Those who lose dreaming are lost. –Aboriginal proverb
The kinds of dreams we have determine the quality of our lives. The problem is not that we don’t
dream. The problem is that we seldom dream high enough.
What we dream about we will surely get—or at least some pale facsimile of it. What is important is not
getting the dream but being able to appraise it once it is within reach. To dream without being willing
to do something ourselves to make the dream come true dooms us to a life that never comes to fruit.
When we stop pursuing a dream before the dream is clearly impossible, we fail to pursue our own best
development. Then we have to ask what it is that is really blocking us: fear, insecurity, lack of initiative
or lack of faith?
What we are inclined to call in our realistic old age “the dreams of youth” may be the saddest
commentary a person can make on the state of the human soul. Dreams don’t die in youth; they are
simply abandoned there for the sake of a deceit we call “realism.” Dreams are not only for the young.
Dreams make every stage of life the great adventure it is meant to be.
The nice thing about a dream is that we never get exactly what we set out to achieve—which means
that there are always things left over to pursue when the journey of life goes dark. Not to have a
dream for tomorrow, for next year, for life is to abandon myself not simply to chance but to life
without a rudder. Show me a dreamer and I’ll show you one of God’s heartbeats for the human race.
–from Aspects of the Heart: The Many Paths to A Good Life by Joan Chittister
The kinds of dreams we have determine the quality of our lives. The problem is not that we don’t
dream. The problem is that we seldom dream high enough.
What we dream about we will surely get—or at least some pale facsimile of it. What is important is not
getting the dream but being able to appraise it once it is within reach. To dream without being willing
to do something ourselves to make the dream come true dooms us to a life that never comes to fruit.
When we stop pursuing a dream before the dream is clearly impossible, we fail to pursue our own best
development. Then we have to ask what it is that is really blocking us: fear, insecurity, lack of initiative
or lack of faith?
What we are inclined to call in our realistic old age “the dreams of youth” may be the saddest
commentary a person can make on the state of the human soul. Dreams don’t die in youth; they are
simply abandoned there for the sake of a deceit we call “realism.” Dreams are not only for the young.
Dreams make every stage of life the great adventure it is meant to be.
The nice thing about a dream is that we never get exactly what we set out to achieve—which means
that there are always things left over to pursue when the journey of life goes dark. Not to have a
dream for tomorrow, for next year, for life is to abandon myself not simply to chance but to life
without a rudder. Show me a dreamer and I’ll show you one of God’s heartbeats for the human race.
–from Aspects of the Heart: The Many Paths to A Good Life by Joan Chittister
Show Me A Dreamer
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