Excitement

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From Quiet (2012)

  makeup? I’ve been puzzling over these questions for my entire adult life. Fortunately, so have researchers at Harvard, where scientists are probing the human brain in an attempt to discover the biological origins of human temperament. One such scientist is an eighty-two-year-old man named Jerome Kagan, one of the great developmental psychologists of the twentieth century. Kagan devoted his career to studying the emotional and cognitive development of children. In a series of groundbreaking longitudinal studies, he followed children from infancy through adolescence, documenting their physiologies and personalities along the way. Longitudinal studies like these are time-consuming, expensive, and therefore rare—but when they pay off, as Kagan’s did, they pay off big. For one of those studies, launched in 1989 and still ongoing, Professor Kagan and his team gathered five hundred four-month-old infants in his Laboratory for Child Development at Harvard, predicting they’d be able to tell, on the strength of a forty-five-minute evaluation, which babies were more likely to turn into introverts or extroverts. If you’ve seen a four-month-old baby lately, this may seem an audacious claim. But Kagan had been studying temperament for a long time, and he had a theory. Kagan and his team exposed the four-month-olds to a carefully chosen set of new experiences. The infants heard tape-recorded voices and balloons popping, saw colorful mobiles dance before their eyes, and inhaled the scent of alcohol on cotton swabs. They had wildly varying reactions to the new stimuli. About 20 percent cried lustily and pumped their arms and legs. Kagan called this group “high-reactive.” About 40 percent stayed quiet and placid, moving their arms or legs occasionally, but without all the dramatic limb-pumping. This group Kagan called “low-reactive.” The remaining 40 percent fell between these two extremes. In a startlingly counterintuitive hypothesis, Kagan predicted that it was the infants in the high-reactive group—the lusty arm-pumpers—who were most likely to grow into quiet teenagers. When they were two, four, seven, and eleven years old, many of the children returned to Kagan’s lab for follow-up testing of their reactions to new people and events. At the age of two, the children met a lady wearing a gas mask and a lab coat, a man dressed in a clown costume, and a radio-controlled robot. At seven, they were asked to play with kids they’d never met before. At eleven, an unfamiliar adult interviewed them about their personal lives. Kagan’s team observed how the children reacted to these strange situations, noting their body

• From Introduction to the Hebrew Bible and Deutero-Canonical Books (2018)

  Isis recites her own accomplishments. These inscriptions, called “aretalogies” of Isis, are all in Greek and date from a time later than Ben Sira, but they probably reflect an older tradition. There is good evidence for Egyptian influence on the book of Proverbs, and it is likely that Ben Sira, too, was influenced by an Egyptian model at this point. The claims made by Wisdom are extraordinary. She came forth from the mouth of the Most High. That which comes forth from the mouth is either breath (spirit) or word. We are reminded of Genesis 1, where God creates the world by speaking. As we shall find in the Wisdom of Solomon, the Word (Greek Logos ) was a very important concept in Hellenistic philosophy. The statement that Wisdom came forth from the mouth of God lays the foundation for the identification of Wisdom with the Word or Logos. Again, the statement that Wisdom covered the earth like a mist recalls the Spirit of God hovering over the deep in Genesis 1 and suggests a close association between Wisdom and the Spirit. The statements in 24:4-5 are even more startling: “I dwelt in the highest heavens, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud. Alone I compassed the vault of heaven and traversed the depths of the abyss.” In the Hebrew Bible, only YHWH could make such claims. The pillar of cloud was famously associated with the divine presence at the exodus. In Sirach 24 the presence of God in the world is mediated by Wisdom. Wisdom held sway over all peoples and places (this was also one of the claims of Isis). But she sought a resting place. There may be an allusion here to a myth about Wisdom’s search for a home on earth. In the Similitudes of Enoch, an apocalypse from the first century C.E., we read: “Wisdom found no place where she could dwell, and her dwelling was in heaven. Wisdom went out in order to dwell among the sons of men but did not find a dwelling; wisdom returned to her place and took her seat in the midst of the angels” ( 1 En. 42:1-2). It is possible that 1 Enoch was responding to Ben Sira, but it is more likely that both texts drew on a common myth. In Ben Sira, however, Wisdom does not return to heaven in frustration. Instead, the Creator commands her to “make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheritance” (Sir 24:8). More specifically, we

• From The Canterbury Tales (2009)

  In the seventh year of his imprisonment - on 3 May, to be exact - the wheel turned for Palamon. That is the date given in the old books, at least, which are more to be trusted than I am. I have no skill at narration. Whether by fortune or by destiny - if there is any difference, actually - when something is meant to be it is meant to be - at least that is what I think. It was fated, anyway, that soon after midnight on 3 May Palamon escaped from his prison cell with the assistance of a friend. This is how he did it. He had given his gaoler a glass of sweet, spiced wine in which he had mingled some narcotics and the best Theban opium; they had the required effect, and the gaoler slept so soundly that no one could wake him. And so Palamon fled the city. Full speed ahead. Yet the spring night was short, and at break of day he decided to conceal himself in a neighbouring wood; he crept there, fearful of discovery. It was his plan to spend the rest of the day in hiding, shaded by the dark trees, and then to resume his flight to Thebes that night. Once he had arrived there, he planned to ask his friends to join him in making war upon Theseus. He would either die in combat or win Emily to be his wife. There was no third course. Now, if I may, I will turn back to Arcite. The poor man little knew what was in store for him. Fortune was his foe. Fortune set a trap. And we all know that an hour’s cold can suck out seven years of heat.

• From My Secret Garden (1973)

  Title : My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies Author: Friday, Nancy [image file=image_rsrc2S9.jpg] My Secret GardenNancy Friday Copyright My Secret Garden Copyright © 1973, 2001, 2013 by Nancy Friday Cover art, special contents, and electronic edition © 2013 by RosettaBooks LLC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Cover jacket design by Alexia Garaventa ISBN e-Pub edition: 9780795335396 FOR BILLY who believed in this book when it was just a fantasy N.F. ContentsINTRODUCTION: FORTY YEARS IN THE GARDEN 1. “TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT,” HE SAID. 2. “WHY FANTASIZE WHEN YOU HAVE ME?” FRUSTRATION: Madge, Dot INSUFFICIENCY: Louella, Irene, Annette, Maria SEX ENHANCEMENT: Patricia, Suzanne FOREPLAY: Bertha, Bellinda APPROVAL: Sally, Vicki, Francesca, Sondra EXPLORATION: Karen, Abbie, Hilda, Heather, Kitty SEXUAL INITIATIVE: Carol, Faye INSATIABILITY: Clarissa, Annabel, Iris, Nora DAYDREAMS: Corinne, Molly, Alicia, Lily, Eliza, Esther, Shirley, Lillian, Viola MASTURBATION: Patsy, Norma, Adair, Mary Beth, Elizabeth, Mary Jane, Amelia, Alix THE LESBIANS: Marion, Jeanne, Lisa, Zizi, Kate, Anna, Susan, Melanie 3. THE HOUSE OF FANTASY ROOM NUMBER ONE: Anonymity, or, “Taken by the Faceless Stranger” Linda, Pamela, Marie ROOM NUMBER TWO: The Audience Caroline, Elspeth, Mary Jo, Melanie, Celeste ROOM NUMBER THREE: Rape, or, “Don’t Just Stand There, Force Me!” Julietta, Gail, Dinah, Sadie ROOM NUMBER FOUR: Pain and Masochism, or, “Ouch, Don’t Stop!” Barbara, Edith, Rose Ann, Amanda ROOM NUMBER FIVE: Domination, or, “How Humiliating! Thank You.” Nathalie, Poppy, Heather, Ingrid ROOM NUMBER SIX: The Sexuality of Terror, or, “Help! I’m Out of Control, Thank God!” Johanna, Anne ROOM NUMBER SEVEN: The Thrill of the Forbidden, or, “No, You Must Not! …Here, Let Me Help You.” Emma, Donna ROOM NUMBER EIGHT: The Transformation Room, or, “Life Can Be Beautiful.” Monica, Betty, Phyllis ROOM NUMBER NINE: The Earth Mother Room Vivian, Marina ROOM NUMBER TEN: Incest Bella, Dominique, Lola ROOM NUMBER ELEVEN: The Zoo Jo, Rosie, Dawn, Wanda ROOM NUMBER TWELVE: Big Black Men Margie, Raquel, Lydia ROOM NUMBER THIRTEEN: Young Boys Evelyn, Victoria ROOM NUMBER FOURTEEN: The Fetishists Faith ROOM NUMBER FIFTEEN: Other Women Christine, Dolly, Bee, Venice, Lilly, Rita, Mary Beth, Viv, Lee, Willa, Dana, Cara, Celia, Theresa, Tania, Michelle, Sandra, Patty, Stella, Claire, Gwen, Rebecca ROOM NUMBER SIXTEEN: Prostitution, or, “Sadie Thompson Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” 4. “WHERE DID A NICE GIRL LIKE YOU GET AN IDEA LIKE THAT?” CHILDHOOD: Theda, Lindsay, Fiona, Felicia, Sonia, Phyllis, Marlene, Kay, Trudy, Mona, Stella SOUNDS: June, Nina, Meg, Holly, Evie WOMEN DO LOOK: Fay, Sukie, Constance, Deana, Anna, Vera, Una, Lois, Liz, Winona, Ruby, Gale, Imogene, Francine, April, Myrna, Laurie, Jeanie SEEING AND READING: Mary Jane, Miranda, Margaret, Alexandra, Stephanie RANDOM ASSOCIATIONS: Susie, Adrienne, Doris, Lulu, Daisy, Kit, Flossie, Josie, Brett, Sarah, Maud, Gelda 5. GUILT AND FANTASY, OR, “WHY THE FIG LEAF?” WOMEN’S GUILT:

• From The Decameron (1353)

  EIGHTH STORY The Count of Antwerp, being falsely accused, goes into exile and leaves his two children in different parts of England. Unknown to them, he returns from Ireland to find them comfortably placed. Then he serves as a groom in the army of the King of France, and having established his innocence, is restored to his former rank. The ladies heaved many a sigh over the fair lady’s several adventures: but who knows what their motives may have been? Perhaps some of them were sighing, not so much because they felt sorry for Alatiel, but because they longed to be married no less often than she was. However, leaving this question aside, when they had all finished laughing at Panfilo’s final words, from which the queen assumed his tale to be finished, she turned to Elissa and enjoined her to continue the proceedings with a story of her own. Being only too pleased to oblige, Elissa began as follows: The field through which we are roaming today is exceedingly broad, and it would be very easy for anyone to try his skill there, not only once but a dozen times, since Fortune has stocked it so abundantly with her marvels and afflictions. But to choose a single story from among the infinite number that could be narrated, I shall begin by telling you that when the Roman imperial authority 1 passed from French into German hands, the two nations became sworn enemies and made bitter and continuous war upon one another. Accordingly, in order to defend their own country and attack the other, the King of France and his son mobilized all their kingdom’s resources, including those of their friends and kinsfolk, and assembled a huge army to march against their enemies. But before proceeding any further, not wishing to leave their country ungoverned, and knowing that Walter, Count of Antwerp, was a noble, intelligent man and a most loyal friend and servant to their cause, and thinking, moreover, that although he was well skilled in the art of war, his talents would be even better employed in the subtleties of state government, they left him to rule over the whole of the kingdom of France as their viceroy, and went upon their way. And so it was that Walter settled down to the wise and orderly performance of his duties, always consulting the Queen and her daughter-in-law on all matters of importance, for although they had been left under his custody and jurisdiction, he treated them as far as possible with the same degree of deference that he would have displayed towards his rulers and superiors. This Walter was about forty years old, physically very handsome, and as agreeable and courteous a nobleman as you could ever imagine. Moreover, apart from being the most elegantly dressed, he was more refined and graceful in bearing than any other knight of his times.

• From The Arabian Nights: Their Best-known Tales (1909)

  "Sir," replied the princess, "it is as your majesty conjectures; and to let you know that this water has no communication with any spring, I must inform you that the basin is one entire stone, so that the water cannot come in at the sides or underneath. But what your majesty will think most wonderful is that all this water proceeded but from one small flagon, emptied into this basin, which increased to the quantity you see, by a property peculiar to itself, and formed this fountain." "Well," said the emperor, going from the fountain, "this is enough for one time. I promise myself the pleasure to come and visit it often; but now let us go and see the Talking Bird." As he went toward the hall, the emperor perceived a prodigious number of singing birds in the trees around, filling the air with their songs and warblings, and asked why there were so many there and none on the other trees in the garden. "The reason, sir," answered the princess, "is because they come from all parts to accompany the song of the Talking Bird, which your majesty may see in a cage in one of the windows of the hall we are approaching; and if you attend, you will perceive that his notes are sweeter than those of any of the other birds, even the nightingale's." The emperor went into the hall; and as the Bird continued singing, the princess raised her voice, and said, "My slave, here is the emperor, pay your compliments to him." The Bird left off singing that instant, when all the other birds ceased also, and said: "The emperor is welcome; God prosper him and prolong his life!" As the entertainment was served on the sofa near the window where the Bird was placed, the sultan replied, as he was taking his seat: "Bird, I thank you, and am overjoyed to find in you the sultan and king of birds."

• From The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones (2006)

  Sushi Samba, I was informed, was about to open a big, new store in the West Village, a two-hundred-seater with rooftop dining room. The idea of our trip was to flesh out and expand the Brazilian elements of the menu and design. We were going to eat "everyday" Brazilian food and investigate the markets, ingredients, lifestyle, and culture of the country. We were going to have a good time. Matty, I discovered on the first leg of the trip, has an enviable ability to sleep anywhere at any time. One minute conscious, the next? Dead to the world. The bastard slept all the way to Sao Paulo (and on every subsequent flight). I kidded him it was his police training. It took a nicotine patch, two sleeping pills, and a cocktail for me to get a brief, fitful nap, jammed upright in a center seat. I could hear Matty snoring, six rows away. Sao Paulo is big. It's the third-largest city in the world, with fifteen million people, many of them living in absolutely abject poverty. The rest seem to spend all their time in cars (the traffic is unbelievable). The largest industrial center in Latin America, Sao Paulo has skyscrapers, banks, public buildings, monuments, parks, and museums that are offset by mammoth shantytowns called favelas, acres of dirt-floored shacks built out of cardboard, planks, rags, and pilfered construction materials that occupy any open spaces where they are tolerated. The city, as Paulistas will cheerfully tell you, is for the most part ugly as hell: a polluted, run-down, visibly crumbling sprawl where a thriving ultrarich upper class "trickles down" little of its loot. Crime, the guidebooks assured me, is rampant, with an accent on muggings, home invasions, kidnapping, armed robbery, and pick-pocketing. According to the guidebooks, while in Brazil you will inevitably be robbed at knife point, be stabbed by murderous transvestite hookers, or have your jewelry snipped off by feral youths who live in the street and emerge from their lairs only to sniff glue and make off with your Rolex. Anticipating an aggressively larcenous populace and tropical climes, I arrived in Brazil with a ten-dollar watch bought at the airport, cutoffs, T-shirts, and sandals. Unfortunately, Sao Paulo, particularly in September, is cold. The throngs of knife-wielding miscreants never materialized. Nobody even looked at me crosseyed, anywhere in Brazil. But I was freezing my ass off.

• From Quiet (2012)

  The shy fish hovered judiciously at the edge of the pond, making it impossible for Wilson to catch them. On the other hand, after Wilson succeeded in trapping both types of fish with an elaborate netting system and carrying them back to his lab, the bold fish acclimated quickly to their new environment and started eating a full five days earlier than did their shy brethren. “There is no single best … [animal] personality,” writes Wilson, “but rather a diversity of personalities maintained by natural selection.” Another example of the trade-off theory of evolution is a species known as Trinidadian guppies. These guppies develop personalities—with astonishing speed, in evolutionary terms—to suit the microclimates in which they live. Their natural predators are pike. But some guppy neighborhoods, upstream of a waterfall for example, are pike-free. If you’re a guppy who grew up in such a charmed locale, then chances are you have a bold and carefree personality well suited to la dolce vita . In contrast, if your guppy family came from a “bad neighborhood” downstream from the waterfall, where pike cruise the waterways menacingly, then you probably have a much more circumspect style, just right for avoiding the bad guys. The interesting thing is that these differences are heritable, not learned, so that the offspring of bold guppies who move into bad neighborhoods inherit their parents’ boldness—even though this puts them at a severe disadvantage compared to their vigilant peers. It doesn’t take long for their genes to mutate, though, and descendants who manage to survive tend to be careful types. The same thing happens to vigilant guppies when the pike suddenly disappear; it takes about twenty years for their descendants to evolve into fish who act as if they haven’t a care in the world. The trade-off theory seems to apply equally to humans. Scientists have found that nomads who inherited the form of a particular gene linked to extroversion (specifically, to novelty-seeking) are better nourished than those without this version of the gene. But in settled populations, people with this same gene form have poorer nutrition. The same traits that make a nomad fierce enough to hunt and to defend livestock against raiders may hinder more sedentary activities like farming, selling goods at the market, or focusing at school. Or consider this trade-off: human extroverts have more sex partners than introverts do—a boon to any species wanting to reproduce itself—but they commit more adultery and divorce more frequently, which is not a good thing for the children of all those couplings. Extroverts exercise more, but introverts suffer fewer accidents and traumatic injuries. Extroverts enjoy wider networks of social support, but commit more crimes.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  General Works.—*Franz Pfeiffer: Deutsche Mystiker, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1857, 2d ed of vol. I., Göttingen, 1906.—*R. Langenberg: Quellen und Forschungen zur Gesch. der deutschen Mystik, Bonn, 1902.—F. Galle: Geistliche Stimmen aus dem M. A., zur Erbauung, Halle, 1841.—Mrs. F. Bevan: Three Friends of God, Trees planted by the River, London.—*W. R. Inge: Light, Life and Love, London, 1904. Selections from Eckart, Tauler, Suso, Ruysbroeck, etc.—The works given under Eckart, etc., in the succeeding sections. R. A. Vaughan: Hours with the Mystics. For a long time the chief English authority, offensive by the dialogue style it pursues, and now superseded.—W. Preger: Gesch. der deutschen Mystik im Mittelalter, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1874–1893.—G. Ullmann: Reformatoren vor der Reformation, vol. II., Hamburg, 1841.—*Inge: Christian Mysticism. pp. 148 sqq., London, 1899. — Eleanor C. Gregory: An Introd. to Christ. Mysticism, London, 1901.—W. R. Nicoll: The Garden of Nuts, London, 1905. The first four chapp. give a general treatment of mysticism.—P. Mehlhorn: D. Blüthezeit d. deutschen Mystik, Freiburg, 1907, pp. 64.—*S. M. Deutsch: Mystische Theol. in Herzog, XIX. 631 sqq.—Cruel: Gesch. d. deutschen Predigt im M. A., pp. 370–414. A. Ritschl: Gesch. d. Pietismus, 3 vols., Bonn, 1880–1886.—Harnack: Dogmengesch., III. 376 sqq.—Loofs: Dogmengesch., 4th ed., Halle, 1906, pp. 621–633.—W. James: The Varieties of Relig. Experience, chs. XVI., XVII. For § 29. Meister Eckart.—German Sermons bound in a vol. with Tauler’s Sermons, Leipzig, 1498, Basel, 1521.—Pfeiffer: Deutsche Mystiker, etc., vol. II., gives 110 German sermons, 18 tracts, and 60 fragments.—*Denifle: M. Eckehart’s Lateinische Schriften und die Grundanschauung seiner Lehre, in Archiv für Lit. und Kirchengesch., II. 416–652. Gives excerpts from his Latin writings.—F. Jostes: M. Eckehart und seine Jünger, ungedruckte Texte zur Gesch. der deutschen Mystik, Freiburg, 1895.—*H. Büttner: M. Eckehart’s Schriften und Predigten aus dem Mittelhochdeutschen übersetzt, Leipzig, 1903. Gives 18 German sermons and writings.—G. Landauer: Eckhart’s mystische Schriften in unsere Sprache übertragen, Berlin, 1903.—H. Martensen: M. Eckart, Hamburg, 1842.—A. Lasson: M. E. der Mystiker, Berlin, 1868. Also the section on Eckart by Lasson in Ueberweg’s Hist. of Phil.—A. Jundt: Essai sur le mysticisme spéculatif d. M. E., Strassburg, 1871; also Hist. du pathéisme populaire au moyen âge, 1876. Gives 18 of Eckart’s sermons. Preger, I. 309–458.—H. Delacroix: Le mysticisme spéculatif en Allemagne au 14e siècle, Paris, 1900.—Deutsch’s art. Eckart in Herzog, V. 142–154.—Denifle: Die Heimath M. Eckehart’s in Archiv für Lit. und K. Gesch. des M. A., V. 349–364, 1889.—Stöckl: Gesch. der Phil., etc., III. 1095–1120.—Pfleiderer: Religionsphilosophie, Berlin, 2d ed., 1883, p. 3 sqq.—INGE.—L. Ziegler: D. Phil. und relig. Bedeutung d. M. Eckehart in Preuss. Jahrbücher, Heft 3, 1904.—See a trans. of Eckart’s sermon on John 6:44, by D. S. Schaff, in Homiletic Rev., 1902, pp. 428–431

• From Chasing Beauty

  In 1873, they paid $650 for Sheep in the Shelter of the Oaks, a small oil painting by Charles-Émile Jacque, at the Boston art gallery Doll and Richards, one of the early purchases she would later include at Fenway Court . It would be several seasons before they traveled, but when they did, it would be a long journey to the other side of the world, one that would propel Isabella into her future.