| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Parmenides by Plato: us I should not ask him, for these are not subjects which any one,
especially at his age, can well speak of before a large audience; most
people are not aware that this roundabout progress through all things is
the only way in which the mind can attain truth and wisdom. And therefore,
Parmenides, I join in the request of Socrates, that I may hear the process
again which I have not heard for a long time.
When Zeno had thus spoken, Pythodorus, according to Antiphon's report of
him, said, that he himself and Aristoteles and the whole company entreated
Parmenides to give an example of the process. I cannot refuse, said
Parmenides; and yet I feel rather like Ibycus, who, when in his old age,
against his will, he fell in love, compared himself to an old racehorse,
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain: of this author.
To say that the INNOCENTS ABROAD is a curious book, would be to
use the faintest language--would be to speak of the Matterhorn
as a neat elevation or of Niagara as being "nice" or "pretty."
"Curious" is too tame a word wherewith to describe the imposing insanity
of this work. There is no word that is large enough or long enough.
Let us, therefore, photograph a passing glimpse of book and author,
and trust the rest to the reader. Let the cultivated English student
of human nature picture to himself this Mark Twain as a person capable
of doing the following-described things--and not only doing them,
but with incredible innocence PRINTING THEM calmly and tranquilly
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: them, and to which they are forced by the peremptory, unreasonable,
degrading Tyranny of want. These are the poor, and amongst them
there is no grace of manner, or charm of speech, or civilisation,
or culture, or refinement in pleasures, or joy of life. From their
collective force Humanity gains much in material prosperity. But
it is only the material result that it gains, and the man who is
poor is in himself absolutely of no importance. He is merely the
infinitesimal atom of a force that, so far from regarding him,
crushes him: indeed, prefers him crushed, as in that case he is
far more obedient.
Of course, it might be said that the Individualism generated under
|
