| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from House of Mirth by Edith Wharton: she was fortified by an unexpected visit from George Dorset.
She found him, on the first Sunday after her return to town,
pacing her narrow sitting-room to the imminent peril of the few
knick-knacks with which she had tried to disguise its plush
exuberances; but the sight of her seemed to quiet him, and he
said meekly that he hadn't come to bother her--that he asked
only to be allowed to sit for half an hour and talk of anything
she liked. In reality, as she knew, he had but one subject:
himself and his wretchedness; and it was the need of her sympathy
that had drawn him back. But he began with a pretence of
questioning her about herself, and as she replied, she saw that,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Philebus by Plato: pleasure are reduced. For is there not also an absurdity in affirming that
good is of the soul only; or in declaring that the best of men, if he be in
pain, is bad?
And now, from the consideration of pleasure, we pass to that of knowledge.
Let us reflect that there are two kinds of knowledge--the one creative or
productive, and the other educational and philosophical. Of the creative
arts, there is one part purer or more akin to knowledge than the other.
There is an element of guess-work and an element of number and measure in
them. In music, for example, especially in flute-playing, the conjectural
element prevails; while in carpentering there is more application of rule
and measure. Of the creative arts, then, we may make two classes--the less
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: journey."
"How so?" asked Frenhofer, surprised.
"Young Poussin is beloved by a woman whose incomparable beauty is
without imperfection. But, my dear master, if he consents to lend her
to you, at least you must let us see your picture."
The old man remained standing, motionless, in a state bordering on
stupefaction. "What!" he at last exclaimed, mournfully. "Show my
creature, my spouse?--tear off the veil with which I have chastely
hidden my joy? It would be prostitution! For ten years I have lived
with this woman; she is mine, mine alone! she loves me! Has she not
smiled upon me as, touch by touch, I painted her? She has a soul,--the
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