: abode. The old lover had already gone out.
"In spite of the submission with which I had resigned myself to
her wishes, I could not, at our meeting, repress the compunctious
visitings of my conscience. I appeared before her grieved and
dejected. The joy I felt at seeing her once more could not
altogether dispel my sorrow for her infidelity: she, on the
contrary, appeared transported with the pleasure of seeing me.
She accused me of coldness. I could not help muttering the words
perfidious and unfaithful, though they were profusely mixed with
sighs.
"At first she laughed at me for my simplicity; but when she
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Alcibiades I by Plato: just is not always expedient.
ALCIBIADES: You take liberties, Socrates.
SOCRATES: I shall take the liberty of proving to you the opposite of that
which you will not prove to me.
ALCIBIADES: Proceed.
SOCRATES: Answer my questions--that is all.
ALCIBIADES: Nay, I should like you to be the speaker.
SOCRATES: What, do you not wish to be persuaded?
ALCIBIADES: Certainly I do.
SOCRATES: And can you be persuaded better than out of your own mouth?
ALCIBIADES: I think not.
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