| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: of another method in which matters of this sort are to be investigated.
(Compare Republic; Charm.)
Then he heard some one reading out of a book of Anaxagoras, that mind is
the cause of all things. And he said to himself: If mind is the cause of
all things, surely mind must dispose them all for the best. The new
teacher will show me this 'order of the best' in man and nature. How great
had been his hopes and how great his disappointment! For he found that his
new friend was anything but consistent in his use of mind as a cause, and
that he soon introduced winds, waters, and other eccentric notions.
(Compare Arist. Metaph.) It was as if a person had said that Socrates is
sitting here because he is made up of bones and muscles, instead of telling
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: femininity.
A trace of apprehension marked her expression--I cannot call
it fear since I have learned to know her--and astonishment
was still apparent in her eyes. She stood quite erect, her
hands still bound behind her, and met my gaze with level,
proud return.
"What language do you speak?" I asked. "Do you understand
mine?"
"Yes," she replied. "It is similar to my own. I am
Grabritin. What are you?"
"I am a Pan-American," I answered. She shook her head.
Lost Continent |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: Leo, in a low voice, tossed off some scornful remark in Bohemian.
I turned to him. `You think I don't know what kolaches are, eh?
You're mistaken, young man. I've eaten your mother's kolaches long
before that Easter Day when you were born.'
`Always too fresh, Leo,' Ambrosch remarked with a shrug.
Leo dived behind his mother and grinned out at me.
We turned to leave the cave; Antonia and I went up the stairs first,
and the children waited. We were standing outside talking,
when they all came running up the steps together, big and little,
tow heads and gold heads and brown, and flashing little naked legs;
a veritable explosion of life out of the dark cave into the sunlight.
My Antonia |
