| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: Before the left arm by the aid of art
Opposed the shielding targe. And, verily,
Yielding the weary body to repose,
Far ancienter than cushions of soft beds,
And quenching thirst is earlier than cups.
These objects, therefore, which for use and life
Have been devised, can be conceived as found
For sake of using. But apart from such
Are all which first were born and afterwards
Gave knowledge of their own utility-
Chief in which sort we note the senses, limbs:
 Of The Nature of Things |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: and compare notes as far as practicable. This, however, they found
more easily planned than performed; since no sign of the party
could be found in any direction. There had been five of them in
a car, but now the car stood empty near the ruins in the Frye
yard. The natives, all of whom had talked with the policemen,
seemed at first as perplexed as Armitage and his companions. Then
old Sam Hutchins thought of something and turned pale, nudging
Fred Farr and pointing to the dank, deep hollow that yawned close
by.
'Gawd,' he gasped, 'I telled 'em not ter go daown into the
glen, an' I never thought nobody'd dew it with them tracks an'
 The Dunwich Horror |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: prophet or pilot be the better judge? Ion is compelled to admit that every
man will judge of his own particular art better than the rhapsode. He
still maintains, however, that he understands the art of the general as
well as any one. 'Then why in this city of Athens, in which men of merit
are always being sought after, is he not at once appointed a general?' Ion
replies that he is a foreigner, and the Athenians and Spartans will not
appoint a foreigner to be their general. 'No, that is not the real reason;
there are many examples to the contrary. But Ion has long been playing
tricks with the argument; like Proteus, he transforms himself into a
variety of shapes, and is at last about to run away in the disguise of a
general. Would he rather be regarded as inspired or dishonest?' Ion, who
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