Pursuing The Dream

It seems one must begin the desire to fulfill the dream first by identifying what it is in her mind and heart in the first place.

Two proverbs from King Solomon address this matter: "the purposes of a mans heart are deep waters but a man of understanding draws them out" (Pro. 20:5) and one more familiar: "without a vision men perish" (29:18).

Consider first the millions of immigrants who continue to come to America as the land of opportunity to pursue the dream of freedom. These (legals) most often come with really BIG dreams. For most of these the pursuit must begin with much inspiration and motivation just to get here particularly when they seek citizenship. Next, they often (many cases not) will be starting from scratch financially. They will know few people. They probably need to learn the language (at least better) just to find decent work, and often will need to bare the brunt of prejudice and discrimination for years during the onset of the pursuit.

These dreamers really need to totally believe in their dream just to get started. But really, if we think about it, this is the nature of a dream. We're not talking about an objective or a goal, though these are part of the dream. We're thinking now about something much bigger. it is something that lies deep within that motivates, inspires, drives, uplifts, directs and even somehow seemingly miraculously recharges itself. It is this inner desire or inner drive we need to define before we begin the pursuit.

What about we who are already living here in this great country? Could it be that many have lost the ability to really dream? What I mean by the emphasis is that many have hopes and aspirations, goals and objectives and even ideas about what one would like to do. But often these are what we might call pipe dreams - hollow or empty on the inside with just an appearance of a dream on the outside.

Don't Want To Wait

Most of us have been raised on McDonalds quick service (depending on the one you frequent) and Burger King's - Have it your way service. Could it be that these original dream makers have become the dream breakers for millions in a culture that simply have too much (stuff, services, resources)? Well, maybe we cannot call these American success stories dream breakers because if it is a dream it is deep within and will not be broken. However, the "have it all phenomena"; of America has certainly at least influenced the masses to settle for much less than a dream or even attempting something extraordinary.

Does this phenomena carry over into our desire to achieve quick success with little effort in the every day world? Is it possible these good things to which we have access has thwarted many potential dreamers? The nature of a dream is that it cannot be seen or touched and may require a lifetime of pursuit. Some dreams may not even be fulfilled in one lifetime. But this is the nature of a real dream. It doesn't matter to the pursuer whether he sees the fulfillment because part of the dream is lived day by day in the pursuit itself! The pursuit is the living part of the dream, the part we can see, touch and feel. Without the pursuit one certainly has no dream.

Have I Been Infected?

This is an American tragedy. The land of opportunity where millions come to pursue their dream is incubating dreamless natives. Hopefully the reader has not been infected, but for most of us asking the question is at least legitimate. I consider myself a dreamer of dreamers yet for ten years I had contracted the disease and didn't even realize. I had sold a business that I had owned for twenty-five years (built upon desires, goals and objectives but not formed around a dream). At that time I actually began thinking about the dream but over the course of several years I found myself pursuing the same things I had in the past in order to generate income and survive. This, of course, is important - if the dreamer doesn't survive then the dream typically is buried with her. So, I wasn't doing the wrong thing, but I had been infected to such a degree that I was no longer dreaming.

A few years into this dilemma I began to awaken. I started writing about it again. I started thinking about it again (there is no dream without a pursuit so the dream was not yet alive again only beginning to awaken). Then finally, it was breaking out from within. I could no longer keep it contained it had to come out for air and when it did the pursuit began! It has been a year now and two things occurred for me that breathed life back into a lifeless dream. The first is that I found myself believing it enough to leave an occupation I was comfortable in but not happy about. This, of course, is not the route most people will be required to travel. A dream can be pursued with much less diligence than this. It depends on the nature of your dream. It will tell you what you must do. William Wilberforce (recent biographical movie Amazing Grace), kept doing what he was doing within the parliament of England, but only worked harder at it. He couldn't not do it. And neither will you be able to resist the call to pursue the dream within. A dream is too big to resist and it it is real it will find its way to the surface until it can no longer be ignored.

A Little Jewish Guy in a White Suit

The second event for me was to attend an In The Dreaming Room weekend with Michael Gerber (EMyth fame of the past 20 years). The way in which this came about is to me evidence of the dream coming to life. I had just spoken to my friend and business associate who couldn't really understand what I was talking about. During the course of the conversation it became apparent to him that my straight commission services would no longer be needed with his firm as he considered these dreams I was having would not benefit his company in any way. Earlier that week I had been on a first time conference call with Michael and dozens of others. So, after this conversation I went to Barnes and Noble and bought his book, Awakening the Entrepreneur Within. It was so much of what I had been thinking and writing about already that I couldn't put it down and completed it by the following evening. He was running an In The Dreaming Room the following weekend in California so I made reservations and spent that weekend with about 30 others who were processing their own dreams with the little jewish guy in the white suit. So,now, my jewish friend is helping his Christian friend (me) strategize as to how to encourage and inspire the over fifty-ish community to consider what they want to do with the second half of their lives and how we can each use what we have been given by experience, giftedness or learned ability to give back to a world that desperately needs what we each have to offer.

That recent weekend really helped me to formulate my thoughts about this whole matter of pursuing the dream and I am now vigorously in pursuit. Now, does this mean I'm doing nothing but that? No. Does it mean I don't have to think about surviving? No, this is still pretty important actually more so because the dream is alive again. When the dream is asleep or lifeless survival is only necessary for the body and mind but once it awakens survival becomes the requirement for pursuing the dream (soul?). So, has everything changed? Yes, pretty much. Has anything changed? No not really.

Is my dream valid? Is it for real or is it just a pajama fantasy? A real dream will never wander off into oblivion. It may disappear for a few years. It may not find favor with you for a time. It may fall asleep but it will not completely disappear.

Think with me for a moment about night time dreams. Some folks like my wife remembers minute detail that for me is like, "how could you even see that in your dream much less remember it?" So, we dream differently but what is similar is that most of our pajama dreams (if you wear them, if you don't just imagine) are here today and gone tomorrow or next week or certainly next month. They are usually (for me anyway) kind of blurry without a great deal of clarity or longevity. They are fun to tell a story about but have no substance (usually, but sometimes of course). These defining elements I like to call pajama dreams. So, stay with me here, as we continue to think about defining the dream this will be defining "not the dream".

If the dream is not something we can wrap our arms around and embrace wholeheartedly, it will not be that which will inspire and motivate. At some point a real dream can be clearly defined and expressed in a way that others can understand it (not agree or care to get in the same boat as you but at least understand). I say at some point because frankly in the earlier stages when it is just coming to life (the pursuit is just beginning) it may not yet be all that clear but rather a bit of a gut thing where you know there is something going on but you are not quite sure what it looks like or how it will express itself. Ultimately it will become real enough and clear enough that goals and objectives can be aligned with it and finally desire and determination will burn so strong that nothing will stand between you and the pursuit.

I've known many people who operate in the own your own business environment (the world in which I have lived and continue to live all my life) who express their "dream" in monetary values - driving the Lexus, living in the big home in the idyllic community. While often there is an association in an economically engaged world with the money or the things if these come before the dream for any reason other than the pursuit, then these are likely cheap imitations of the dream and more likely qualify as pajama dreams. The real association Michael Gerber makes very clear is this: A dream, if it is real, will stand on its own and sustain itself (my words not his but this describes the essence of his life philosophy about how the dream comes to life). In an economic world then, the dream will be supported by a business. But it is crucial that these are in the right order. If the business is the stronger desire then it probably will not be the dream that is motivating and inspiring but rather something of a much lesser degree. It seems our dreams may be so interconnected with the dreamer that it (the dream) will ultimately express what the dreamer believes as well as how he behaves otherwise we may just be in our pajamas.

Martin Luther King is the one most Americans think about when we think about the dream, "I have a dream". Here you have an image, you've heard the speeches, you saw the life and heard the shot that could not kill the dream at that point for it had been alive long enough to find a home in others hearts and minds. As a side note and Interestingly, my friend Michael points out that MLK's dream has not yet been fulfilled because he (Michael) believes it had not a business underneath of it to sustain it but rather has been held up by politics, social engagement, violence and activism. While these certainly identify that the dream was for real, Michael argues that the movement took a wrong direction in seeking its fufillment lest we would not still be fighting about these matters 40 years later. But that is the subject of another hub. The other subject for another hub if there is an interest is: Those who try to kill our dream and how to avoid the dream killers outside and within.