| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Sophist by Plato: may be one of those who see things at a distance only.
STRANGER: And the wish of all of us, who are your friends, is and always
will be to bring you as near to the truth as we can without the sad
reality. And now I should like you to tell me, whether the Sophist is not
visibly a magician and imitator of true being; or are we still disposed to
think that he may have a true knowledge of the various matters about which
he disputes?
THEAETETUS: But how can he, Stranger? Is there any doubt, after what has
been said, that he is to be located in one of the divisions of children's
play?
STRANGER: Then we must place him in the class of magicians and mimics.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Persuasion by Jane Austen: I should have thought your last impressions of Lyme must have been
strong disgust."
"The last hours were certainly very painful," replied Anne;
"but when pain is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure.
One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it,
unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering, which was
by no means the case at Lyme. We were only in anxiety and distress
during the last two hours, and previously there had been a great deal
of enjoyment. So much novelty and beauty! I have travelled so little,
that every fresh place would be interesting to me; but there is real beauty
at Lyme; and in short" (with a faint blush at some recollections),
Persuasion |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain: During that time Leos had made many calls upon Ambulinia, who was
generally received with a great deal of courtesy by the family.
They thought him to be a young man worthy of attention, though he
had but little in his soul to attract the attention or even win
the affections of her whose graceful manners had almost made
him a slave to every bewitching look that fell from her eyes.
Leos made several attempts to tell her of his fair prospects--
how much he loved her, and how much it would add to his bliss if he
could but think she would be willing to share these blessings
with him; but, choked by his undertaking, he made himself more like an
inactive drone than he did like one who bowed at beauty's shrine.
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