| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Essays & Lectures by Oscar Wilde: development, not merely in the question of historical criticism,
but in their art, their poetry and their philosophy, seems so
essentially normal, so free from all disturbing external
influences, so peculiarly rational, that in following in the
footsteps of time we shall really be progressing in the order
sanctioned by reason.
CHAPTER II
AT an early period in their intellectual development the Greeks
reached that critical point in the history of every civilised
nation, when speculative invades the domain of revealed truth, when
the spiritual ideas of the people can no longer be satisfied by the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: over life, and doubts on everything.
"I spent this morning sitting on the bank by the sunken road,
gazing at the turrets of Villenoix, not daring to go to our hedge.
If you could imagine all I saw in my soul! What gloomy visions
passed before me under the gray sky, whose cold sheen added to my
dreary mood! I had dark presentiments! I was terrified lest I
should fail to make you happy.
"I must tell you everything, my dear Pauline. There are moments
when the spirit of vitality seems to abandon me. I feel bereft of
all strength. Everything is a burden to me; every fibre of my body
is inert, every sense is flaccid, my sight grows dim, my tongue is
Louis Lambert |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: "I wonder where the hare-brained _savant_ that writes them can
be living?" observed Servadac.
"Very likely he may have met with the fate of AEsop's abstracted astronomer,
who found himself at the bottom of a well."
"Ay; but where _is_ that well?" demanded the captain.
This was a question which the count was incapable of settling;
and they could only speculate afresh as to whether the author of the
riddles was dwelling upon some solitary island, or, like themselves,
was navigating the waters of the new Mediterranean. But they could
detect nothing to guide them to a definite decision.
After thoughtfully regarding the document for some time.
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