Or maybe I'm talking about something less tangible, a closing down of the parts of both the brain and the spirit that dare to dream...
When I was younger I believed that whatever I could dream of I could create, so I dreamed, backing that up with bull-headed belief in myself, damned hard work, and a single-mindedness that was unwavering.
How many times have we heard someone who's made it say, "If you believe, it'll come true!"?
I beg to differ. Take my field for instance. How many frustrated musicians are out there who dreamed and worked, and are living ordinary lives now, wondering what the hell went wrong? Is it fate? Karma? Luck? Because if it's merely daring to dream, and then working toward that dream, then what about the lazy SOBs who make it simply because they know someone and have never spent one night aching for the realization of their heart's desire, or worse, never even had a heart's desire except to buy a big house and bank more money than they need?
My dreams are simpler these days. Gone are the dreams of getting a Grammy award, working in the studio with someone I admire, or playing the Hollywood Bowl. Security in my old age, the ability to feed my family. These things are more important. Or are they? Aren't those the things that kill our ability to dream? Kahlil Gibran said, "The most pitiful among men is he who turns his dreams into silver and gold." Perhaps this is the secret, that the ability to dream is what it's about: an end unto itself. Perhaps the real reward of dreaming is the ability to dream at all.
So what do you think? Is it dreams, luck, fate, hard work, karmic destiny, believing? What makes dreams come true for some people and not for others?
P.S. Despite the way this sounds I'm not depressed or down; this is a subject that has puzzled me for a long time.
"Castle in the Air" by Jet Amago
Title quote by Victor Hugo
