Monday, August 3, 2015

Dreaming along the Way

People say I'm lazy dreaming my life away.
Well, they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me.

When I tell that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall,

"Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball"?

(John Lennon, Watching the Wheels)

"Hans-Guck-in-die-Luft" is a name the German pediatrician Heinrich Hoffmann gave a boyish character who spent all his time being lost in his thoughts, so that he ended up falling in a pond on his way to school and had to be rescued by near-by workers. The story literally translates "Hans-looks-into-the-sky", and was written more than a century ago when the mindset in Germany was still a lot more disciplinary and much less creative, especially for children. I know this story so well because I often call our youngest boy "Hans-Guck-in-die-Luft" when he forgets and misplaces things.

I was watching him on a lazy Saturday morning as he was sitting on the couch telling himself a story of a magician and you could literally see the joy on his face as he was fabricating  a story line. The teachers love him at school for his creativity and enthusiasm and more often than not forgive him for having again missed to hand in the mandated assignment. Today's creative age rewards dreamers, and I shudder to think how pre-world-war Germany would have treated him. Sure, I tease our little boy too because I want him to grow up responsible and aware of his surroundings. But then, of course I am proud of his talent. It is perfect to have your head gazing at the stars, as long as your feet are on the ground.

As many of you know, I am a Tao traveler, and we understand John Lennon's sentiment quite well:

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,
I really love to watch them roll,

No longer riding on the merry-go-round,

I just had to let it go.


We are part of the system, yet outside of it. We sit at the center, in perfect balance, watching the yin and yang of life acting out as it has to. Get in touch with your creative side and develop an eye for the Way. In today's Creative Society dreamers do quite well. There is in fact a second Hans in the German folklore, the story of "Hans-im-Glueck", a well-meaning, dreamy young man who trades in his piece of gold several times until he has nothing left but a worthless rock. Well, that's the fear of our driven culture. Let's see about that. We dreamers are rewriting folklore as we speak.  Why don't you take a few steps with us and see for yourself what will happen. The translation of "Hans-im-Glueck" is "happy go lucky Hans". I have a hunch you will be both when you join the Way.

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