| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: frightful voice, and I grasped her by the arm. She did not go
away. Then I twisted her arm, and pushed her away violently.
"'What is the matter with you? Come to your senses!' she
shrieked.
"'Go away,' roared I, louder than ever, rolling my eyes wildly.
'It takes you to put me in such a fury. I do not answer for
myself! Go away!'
"In abandoning myself to my anger, I became steeped in it, and I
wanted to commit some violent act to show the force of my fury.
I felt a terrible desire to beat her, to kill her, but I realized
that that could not be, and I restrained myself. I drew back
The Kreutzer Sonata |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: it had been very easy to part with a thing which he could not miss.
But the chilly night wind quite froze his ardent thank-offering.
Thus running up the hillside, his teeth chattering all the
way, he drew near to Inyan, the sacred symbol. Seizing one corner
of the half-worn blanket, Iktomi pulled it off with a jerk.
"Give my blanket back, old grandfather! You do not need it.
I do!" This was very wrong, yet Iktomi did it, for his wit was not
wisdom. Drawing the blanket tight over his shoulders, he descended
the hill with hurrying feet.
He was soon upon the edge of the ravine. A young moon, like
a bright bent bow, climbed up from the southwest horizon a little
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: wanting in nicety and precision; but go a few steps off and the parts
fall into place; they take their proper form and detach themselves,--
the body turns, the limbs stand out, we feel the air circulating
around them.
"Nevertheless," he continued, sadly, "I am not satisfied; there are
moments when I have my doubts. Perhaps it would be better not to
sketch a single line. I ask myself if I ought not to grasp the figure
first by its highest lights, and then work down to the darker
portions. Is not that the method of the sun, divine painter of the
universe? O Nature, Nature! who has ever caught thee in thy flights?
Alas! the heights of knowledge, like the depths of ignorance, lead to
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