To dream dreams.

Lao Tzu

The above is my imaginative vision of what I think the great sage of ancient China might have looked like. Yes, there are those two birds again this time in flight leaving behind that little important feather. 

I wonder if they knew that Lao Tzu had this idea that we should be like a person catching a feather on a fan. Can you just imagine this for a moment. A fan is a frail item made of paper often delicately painted. A feather another delicate light thing. To catch the one on the other takes concentration and a gentle approach. The fan if not moved gently will create a draught as it is meant to do, and the feather will rather than land on it be wafted skywards.

To be such a gentle person is often the centre of my meditative thoughts. I have come a long way from the lad I was when I left school. I was never violent, can only remember once in my life hitting another, but I have yet a long way to go to become the vision given by Lao Tzu.

Somebody once said, "All men dream but not all equally. Some dream in the dusty recesses of the minds to awake the next day to find that the dream was no more than vanity.  Others are daydreamers and some of them in those dreams see visions that inspire and strive to make them possible."

About 350 years ago a shipload of travellers landed on the northeast coast of America. 

The first year they established a townsite. 

The next year they elected a town government. 

The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness.

In the fourth year, the people tried to impeach their town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road five miles westward into a wilderness. 

"Who needed to go there anyway?" they asked.

Here were people who had the vision to see three thousand miles across an ocean and overcome great hardships to get there. But in just a few years they were not able to see even five miles out of town. 

They had lost their pioneering vision. With a clear vision of what we can become, no ocean of difficulty is too great. Without it, we rarely move beyond our current boundaries.

What is this vision I speak of? Vision: the capacity to create a compelling picture of the desired state of affairs that inspires people to respond to that which is desirable, which could be, should be; that which is attainable.  

A vision that is right for the times, right for society, and right for the people. 

A godly vision promotes Peace rather than fear. A vision motivates people to action. A vision that requires risk-taking and inspires other to take the risk.

To catch a feather on a fan and to become a dreamer of peace that touches the lives of those around. My dream, a dream I would love to share with others who in turn might pass it to those around them. 

A vision of gentle people creating a gentle world.

Yes, I am a dreamer. But I invite you to dream with me. The longest journey starts with the first step.

Have a marvellous peaceful day.