| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: church. Following his usual custom, the old seigneur waited till the
general hurry was over; after which he left his chapel, placing the
duenna and the youngest page, carrying a lantern, before him; then he
gave his arm to his wife and told the other page to follow them.
As he made his way to the lateral door which opened on the west side
of the cloister, through which it was his custom to pass, a stream of
persons detached itself from the flood which obstructed the great
portals, and poured through the side aisle around the old lord and his
party. The mass was too compact to allow him to retrace his steps, and
he and his wife were therefore pushed onward to the door by the
pressure of the multitude behind them. The husband tried to pass out
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: Tract Repository, and now in thousands of hands.
[175] T. C. Upham: Life of Madame Catharine Adorna, 3d ed.,
New York, 1864, pp. 158, 172-74.
The next religious symptom which I will note is what have called
Purity of Life. The saintly person becomes exceedingly sensitive
to inner inconsistency or discord, and mixture and confusion grow
intolerable. All the mind's objects and occupations must be
ordered with reference to the special spiritual excitement which
is now its keynote. Whatever is unspiritual taints the pure
water of the soul and is repugnant. Mixed with this exaltation
of the moral sensibilities there is also an ardor of sacrifice,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: partridge charmed by a setter.
"I entreat you, madame," he said, at last, "to tell me how it was
possible that a man could make you suffer? Be assured that where, as
you say, other women are common and vulgar, you can only seem
distinguished; your manner of saying things would make a cook-book
interesting."
"You go fast in friendship," she said, in a grave voice which made
d'Arthez extremely uneasy.
The conversation changed; the hour was late, and the poor man of
genius went away contrite for having seemed curious, and for wounding
the sensitive heart of that rare woman who had so strangely suffered.
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