| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: attributed to the necessary imperfection of matter; there is also a
numerical necessity for the successive births of souls. At first, man and
the world retain their divine instincts, but gradually degenerate. As in
the Book of Genesis, the first fall of man is succeeded by a second; the
misery and wickedness of the world increase continually. The reason of
this further decline is supposed to be the disorganisation of matter: the
latent seeds of a former chaos are disengaged, and envelope all things.
The condition of man becomes more and more miserable; he is perpetually
waging an unequal warfare with the beasts. At length he obtains such a
measure of education and help as is necessary for his existence. Though
deprived of God's help, he is not left wholly destitute; he has received
Statesman |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: below, which made a great splashing. He got sep-
arated from his companion, and when he descended
into the bottom of that ship his heart seemed to melt
suddenly within him.
"It was then also, as he told me, that he lost con-
tact for good and all with one of those three men
who the summer before had been going about
through all the little towns in the foothills of his
country. They would arrive on market days driv-
ing in a peasant's cart, and would set up an office
in an inn or some other Jew's house. There were
Amy Foster |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare: The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show
Of mouthed graves will give thee memory;
Thou by thy dial's shady stealth mayst know
Time's thievish progress to eternity.
Look! what thy memory cannot contain,
Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find
Those children nursed, deliver'd from thy brain,
To take a new acquaintance of thy mind.
These offices, so oft as thou wilt look,
Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book.
LXXVIII
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