Whatever medical science may profess, there is a difference between Life and survival. There is more to being alive than just having a heartbeat and brain activity. Being alive, really alive, is something much subtler and more magnificent. Their instruments measure blood pressure and temperature, but overlook joy, passion, love, all the things that make life really matter. To make our lives matter again, to really get the most out of them, we will have to redefine life itself. We have to dispense with their merely clinical definitions, in favor of ones which have more to do with what we actually feel. As it stands, how much living do we have in our lives? How many mornings do you wake up feeling truly free, thrilled to be alive, breathlessly anticipating the experiences of a new day? How many nights do you fall asleep feeling fulfilled, going over the events of the past day with satisfaction? Most of us feel as though everything has already been decided without us, as if living is not a creative activity but rather something that happens to us. That’s not being alive, that’s just surviving: being undead, the old dream.
We’ve been sold this old dream, where our passive consumption is the most valuable contribution we can make, we’ve fixed our identities through our possessions and become terrified of risk and change; muchof the time we can’t imagine that there is anything more valuable than physical safety. Our hearts may be beating, but we no longer believe in our dreams, let alone chase after them. But this is how the new dream begins: a few of us start chasing our dreams, breaking our old patterns, embracing what we love (and in the process discovering what we hate), finding simple and sustainable ways to live, extricating ourselves from the systematic oppression of others, questioning, acting outside the boundaries of routine and regularity. Others see us doing this, see people daring to be more creative and more adventurous, more generous and more ambitious than they had imagined possible, and join us one by one, wanting some of the joy and freedom that lies in shaping the new dream. Once enough people embrace this new way of living, a point of critical mass is finally reached, and society itself begins to change. From that moment, the world will start to undergo a transformation: from the frightening, alien place that it is, into a place ripe with possibility, a new dream, a Future Worth Choosing.
So come and play. Figure out what you want with your life, the old dream or the new? But to be sure you do get what you want, think carefully about what it really is, first, and how to go about getting it. Analyze the world around you, so you’ll know which people and forces are working against your values and your vision, and which ones are on your side… and how you can work together with us to create a new dream for everyone. There are allies, friends and like-minded new-dreamers everywhere, turning away from the old dream, climbing our of the fur-lined coffin in which we’ve been working for our retirement, breaking our of the poisonous orthodoxy we were indoctrinated in. Look around for the down-shifters, activists, and others committed already to fashioning the new. Come join us!
This post is inspired by, and partly drawn from, Days of War Nights of Love, writings that show me a completely new take on the work of creating a new dream here on Earth.
