The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: ground. A little way off negotiations were proceeding which
had reference to him; but he did not hear them, and there
seemed to be passing through his mind pleasant visions of
the hiring successes of his prime, when his skill laid open
to him any farm for the asking.
The negotiations were between a farmer from a distant county
and the old man's son. In these there was a difficulty.
The farmer would not take the crust without the crumb of the
bargain, in other words, the old man without the younger;
and the son had a sweetheart on his present farm, who stood
by, waiting the issue with pale lips.
 The Mayor of Casterbridge |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: what a hombre like me calls either square or game. Adios."
His bulky figure darkened the doorway, passed out, and the light of the sky
streamed into the cabin again. Carley sat staring. She heard Ruff's spurs
tinkle, then the ring of steel on stirrup, a sodden leathery sound as he
mounted, and after that a rapid pound of hoofs, quickly dying away.
He was gone. She had escaped something raw and violent. Dazedly she
realized it, with unutterable relief. And she sat there slowly gathering
the nervous force that had been shattered. Every word that he had uttered
was stamped in startling characters upon her consciousness. But she was
still under the deadening influence of shock. This raw experience was the
worst the West had yet dealt her. It brought back former states of
 The Call of the Canyon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: When he succeeded in helping people, either by advice, or by his
knowledge of reading and writing, or by settling some quarrel, he
did not wait to see their gratitude but went away directly
afterwards. And little by little God began to reveal Himself
within him.
Once he was walking along with two old women and a soldier. They
were stopped by a party consisting of a lady and gentleman in a
gig and another lady and gentleman on horseback. The husband was
on horseback with his daughter, while in the gig his wife was
driving with a Frenchman, evidently a traveller.
The party stopped to let the Frenchman see the pilgrims who, in
|