Remembering How to Dream

 

 

"To dream ... the impossible dream ...
To fight ... the unbeatable foe ...
To bear ... with unbearable sorrow ...
To run ... where the brave dare not go ...
To right ... the unrightable wrong ...
To love ... pure and chaste from afar ...
To try ... when your arms are too weary ...
To reach ... the unreachable star ... "

This is my quest, to follow that star ...
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far ...
To fight for the right, without question or pause ...
To be willing to march into Hell, for a Heavenly cause ...

And I know if I'll only be true, to this glorious quest,
That my heart will lie will lie peaceful and calm,
when I'm laid to my rest ...
And the world will be better for this:
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
To reach ... the unreachable star ..."

The musical, Man of La Mancha, was loosely based on Alex Cervantes' sixteenth century novel, Don Quixote.  Quixote is a kind, country gentleman taken with the written word who comes to believe that he has been called to change the world and right all of its wrongs.  He sets out on a journey of idealism to fight perceived foes even as the world around him tells him it can't be done and mocks him for trying.  In Cervante's book, Quixote symbolically goes to battle with the Catholic Church by taking on the flailing arms of the giant and brutish windmills in his imagined world.  He also pokes fun at a flock of sheep which represents the Spanish government for going to war during a turbulent time period.  

 

And, now, here we are, four centuries later, with our peers - our real day Don Quixotes and Women of La Mancha - showing us how we can dream the impossible dream once more.  From Wall Street to San Diego and from Defiance to Muncie, over 1320 worldwide cities have taken to the streets, demanding, "No More."  "Basta!"  "The madness of a civilization run amok must end."  "The buck stops here."  "Down with the capitalist greed and corporate personhood.  People over profits shall return to our democratic, American way once more."  They have put their bodies on the line in their reach for that unreachable star - for a vibrant, healthy Earth upon which every human being has an equal and fair right to shelter, natural food, pure water, work that feeds the Spirit, and a community that nourishes the Soul.  

 

Wherever you find your Self, now, be sure you're remembering how to dream - how to slow down and ask yourself the questions that our brothers and sisters are now urging solutions for.  Ask yourself, "Am I content?"  Meaning, "Does my lifestyle and way of being in the world feed me?  Does it feel good and peaceful?  Is it sustainable for me and my energy; for others and how I affect them; for the planet and how I live upon it?"  "If I were to envision such a world - where I am content and fed, in all ways - what would it look like?"  Challenge yourself to take that siesta and recall what themes emerge from your psyche, from the deep well of our collective consciousness.

This now is your movement~!  The Revolution is Within.  Dare to dream your impossible dream - dare to follow your personal star.  Dare to step outside of the lines and color in your world as you deem fit.  Dare to be called CRAZY.  After all, it was the crazy Quixote who, ironically, showed humanity the "right way" to live.  He has survived four centuries because of his universal appeal to all of us.  Dare to Dream Once More.  I dare you.