| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: Platonic dialogue, we must not forget that the form of the Platonic writing
was common to several of his contemporaries. Aeschines, Euclid, Phaedo,
Antisthenes, and in the next generation Aristotle, are all said to have
composed dialogues; and mistakes of names are very likely to have occurred.
Greek literature in the third century before Christ was almost as
voluminous as our own, and without the safeguards of regular publication,
or printing, or binding, or even of distinct titles. An unknown writing
was naturally attributed to a known writer whose works bore the same
character; and the name once appended easily obtained authority. A
tendency may also be observed to blend the works and opinions of the master
with those of his scholars. To a later Platonist, the difference between
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: "daughter" and "Hong Kong," cast his eyes down, and sighed.
His moustache, sticking all ways out, as of yore, was quite white
now. His old cheeks were softly rounded, with some colour in them;
strangely enough, that something childlike always noticeable in the
general contour of his physiognomy had become much more marked.
Like his handwriting, he looked childish and senile. He showed his
age most in his unintelligently furrowed, anxious forehead and in
his round, innocent eyes, which appeared to me weak and blinking
and watery; or was it that they were full of tears? . . .
To discover old Nelson fully informed upon any matter whatever was
a new experience. And after the first awkwardness had worn off he
'Twixt Land & Sea |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum: give me one. If he does, I will go back to the Munchkin maiden
and marry her."
Both Dorothy and the Scarecrow had been greatly interested
in the story of the Tin Woodman, and now they knew why he was so
anxious to get a new heart.
"All the same," said the Scarecrow, "I shall ask for brains
instead of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a
heart if he had one."
"I shall take the heart," returned the Tin Woodman; "for
brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing
in the world."
The Wizard of Oz |
