| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: The second, to divide each of the difficulties under examination into as many
parts as possible, and as might be necessary for its adequate solution.
The third, to conduct my thoughts in such order that, by commencing with
objects the simplest and easiest to know, I might ascend by little and
little, and, as it were, step by step, to the knowledge of the more complex;
assigning in thought a certain order even to those objects which in their
own nature do not stand in a relation of antecedence and sequence.
And the last, in every case to make enumerations so complete, and reviews
so general, that I might be assured that nothing was omitted.
The long chains of simple and easy reasonings by means of which
geometers are accustomed to reach the conclusions of their most
Reason Discourse |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: Hiero
by Xenophon
Translation by H. G. Dakyns
The Hiero is an imaginary dialogue, c. 474 B.C.,
between Simonides of Ceos, the poet; and Hieron,
of Syracuse and Gela, the despot.
HIERO, or "THE TYRANT"
A Discourse on Despotic Rule
I
Once upon a time Simonides the poet paid a visit to Hiero the
"tyrant,"[1] and when both obtained the liesure requisite, Simonides
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Falk by Joseph Conrad: He chuckled at his joke. "A regular chucker-out.
Now he has fired out that Dutchman head over heels,
I suppose our turn's coming to-morrow morning."
We were all on deck at break of day (even the
sick--poor devils--had crawled out) ready to cast
off in the twinkling of an eye. Nothing came.
Falk did not come. At last, when I began to think
that probably something had gone wrong in his
engine-room, we perceived the tug going by, full
pelt, down the river, as if we hadn't existed. For a
moment I entertained the wild notion that he was
Falk |
