| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton: got a religion ...." The phrase struck him, in the moment of
using it, as indicating a new element in his own state of mind,
and as being, in fact, the key to his new feeling about the
Hickses. Their muddled ardour for great things was related to
his own new view of the universe: the people who felt, however
dimly, the wonder and weight of life must ever after be nearer
to him than those to whom it was estimated solely by one's
balance at the bank. He supposed, on reflexion, that that was
what he meant when he thought of the Hickses as having "a
religion" ....
A few days later, his well-being was unexpectedly disturbed by
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: worked on a roller fixed on the parapet of the tower. There was a
winch for the pulling in of the slack; the outgoing line being
controlled by a racket. There was invariably one man at least, day
and night, on the tower to attend to it. At such an elevation there
was always a strong wind, and at times the kite rose to an enormous
height, as well as travelling for great distances laterally. In
fact, the kite became, in a short time, one of the curiosities of
Castra Regis and all around it. Edgar began to attribute to it, in
his own mind, almost human qualities. It became to him a separate
entity, with a mind and a soul of its own. Being idle-handed all
day, he began to apply to what he considered the service of the kite
Lair of the White Worm |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Parmenides by Plato: Not-being are no longer exhibited in opposition, but are now reconciled;
and the true nature of Not-being is discovered and made the basis of the
correlation of ideas. Some links are probably missing which might have
been supplied if we had trustworthy accounts of Plato's oral teaching.
To sum up: the Parmenides of Plato is a critique, first, of the Platonic
Ideas, and secondly, of the Eleatic doctrine of Being. Neither are
absolutely denied. But certain difficulties and consequences are shown in
the assumption of either, which prove that the Platonic as well as the
Eleatic doctrine must be remodelled. The negation and contradiction which
are involved in the conception of the One and Many are preliminary to their
final adjustment. The Platonic Ideas are tested by the interrogative
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