| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: one in which precipitancy and anticipation in judgment were most to be
dreaded, I thought that I ought not to approach it till I had reached a
more mature age (being at that time but twenty-three), and had first of
all employed much of my time in preparation for the work, as well by
eradicating from my mind all the erroneous opinions I had up to that
moment accepted, as by amassing variety of experience to afford materials
for my reasonings, and by continually exercising myself in my chosen
method with a view to increased skill in its application.
PART III
And finally, as it is not enough, before commencing to rebuild the house
in which we live, that it be pulled down, and materials and builders
Reason Discourse |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: fettered as with bands of iron.
Clara. To me it does not appear invincible. Let us not lose time in idle
words. Here comes some of our old, honest, valiant burghers! Hark ye,
friends! Neighbours! Hark! --Say, how fares it with Egmont?
Carpenter. What does the girl want? Tell her to hold her peace.
Clara. Step nearer, that we may speak low, till we are united and more
strong. Not a moment is to be lost! Audacious tyranny, that dared to fetter
him, already lifts the dagger against his life. Oh, my friends! With the
advancing twilight my anxiety grows more intense. I dread this night.
Come! Let us disperse; let us hasten from quarter to quarter, and call out
the burghers. Let every one grasp his ancient weapons. In the market-place
Egmont |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: miracle, or that a real miracle could of itself have had any
effect in inducing him to depart from his habitual course of
belief and action. As far as Paul's mental operations were
concerned, it could have made no difference whether he met with
his future Master in person, or merely encountered him in a
vision. The sole point to be considered is whether or not he
BELIEVED in the Divine character and authority of the event which
had happened. What the event might have really been was of no
practical consequence to him or to any one else. What he believed
it to be was of the first importance. And since he did believe
that he had been divinely summoned to cease persecuting, and
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
