| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Republic by Plato: he has no notion of good or evil apart from the law of his country or the
creed of his church. And to this type he is constantly tending to revert,
whenever the influence of custom, or of party spirit, or the recollection
of the past becomes too strong for him.
Thirdly, we may observe the confusion or identification of the individual
and the State, of ethics and politics, which pervades early Greek
speculation, and even in modern times retains a certain degree of
influence. The subtle difference between the collective and individual
action of mankind seems to have escaped early thinkers, and we too are
sometimes in danger of forgetting the conditions of united human action,
whenever we either elevate politics into ethics, or lower ethics to the
The Republic |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: 74
"What don't you understand?" asked the Scarecrow.
"Why, I don't understand your language. You see, I came from the Country of
the Gillikins, so that I am a foreigner."
"Ah, to be sure!" exclaimed the Scarecrow. "I myself speak the language of
the Munchkins, which is also the language of the Emerald City. But you, I
suppose, speak the language of the Pumpkinheads?"
"Exactly so, your Majesty" replied the other, bowing; "so it will be
impossible for us to understand one another."
"That is unfortunate, certainly," said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "We must
have an interpreter."
The Marvelous Land of Oz |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: Georges d'Estouteville asked permission to dress himself. On a sign
from their chief, the men put on his clothing with the clever rapidity
of a nurse who profits by the momentary tranquillity of her nursling.
An immense crowd cumbered the rue du Murier. The growls of the
populace kept increasing, and seemed the precursors of a riot. From
early morning the news of the robbery had spread through the town. On
all sides the "apprentice," said to be young and handsome, had
awakened public sympathy, and revived the hatred felt against
Cornelius; so that there was not a young man in the town, nor a young
woman with a fresh face and pretty feet to exhibit, who was not
determined to see the victim. When Georges issued from the house, led
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