| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: thought we might bear things together; and I was not even sure that,
in spite of her exemption, it was she who had the best of the burden.
I knew at this hour, I think, as well as I knew later, what I was
capable of meeting to shelter my pupils; but it took me some time
to be wholly sure of what my honest ally was prepared for to keep
terms with so compromising a contract. I was queer company enough--
quite as queer as the company I received; but as I trace over
what we went through I see how much common ground we must have
found in the one idea that, by good fortune, COULD steady us.
It was the idea, the second movement, that led me straight out,
as I may say, of the inner chamber of my dread. I could take
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care;
but there is something very absurd, in supposing a continent
to be perpetually governed by an island. In no instance hath
nature made the satellite larger than its primary planet,
and as England and America, with respect to each other,
reverses the common order of nature, it is evident they belong
to different systems; England to Europe, America to itself.
I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment
to espouse the doctrine of separation and independance;
I am clearly, positively, and conscientiously persuaded
that it is the true interest of this continent to be so;
Common Sense |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Profits of Religion by Upton Sinclair: "Archbishop of the Newthot Church," and gathered about him a
harem of devoted females in San Francisco, and was landed in jail
for using the mails to defraud. Or there is "Oahspe, the Cosmic
Bible," a work of brand-new revelation with a brand-new view of
the universe and all things therein:
The reader soon discovers that he must radically revise not only
his ideas of celestial Cosmogony, but the order and significance
of names and titles commonly applied to the Transcendental
Brethren. The great provinces of Etheria are presided over by
chiefs, chosen for their superior development in wisdom and love.
For our solar system to cross one of these provinces requires
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