Ryu's Blog

Excerpts from Enuma Okoro’s article on dreams and related painting:

Every one of us has had dreams of something we wish to happen — or to make happen — in our lives, and I’m sure every one of us has had moments when we question the validity of our dreams, or the reasonableness of them. What keeps some of us inspired enough to keep on dreaming anew, or hopeful enough to hold on to unrealised dreams?

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Whatever it is we dream of, it takes courage to stand firm and hopeful for those dreams to come to pass, especially when nothing about our circumstances seems to encourage a dream’s fulfilment.

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Though our dreams are our own, we often need a community to keep them alive, and to help us to see them through to reality, even when we are tempted to give up.

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Allowing ourselves to keep dreaming is ultimately dependent on our ability to sustain hope, to believe in the possibility of a different reality regardless of what things look like. What we believe is possible relies on what we are able to conjure in our imagination, even in dire times. So much of our power and agency begins there.

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It is the dream of all involved to win the race, but there will be only one winning team. Understandably, we are often so focused on a particular end result that any other outcome is regarded as failure. But I wonder if we cheat ourselves when we limit our definitions of what constitutes an actualised dream. To be one of the people in this painting who does not leave with the dreamt-for prize does not necessarily mean the race was run in vain, even with the disappointment or despair that might follow.

Anyone who has worked hard towards something knows that we are never the same person at the end as we were when we began, regardless of the outcome. But who we end up being is also determined by our own perspectives and the story we choose to live. The art of dreaming should be unending, as circular as this relay track. No matter what we achieve or when, the goal is to never lose the ability to dream.

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We might think dreaming is a luxurious use of time that only certain people can afford. But dreaming is for everyone, and it is often the thing that keeps us motivated enough to take the next step forward. The other thought I had was how much courage it takes to dream of something beyond our present circumstances, and to maintain that dream in the face of challenge and hardship. Far from dreaming being a luxury, it can be painful and courageous work.