Passion for a Better World

Too often our sensibilities are assaulted and bludgeoned by all that seems bad in the world - the T.V. bulletins of the day's horrors, the full, graphic story we get by watching the eleven o'clock news.

Why do we allow ugliness to assume such overriding importance in our lives? If we don't cast it out with determination, it will surely blind us to all the bright reality around us. If only we could step out of our perceptual traps and see that beauty and goodness comprise at least an equal part of what there is. What a miracle would unfold in this world of negativity if we all subscribed to this one simple idea!

What would be do without our dreams? how would we get through even one day without them?

Of course, I'm told that healthy individuals face reality head on, that to live with illusions is a very dangerous thing, that the world is a serious business and doesn't have room for dreamers. Well, I don't believe it. it's not a problem as long as we know the difference between illusion and dellusion.

for many of us, reality can frequently be a bit too real. In fact, we are often tossed about y the whims of an incomprehensible, often cruel reality. We may be forced to face poverty, danger, illness, impending death, lack of love, loneliness-the list seems endless. Illusions can be great help in handling these situations.

All of us live with illusions. They abound in places like Atlantic City or Las Vegas. I'm not referring to professional or compulsive gamblers, just the thousands of individuals sitting hopefully, hour after hour, at the one-armed-bandits, dreaming of hitting the jackpot. We know full well that the odds are against us, but we're sure the prize is just one more nickel, dime, quarter or dollar away. When asked why we do it, we say that it's just a form of recreation, that gambling is fun. But in the back of our minds is the newspaper story about the person who last year hit the million dollars jackpot. So we stay in the noisy, sometimes smoky room and try to stick it out. No real harm done-in fact, we are quite ready to do the same on our next visit.

It is often the hope of finding that certain someone that keeps the single people going to special bars, church socials, community events. Without these activities, which suggest that someone may be waiting at the very next turn, they might never break free from their past. That kind of illusion can't be too wrong.

I have a good friend who has a terminal illness. Not long ago she was told that his condition would worsen progressively. She had a dream, not a delusion, that getting back to his friends, family, job and old lifestyle would give him the additional moment he needed for life. So far he's been right, much to the amazement of his physicians.

I can't even imagine a world without those dreamers who have the feeling that things will be better tomorrow. With that feeling comes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy and causes us to work actively to make things better.

I'm not suggesting that we all start living an illusion, but it's an interested psychological finding that one hundred per cent realists are often among the most depressed person in society. I'll take healthy illusions any day. If our dreams cause us to become active seekers and partakers of life, setting up the necessary contingencies for making things happen, than they can be positive forces which are conductive to happiness and growth.

We might learn a lesson from Snow White. She dreamed that someday her Prince would come. But in the meantime, in place of moping around, she had a good life with the Seven Dwarf!