| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: intended to journey?"
"And that, honest comrade," answered Dalgetty, "is precisely the
question which I cannot answer you. Truly I begin to hold the
opinion, Ranald, that we had better have stuck by the brown loaf
and water-pitcher until Sir Duncan arrived, who, for his own
honour, must have made some fight for me."
"Saxon," answered MacEagh, "do not regret having exchanged the
foul breath of yonder dungeon for the free air of heaven. Above
all, repent not that you have served a Son of the Mist. Put
yourself under my guidance, and I will warrant your safety with
my head."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: the unjust, good of evil.
Thus we arrive at the conclusion that like is not the friend of like, nor
unlike of unlike; and therefore good is not the friend of good, nor evil of
evil, nor good of evil, nor evil of good. What remains but that the
indifferent, which is neither good nor evil, should be the friend (not of
the indifferent, for that would be 'like the friend of like,' but) of the
good, or rather of the beautiful?
But why should the indifferent have this attachment to the beautiful or
good? There are circumstances under which such an attachment would be
natural. Suppose the indifferent, say the human body, to be desirous of
getting rid of some evil, such as disease, which is not essential but only
 Lysis |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: persons, or have in your possession their wives and children as
hostages for their fidelity. Never communicate anything to them
but what is absolutely necessary that they should know. [2] ]
15. Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain
intuitive sagacity.
[Mei Yao-ch`en says: "In order to use them, one must know
fact from falsehood, and be able to discriminate between honesty
and double-dealing." Wang Hsi in a different interpretation
thinks more along the lines of "intuitive perception" and
"practical intelligence." Tu Mu strangely refers these
attributes to the spies themselves: "Before using spies we must
 The Art of War |