| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: the friend of the great Pope Julius II.; and that illustrious
Pontiff, fearing lest the excessive excitability of my senses
should entangle me in mortal sin between the moment of my death
and the time of my anointing with the holy oil, gave me a flask
that contains a little of the holy water that once issued from
the rock in the wilderness. I have kept the secret of this
squandering of a treasure belonging to Holy Church, but I am
permitted to reveal the mystery in articulo mortis to my son. You
will find the flask in a drawer in that Gothic table that always
stands by the head of the bed. . . . The precious little crystal
flask may be of use yet again for you, dearest Felipe. Will you
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Tanach: 1_Kings 10: 16 And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target.
1_Kings 10: 17 And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold: three pounds of gold went to one shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
1_Kings 10: 18 Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold.
1_Kings 10: 19 There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were arms on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms.
1_Kings 10: 20 And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps; there was not the like made in any kingdom.
1_Kings 10: 21 And all king Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
1_Kings 10: 22 For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram; once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
1_Kings 10: 23 So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.
1_Kings 10: 24 And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
1_Kings 10: 25 And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
The Tanach |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Wild was the night; the charging rack
Had forced the moon upon her back;
The wind piped up a naval ditty;
And the lamps winked through all the city.
Before that house, where lights were shining,
Corpulent feeders, grossly dining,
And jolly clamour, hum and rattle,
Fairly outvoiced the tempest's battle.
As still his moistened lip he fingered,
The envious policeman lingered;
While far the infernal tempest sped,
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