| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: lightly he moved away the great door-stone, and drave his
fat flocks forth from the cave, and afterwards he set it in
his place again, as one might set the lid on a quiver. Then
with a loud whoop, the Cyclops turned his fat flocks
towards the hills; but I was left devising evil in the deep
of my heart, if in any wise I might avenge me, and Athene
grant me renown.
'And this was the counsel that showed best in my sight.
There lay by a sheep-fold a great club of the Cyclops, a
club of olive wood, yet green, which he had cut to carry
with him when it should be seasoned. Now when we saw it we
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: the awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted
and refined them that they made record of things never before
perceived. He felt the ripples upon his face and heard their
separate sounds as they struck. He looked at the forest on
the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves
and the veining of each leaf -- he saw the very insects upon
them: the locusts, the brilliant bodied flies, the gray
spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig. He noted
the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million
blades of grass. The humming of the gnats that danced above
the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies'
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: which can only be separated by fire,--copper, silver, and other precious
metal; these are at last refined away by the use of tests, until the gold
is left quite pure.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, that is the way in which these things are said to be
done.
STRANGER: In like manner, all alien and uncongenial matter has been
separated from political science, and what is precious and of a kindred
nature has been left; there remain the nobler arts of the general and the
judge, and the higher sort of oratory which is an ally of the royal art,
and persuades men to do justice, and assists in guiding the helm of
States:--How can we best clear away all these, leaving him whom we seek
Statesman |
