Eric Butterworth Speaks: Essays on Abundant Living #56
Delivered by Eric Butterworth on August 24, 1975
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The song sings, “To dream the impossible dream...” It is an inspiring and hopeful song...that points to the importance of having lofty goals, of a moon to reach for, and of hopes to beckon us to keep on.
Jesus said, “Be ye perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.” It is a great vision. But it is not always understood. An orthodox minister commented on this statement by saying, “Jesus challenged men with unattainable goals, with the lure of the impossible...But the fact is it is impossible for weak, sinful humans to attain. He knew that we had better have goals that are beyond our grasp or what’s a heaven for?”
In a sense the preacher was right. It _is a fact that the absolute teachings of Jesus are impossible to achieve...but it is not the Truth. The high aspirations that Jesus suggests are impossible for weak, sinful humans to attain. But then, why be a weak, sinful human?
For eons of time reaching for the moon was a symbol of the impossible dream. “Oh, you are just reaching for the moon!” was the response to any outline of ambitious goals. Then someone began to see reaching the moon as possible. Now we have not only landed men on the moon, but by another impossible dream made real, we were present in the whole operation by means of television.
The impossible dreams of man have become the blueprints of accomplishment in all fields of endeavor. As we discover more of our divine potential, we realize that Jesus did what He did because He transcended the impossible and touched the dimension of life where “all things are possible.”
It was to this dimension within each of us that Jesus pointed when He said, “All these things that I do, you can do too, if you have faith.” If you can believe in the transcendent nature within you...and dream lofty dreams and believe that they can become real. Jesus discovered and demonstrated divine law, revealing the divine potential within all persons, not just in Himself. Unfortunately this has been a totally neglected aspect of Christianity...which has dealt with Jesus’ teachings as an exercise in piety.
It is shocking how many psychological and spiritual drop-outs there are in life: people who are plodding along at their jobs, playing the role of normalcy in marriages that have lost the “tie that binds”, conforming to the oppressive things that society demands of them, but who have given up all hope of betterment, of change, of opportunity, of love. These people have “no hope” written all over their faces...and “I can’t” implied or stated in all their conversations.
A favorite Bible story depicts the Israelites in their long trek to their “promised land”. As they approach Palestine, scouts are sent out to bring back a description of the country. Most of them are very gloomy, talking of giants in the land in whose sight they seem as grasshoppers. However, two of them, Joshua and Caleb, had caught the impossible dream of Moses. They said, “Let us go at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it.”
It has always been the Moses’ and the Joshuas and Calebs who have spearheaded the progress for the race of man. They have been the Napoleons who have said, “I possible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.” We all have those things in our lives that seem to be beyond solution. And we long to overcome the giants that stand in our way. In the Joshua and Caleb story, when the Israelites eventually did listen to the voice of vision it is written: “The Amorites hearts melted, they lost their courage, and neither was the spirit in them any more”
The great Truth is...the power of transcendence is within every person...irrespective of the giants of human experience. In the process of nuclear fission, no new power is created through the splitting of the atom...but a power already present is released. And in the physical realm the main problem is not the creation of power, but a release of the “imprisoned splendor.”
“Without vision the people perish.” The real problem in life is not that things become sordid and limiting, but that we permit our dreams and hopes to fade. If you want to know what is wrong with your life...write down all the things you are dreaming about and hoping for. This will indicate the measure of your life. You may discover that there are many “high yearnings” that you have forgotten. You may realize how very narrow has become the scope of your aspiration.
One of the great ideals of this “new insight in Truth” is that our basic desires or dreams are the prophets and precursers of our future achievements. They indicate the potential within...and our state of readiness. The only “idle dreamers” are those who have no real faith that their dreams can be made real. Abraham, one of the all-time great dreamers, was led up unto a mountain where he heard a voice as from within saying to him, “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.”
Look up...away from the swamp bogs of limitation. Look up and behold the greater possibilities of life. Look up and let your mind reach to the heights. What you can conceive in mind and believe in faith, you can achieve in experience.
Dare to dream, and to see your dream as real and true. Dare to see yourself as successful, as healthy, as living a life of love and fulfillment. And, with your patience and constant loving entertainment of the dream, you will see it come forth into manifestation.
It is not a miracle of becoming something you are not, but the awakening to the vision of what you have always been. In Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, there is a pitiful “bird with a broken wing”, symbolizing the many lives that go on without hope. Jonathan says to Maynard Gull, “You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self here and now, and nothing can stand in your way.” He asks, “Are you saying I can fly?” And Jonathan says, “I say you are free.” And the helpless gull dropped his helplessness and rose and flew.
The real source of happiness and satisfaction in life is not what we have accomplished or accumulated. It is what we are living and working for, our visions, aspirations, and dreams When we are goal-oriented, and think of success as “getting there”, we reach the goal and there is only emptiness. When once the course is through, we had better dream some new dreams or dust off some old ones, or life will become stale and purposeless.
“Dare to dream, and follow through to see your dream as real and true...
Success awaits your magic touch. And God creates through you. Fling wide the golden gates to the realm of heart’s desire.”
Whatever the needs or desires of your life, no matter what the prognosis, or what they say you can or can’t do...dare to dream the impossible dream...and see it become possible...see it become attainable, and attained.
© 1975, by Eric Butterworth
