(excerpt from “Hung up on a Dream”, by Rod Argent, classic Zombies Odessey and Oracle album, 1968)
A sweet confusion filled my mind
Until I woke up only finding everything was just a dream
A dream unusual of its kind
That gave me peace and blew my mind
And now I’m hung up on a dream…
…………………
In the end, “It’s all about” mind, imagination, memory, dream, wish-fulfillment, ideals, goals, fantasy, inner life, especially of the pleasant variety, even as our exterior selves and worlds change, decline, or diminish. I thought today how fortunate I am to revisit, easily and naturally at the drop of a hat, just about any scene from my past in detail. Likewise, to immerse in and fully savour the present moment, and easily imagine the more pleasant possibilities of personal future.
Life has often been compared to dream and there are many such songs and poems on this theme. For me, the dream has long epitomized myriad positive possibilities, and how easily these are to actualize, especially with the accompanying feeling of freedom and enjoyment. One of the biggest compliments I ever had occurred when I was teaching; a staff member had read something I’d written and spontaneously gushed, “Why you’re a dreamer!”, and I thought to myself, “Yes, that is most what I am, have been and will always be.” I am and have been long opposed to the limits, limitations, and fears of many others as well as many contexts and processes. I have never chosen to live my life that way. I have called my shots way more often than not, and my dreams are my choices, my freedoms, my best.