| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard: In the exact centre of the hall was a solid mass of black marble
about the size of a baby's arm-chair, which it rather resembled
in appearance. This, as we afterwards learnt, was the sacred
stone of this remarkable people, and on it their monarchs laid
their hand after the ceremony of coronation, and swore by the
sun to safeguard the interests of the empire, and to maintain
its customs, traditions, and laws. This stone was evidently
exceedingly ancient (as indeed all stones are), and was scored
down its sides with long marks or lines, which Sir Henry said
proved it to have been a fragment that at some remote period
in its history had been ground in the iron jaws of glaciers.
Allan Quatermain |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from 1984 by George Orwell: their knees, looking straight in front of them. The howling stopped; the
man had no breath left for anything except hanging on. Then there was a
different kind of cry. A kick from a guard's boot had broken the fingers
of one of his hands. They dragged him to his feet.
'Room 101,' said the officer.
The man was led out, walking unsteadily, with head sunken, nursing his
crushed hand, all the fight had gone out of him.
A long time passed. If it had been midnight when the skull-faced man was
taken away, it was morning: if morning, it was afternoon. Winston was
alone, and had been alone for hours. The pain of sitting on the narrow
bench was such that often he got up and walked about, unreproved by the
1984 |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: always occupied him during the service, especially in the large
church when he was not himself conducting the service. This
conflict was occasioned by his irritation at the presence of fine
folk, especially ladies. He tried not to see them or to notice
all that went on: how a soldier conducted them, pushing the
common people aside, how the ladies pointed out the monks to one
another--especially himself and a monk noted for his good looks.
He tried as it were to keep his mind in blinkers, to see nothing
but the light of the candles on the altar-screen, the icons, and
those conducting the service. He tried to hear nothing but the
prayers that were being chanted or read, to feel nothing but
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