| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: of experiments, was trying combinations at roulette.
But he was not to be found in any of the gilded chambers,
among the crowd that pressed in silence about the tables;
so that Bernard presently came and began to wander
about the lamp-lit terrace, where innumerable groups,
seated and strolling, made the place a gigantic conversazione.
It seemed to him very agreeable and amusing, and he remarked
to himself that, for a man who was supposed not to take especially
the Epicurean view of life, Gordon Wright, in coming to Baden,
had certainly made himself comfortable. Longueville went
his way, glancing from one cluster of talkers to another;
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famished. The
thought of his wife and children urged him on. At last he
found a road which led him in what he knew to be the right
direction. It was as wide and straight as a city street, yet
it seemed untraveled. No fields bordered it, no dwelling
anywhere. Not so much as the barking of a dog suggested
human habitation. The black bodies of the trees formed a
straight wall on both sides, terminating on the horizon in a
point, like a diagram in a lesson in perspective. Overhead,
as he looked up through this rift in the wood, shone great
golden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: but unbelief.
It is certainly true that, in the sight of men, a man becomes
good or evil by his works; but here "becoming" means that it is
thus shown and recognised who is good or evil, as Christ says,
"By their fruits ye shall know them" (Matt. vii. 20). But all
this stops at appearances and externals; and in this matter very
many deceive themselves, when they presume to write and teach
that we are to be justified by good works, and meanwhile make no
mention even of faith, walking in their own ways, ever deceived
and deceiving, going from bad to worse, blind leaders of the
blind, wearying themselves with many works, and yet never
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