| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: in so far as it possessed a certain perfection, and, if they were false,
that I held them from nothing, that is to say, that they were in me
because of a certain imperfection of my nature. But this could not be the
case with-the idea of a nature more perfect than myself; for to receive it
from nothing was a thing manifestly impossible; and, because it is not
less repugnant that the more perfect should be an effect of, and
dependence on the less perfect, than that something should proceed from
nothing, it was equally impossible that I could hold it from myself:
accordingly, it but remained that it had been placed in me by a nature
which was in reality more perfect than mine, and which even possessed
within itself all the perfections of which I could form any idea; that is
Reason Discourse |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The War in the Air by H. G. Wells: was speedily unable to raid its antagonist's territory and the
communications. One fought on a "front," and behind that front
the winner's supplies and resources, his towns and factories and
capital, the peace of his country, were secure. If the war was a
naval one, you destroyed your enemy's battle fleet and then
blockaded his ports, secured his coaling stations, and hunted
down any stray cruisers that threatened your ports of commerce.
But to blockade and watch a coastline is one thing, to blockade
and watch the whole surface of a country is another, and cruisers
and privateers are things that take long to make, that cannot be
packed up and hidden and carried unostentatiously from point to
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: fain behold more wrestlers still. But the Solemn Assembly is
over! Come forth, depart with thanksgiving and modesty--give
place to others that must come into being even as thyself.
CXL
Why art thou thus insatiable? why thus unreasonable? why
encumber the world?--"Aye, but I fain would have my wife and
children with me too."--What, are they then thine, and not His
that gave them--His that made thee? Give up then that which is
not thine own: yield it to One who is better than thou. "Nay, but
why did He bring one into the world on these conditions?"--If it
suits thee not, depart! He hath no need of a spectator who finds
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
