| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: undiscriminated food to the ravening egoism of youth. In seeking
Mrs. Aubyn's company he was prompted by an intuitive taste for the
best as a pledge of his own superiority. The sympathy of the
cleverest woman in Hillbridge was balm to his craving for
distinction: it was public confirmation of his secret sense that
he was cut out for a bigger place. It must not be understood that
Glennard was vain. Vanity contents itself with the coarsest diet;
there is no palate so fastidious as that of self-distrust. To a
youth of Glennard's aspirations the encouragement of a clever
woman stood for the symbol of all success. Later, when he had
begun to feel his way, to gain a foothold, he would not need such
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: there is nothing?' And he became horrified and filled with
disgust at himself. 'Vile creature! And it is you who wish to
become a saint!' he upbraided himself, and he began to pray. But
as soon as he started to pray he saw himself vividly as he had
been at the Monastery, in a majestic post in biretta and mantle,
and he shook his head. 'No, that is not right. It is deception.
I may deceive others, but not myself or God. I am not a majestic
man, but a pitiable and ridiculous one!' And he threw back the
folds of his cassock and smiled as he looked at his thin legs in
their underclothing.
Then he dropped the folds of the cassock again and began reading
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Human Drift by Jack London: and rigged. He must know how to gentle her about, as one instance
of a myriad, and to fill her on the other tack without deadening
her way or allowing her to fall off too far.
The deepwater sailor of to-day needs know none of these things.
And he doesn't. He pulls and hauls as he is ordered, swabs decks,
washes paint, and chips iron-rust. He knows nothing, and cares
less. Put him in a small boat and he is helpless. He will cut an
even better figure on the hurricane deck of a horse.
I shall never forget my child-astonishment when I first
encountered one of these strange beings. He was a runaway English
sailor. I was a lad of twelve, with a decked-over, fourteen-foot,
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