| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Twelve Stories and a Dream by H. G. Wells: I felt him pull at something that clung to my coat-sleeve, and then
I saw he held a little, wriggling red demon by the tail--the little
creature bit and fought and tried to get at his hand--and in a moment
he tossed it carelessly behind a counter. No doubt the thing was
only an image of twisted indiarubber, but for the moment--! And his
gesture was exactly that of a man who handles some petty biting bit
of vermin. I glanced at Gip, but Gip was looking at a magic rocking-
horse. I was glad he hadn't seen the thing. "I say," I said, in an
undertone, and indicating Gip and the red demon with my eyes, "you
haven't many things like THAT about, have you?"
"None of ours! Probably brought it with you," said the shopman--
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Falk by Joseph Conrad: man for the rest of his life. He couldn't say. It
was hard, awful, and not to be forgotten, but he
did not think himself a worse man than before.
Only he talked in his sleep now, he believed. . . .
At last I began to think he had accidentally killed
some one; perhaps a friend--his own father may-
be; when he went on to say that probably we were
aware he never touched meat. Throughout he
spoke English, of course of my account.
He swayed forward heavily.
The girl, with her hands raised before her pale
Falk |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Pathology of Lying, Etc. by William and Mary Healy: if ever, centers about a single event; although exhibited in very
occasional cases for a short time, it manifests itself most
frequently by far over a period of years, or even a life time.
It represents a trait rather than an episode. Extensive, very
complicated fabrications may be evolved. This has led to the
synonyms:--mythomania; pseudologia phantastica.
It is true that in the previous literature, under the head of
pathological liars, cases of epilepsy, insanity, and mental
defect have been cited, but that is misleading. A clear
terminology should be adopted. The pathological liar forms a
species by himself and as such does not necessarily belong to any
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