| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: silver are highly valued by us, that is not the truth; for there is a
further object, whatever it may be, which we value most of all, and for the
sake of which gold and all our other possessions are acquired by us. Am I
not right?
Yes, certainly.
And may not the same be said of the friend? That which is only dear to us
for the sake of something else is improperly said to be dear, but the truly
dear is that in which all these so-called dear friendships terminate.
That, he said, appears to be true.
And the truly dear or ultimate principle of friendship is not for the sake
of any other or further dear.
Lysis |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: prime-minister, and, in spite of the poor man's kicks and
struggles, snatched him up and flew away with him swifter than
the wind. On and on he flew until he had come to the farthest
part of the desert, and there sat the king and Jacob Stuck still
thinking about things. Down he dropped the prime-minister, up he
picked the king and Jacob Stuck, and away he flew swifter than
the wind. On and on he flew until he had brought the two back to
the palace again; and there sat the princess waiting for them,
with the piece of blue crystal in her hand.
"You have saved us!" cried the king.
"You have saved us!" cried Jacob Stuck. "Yes, you have saved us,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: A SPORTSMAN who had wounded a Squirrel, which was making desperate
efforts to drag itself away, ran after it with a stick, exclaiming:
"Poor thing! I will put it out of its misery."
At that moment the Squirrels stopped from exhaustion, and looking
up at its enemy, said:
"I don't venture to doubt the sincerity of your compassion, though
it comes rather late, but you seem to lack the faculty of
observation. Do you not perceive by my actions that the dearest
wish of my heart is to continue in my misery?"
At this exposure of his hypocrisy, the Sportsman was so overcome
with shame and remorse that he would not strike the Squirrel, but
Fantastic Fables |
