| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: army; opportunism and flexibility, on the other hand, are
military rather than civil virtues to assimilate the governing of
an army"--to that of a State, understood.]
15. (3) By employing the officers of his army without
discrimination,
[That is, he is not careful to use the right man in the
right place.]
through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to
circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers.
[I follow Mei Yao-ch`en here. The other commentators refer
not to the ruler, as in SS. 13, 14, but to the officers he
The Art of War |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: the false persuasion that we can pretend to be justified by them,
they lay on us the yoke of necessity, and extinguish liberty
along with faith, and by this very addition to their use they
become no longer good, but really worthy of condemnation. For
such works are not free, but blaspheme the grace of God, to which
alone it belongs to justify and save through faith. Works cannot
accomplish this, and yet, with impious presumption, through our
folly, they take it on themselves to do so; and thus break in
with violence upon the office and glory of grace.
We do not then reject good works; nay, we embrace them and teach
them in the highest degree. It is not on their own account that
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Memories and Portraits by Robert Louis Stevenson: inconclusive in themselves, and yet seem like the beginning of some
quaint romance, which the all-careless author leaves untold. How
many of these romances have we not seen determine at their birth;
how many people have met us with a look of meaning in their eye,
and sunk at once into trivial acquaintances; to how many places
have we not drawn near, with express intimations - "here my destiny
awaits me" - and we have but dined there and passed on! I have
lived both at the Hawes and Burford in a perpetual flutter, on the
heels, as it seemed, of some adventure that should justify the
place; but though the feeling had me to bed at night and called me
again at morning in one unbroken round of pleasure and suspense,
|
