| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Laches by Plato: I would like him to say what is the nature of this knowledge or wisdom.
NICIAS: I mean to say, Laches, that courage is the knowledge of that which
inspires fear or confidence in war, or in anything.
LACHES: How strangely he is talking, Socrates.
SOCRATES: Why do you say so, Laches?
LACHES: Why, surely courage is one thing, and wisdom another.
SOCRATES: That is just what Nicias denies.
LACHES: Yes, that is what he denies; but he is so silly.
SOCRATES: Suppose that we instruct instead of abusing him?
NICIAS: Laches does not want to instruct me, Socrates; but having been
proved to be talking nonsense himself, he wants to prove that I have been
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: Simonne and Prulliere did not move. Four or five pictures--a
landscape, a portrait of the actor Vernet--hung yellowing in the hot
glare of the gas, and a bust of Potier, one of the bygone glories of
the Varietes, stood gazing vacant-eyed from its pedestal. But just
then there was a burst of voices outside. It was Fontan, dressed
for the second act. He was a young dandy, and his habiliments, even
to his gloves, were entirely yellow.
"Now say you don't know!" he shouted, gesticulating. "Today's my
patron saint's day!"
"What?" asked Simonne, coming up smilingly, as though attracted by
the huge nose and the vast, comic mouth of the man. "D'you answer
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Koran: And if their turning from thee be hard for thee, and if thou canst
seek for a shaft down into the earth, or a ladder up into the sky,
to bring them a sign- but if God pleased He would bring them all to
guidance, be thou not then of the ignorant.
He only answers the prayer of those who listen; but the dead will
God raise up, then unto Him shall they return. They say, 'Unless there
be sent down some sign from his Lord'- say, 'Verily, God is able to
send down a sign, but most of them do not know.'
There is not a beast upon the earth nor a bird that flies with
both its wings, but is a nation like to you; we have omitted nothing
from the Book; then to their Lord shall they be gathered. Those who
The Koran |
