| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: perfected in this rude school, and they were more conversant with
the notions of right and the principles of true freedom than the
greater part of their European contemporaries. At the period of
their first emigrations the parish system, that fruitful germ of
free institutions, was deeply rooted in the habits of the
English; and with it the doctrine of the sovereignty of the
people had been introduced into the bosom of the monarchy of the
House of Tudor.
The religious quarrels which have agitated the Christian
world were then rife. England had plunged into the new order of
things with headlong vehemence. The character of its
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: best of rulers, is not reasonable; for surely no wise man thinks that when
set at liberty he can take better care of himself than the gods take of
him. A fool may perhaps think so--he may argue that he had better run away
from his master, not considering that his duty is to remain to the end, and
not to run away from the good, and that there would be no sense in his
running away. The wise man will want to be ever with him who is better
than himself. Now this, Socrates, is the reverse of what was just now
said; for upon this view the wise man should sorrow and the fool rejoice at
passing out of life.
The earnestness of Cebes seemed to please Socrates. Here, said he, turning
to us, is a man who is always inquiring, and is not so easily convinced by
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: the Jann, Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, wrested the secret of
a worm no bigger than a barley-corn, which could split the
hardest substance. This worm was called schamir. "If Solomon
desired to possess himself of the worm, he must find the nest
of the moor-hen, and cover it with a plate of glass, so that
the mother bird could not get at her young without breaking
the glass. She would seek schamir for the purpose, and the
worm must be obtained from her." As the Jewish king did need
the worm in order to hew the stones for that temple which was
to be built without sound of hammer, or axe, or any tool of
iron,[28] he sent Benaiah to obtain it. According to another
Myths and Myth-Makers |
