Dreamways

An ideal is a conception of something in its absolute perfection. In the realm of how we conduct our lives, an ideal is an honorable or worthy principle, value or aim. An ideal formulated or a higher principle to be realized is a type of dream.

There are dreams that are expressions of ideals. When something that is highly valued is conceptualized and articulated, it is called a dream. Such dreams deal with the best we can imagine a thing, a situation, an interaction, a pattern to be.

An ideal is a waking dream. The individual dreamer's conscious is fully participating in the creation of the dream. It is informed by the unconscious in that ideals often fly in the face of consensual reality, what "common" sense declares to be real or true. The inner realm informs such dreams and their dreamers that a situation could and should be different.

An ideal as a dream indicates some degree of dissatisfaction with the status quo. Existing patterns of thought and behavior are perceived as less than satisfactory or desireable. Different patterns are to be considered as more desireable and valuable. Since the waking world, the manifest reality in which we humans operate, inevitably falls short of any and all ideals, such dreams express a need, or at least a strongly felt desire, for change and improvement. Many would assert that such dreams can never be attained and therefore are not worth entertaining, much less striving for. Others would counter that, as with all types of dreams, in striving to understand and integrate them, to whatever degree they are realized, the dreamer and the world she inhabits are made better.

Dreams as ideals emanate from the inner world of individuals. They typically articulate ways of being and behaving that apply to more than just an isolated individual, but certainly an individuas oftne engaged in the lonely pursuit of ideals on their own. Ideals can inspire individuals and groups of people to understand that situations in consensual reality can and perhaps should be different than they are. Typically, ideals and principles deal with realms beyond the individual, impacting large groups, if not the entirety, of humankind. Such dreams often involve ways of perceiving, being and acting that intend to result in a more equitable and beautiful world. Ideals talk about actions and behaviors, about ethics and morality. Ideals encourage exploring and practicing stances that, while not yet widely practiced in the waking world, if enacted would allow individuals and groups to reach beyond their usual conceptions of what it is to be a human, to stretch their habitual conceptual boundaries.

Optimally, dreams as vessels containing ideals are comprended and acted upon employing Mindfulness, Heartfulness, Bodyfulness and Soulfuness. They are not creations of the intellect alone. Sustainable and attainable ideals balance all aspects of being human. Ideals are not intended to ignore any of the aspects of Dreamfulness.

This is the realm of inspired, big-picture leadership as manifested in politics by such dreamers as Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela, in the spiritual realm by the likes of Lao Tsu, Jesus and Buddha. A danger is that we allow such exemplary individuals to carry these dreams in our stead, rather than each of us doing our best to manifest the dreams in our own day-to-day lives. As with all dreams, the value of ideals is when each individual manifests them as best they can in their own daily waking lives.

It is vitally important that ideals, when they are manifested in the outer world, be continuously reality-tested. Unquestioning adherence to such dreams, blindly acting in their name, can quickly lead to heinous situations. Every war, every concentration camp, every pogrom, every act of violence and terrorism is the result of some dream of an ideal that went bad. Ideals are much of the archtypal realm of goodness, where reside primal patterns that transcend the limited bounds of any individual. Because of this, they easily become lopsided and unbalanced, seeking counterbalance in the realm of the archetypally dark and evil. The more noble the dream, the grander the ideal, the greater the danger that it will turn into a waking nightmare. Dreams of ideals connect humans to the best that we might be, in the largest and most beautiful world imagineable, but only if we interact with them dreamfully.