| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: I saw them fill with good tears. "What has he done?"
I hesitated; then I judged best simply to hand her my letter--
which, however, had the effect of making her, without taking it,
simply put her hands behind her. She shook her head sadly.
"Such things are not for me, miss."
My counselor couldn't read! I winced at my mistake, which I
attenuated as I could, and opened my letter again to repeat it
to her; then, faltering in the act and folding it up once more,
I put it back in my pocket. "Is he really BAD?"
The tears were still in her eyes. "Do the gentlemen say so?"
"They go into no particulars. They simply express their regret that it
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Tanach: Exodus 34: 26 The choicest first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.'
Exodus 34: 27 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Write thou these words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.'
Exodus 34: 28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten words.
Exodus 34: 29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses knew not that the skin of his face sent forth beams while He talked with him.
Exodus 34: 30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face sent forth beams; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
Exodus 34: 31 And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him; and Moses spoke to them.
Exodus 34: 32 And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.
Exodus 34: 33 And when Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
Exodus 34: 34 But when Moses went in before the LORD that He might speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out; and spoke unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
The Tanach |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: accepted the consequences mildly. Like the merchant Abudah, he was
at the same time fleeing from his destiny and carrying it along with
him, the whole at an expense of six guineas.
As far as I saw, drink, idleness, and incompetency were the three
great causes of emigration, and for all of them, and drink first and
foremost, this trick of getting transported overseas appears to me
the silliest means of cure. You cannot run away from a weakness; you
must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not
now, and where you stand? COELUM NON ANIMAM. Change Glenlivet for
Bourbon, and it is still whisky, only not so good. A sea-voyage will
not give a man the nerve to put aside cheap pleasure; emigration has
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