The Scene From "The Princess Bride" which conveys the Book of Life idea:

(From footnotes #89A and 102)

 

The movie (and the book) "The Princess Bride" contains a scene which conveys the meaning of the 'hidden unstated condition' we think (we reference the movie in particular as it is more well-known).

 

Skipping all the backstory, we come to the scene where the princess is held prisoner by Vizzini, the master planner of the kidnapping and of the plan to start a war. Her rescuer, or (at the time) alternate kidnapper, the 'man in black', came upon them in an open space with the princess blindfolded and a knife at her throat.

Vizzini accuses him of "trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen" and it was true. The man in black was there for that very purpose.

It was an impasse: The man in black could not approach to kill Vizzini unless he wanted the princess dead, which Vizzini was prepared to do. So there became a battle of wits: For the princess, and to the death. As the impasse was held by Vizzini the initiative was the man in black's, who suggested the particulars of the battle of wits to decide the outcome.

There was a bottle of wine on the rock used as a table with two goblets (filled). The man in black showed Vizzini a vial containing 'iocane powder', telling him that is "tasteless, odourless, colourless, and one of the more deadly poisons known to man".

 

The man in black took both goblets, and turned around for a moment; when he turned back, he said, "Now, where is the poison ? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink and find out who is right and who is dead".

Whereupon Vizzini, being a genius, said that all he had to do was figure out, from what he knew of the man in black, where he would likely put it. After a whole lot of figuring out, he tricked the man in black into looking away for a moment then switched the glasses.

They both drank; and Vizzini thought he'd won until he keeled over. The key was, as the man in black soon told the princess, "They were both poisoned; I spent five years developing an immunity to iocane powder".

 

The point is, the whole time, the man in black had the way out of the situation years before it ever came up; but it was essential that his adversary did not know the key, otherwise there would be no contest. 

 

Admittedly the man in black was not entirely forthright about the manner of which the battle of wits was conducted, in which either way he could not lose, but the situation came about first because of Vizzini's plan (who later attempted a further deception). If only one goblet was poisoned, and they both lived, Vizzini would know something was up; if neither was, there is no point; there would otherwise be a 50/50 chance he would defeat Vizzini, but he could not take that chance. The only way out was that one.

 

That is how we see the book of life pertaining to our own situation: The solution was there from the beginning, but it came about only through particular circumstances.