| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: untrue. I was pained, and said, Alas! Lysis and Menexenus, I am afraid
that we have been grasping at a shadow only.
Why do you say so? said Menexenus.
I am afraid, I said, that the argument about friendship is false:
arguments, like men, are often pretenders.
How do you mean? he asked.
Well, I said; look at the matter in this way: a friend is the friend of
some one; is he not?
Certainly he is.
And has he a motive and object in being a friend, or has he no motive and
object?
Lysis |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: ringing pleasantly about the garden: 'Pooty - pooty - poo - poo -
poo!'
Far as we were from the public offices, the nearness of the chapel
made our situation what is called eligible in advertisements, and
gave us a side look on some native life. Every morning, as soon as
he had fed the fowls, Taniera set the bell agoing in the small
belfry; and the faithful, who were not very numerous, gathered to
prayers. I was once present: it was the Lord's day, and seven
females and eight males composed the congregation. A woman played
precentor, starting with a longish note; the catechist joined in
upon the second bar; and then the faithful in a body. Some had
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad: apprehension of more such visions, he beheld his wife re-enter the
room and get into bed in a calm business-like manner which made him
feel hopelessly lonely in the world. Mrs Verloc expressed her
surprise at seeing him up yet.
"I don't feel very well," he muttered, passing his hands over his
moist brow.
"Giddiness?"
"Yes. Not at all well."
Mrs Verloc, with all the placidity of an experienced wife,
expressed a confident opinion as to the cause, and suggested the
usual remedies; but her husband, rooted in the middle of the room,
The Secret Agent |
