| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Philebus by Plato: greatness and sufficiency, in what relation do these terms stand to truth?
PROTARCHUS: Why do you ask, Socrates?
SOCRATES: Because, Protarchus, I should wish to test pleasure and
knowledge in every possible way, in order that if there be a pure and
impure element in either of them, I may present the pure element for
judgment, and then they will be more easily judged of by you and by me and
by all of us.
PROTARCHUS: Most true.
SOCRATES: Let us investigate all the pure kinds; first selecting for
consideration a single instance.
PROTARCHUS: What instance shall we select?
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: "You mean Mr. St. George - isn't he delightful?"
Paul Overt met her eyes, which had a cool morning-light that would
have half-broken his heart if he hadn't been so young. "Alas I
don't know him. I only admire him at a distance."
"Oh you must know him - he wants so to talk to you," returned Miss
Fancourt, who evidently had the habit of saying the things that, by
her quick calculation, would give people pleasure. Paul saw how
she would always calculate on everything's being simple between
others.
"I shouldn't have supposed he knew anything about me," he
professed.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: Particularly I remark
An English countess goes upon the stage.
A Greek was murdered at a Polish dance,
Another bank defaulter has confessed.
I keep my countenance,
I remain self-possessed
Except when a street piano, mechanical and tired
Reiterates some worn-out common song
With the smell of hyacinths across the garden
Recalling things that other people have desired.
Are these ideas right or wrong?
 Prufrock/Other Observations |