| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Coxon Fund by Henry James: and of course one would never have seen him at his finest if one
hadn't seen him in his remorses. They set in mainly at this season
and were magnificent, elemental, orchestral. I was quite aware
that one of these atmospheric disturbances was now due; but none
the less, in our arduous attempt to set him on his feet as a
lecturer, it was impossible not to feel that two failures were a
large order, as we said, for a short course of five. This was the
second time, and it was past nine o'clock; the audience, a muster
unprecedented and really encouraging, had fortunately the attitude
of blandness that might have been looked for in persons whom the
promise of (if I'm not mistaken) An Analysis of Primary Ideas had
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Deserted Woman by Honore de Balzac: knowledge. In your young man's generosity, you must have resolved
to be faithful to the vows which bind us each to each in the sight
of God. My past pain has risen up before your mind, and the misery
from which you rescued me has been my protection. To owe your love
to your pity! The thought is even more painful to me than the fear
of spoiling your life for you. The man who can bring himself to
stab his mistress is very charitable if he gives her her deathblow
while she is happy and ignorant of evil, while illusions are in
full blossom. . . . Yes, death is preferable to the two thoughts
which have secretly saddened the hours for several days. To-day,
when you asked 'What ails you?' so tenderly, the sound of your
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: intellectual and moral development of Europe than those of any
other man who has ever lived. Nevertheless, the details of his
personal career are shrouded in an obscurity almost as dense as
that which envelops the life of the remote founder of Buddhism.
This phenomenon, however, appears less strange and paradoxical
when we come to examine it more closely. A little reflection will
disclose to us several good reasons why the historical records of
the life of Jesus should be so scanty as they are. In the first
place, the activity of Jesus was private rather than public.
Confined within exceedingly narrow limits, both of space and of
duration, it made no impression whatever upon the politics or the
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
