| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: suddenly that I almost slipped. I clambered about and bent the adjacent
bar in the opposite direction, and then took the luminous fungus from my
pocket and dropped it down the fissure.
"Don't do anything hastily," whispered Cavor, as I twisted myself up
through the opening I had enlarged. I had a glimpse of busy figures as I
came through the grating, and immediately bent down, so that the rim of
the depression in which the grating lay hid me from their eyes, and so lay
flat, signalling advice to Cavor as he also prepared to come through.
Presently we were side by side in the depression, peering over the edge at
the cavern and its occupants.
It was a much larger cavern than we had supposed from our first glimpse of
The First Men In The Moon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Philebus by Plato: he is strong we fear him, and if he is weak we laugh at him, which is a
pleasure, and yet we envy him, which is a pain? These mixed feelings are
the rationale of tragedy and comedy, and equally the rationale of the
greater drama of human life. (There appears to be some confusion in this
passage. There is no difficulty in seeing that in comedy, as in tragedy,
the spectator may view the performance with mixed feelings of pain as well
as of pleasure; nor is there any difficulty in understanding that envy is a
mixed feeling, which rejoices not without pain at the misfortunes of
others, and laughs at their ignorance of themselves. But Plato seems to
think further that he has explained the feeling of the spectator in comedy
sufficiently by a theory which only applies to comedy in so far as in
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: something of the kind."
"But," said Adam, "how could she have known we were here? She
didn't know last night."
"I don't think we need trouble about that, Adam. There is so much
we do not understand. This is only another mystery. Suffice it
that she does know--perhaps it is all the better and safer for us."
"How is that?" asked Adam with a puzzled look.
"General process of reasoning, my boy; and the experience of some
years in the diplomatic world. This creature is a monster without
heart or consideration for anything or anyone. She is not nearly so
dangerous in the open as when she has the dark to protect her.
Lair of the White Worm |
