| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: anything
wrong or foolish? You know the falsehood of that old proverb
about
wild oats."
He threw back his head and laughed. "Yes, mother," he answered,
"I know it well enough. But in California, you know, the wild
oats are
one of the most valuable crops. They grow all over the hillsides
and
keep the cattle and the horses alive. But that wasn't what I
meant--to sow
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: gift of reason can ever be obliterated or lost. In the language of some
modern theologians he might be said to maintain the 'final perseverance' of
those who have entered on their pilgrim's progress. Other intimations of a
'metaphysic' or 'theology' of the future may also be discerned in him: (1)
The moderate predestinarianism which here, as in the Republic, acknowledges
the element of chance in human life, and yet asserts the freedom and
responsibility of man; (2) The recognition of a moral as well as an
intellectual principle in man under the image of an immortal steed; (3) The
notion that the divine nature exists by the contemplation of ideas of
virtue and justice--or, in other words, the assertion of the essentially
moral nature of God; (4) Again, there is the hint that human life is a life
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: certainly gone the right way about it."
He wondered what Mrs. Welland would have said if
he had uttered the words instead of merely thinking
them. He could picture the sudden decomposure of her
firm placid features, to which a lifelong mastery over
trifles had given an air of factitious authority. Traces
still lingered on them of a fresh beauty like her daughter's;
and he asked himself if May's face was doomed
to thicken into the same middle-aged image of invincible
innocence.
Ah, no, he did not want May to have that kind of
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