| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: the birds; nature lay in a trance that was broken by no
sound but the occasional far-off hammering of a wood-
pecker, and this seemed to render the pervading silence
and sense of loneliness the more profound. The boy's
soul was steeped in melancholy; his feelings were in
happy accord with his surroundings. He sat long with
his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands,
meditating. It seemed to him that life was but a
trouble, at best, and he more than half envied Jimmy
Hodges, so lately released; it must be very peaceful, he
thought, to lie and slumber and dream forever and
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: an alarming orgy of bonnets, mantles, and new gowns, requiring the
presentation of a mass of bills, which led not infrequently to scenes
in the household which were more or less stormy. As for Celeste, she
had undoubtedly fewer opportunities to see young Phellion, but she had
also fewer chances to rush into religious controversy; and absence,
which is dangerous to none but inferior attachments, made her think
more tenderly and less theologically of the man of her dreams.
But all these false calculations of Theodose were as nothing in the
balance with another cause for his diminishing influence which was now
to weigh heavily on his situation.
He had assured Thuillier that, after a short delay and the payment of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: hunger may injure us, and may also benefit us:--Is not that true?
Yes.
And in like manner thirst or any similar desire may sometimes be a good and
sometimes an evil to us, and sometimes neither one nor the other?
To be sure.
But is there any reason why, because evil perishes, that which is not evil
should perish with it?
None.
Then, even if evil perishes, the desires which are neither good nor evil
will remain?
Clearly they will.
Lysis |
