| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: "Why don't you walk straight forward yourself," said the Son.
"Erring youth," replied the Logical Crab, "you are introducing new
and irrelevant matter."
The North Wind and the Sun
THE Sun and the North Wind disputed which was the more powerful,
and agreed that he should be declared victor who could the sooner
strip a traveller of his clothes. So they waited until a traveller
came by. But the traveller had been indiscreet enough to stay over
night at a summer hotel, and had no clothes.
The Mountain and the Mouse
A MOUNTAIN was in labour, and the people of seven cities had
Fantastic Fables |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbot: that of the average of her Sex, and who perceived that I was
unusually excited, did not argue with me on the subject,
but insisted that I was ill and required repose. I was glad
of an excuse for retiring to my chamber to think quietly over
what had happened. When I was at last by myself, a drowsy sensation
fell on me; but before my eyes closed I endeavoured to reproduce
the Third Dimension, and especially the process by which a Cube
is constructed through the motion of a Square. It was not so clear
as I could have wished; but I remembered that it must be "Upward,
and yet not Northward", and I determined steadfastly to retain
these words as the clue which, if firmly grasped, could not fail
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: protect himself; and if he were only an ordinary man, his murder was
of no importance.
Mannaeus stood beside his chair, and read his master's thoughts.
Vitellius beckoned him to his side and gave him an order for the
execution, to be transmitted to the soldiers placed on guard over the
dungeon. This execution would be a relief, he thought. In a few
moments all would be over!
But for once Mannaeus did not perform a commission satisfactorily. He
left the hall but soon returned, in a state of great perturbation.
During forty years he had exercised the functions of the public
executioner. It was he that had drowned Aristobulus, strangled
Herodias |
