| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: courage; if any act of mercy, teach us tenderness and patience.
ANOTHER IN TIME OF RAIN
LORD, Thou sendest down rain upon the uncounted millions of the
forest, and givest the trees to drink exceedingly. We are here
upon this isle a few handfuls of men, and how many myriads upon
myriads of stalwart trees! Teach us the lesson of the trees. The
sea around us, which this rain recruits, teems with the race of
fish; teach us, Lord, the meaning of the fishes. Let us see
ourselves for what we are, one out of the countless number of the
clans of thy handiwork. When we would despair, let us remember
that these also please and serve Thee.
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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: to the operation of their understanding. His memory allowed him to
recall such facts as might serve to support his statements; he had
appended them to each chapter in the form of demonstrations, so as to
give to many of his theories an almost mathematical certainty. The
works of Cardan, a man gifted with singular powers of insight,
supplied him with valuable materials. He had not forgotten that
Apollonius of Tyana had, in Asia, announced the death of a tyrant with
every detail of his execution, at the very hour when it was taking
place in Rome; nor that Plotinus, when far away from Porphyrius, was
aware of his friend's intention to kill himself, and flew to dissuade
him; nor the incident in the last century, proved in the face of the
Louis Lambert |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: of the recoil produced by the pressure of the rocket apparatus.
The chances were in favor of the travelers. If its speed was
utterly annulled on this dead point, a decided movement toward
the moon would suffice, however slight, to determine its fall.
"Five minutes to one," said Nicholl.
"All is ready," replied Michel Ardan, directing a lighted match
to the flame of the gas.
"Wait!" said Barbicane, holding his chronometer in his hand.
At that moment weight had no effect. The travelers felt in
themselves the entire disappearance of it. They were very near
the neutral point, if they did not touch it.
From the Earth to the Moon |
