| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: initiated or who has become corrupted, does not easily rise out of this
world to the sight of true beauty in the other; he looks only at her
earthly namesake, and instead of being awed at the sight of her, he is
given over to pleasure, and like a brutish beast he rushes on to enjoy and
beget; he consorts with wantonness, and is not afraid or ashamed of
pursuing pleasure in violation of nature. But he whose initiation is
recent, and who has been the spectator of many glories in the other world,
is amazed when he sees any one having a godlike face or form, which is the
expression of divine beauty; and at first a shudder runs through him, and
again the old awe steals over him; then looking upon the face of his
beloved as of a god he reverences him, and if he were not afraid of being
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Passionate Pilgrim by William Shakespeare: A brook where Adon used to cool his spleen:
Hot was the day; she hotter that did look
For his approach, that often there had been.
Anon he comes, and throws his mantle by,
And stood stark naked on the brook's green brim:
The sun look'd on the world with glorious eye,
Yet not so wistly as this queen on him.
He, spying her, bounced in, whereas he stood:
'O Jove,' quoth she, 'why was not I a flood!'
VII.
Fair is my love, but not so fair as fickle;
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: will have to judge: one of the Gladstonian trinity of paths must
be chosen. (1st) Either publish the five ballads, such as they
are, in a volume called BALLADS; in which case pray send sheets at
once to Chatto and Windus. Or (2nd) write and tell me you think
the book too small, and I'll try and get into the mood to do some
more. Or (3rd) write and tell me the whole thing is a blooming
illusion; in which case draw off some twenty copies for my private
entertainment, and charge me with the expense of the whole dream.
In the matter of rhyme no man can judge himself; I am at the
world's end, have no one to consult, and my publisher holds his
tongue. I call it unfair and almost unmanly. I do indeed begin to
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