| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: to cross.
About ten o'clock, Gideon Spilett and his companions stripped themselves
of their clothes, which they placed in bundles on their heads, and then
ventured into the water, which was not more than five feet deep. Herbert,
for whom it was too deep, swam like a fish, and got through capitally. All
three arrived without difficulty on the opposite shore. Quickly drying
themselves in the sun, they put on their clothes, which they had preserved
from contact with the water, and sat down to take counsel together what to
do next.
Chapter 4
All at once the reporter sprang up, and telling the sailor that he would
 The Mysterious Island |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from From London to Land's End by Daniel Defoe: At Helford is a small but good harbour between Falmouth and this
port, where many times the tin-ships go in to load for London; also
here are a good number of fishing vessels for the pilchard trade,
and abundance of skilful fishermen. It was from this town that in
the great storm which happened November 27, 1703, a ship laden with
tin was blown out to sea and driven to the Isle of Wight in seven
hours, having on board only one man and two boys. The story is as
follows:-
"The beginning of the storm there lay a ship laden with tin in
Helford Haven, about two leagues and a half west of Falmouth. The
tin was taken on board at a place called Guague Wharf, five or six
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: a little way ahead to measure our progress towards Kurtz by,
but I lost it invariably before we got abreast. To keep
the eyes so long on one thing was too much for human patience.
The manager displayed a beautiful resignation. I fretted
and fumed and took to arguing with myself whether or no I
would talk openly with Kurtz; but before I could come to any
conclusion it occurred to me that my speech or my silence,
indeed any action of mine, would be a mere futility.
What did it matter what any one knew or ignored? What did it matter
who was manager? One gets sometimes such a flash of insight.
The essentials of this affair lay deep under the surface,
 Heart of Darkness |