Dreams
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.- T.E. Lawrence, "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom"
posted by dag at 9/22/2005 02:05:00 PM
5 Comments:
aixea makes a valid point; what good are dreams if you don't occasionally take them to Vegas. I was going to say something more prosaic...
Reminds me of Goethe quote: "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
Reminds me of the change post you wrote.
What is the change dilemma you are pondering?
Teeth.
Teeth are the change I am pondering. They have unexpectedly become my new hobby. My new expensive hobby. (That's what I get for going to dental students back in college) So right now I'm on a rampage across town to find the best dentist this city has in order to sink my money into his valuable artistry. I refuse to regeret this decision.
Change in general, though is something I think about often. I agree with your assesment of dealing with change; both adapting to and refusing change are valid. Sometimes we are able to change our lives, our trajectory, our inertia. Other times the change happens without our consent. In those circumstances you can either tuck into the wind, so to speak, or you can let it blow you down.
I think I wrote about change initially because of a curiousity building in myself about myself. I was asking myself these question: Why am I so content in the everyday? Why am I just fine with my life the way it is at any given moment? Shouldn't I want more? And if so why don't I? Do I lack ambition? Am I settling for a still-life instead of a masterpiece? (I ask these questions every week or so just to make sure I'm still paying attention) What I realized was this: yes, I still need to explore the world arena of accomplishments. There are important gold stars I still need to earn. I will not be done in this lifetime pushing myself to see how well I can perform in the various skills I am mastering, but at the same time I have developed another trait. Perhaps a better trait.
I am unafraid of the ordinary. I am unafraid of silence, awkwardness, stillness, weakness. I am never bored. If I find myself walking the same hall the same way as I have done a million times before I have only to open my eyes again as though I had never seen it and realize it all again for the first time. Things don't get old or stale because they are old or stale, they appear that way because I've stopped asking them to show me something I've never seen before.
For instance, I take a bus to work every day of the week save Saturday and Sunday. I could be unhappy about that. It's a long and often annoying transition and tacks on time to my work day. But I don't resent it. I have yet to open up all the secrets that are riding that bus with me on any given morning. It's an almost untapped wellspring of living stories. No two mornings are the same. No two people are the same. Even the same person is not the same two mornings in a row. All the world is like that. Every object and motion and most particularly every human being, is a fascinating endless mystery. And when an afghani woman makes a breathtaking surrender of her personal life to me on the morning ride, I realize how lucky I am to be who I am. That I actively look for marvels in the world around me and furthermore, that I can see them.
I remember talking with you a while back about making a list. A list containing things you wanted to have/experience/achieve etc.. - a very open-ended, anything goes list. I mean actually write down the things you have always wanted out of yourself and your life.
The list then serves as a checklist of life. There are few rules to it. If you think something should go on the list, put it there. If something no longer should be there take it off. If something should be put on hold, put it to the bottom of the list.
You need a list.
I like your thoughts on your daily bus journey. I have hiked the same trails over and over around Prescott, AZ. Why do I pick the same trails instead of continually going to new ones? It may be the very reason that I have not seen all that the trail has to offer, and probably never will. Combine all the variables of my trail, or your bus trip, and there is an infinite amount of variance that can combine to make that day unique.
Speaking of AZ, I think I’ll head there for those trails again. I'll leave in two weeks. Thanks k, you are an inspiration.
Anytime. Thanks for asking for my thoughts. : )
Post a Comment
<< Home