| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: seems to the stranger a peculiar appropriateness in so strong a
family likeness of mind. An idea of how little one man's brain
differs from his neighbor's may be gathered from the fact, that
while a common coolie in Japan spends his spare time in playing a
chess twice as complicated as ours, the most advanced philosopher
is still on the blissfully ignorant side of the pons asinorum.
We find, then, that in all three points the Far East fulfils what
our theory demanded.
There is one more consideration worthy of notice. We said that the
environment had not been the deus ex materia in the matter; but that
the soul itself possessed the germ of its own evolution. This fact
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Princess of Parms by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the moss-like vegetation within our court yard.
"By kindness," I replied. "You see, Tars Tarkas, the softer
sentiments have their value, even to a warrior. In the height
of battle as well as upon the march I know that my thoats
will obey my every command, and therefore my fighting
efficiency is enhanced, and I am a better warrior for the
reason that I am a kind master. Your other warriors would find
it to the advantage of themselves as well as of the community
to adopt my methods in this respect. Only a few days since you,
yourself, told me that these great brutes, by the uncertainty
of their tempers, often were the means of turning victory
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: fly with. But I confess there is need of prolonged discipline and
frequently repeated meditation to accustom the mind to view all objects in
this light; and I believe that in this chiefly consisted the secret of the
power of such philosophers as in former times were enabled to rise
superior to the influence of fortune, and, amid suffering and poverty,
enjoy a happiness which their gods might have envied. For, occupied
incessantly with the consideration of the limits prescribed to their power
by nature, they became so entirely convinced that nothing was at their
disposal except their own thoughts, that this conviction was of itself
sufficient to prevent their entertaining any desire of other objects; and
over their thoughts they acquired a sway so absolute, that they had some
Reason Discourse |
