| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells: That necessity was immediate. In the next place, I hoped to
procure some means of fire, so that I should have the weapon of a
torch at hand, for nothing, I knew, would be more efficient
against these Morlocks. Then I wanted to arrange some
contrivance to break open the doors of bronze under the White
Sphinx. I had in mind a battering ram. I had a persuasion that
if I could enter those doors and carry a blaze of light before me
I should discover the Time Machine and escape. I could not
imagine the Morlocks were strong enough to move it far away.
Weena I had resolved to bring with me to our own time. And
turning such schemes over in my mind I pursued our way towards
The Time Machine |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Tanach: Numbers 1: 35 those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty and two thousand and two hundred.
Numbers 1: 36 Of the children of Benjamin, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
Numbers 1: 37 those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty and five thousand and four hundred.
Numbers 1: 38 Of the children of Dan, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
Numbers 1: 39 those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Dan, were threescore and two thousand and seven hundred.
Numbers 1: 40 Of the children of Asher, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
Numbers 1: 41 those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Asher, were forty and one thousand and five hundred.
Numbers 1: 42 Of the children of Naphtali, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to g 
The Tanach |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: there is a greater deceiver or magician than the Egyptian priests, that is
to say, Plato himself, from the dominion of whose genius the critic and
natural philosopher of modern times are not wholly emancipated. Although
worthless in respect of any result which can be attained by them,
discussions like those of M. Martin (Timee) have an interest of their own,
and may be compared to the similar discussions regarding the Lost Tribes (2
Esdras), as showing how the chance word of some poet or philosopher has
given birth to endless religious or historical enquiries. (See
Introduction to the Timaeus.)
In contrasting the small Greek city numbering about twenty thousand
inhabitants with the barbaric greatness of the island of Atlantis, Plato
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