The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: loss of blood; my mind besides was whirling with the abhorrent
strangeness of the onslaught, and I was already forced against the
wall, when Olalla ran betwixt us, and Felipe, following at a bound,
pinned down his mother on the floor.
A trance-like weakness fell upon me; I saw, heard, and felt, but I
was incapable of movement. I heard the struggle roll to and fro
upon the floor, the yells of that catamount ringing up to Heaven as
she strove to reach me. I felt Olalla clasp me in her arms, her
hair falling on my face, and, with the strength of a man, raise and
half drag, half carry me upstairs into my own room, where she cast
me down upon the bed. Then I saw her hasten to the door and lock
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: plague of this power, against which no one can sufficiently guard
and protect himself. Here it is led by the nose, and oppresses
the common people, becomes a government of the like of which a
heathen says: "The spider-webs catch the small flies, but the
mill-stones roll through." So the laws, ordinances and government
of one and the same authority hold the small men, and the great
are free; and where the prince is not himself so wise that he
needs nobody's advice, or has such a standing that they fear him,
there will and must be (unless God should do a special wonder)
a childish government.
For this reason God has considered evil, unfit rulers the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: Pierre at the age of ten had been sent abroad with an abbe as tutor,
and had remained away till he was twenty. When he returned to Moscow
his father dismissed the abbe and said to the young man, "Now go to
Petersburg, look round, and choose your profession. I will agree to
anything. Here is a letter to Prince Vasili, and here is money.
Write to me all about it, and I will help you in everything." Pierre
had already been choosing a career for three months, and had not
decided on anything. It was about this choice that Prince Andrew was
speaking. Pierre rubbed his forehead.
"But he must be a Freemason," said he, referring to the abbe whom he
had met that evening.
War and Peace |