| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: of the sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils, as well as their intimate
structure, are intelligible on the view that they consist of metamorphosed
leaves, arranged in a spire. In monstrous plants, we often get direct
evidence of the possibility of one organ being transformed into another;
and we can actually see in embryonic crustaceans and in many other animals,
and in flowers, that organs, which when mature become extremely different,
are at an early stage of growth exactly alike.
How inexplicable are these facts on the ordinary view of creation! Why
should the brain be enclosed in a box composed of such numerous and such
extraordinarily shaped pieces of bone? As Owen has remarked, the benefit
derived from the yielding of the separate pieces in the act of parturition
On the Origin of Species |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Koran: the frogs and the blood,- signs detailed; but they were big with pride
and were a people who did sin.
And when there fell upon them the plague, they said, 'O Moses!
call upon thy Lord for us, as He has covenanted with thee; verily,
if thou dost remove the plague from us, we will believe in thee; and
we will assuredly send with thee the children of Israel.' But when
we removed from them the plague until the appointed time which they
should reach, lo! then they broke their promise. But we took vengeance
on them, and we drowned them in the sea, for that they said our
signs were lies and were careless thereof. And we gave as an
inheritance unto the people who had been weak, the eastern quarters of
The Koran |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: Rochefeuille, Monsieur de Houppeville and the new habitues, Onfroy,
the chemist, Monsieur Varin and Captain Mathieu, dropped in for their
game of cards, he struck the window-panes with his wings and made such
a racket that it was impossible to talk.
Bourais' face must have appeared very funny to Loulou. As soon as he
saw him he would begin to roar. His voice re-echoed in the yard, and
the neighbours would come to the windows and begin to laugh, too; and
in order that the parrot might not see him, Monsieur Bourais edged
along the wall, pushed his hat over his eyes to hide his profile, and
entered by the garden door, and the looks he gave the bird lacked
affection. Loulou, having thrust his head into the butcher-boy's
A Simple Soul |
