| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: they were land or water herds, winged and wingless, mixing or not mixing
the breed, horned and hornless, so we may divide by these same differences
the 'tending' of herds, comprehending in our definition the kingship of to-
day and the rule of Cronos.
YOUNG SOCRATES: That is clear; but I still ask, what is to follow.
STRANGER: If the word had been 'managing' herds, instead of feeding or
rearing them, no one would have argued that there was no care of men in the
case of the politician, although it was justly contended, that there was no
human art of feeding them which was worthy of the name, or at least, if
there were, many a man had a prior and greater right to share in such an
art than any king.
Statesman |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: Entering my room, lighted strongly by a big bulkhead lamp swung on gimbals
above my writing desk, I did not see him anywhere till he stepped out quietly
from behind the coats hung in the recessed part.
"I heard somebody moving about, and went in there at once," he whispered.
I, too, spoke under my breath.
"Nobody is likely to come in here without knocking and getting permission."
He nodded. His face was thin and the sunburn faded, as though
he had been ill. And no wonder. He had been, I heard presently,
kept under arrest in his cabin for nearly seven weeks.
But there was nothing sickly in his eyes or in his expression.
He was not a bit like me, really; yet, as we stood leaning
The Secret Sharer |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: beast of a dog. No! It was the idea of--of doing away with myself
which was cowardly. That's what I meant by saying I am not a very
plucky girl."
"Oh!" I retorted airily. "That little dog. He isn't really a bad
little dog." But she lowered her eyelids and went on:
"I was so miserable that I could think only of myself. This was
mean. It was cruel too. And besides I had NOT given it up--not
then."
Marlow changed his tone.
"I don't know much of the psychology of self-destruction. It's a
sort of subject one has few opportunities to study closely. I knew
Chance |
