| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells: "I cannot tell," said Miss Grammont, "whether this is the
last wisdom in life or moonshine. I cannot tell whether I am
thinking or feeling; but the noise of the water going over
the weir below is like the stir in my heart. And I am
swimming in love and happiness. Am I awake or am I dreaming
you, and are we dreaming one another? Hold my hand--hold it
hard and tight. I'm trembling with love for you and all the
world. . . . If I say more I shall be weeping."
For a long time they stood side by side saying not a word to
one another.
Presently the band down below and the dancing ceased and the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: Mr. Motley has been fortunate in his selection of a subject upon
which to write. Probably no century of modern times lends itself
to the purposes of the descriptive historian so well as the
sixteenth. While on the one hand the problems which it presents
are sufficiently near for us to understand them without too great
an effort of the imagination, on the other hand they are
sufficiently remote for us to study them without passionate and
warping prejudice. The contest between Catholicism and the
reformed religion--between ecclesiastical autocracy and the right
of private investigation--has become a thing of the past, and
constitutes a closed chapter in human history. The epoch which
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Alcibiades II by Platonic Imitator: they were hateful to the Gods, who are not, like vile usurers, to be gained
over by bribes. And it is foolish for us to boast that we are superior to
the Lacedaemonians by reason of our much worship. The idea is
inconceivable that the Gods have regard, not to the justice and purity of
our souls, but to costly processions and sacrifices, which men may
celebrate year after year, although they have committed innumerable crimes
against the Gods or against their fellow-men or the state. For the Gods,
as Ammon and his prophet declare, are no receivers of gifts, and they scorn
such unworthy service. Wherefore also it would seem that wisdom and
justice are especially honoured both by the Gods and by men of sense; and
they are the wisest and most just who know how to speak and act towards
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