| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: soul is rendered foolish and disordered by his body; yet he is regarded not
as one diseased, but as one who is voluntarily bad, which is a mistake.
The truth is that the intemperance of love is a disease of the soul due
chiefly to the moisture and fluidity which is produced in one of the
elements by the loose consistency of the bones. And in general, all that
which is termed the incontinence of pleasure and is deemed a reproach under
the idea that the wicked voluntarily do wrong is not justly a matter for
reproach. For no man is voluntarily bad; but the bad become bad by reason
of an ill disposition of the body and bad education, things which are
hateful to every man and happen to him against his will. And in the case
of pain too in like manner the soul suffers much evil from the body. For
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: VIVIE [now thoughtfully attentive] Did you and your sister think
so?
MRS WARREN. Liz didnt, I can tell you: she had more spirit. We
both went to a church school--that was part of the ladylike airs
we gave ourselves to be superior to the children that knew
nothing and went nowhere--and we stayed there until Liz went out
one night and never came back. I know the schoolmistress thought
I'd soon follow her example; for the clergyman was always warning
me that Lizzie'd end by jumping off Waterloo Bridge. Poor fool:
that was all he knew about it! But I was more afraid of the
whitelead factory than I was of the river; and so would you have
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: for a black hat which is n't there;" for the brevet pronouns are
commonly not on duty. To employ them with the reckless prodigality
that characterizes our conversation would strike the Tartar mind
like interspersing his talk with unmeaning italics. He would regard
such discourse much as we do those effusive epistles of a certain
type of young woman to her most intimate girl friends, in which
every other word is emphatically underlined.
For the most part, the absolutely necessary personal references are
introduced by honorifics; that is, by honorary or humble expressions.
Such is a portion of the latter's duty. They do a great deal of
unnecessary work besides.
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