Dream Great Things Out Loud...

It's scary putting yourself out there, daring the impossible. The chances of failure are inescapable, but the great dreamers don't let that slow them down. The inspirational stories of people from Thomas Edison to Michael Jordan help to lift us up above our failures to still believe in spite of overwhelming evidence that tries to persuade us that we can't.

Sometimes when we look at those examples we like to ignore the thousands of more examples of those that kept trying and still failed. Though with Don Quijote as the fictional epitomization of this, they too can rightly be admired for their zeal and unconquerable spirit. However, it is a lot more pleasant, when dreaming, to imagine that success is at the end as opposed to just admiration.

I have a theory on how to make dreams, no matter how impossible they may seem, a reality.

Of course, with me being who I am, I'm going to explain it all in terms of conspiracies. (It's just too much more fun for me that way.)

In the esoteric terms of conspiracies: the mystical Gnosticism and the cabalistic Jewish mysticism have frequently been said to be hidden in Mormonism. Hidden, because actual mormon scholars (as opposed to "armchair quarterback" scholars such as myself) look like they might be discouraged from going down that path of finding those connections to Mormonism. However with both systems the emphasis is in getting to know God by becoming like God. (Already you might see why the Gnostics were hunted in early christianity as heretics.)

In terms of dreaming big, I can't imagine any bigger. It is sufficient, even if you don't believe in God, to visualize a theoretic embodiment of all desirable traits in their perfected from. We can use either for this discussion. I think that we might also need to specify God as devoid of all undesirable traits -- and thus the embodiment of perfect. From here we should easily agree on how far into to the realm of impossible it is to dream for such a accomplishment for ourselves. However, I will quote here from Matthew 5:48 a commandment to all christians to chase such dreams, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father [God] which is in heaven is perfect."

Now, having set the bar as high as it can possibly go, I should add (for fun) that the mystic systems also incorporate godly power to achieve the otherwise impossible. In fact it is usually for these "magical" powers that people search out the esoteric understanding of these mystical systems. It's probably because of that attraction that Nephi (the Book of Mormon prophet that came from Judea) went out of his way to avoid talking in terms of the Jewish traditions associated with the Kabbala, even when spending two chapters on the tree of life. But since he chose instead to talk plainly ("For my soul delighteth in plainness..." 2 Nephi 31:3) it may actually be easier to piece together these powers and not just dream the impossible dream but live it.

To temporarily obfuscate the matter, I propose that the Tower of Babble was an intellectual pursuit such as the understanding of the Kabbala for personal aggrandizement -- an attempt to find a short cut to heaven, by selecting just those parts of godliness that seemed more desirable (like gaining absolute power without first obtaining the wisdom to use it properly). And being that clarity, or plainness, is essential in not only defining each goal but also in finding the path to obtain those goals, with the "success" of the Tower of Babble came all of the fallen languages of the Earth. That is why English is so tough -- because it was designed in place of clarity, in order to create esoterica. (The English language is part of the conspiracy to keep us from reaching our goals. ;} )

Hopefully that's sufficient to emphasize the first part of my theory on obtaining any goal: clarity. Clearly defined goals and actionable, measurable steps that lead to them is empowering.

The second element in achieving the impossible, is attitude. The two prophets that help create a spectrum of understanding on this are Joseph of Egypt and Jonah (and the whale). Because Joseph took each obstacle (being sold as a slave, thrown in prison, ...) in stride without complaining but instead making the most of it -- it's easy to see why he eventually became the second in command in all of Egypt. And Jonah, who was pretty close to the opposite in terms of attitude, was rightly thrown from the ship in the middle of a storm in an attempt to save the lives of those on board.

And the way to find that clarity and proper attitude is Love. (Love is of course the key. In fact most of Matthew 5, mentioned above, is about love.) I'd write another long treatise on this but I think I'll let my past blog post on the matter suffice for now.

Perhaps another element is "don't dream stupid dreams" but stupid dreams seem to at least partially work for Don Quijote. So I'll try not to step on your dreams even if I think they're dumb. A guy has to be free to find out for himself how silly his dreams are.

With as much as I've been able to judge so far, these elements seem to be working. It looks as though I'm getting closer to my dreams. Even if I can't make it as a writer, yet, I love my job and the people I'm working with. It's tough being in a different state than my family, but they should be moving out this way soon. And for the most part, I think we're doing well and getting better.

(I'm also thinking of re-marketing my book as "more life changing than The Celestine Prophecy" -- that might be a better niche for me than YA conspiracy. But I'm still feeling my way blindly through this process.)