The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: He nods his consent.
Scarcely has he lifted his head again before a ball of fire has
bounded over the waves and lighted on board our raft. Mast and sail
flew up in an instant together, and I saw them carried up to
prodigious height, resembling in appearance a pterodactyle, one of
those strong birds of the infant world.
We lay there, our blood running cold with unspeakable terror. The
fireball, half of it white, half azure blue, and the size of a
ten-inch shell, moved slowly about the raft, but revolving on its own
axis with astonishing velocity, as if whipped round by the force of
the whirlwind. Here it comes, there it glides, now it is up the
 Journey to the Center of the Earth |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: wringing from Nature her jealously guarded
secrets, the knowledge of which benefits all
mankind, he gravely follows that perennial
Will-of-the-wisp, spiritism, and lays the
flattering unction to his soul that he is investigating
``psychic phenomena,'' when in reality he
is merely gazing with unseeing eyes on the
flimsy juggling of pseudo-mediums.
CHAPTER SIX
THE ARCANA OF THE FIRE-EATERS: THE
FORMULA OF ALBERTUS MAGNUS.--
 Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: do ye overwhelm the bulwark of tyranny, and with your impetuous flood
sweep it away from the land which it usurps. (Drums.)
Hark! Hark! How often has this sound summoned my joyous steps to the
field of battle and of victory! How bravely did I tread, with my gallant
comrades, the dangerous path of fame! And now, from this dungeon I
shall go forth, to meet a glorious death; I die for freedom, for whose cause
I have lived and fought, and for whom I now offer myself up at sorrowing
sacrifice.
(The background is occupied by Spanish soldiers with halberts.)
Yes, lead them on! Close your ranks, ye terrify me not. I am accustomed
to stand amid the serried ranks of war, and environed by the threatening
 Egmont |