| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: upon him from all sides, but the Garment of Repulsion saved him from a
single scratch.
When his pistols had been discharged he caught up the broken handle of
a spear, and used it as a club, galloping into the ranks of the Turks
and belaboring them as hard as he could. The Tatars cheered and
followed him, and the Turks were so amazed at his miraculous escape
from their bullets that they became terrified, thinking he bore a
charmed life and was protected by unseen powers.
This terror helped turn the tide of battle, and before long the enemy
was pressed back to the walls and retreated through the gates, which
were hastily fastened behind them.
 The Master Key |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: what result is there of computation or geometry, in the same sense as a
house is the result of building, or a garment of weaving, or any other work
of any other art? Can you show me any such result of them? You cannot.
That is true, I said; but still each of these sciences has a subject which
is different from the science. I can show you that the art of computation
has to do with odd and even numbers in their numerical relations to
themselves and to each other. Is not that true?
Yes, he said.
And the odd and even numbers are not the same with the art of computation?
They are not.
The art of weighing, again, has to do with lighter and heavier; but the art
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: introduced to me by the jailer as "a first-rate fellow and
clever man." When the door was locked, he showed me where
to hang my hat, and how he managed matters there. The rooms
were whitewashed once a month; and this one, at least, was
the whitest, most simply furnished, and probably neatest
apartment in town. He naturally wanted to know where I came
from, and what brought me there; and, when I had told him, I
asked him in my turn how he came there, presuming him to be
an honest an, of course; and as the world goes, I believe he
was. "Why," said he, "they accuse me of burning a barn; but
I never did it." As near as I could discover, he had
 On the Duty of Civil Disobedience |