Magazine letter for August 2022
We have been witness to a deal of dreaming recently, people dreaming of becoming Prime Minister, for instance. But we all dream, and there is nothing wrong with dreaming. Dreams carry ideas and hopes. Visions to guide our lives; aspirations, longings, and imaginings of a different future, of the way things might be. Be it a sound economy of 5% growth per annum, or be it inner peace and serenity or even a win on the premium bonds. In one way or another the dreams that we choose to dream, or perhaps are given to dream, say a lot about us, and affect the course of our lives. They become a direction of travel, sometimes unconsciously.
Putin dreamed of recovering the old Soviet territories, that dream became his direction of travel, for year after year. It is often vital to discover people’s dreams, what their vision of the future is.
Dreaming is what the religious life is all about – it isn’t an escape from reality, it is instead a different direction of travel. Jesus called his dream the kingdom, or rule, of God. It was about a society where we directed ourselves to act in the most compassionate way possible in any given situation. To explain what such a society might be like he told stories, and tried to communicate his dream to his followers and hearers. He even died for it. That was his dream, what is yours?
If the dream is so important – if the guiding, defining dream of our lives is so essential to our motivation and drive, to our usefulness and physical, mental and spiritual well being, then ought we not to work with it occasionally? Ought we not to nurture, and feed, and reassess the dream that guides our way – or like a lamp with an untended wick – the dream will go out and we will be without a guiding light.
If a dream is to be truly inspiring it must be maintained, must be refreshed, worked with and kept bright. Dreams that are forgotten and ignored for year after year only fade away and become disappointments.
I wonder what the candidates for the race to No10 will be dreaming in six months time – or will even the winner’s dream have turned into a disappointment?
William