| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Death of the Lion by Henry James: meeting more disinterested people may enlighten him as to my real
motive. All the disinterested people here are his particular
admirers and have been carefully selected as such. There's
supposed to be a copy of his last book in the house, and in the
hall I come upon ladies, in attitudes, bending gracefully over the
first volume. I discreetly avert my eyes, and when I next look
round the precarious joy has been superseded by the book of life.
There's a sociable circle or a confidential couple, and the
relinquished volume lies open on its face and as dropped under
extreme coercion. Somebody else presently finds it and transfers
it, with its air of momentary desolation, to another piece of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Anthem by Ayn Rand: while their body swayed. And they could
not speak.
We dared not come too close to them.
We asked, and our voice trembled:
"How did you come to be here, Golden One?"
But they whispered only:
"We have found you. . . ."
"How did you come to be in the forest?"
we asked.
They raised their head, and there was a
great pride in their voice; they answered:
Anthem |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: Yes.
Then, as would seem, in doing good, he may act wisely or temperately, and
be wise or temperate, but not know his own wisdom or temperance?
But that, Socrates, he said, is impossible; and therefore if this is, as
you imply, the necessary consequence of any of my previous admissions, I
will withdraw them, rather than admit that a man can be temperate or wise
who does not know himself; and I am not ashamed to confess that I was in
error. For self-knowledge would certainly be maintained by me to be the
very essence of knowledge, and in this I agree with him who dedicated the
inscription, 'Know thyself!' at Delphi. That word, if I am not mistaken,
is put there as a sort of salutation which the god addresses to those who
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