| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Parmenides by Plato: spheres which had no communication with one another.
It is remarkable that Plato, speaking by the mouth of Parmenides, does not
treat even this second class of difficulties as hopeless or insoluble. He
says only that they cannot be explained without a long and laborious
demonstration: 'The teacher will require superhuman ability, and the
learner will be hard of understanding.' But an attempt must be made to
find an answer to them; for, as Socrates and Parmenides both admit, the
denial of abstract ideas is the destruction of the mind. We can easily
imagine that among the Greek schools of philosophy in the fourth century
before Christ a panic might arise from the denial of universals, similar to
that which arose in the last century from Hume's denial of our ideas of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: listened devoutly.
"He is reading his work to us," said Gatien to Madame Popinot-
Chandier's son.
"From the first word, ladies," said the journalist, jumping at an
opportunity of mystifying the natives, "it is evident that the
brigands are in a cave. But how careless romancers of that date were
as to details which are nowadays so closely, so elaborately studied
under the name of 'local color.' If the robbers were in a cavern,
instead of pointing to the sky he ought to have pointed to the vault
above him.--In spite of this inaccuracy, Rinaldo strikes me as a man
of spirit, and his appeal to God is quite Italian. There must have
The Muse of the Department |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: wild. And, Nelly, say to Edgar, if you see him again to-night,
that I'm in danger of being seriously ill. I wish it may prove
true. He has startled and distressed me shockingly! I want to
frighten him. Besides, he might come and begin a string of abuse
or complainings; I'm certain I should recriminate, and God knows
where we should end! Will you do so, my good Nelly? You are aware
that I am no way blamable in this matter. What possessed him to
turn listener? Heathcliff's talk was outrageous, after you left
us; but I could soon have diverted him from Isabella, and the rest
meant nothing. Now all is dashed wrong; by the fool's craving to
hear evil of self, that haunts some people like a demon! Had Edgar
Wuthering Heights |
