| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: Ephesus, and had no notion of his merits or defects?
ION: I cannot deny what you say, Socrates. Nevertheless I am conscious in
my own self, and the world agrees with me in thinking that I do speak
better and have more to say about Homer than any other man. But I do not
speak equally well about others--tell me the reason of this.
SOCRATES: I perceive, Ion; and I will proceed to explain to you what I
imagine to be the reason of this. The gift which you possess of speaking
excellently about Homer is not an art, but, as I was just saying, an
inspiration; there is a divinity moving you, like that contained in the
stone which Euripides calls a magnet, but which is commonly known as the
stone of Heraclea. This stone not only attracts iron rings, but also
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: that it pleases God, the work is good, even if it were so small
a thing as picking up a straw. If confidence is absent, or if he
doubts, the work is not good, although it should raise all the
dead and the man should give himself to be burned. This is the
teaching of St. Paul, Romans xiv: "Whatsoever is not done of or
in faith is sin." Faith, as the chief work, and no other work,
has given us the name of "believers on Christ." For all other
works a heathen, a Jew, a Turk, a sinner, may also do; but to
trust firmly that he pleases God, is possible only for a
Christian who is enlightened and strengthened by grace.
That these words seem strange, and that some call me a heretic
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: a large bath full of clean water - what a heap of things all for
washing! "She must be a very dirty lady," thought Tom, "by my
master's rule, to want as much scrubbing as all that. But she must
be very cunning to put the dirt out of the way so well afterwards,
for I don't see a speck about the room, not even on the very
towels."
And then, looking toward the bed, he saw that dirty lady, and held
his breath with astonishment.
Under the snow-white coverlet, upon the snow-white pillow, lay the
most beautiful little girl that Tom had ever seen. Her cheeks were
almost as white as the pillow, and her hair was like threads of
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