When You Dream

I think it would be safe to say that we all have dreams. I don't necessarily mean the dreams used in the sense of "One day I hope that..." etc. But more along the lines of every night we dream about something, or at least, we have dreamed about something. Just the other night I had a dream. It's been a long time since I've remembered my dream, and even longer since I've dreamt about something of this nature. I was lying down with common acquaintances listening to something or other on the radio. It seemed apparent that we had just finished some kind of formal event, like a ball or benefit, because I was properly dressed in a tuxedo, and many of the people around me were dressed in similar apparel. Before me was a young woman in a black silk dress. She was lying on the ground , staring up at me as the music played on. She commented on the lyrics, and I couldn't help but smile at the comment that now escapes me. I would like to preface the rest of this that this was not in fact some sort of erotic dream where sins were committed and the night was scarlet, in fact, it was very different from that. She asked if I wanted to leave with her. I took her hand and we began to run. Now, as you can imagine this was a unique scene, as women don't tend to run in black silk dresses, nor men in tuxedos, take my word for it, it's more difficult that the common movie may portray. Yet all that aside, we were running. Things stopped making sense at this point, we were traveling it seemed through time and space as one second we seemed dashing down the sideways of italy, and then next we were running across stagnant streets of New York City, yet all I wanted to do was stop. I was tired of running, and I wanted a moment of peace with her. As we stopped, she looked at me, hand still in mine, and she smiled, as if she knew it was coming to an end. We both knew it was over, but there was nothing we could do to stop the oncoming conscious clamor that my mind would make. And so I woke up. It seemed to end sooner than I had anticipated, but none the less it came, and I felt empty.

It's dreams like these that make us want to search for something, find something that is above and beyond the status quo. It drives our emotions to feel more, to search for more, and to hope that someday we will wake up, and be so overjoyed that the dreams are over, and reality has well overcompensated for the alternative. We all have dreams, whether it be ambition, fear, romance, or ideals they provide to us what gasoline provides to a modern car. Yet just as helpful, dreams can also cause insurmountable damage to our psyche and our reality if we do not bridle those passions with the idea that there is in fact a right way and a wrong way. Dreams are ideas, and when we fail to remember this basic principle we lose grip on what is in fact our fate and our purpose. We are by nature meant to be something better, but often times better can be confused for "more". Being content with the potential we have is a mechanism for peace and tranquility to once more push us in the right direction, helping us live a life of satisfaction and fulfillment. Letting a feeling of accomplishment into our lives can once more fuel us on in a direction of progression, and not self destruction. We may never reach the day of self sustained flight, nor be the perfect dancer for the russian ballet, but learning that perhaps sky diving, or taking part in our children's dance recitals is an acceptable compromise will give us courage to live as a joyful and promising contributor to the beautiful world that we inhabit. Letting go can mean failure, or it can mean recovery. I will look for that feeling that I felt, and it will provide an inspiration for not settling for a cheap imitation, but it was never the girl in the black dress, it was the emotions evoked. Only we ourselves are given the knowledge to choose, and with that power comes change.