| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: and air are bodies. And every sort of body possesses solidity, and every
solid must necessarily be contained in planes; and every plane rectilinear
figure is composed of triangles; and all triangles are originally of two
kinds, both of which are made up of one right and two acute angles; one of
them has at either end of the base the half of a divided right angle,
having equal sides, while in the other the right angle is divided into
unequal parts, having unequal sides. These, then, proceeding by a
combination of probability with demonstration, we assume to be the original
elements of fire and the other bodies; but the principles which are prior
to these God only knows, and he of men who is the friend of God. And next
we have to determine what are the four most beautiful bodies which are
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: changed our trail we could lose them from us?"
I was framing a jocose reply about Ounces being a good walker,
when the sound of hoofs rushing in the distance stopped me, and
he ran out of the tent with his rifle. When I followed with mine
he was up the bank, and all his powers alert. But nothing came
out of the dimness save our three stampeded horses. They crashed
over fallen timber and across the open to where their picketed
comrade grazed at the end of his rope. By him they came to a
stand, and told him, I suppose, what they had seen; for all four
now faced in the same direction, looking away into the mysterious
dawn. We likewise stood peering, and my rifle barrel felt cold in
The Virginian |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: young Belvidero, accustomed to treat his father unceremoniously,
had all the faults of a spoiled child. He treated old Bartolommeo
as a wilful courtesan treats an elderly adorer; buying indemnity
for insolence with a smile, selling good-humor, submitting to be
loved.
Don Juan, beholding scene after scene of his younger years, saw
that it would be a difficult task to find his father's indulgence
at fault. Some new-born remorse stirred the depths of his heart;
he felt almost ready to forgive this father now about to die for
having lived so long. He had an accession of filial piety, like a
thief's return in thought to honesty at the prospect of a million
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