| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: who have the worst sort of ignorance of the highest truths--I mean to say,
that they are wholly unaquainted with politics, of which, above all other
sciences, they believe themselves to have acquired the most perfect
knowledge.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true.
STRANGER: Then the question arises:--which of these untrue forms of
government is the least oppressive to their subjects, though they are all
oppressive; and which is the worst of them? Here is a consideration which
is beside our present purpose, and yet having regard to the whole it seems
to influence all our actions: we must examine it.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, we must.
Statesman |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Human Drift by Jack London: In the meantime I was learning--I shall not say to tool a four-in-
hand--but just simply to drive four horses. Now it is all right
enough to begin with four work-horses pulling a load of several
tons. But to begin with four light horses, all running, and a
light rig that seems to outrun them--well, when things happen they
happen quickly. My weakness was total ignorance. In particular,
my fingers lacked training, and I made the mistake of depending on
my eyes to handle the reins. This brought me up against a
disastrous optical illusion. The bight of the off head-line,
being longer and heavier than that of the off wheel-line, hung
lower. In a moment requiring quick action, I invariably mistook
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne: we reject the whole moral of the show.
The monkey, meanwhile, with a thick tail curling out into
preposterous prolixity from beneath his tartans, took his station
at the Italian's feet. He turned a wrinkled and abominable little
visage to every passer-by, and to the circle of children that soon
gathered round, and to Hepzibah's shop-door, and upward to the
arched window, whence Phoebe and Clifford were looking down.
Every moment, also, he took off his Highland bonnet, and performed
a bow and scrape. Sometimes, moreover, he made personal application
to individuals, holding out his small black palm, and otherwise
plainly signifying his excessive desire for whatever filthy
House of Seven Gables |
