| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Koran: Say, 'I have no power over myself for harm or for profit, save
what God will. Every nation has its appointed time; when their
appointed time comes to them they cannot delay it for an hour or bring
it on.'
Say, 'Let us see now when the torment comes to you, by night or day,
what will the sinners fain bring on thereof? And when it has fallen-
will ye believe in it now!- And yet ye wish to bring it on! Then shall
it be said to those who have done wrong, Taste ye the torment of
eternity! shall ye be recompensed except for that which ye have
earned? They will ask thee to inform them whether it be true. Say,
'Aye, by my Lord! verily, it is the truth, nor can ye weaken him.'
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Memories and Portraits by Robert Louis Stevenson: no Greek, but I should be sorrier still if I were dead; nor do I
know the name of that branch of knowledge which is worth acquiring
at the price of a brain fever. There are many sordid tragedies in
the life of the student, above all if he be poor, or drunken, or
both; but nothing more moves a wise man's pity than the case of the
lad who is in too much hurry to be learned. And so, for the sake
of a moral at the end, I will call up one more figure, and have
done. A student, ambitious of success by that hot, intemperate
manner of study that now grows so common, read night and day for an
examination. As he went on, the task became more easy to him,
sleep was more easily banished, his brain grew hot and clear and
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad: wooden arm-chair (the only seat there), polished with
much use, shone as if its shabbiness had been waxed.
The screen of leaves on the bank, passing as if unrolled
endlessly in the round opening of the port, sent a waver-
ing network of light and shade into the place.
Sterne, holding the door open with one hand, had thrust
in his head and shoulders. At this amazing intrusion
Massy, who was doing absolutely nothing, jumped up
speechless.
"Don't call names," murmured Sterne hurriedly. "I
won't be called names. I think of nothing but your
End of the Tether |
