The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: which fills the streets of Paris, they felt the icy chill of crypts
about them. A damp air came from an inner courtyard which resembled a
huge air-shaft; the light that entered was gray, and the sill of the
window was filled with pots of sickly plants. In this room, which had
a coating of some greasy, fuliginous substance, the furniture, the
chairs, the table, were all most abject. The floor tiles oozed like a
water-cooler. In short, every accessory was in keeping with the
fearful old woman of the hooked nose, ghastly face, and decent rags
who directed the "consulters" to sit down, informing them that only
one at a time could be admitted to Madame.
Gazonal, who played the intrepid, entered bravely, and found himself
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain: convince him that if he had been present himself when Angelo told
him about the homicide committed by Luigi, he would not have
considered the act discreditable to Luigi; but the obstinate old
man was not to be moved.
Wilson went back to his principal and reported the failure
of his mission. Luigi was incensed, and asked how it could be
that the old gentleman, who was by no means dull-witted, held his
trifling nephew's evidence in inferences to be of more value than Wilson's.
But Wilson laughed, and said:
"That is quite simple; that is easily explicable.
I am not his doll--his baby--his infatuation: his nature is.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: likely to find among them a person who is worthy of your friendship. If
public opinion be your dread, and you would avoid reproach, in all
probability the lover, who is always thinking that other men are as emulous
of him as he is of them, will boast to some one of his successes, and make
a show of them openly in the pride of his heart;--he wants others to know
that his labour has not been lost; but the non-lover is more his own
master, and is desirous of solid good, and not of the opinion of mankind.
Again, the lover may be generally noted or seen following the beloved (this
is his regular occupation), and whenever they are observed to exchange two
words they are supposed to meet about some affair of love either past or in
contemplation; but when non-lovers meet, no one asks the reason why,
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