We all dream. Whether you are young or old, you go into that mysterious world when you sleep. “Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare,” H.F. Hedge once said.
“Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives,” dream expert William Dement tells us. Dr. Edgar Cayce considers dream as “today’s answers to tomorrow’s questions.” And from the TV hit series, ‘X-Files,’ comes this quotable quote: “Dreams are answers to questions we haven’t yet figured out how to ask.”
We have known some great writers who took their inspiration from dreams. “I’m sure we would not have had men on the Moon if it had not been for (H.G.) Wells and (Jules) Verne and the people who write about this and made people think about it. I’m rather proud of the fact that I know several astronauts who became astronauts through reading my books.” So said Arthur C. Clarke while addressing the US Congress in 1975.
Yes, he was the same guy who wrote ‘Technology and the Future.’ In the said book, he penned: “The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.”
Remember the words of ‘The Impossible Dream,’ the theme song of the 1972 movie, ‘Man of La Mancha’ (portrayed by Peter O’Toole, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance). The first stanza goes this way: “To dream the impossible dream / To fight the unbeatable foe / To bear with unbearable sorrow / To run where the brave dare not go.”
Joe Darion, who wrote the lyrics, scribbled the second stanza with these words: “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.”
Many years ago, there lived a very old man in North China. His house faced South and right in front of his door stood the two gigantic peaks of Taihung and Wangwu. They blocked his way to the south. So, he sat down with his sons and made a solemn promise and then got out his hoe. They made up their minds to hack away those two mountains.
A neighbor saw them set to work and shook his head. “How stupid can one get?” he told the father. “It’s absolutely impossible for you to carry away these might mountains.”
The old man smiled and replied, “Well, when I die, my sons will carry on the work. When they die, my grandsons will continue what I have started. Yes, the mountains are high but they won’t get any higher. But our strength can still grow. With every bit of soil that we carry away, we come closer to our goal. It is better to do something, than just sit around and complain that those mountains keep out the sunlight.”
And with complete conviction, the old man kept on digging. God saw what he was doing. He was moved to send two of His messengers to earth. They lifted the two mountains onto their shoulders and carried them off.
The Bible states, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27). This must be the reason why French novelist (1957 Nobel Prize for Literature) Albert Camus commented, “We turn toward God only to obtain the impossible.”
“Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools,” commented French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. “I love those who yearn for the impossible,” admitted German playwright Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible,” Walt Disney, pioneer of animated cartoon films, declared.
History is replete with impossible stories. Demosthenes stuttered. He filled his mouth with pebble and walked the seashore shouting at the waves until in spite of his handicap he became Greece’s most famous orator.
To England, Horatio Nelson is the greatest naval hero. Yet, he never conquered the seasickness which assailed him the first time he took to the water and kept recurring all his life whenever he boarded a ship.
What grander symphonies were ever written than Beethoven’s? And yet the master melodist was deaf and never his own immortal music.
Glenn Cunningham, who hung up new records for the mile in running, had both legs so badly burned that he was expected never to be able to walk again. Against all odds, he defeated the impossible.
If you think you cannot do the task, don’t quit. You know somewhere and somehow, you can do it. As American editor and writer Elbert Hubbard puts it, “No one ever gets far unless he accomplishes the impossible at least once a day.”
Again, here are the remaining words of the ‘Impossible Dream’ song: “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 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.”
“Well, the tragedy is over,” Albert Camus wrote. “The failure is complete. I turn my head and go away. I took my share in this fight for the impossible.”
