| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: For somehow or other our arguments, on whatever ground we rest them, seem
to turn round and walk away from us.
SOCRATES: Your words, Euthyphro, are like the handiwork of my ancestor
Daedalus; and if I were the sayer or propounder of them, you might say that
my arguments walk away and will not remain fixed where they are placed
because I am a descendant of his. But now, since these notions are your
own, you must find some other gibe, for they certainly, as you yourself
allow, show an inclination to be on the move.
EUTHYPHRO: Nay, Socrates, I shall still say that you are the Daedalus who
sets arguments in motion; not I, certainly, but you make them move or go
round, for they would never have stirred, as far as I am concerned.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: every fibre cried out for companionship in this night of
his greatest terror; but he would have let the invisible
minstrel pass had not Fate ordained to light the scene
at that particular instant with a prolonged flare of
sheet lightning, revealing the two wayfarers to one an-
other.
The youth saw a slight though well built man in
ragged clothes and disreputable soft hat. The image was
photographed upon his brain for life--the honest, laugh-
ing eyes, the well moulded features harmonizing so well
with the voice, and the impossible garments which
The Oakdale Affair |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: the bloodthirsty little gingery beggar. And he had nearly
fainted when he saw the wounded man! I could not help saying,
`You made a glorious lot of smoke, anyhow.' I had seen,
from the way the tops of the bushes rustled and flew,
that almost all the shots had gone too high. You can't hit
anything unless you take aim and fire from the shoulder;
but these chaps fired from the hip with their eyes shut.
The retreat, I maintained--and I was right--was caused by the
screeching of the steam whistle. Upon this they forgot Kurtz,
and began to howl at me with indignant protests.
"The manager stood by the wheel murmuring confidentially about
Heart of Darkness |
