work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
5705,Mind's Eye,Searching in ECCO,2006-10-13 00:00:00 UTC,"According to Mr. Locke, the soul is a mere rasa tabula, an empty recipient, a mechanical blank. According to Plato, she is an ever-written tablet, a plenitude of forms, a vital and intellectual energy. On the former system, she is on a level with the most degraded natures, the receptacle of material species, and the spectator of delusion and non-entity. Hence, her energies are nothing but somnolent perceptions, and encumbered cogitations; of all her knowledge terminated in sense, and her science in passion. Like a man between sleeping and waking, her visions are turbid and confused, and the phantoms of a material night, continually glide before her drowsy eye. But on the latter system, the soul is the connecting medium of an intelligible and sensible nature, the bright repository of all middle forms, and the vigilant eye of all cogitative reasons. Hence she is capable of rousing herself from the sleep of a corporeal life, and emerging from this dark Cimmerian land, into the regions of light and reality. At first, indeed, before she is excited by science, she is oppressed with lethargy, and clouded with oblivion; but in proportion as learning and enquiry stimulate her dormant powers, she wakens from the dreams of ignorance, and opens her eye to the irradiations of wis- [end page xxxi] dom. On Mr. Locke's system, the principles of science and sense are the same, for the energies of both originate from material forms, on which they are continually employed. Hence, science is subject to the flowing and perishable nature of particulars; and if body and its attributes were destroyed, would be nothing but a name. But on the system of Plato, they differ as much as delusions and reality; for here the vital, permanent, and lucid nature of ideas is the fountain of science; and the inert, unstable, and obscure nature of sensible objects, the source of sensation. On Mr. Locke's system, body may be modified into thought, and become an intelligent creature; it may be subtilized into life, and shrink, by its exility, into intellect. On that of Plato, body can never alter its nature by modification, however, it may be rarefied and refined, varied by the transposition of its part, or tortured by the hand of experiment. In short, the two systems may be aptly represented by the two sections of a line, in Plato's Republic. In the ancient, you have truth itself, and whatever participates of the brightest evidence and reality: in the modern, ignorance, and whatever belongs to obscurity and shadow. The former fills the soul with intelligible light, breaks her lethargic fetters, and elevates her to the principle of things; the latter clouds the intellectual eye of the soul, by increasing her oblivion, strengthens her corporeal bands, and hurries her downwards into the dark labyrinths of matter.
(pp. xxxi-xxxii)",,15223,•Taylor seems like quite a character. See ODNB.
•I've included twice: Eye and Light,"""At first, indeed, before she is excited by science, she is oppressed with lethargy, and clouded with oblivion; but in proportion as learning and enquiry stimulate her dormant powers, she wakens from the dreams of ignorance, and opens her eye to the irradiations of wisdom""","",2009-09-14 19:43:04 UTC,""
5705,"",Searching in ECCO,2006-10-13 00:00:00 UTC,"According to Mr. Locke, the soul is a mere rasa tabula, an empty recipient, a mechanical blank. According to Plato, she is an ever-written tablet, a plenitude of forms, a vital and intellectual energy. On the former system, she is on a level with the most degraded natures, the receptacle of material species, and the spectator of delusion and non-entity. Hence, her energies are nothing but somnolent perceptions, and encumbered cogitations; of all her knowledge terminated in sense, and her science in passion. Like a man between sleeping and waking, her visions are turbid and confused, and the phantoms of a material night, continually glide before her drowsy eye. But on the latter system, the soul is the connecting medium of an intelligible and sensible nature, the bright repository of all middle forms, and the vigilant eye of all cogitative reasons. Hence she is capable of rousing herself from the sleep of a corporeal life, and emerging from this dark Cimmerian land, into the regions of light and reality. At first, indeed, before she is excited by science, she is oppressed with lethargy, and clouded with oblivion; but in proportion as learning and enquiry stimulate her dormant powers, she wakens from the dreams of ignorance, and opens her eye to the irradiations of wis- [end page xxxi] dom. On Mr. Locke's system, the principles of science and sense are the same, for the energies of both originate from material forms, on which they are continually employed. Hence, science is subject to the flowing and perishable nature of particulars; and if body and its attributes were destroyed, would be nothing but a name. But on the system of Plato, they differ as much as delusions and reality; for here the vital, permanent, and lucid nature of ideas is the fountain of science; and the inert, unstable, and obscure nature of sensible objects, the source of sensation. On Mr. Locke's system, body may be modified into thought, and become an intelligent creature; it may be subtilized into life, and shrink, by its exility, into intellect. On that of Plato, body can never alter its nature by modification, however, it may be rarefied and refined, varied by the transposition of its part, or tortured by the hand of experiment. In short, the two systems may be aptly represented by the two sections of a line, in Plato's Republic. In the ancient, you have truth itself, and whatever participates of the brightest evidence and reality: in the modern, ignorance, and whatever belongs to obscurity and shadow. The former fills the soul with intelligible light, breaks her lethargic fetters, and elevates her to the principle of things; the latter clouds the intellectual eye of the soul, by increasing her oblivion, strengthens her corporeal bands, and hurries her downwards into the dark labyrinths of matter.
(pp. xxxi-xxxii)",2011-06-26,15226,"•Taylor seems like quite a character. See ODNB.
•I've included four times: Light, Fetters, Eye, Bands","""The former [Platonic philosophy] fills the soul with intelligible light, breaks her lethargic fetters, and elevates her to the principle of things; the latter [Lockean philosophy] clouds the intellectual eye of the soul, by increasing her oblivion, strengthens her corporeal bands, and hurries her downwards into the dark labyrinths of matter.""",Fetters,2011-05-27 14:11:28 UTC,""
5783,"",Searching HDIS ,2004-10-14 00:00:00 UTC,"SPIEGELBERG
(Warmly.)
Yes, jealous of me--madly jealous you, and all of you.--I will invent such plans as shall confound every one of you.--How the light breaks in!--What great ideas dawn upon my mind --What giant-projects formed in this creative brain?--Curs'd lethargy of the soul!
(Striking his head.)
that chain'd my better judgement, cramp'd all my strength of mind--ruin'd all my prospects-- I am now awake--I feel what I am, what I must yet be.--Go leave me--you shall all be indebted to my bounty for your support!",,15429,"",Light may break in and great ideas may dawn upon the mind,"",2009-09-14 19:43:37 UTC,"Act I, scene i"
5934,"",Searching in HDIS,2004-11-15 00:00:00 UTC,"HIGH-PRIEST
(With mild solemnity)
We, the servants of the gods, appointed to execute their holy will, are here assembled to pass judgment upon Cora the daughter of Telasco, and Alonzo the stranger.--Oh thou, our Father above, who surveyest the whole world with one glance, diffuse thy light into our hearts!--thou hast appointed us judges over honour and shame, over life and death!--let thy wisdom then enlighten our minds that no partiality may bias them, that they may alike be free from weakness and revenge.
(He kneels, accompanied by all the other Priests.)
We swear, oh sun, to judge according to thy laws communicated by Manco-Capac. --We swear to shew mercy, if the profanation of thy temple will permit mercy to be shewn--or if strict justice be required, to exact strict justice!--We swear, finally, so to conduct ourselves, that should we be called into thy presence to-morrow, we may not be ashamed of rendering a faithful account of this awful hour!",,15767,"","""Oh thou, our Father above, who surveyest the whole world with one glance, diffuse thy light into our hearts!""","",2021-02-04 22:26:42 UTC,"Act IV, scene viii"
6749,"",Contributed by PC Fleming,2010-07-16 21:45:19 UTC,"[...] As nothing escaped her attention that could affect the success of her cares, she soon perceived the insufficiency of the usual means to attain the end she purposed. She discovered in her young pupil an unconquerable aversion to those books which are commonly put into the hands of children, and a peculiar inclination to converse with a mother whom she considered as a friend. This was a ray of intelligence which pointed out to the discerning parent the path prescribed by nature. She then threw aside such books, as fatigued without improving the understanding of her child, and composed these conversations, in which her daughter found the most useful lessons, while she only sought gratification of a curiosity natural to her age. (Vol. I, pages viii-ix)",,17964,"","""This was a ray of intelligence which pointed out to the discerning parent the path prescribed by nature.""","",2013-06-14 04:26:26 UTC,From the translator's preface.