| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: thy cross and follow me. But when the young man heard this he
was very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw
that he was very sorrowful, he said, `How hardly shall they which
have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to
enter into the kingdom of God!' So, when all the Saints heard
this command, they thought fit by all means to withdraw from this
hardness of riches. They parted with all their goods, and by
this distribution of their riches to the poor laid up for
themselves eternal riches; and they took up their Cross and
followed Christ, some being made perfect by martyrdom, even as I
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: but to get at those which were in their nature beyond him,
did not promise much; yet when every obvious channel
is blocked we grope towards the small and obscure.
There was nothing else left to do; after that he would allow
the enigma to drop into the abyss of undiscoverable things.
It was about daybreak when he had reached this decision,
and he at once arose. He locked up the house and went out
into the green patch which merged in heather further on.
In front of the white garden-palings the path branched
into three like a broad arrow. The road to the right led
to the Quiet Woman and its neighbourhood; the middle track
Return of the Native |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: is one of the intoxicating pleasures in the lives of great men, it is
the ALL of life to narrow minds. One must needs have been a minister
dismissed from power to comprehend the bitter pain which came upon
Madame du Bousquier when she found herself reduced to this absolute
servitude. She often got into the carriage against her will; she saw
herself surrounded by servants who were distasteful to her; she no
longer had the handling of her dear money,--she who had known herself
free to spend money, and did not spend it.
All imposed limits make the human being desire to go beyond them. The
keenest sufferings come from the thwarting of self-will. The beginning
of this state of things was, however, rose-colored. Every concession
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