living, the dream

   John Barrymore said: "a man is not old until regret takes the place of dreams." I'm not old, as I have no regrets, but I am old enough to understand what he was saying. The fact is, it doesn't do any good to regret the past because you can't do a thing about it. Paul Anka wrote the song My Way and said, "regrets I've had a few, but then again to few to mention" and that is the best advice I could give someone, don't bother mention the regrets, no use picking at old wounds. I could probably think of a few more old adages but you get the message. Robert Frost talked about the road not taken. The implication in that poem being we should be individuals, trying different things, different ideas, different ideologies. In doing so we won't look back with regrets or misgivings. Of course if everyone did that the road would be heavily traveled wouldn't it? But regret is the topic here. 

 So what is regret? It's that feeling of sadness that comes over us for something we have, or have not done. It is the wish we had done something different, made a different choice. It's a desire to change the past. It can't be done and that is the finality of regret, the finality of time. Still, as Barrymore pointed out we can dream. We are never too old to dream. What is the reality of a dream? That's a good question don't you think? We often say, a dream came true when something we wished for, that we felt might not happen, or be impossible, does happen. Following that, we continue to dream however. Can you really live the dream? No, I don't believe that is possible, although you can certainly be content. If we stop dreaming we aren't living is my thought. Those dreams do not have to involve you, dreams can be for those that you love, those that you know, or even those you have never met. The dream of world peace, the dream of mankind living in complete harmony. Those are dreams as real as any other. Do not allow regret to replace dreams. 

 Dreams are tied to belief. If you believe in life after death you should never stop dreaming. Isn't that what life after death really is? A dream that our consciousness will continue after our physical bodies fail? And I do believe that our consciousness, or soul if you prefer that description, is energy and as such can not be created or destroyed. Energy is the transformation of consciousness from one state to another. The dream is the next state will be better than the one we are in. Well, unless we screw up and then it could be worse, but that concept speaks to religious teachings. Dreams and nightmares consist of the same fabric, just a different arrangement. Both are what the mind imagines. As to whether you can be conscious of your previous consciousness, I haven't decided upon that. I won't be able to say until that happens. In the meantime I'll keep on dreaming. I'll keep on living.