| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche: goal, to the good, to "God"; and since Plato, all theologians and
philosophers have followed the same path--which means that in
matters of morality, instinct (or as Christians call it, "Faith,"
or as I call it, "the herd") has hitherto triumphed. Unless one
should make an exception in the case of Descartes, the father of
rationalism (and consequently the grandfather of the Revolution),
who recognized only the authority of reason: but reason is only a
tool, and Descartes was superficial.
192. Whoever has followed the history of a single science, finds
in its development a clue to the understanding of the oldest and
commonest processes of all "knowledge and cognizance": there, as
Beyond Good and Evil |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: Sparta, the land of fair women, to call Telemachus thy dear
son, Odysseus, who hath betaken himself to spacious
Lacedaemon, to the house of Menelaus to seek tidings of
thee, whether haply thou are yet alive.'
And Odysseus of many counsels answered her saying: 'Nay,
wherefore then didst thou not tell him, seeing thou hast
knowledge of all? Was it, perchance, that he too may wander
in sorrow over the unharvested seas, and that others may
consume his livelihood?'
Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, answered him: 'Nay, let
him not be heavy on thy heart. I myself was his guide, that
The Odyssey |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: He has been temporarily diverted from constructive to destructive
industrialism. He did me the honours of his factory. He is a
compact, active man in dark clothes and a bowler hat, with a
pencil and notebook conveniently at hand. He talked to me in
carefully easy French, and watched my face with an intelligent
eye through his pince-nez for the signs of comprehension. Then
he went on to the next point.
He took me through every stage of his process. In his office he
showed me the general story. Here were photographs of certain
vacant fields and old sheds--"this place"--he indicated the
altered prospect from the window--"at the outbreak of the war."
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