Read the passage carefully and answer the question: ‘Being value-centred is…
2020
Read the passage carefully and answer the question:
‘Being value-centred is important to the experience of fulfilment in my life’: Here the thought has the stamp of the core concept of ‘value-centred’ and ‘fulfilment’. This is good. However, it has yet not moved into creative imagination of how this can be made possible in reality. Thus, it runs the risk of becoming an opinion or simply, a nice thought. ‘A value-centred life is tough in today’s world’. This thought formation could arise from a past experience where life was made difficult by being value-centred. Also, there could be stories and imagined scenarios being created in the mind, ‘what if...’, ‘what if not...’, etc. This could be related to the comfort-seeking nature of the senses and a part of the vital life-force that wants to take the easy way out. If one’s core essential concept is fulfilment, these imaginary formations can be halted and the thought can be frozen. Now one can note that without the clarity that the core principle is ‘fulfilment’, this imagination will often be allowed to fashion and complete its formation. This in turn, will affect the quality of our life and the choices made then may not serve the ‘fulfillment’ value of the individual. The idea force can use its sanctioning power to move those thought formations that are aligned to the core concept of ‘value-centred living’ and fulfilment and make still or reject those thought formations that are fed by ‘fear’, ‘anxiety’, ‘desire for compromised quicker success’, etc. And if a value or ideal is not clear, it can reach back to the pure mind for further clarity’.
What is needed for self-fulfilment?
Answer: A. Focus on values — Concept: In a passage-based question that asks what a stated outcome requires, the answer is the condition the writer presents as enabling that outcome. A…
- A.
Focus on values
- B.
Stamping of the core concept
- C.
good thoughts
- D.
Experience in life
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept: In a passage-based question that asks what a stated outcome requires, the answer is the condition the writer presents as enabling that outcome. A phrase that the writer marks as a stage still short of realisation, or cites only as the origin of a doubt, belongs to the discussion around the requirement rather than to the requirement itself. The method has two steps:
Find the sentence that links a condition to the named outcome.
Test every other candidate phrase against the role the writer actually assigns it in the passage.
Application: The passage states the link in its opening line - 'Being value-centred is important to the experience of fulfilment in my life.' It then shows the same condition doing the work throughout: 'If one's core essential concept is fulfilment, these imaginary formations can be halted', and 'without the clarity that the core principle is fulfilment, this imagination will often be allowed to fashion and complete its formation.' Finally, the idea force uses its sanctioning power in favour of thought formations aligned to 'value-centred living' and fulfilment, and stills those fed by fear, anxiety or the desire for compromised quicker success. The condition the writer keeps returning to is keeping values at the centre - that is, a focus on values.
Contrast: How the writer uses the other phrases drawn from the passage:
Phrase from the passage | How the passage uses it |
|---|---|
'Stamping of the core concept' | The passage grants that such a thought 'has the stamp of the core concept' and calls this good, then immediately adds that it 'has yet not moved into creative imagination of how this can be made possible in reality' and so 'runs the risk of becoming an opinion or simply, a nice thought'. It is a starting stage the writer wants carried further. |
'good thoughts' | 'simply, a nice thought' is the writer's name for what a value-thought shrinks to when it is left at the level of an opinion; it is the outcome the passage warns against. |
'Experience in life' | A past experience of life being made difficult appears only as one possible origin of the thought 'A value-centred life is tough in today's world', which the passage treats as a formation to be halted. |
Answer: Focus on values.