| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: confidences and her ailments; he gave up his time, the hours of his
precious youth, to fill the empty void of that fair Parisian's
idleness. Delphine and he held high councils on the toilettes which
went best together; he stood the fire of bad temper and broadsides of
pouting fits, while she, by way of trimming the balance, was very nice
to the Baron. As for the Baron, he laughed in his sleeve; but whenever
he saw that Rastignac was bending under the strain of the burden, he
made 'as if he suspected something,' and reunited the lovers by a
common dread."
"I can imagine that a wealthy wife would have put Rastignac in the way
of a living, and an honorable living, but where did he pick up his
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: learned to use such instruments; but, for your own sake, I
beseech you to be swift in what you do.'
He had sunk once more upon the ground, panting like a fish;
and I saw rising in his face the same dusky flush that had
mantled on my father's. 'I feel ill,' he gasped, 'horribly
ill; the swamp turns around me; the drone of these carrion
flies confounds me. Have you not wine?'
I gave him a glass, and he drank greedily. 'It is for you to
think,' said I, 'if you should further persevere. The swamp
has an ill name.' And at the word I ominously nodded.
'Give me the pick,' said he. 'Where are the jewels buried?'
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: midst of a vast ocean -- their great distance from any land
excepting that of coral formation, attested by the value
which the inhabitants, who are such bold navigators, attach
to a stone of any kind, [7] -- and the slowness of the currents
of the open sea, are all considered, the occurrence of pebbles
thus transported does appear wonderful. Stones may often
be thus carried; and if the island on which they are stranded
is constructed of any other substance besides coral, they
would scarcely attract attention, and their origin at least
would never be guessed. Moreover, this agency may long
escape discovery from the probability of trees, especially
 The Voyage of the Beagle |