copyright Bela Johnson, published in The Maine Eagle, September 2001

As a society, we have given away our power to dream. We have given it away to the media, to creative types other than ourselves, to our nighttime fantasies. Perhaps you have heard of the Australian Aboriginal people's Dreamtime. Indigenous Aborigines place great emphasis on dreams and take dreaming quite seriously. Apparently no major decisions are made without first consulting dreams. We all possess the capacity to dream. It is called imagination, or the conjuring up of IMAGES. Humans speak in words. Soul speaks in images. If we acknowledge that we are Soul expressing itself as life in human form and we wish to experience our heart and soul's desire, we must reorient ourselves to the dream.

Last night I watched a children's movie I hadn't seen in years. It's called THE NEVERENDING STORY. This story is about a little boy whose mother has recently died and whose father deals with his son's grief by demanding that the boy get his head out of the clouds and put his feet on the ground. Many of us remember daydreaming as kids and hearing much the same thing. The movie's theme is based on a book the boy finds when he ducks into a small book shop in order to avoid three tormenting classmates. The bookstore owner warns Sebastian away from the book, saying it will involve the boy more than he would want. Sebastian does indeed become part of the story, journeying through a vanishing world called Fantasia. His struggle between doing what his father requires of him and doing what he dreams is a struggle we can all identify with. We have all been conditioned to follow rules imposed by others. Learning to find our way out of this jungle of confusion is the journey we take when we decide to follow the dictates of the creative Source abiding deep within each one of us. This little movie is packed with metaphor and symbolism relative to this richer, soulful journey.

Fantasia is the realm created by human imagination, not so different from the one in which we live. What we believe, individually as well as collectively, becomes our experience of the world. When we lose the capacity to dream, we have rejected our ability to create. If all life is indeed cast in God's own image, how are we honoring Creator by casting aside our innate, God-given power to creatively manifest our own abundant good? The industrialization of the modern world demands, to some extent, that we file in line and shuffle off to work to keep the consumer machine oiled and running. We forget we have choices. When things appear stalemated, when we feel stuck and hopeless, we can always dream. Initially it might take time to get our imagination primed and running. But the world will be enriched through our courage to contemplate.

Many of us do not grant ourselves nearly enough down-time. Dreaming requires reflection, hence our ability to dream at night while sleeping. In such incubative spaces, we often receive inspiration to try something different or new. During such reflections, intuition flows. Along this stream of awareness, we are carried into a place of immense possibilities. This state of expanded awareness is where we may meet Creator, or our own inherent creativity. It is where we reconnect with Soul. Daring to dream fills us with hope. Many spend their entire lives in fear. This is a choice. Both hope and fear are states of mind. The mind can be reined in. The mind can become the servant of the heart, rather than the other way around. This, too is a choice. Daring to dream gives us permission to invite magic into our lives. It invites Creator to be our partner in discovering how each of us can express our unique talents and abilities. We don't have to be work drones. If everyone understood this, if each of us performed services for others with genuine love and excitement, imagine what kind of world we would live in! Though this might seem idealistic, change begins with each one of us. And each of us has the power of choice.

The death of imagination is the death of Soul. It is the destruction of Fantasia, a world rich with images, creation and food for the senses. To reactivate our participation in this world, we have only to begin anew. The power to create afresh exists within each one of us. Dare to dream, and watch your world transform through the creative power that is God, acting through You.