Visions and Ideals

The dreamers are the saviors of the world. As the visible world is sustained by the invisible world of thought, humanity, (with all its trials and tribulations), is nourished by the beautiful visions of the solitary dreamers. Mankind cannot forget its dreamers. It cannot let their ideals fade and die. It lives in them. It sees in them, the world, which it shall one day bring into reality.

Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet, sage, all these are the makers of the afterworld, the architects of heaven. The world is beautiful because they have lived; without them, laboring humanity would perish. Anyone that cherishes a beautiful vision, or a lofty ideal, will one day realize it.

Columbus cherished a vision of another world, and he discovered it. Copernicus fostered the vision of a variety of worlds and a wider universe, and he revealed it. Buddha beheld the vision of a spiritual world of stainless beauty and perfect peace, and he entered into it.

Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, and the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts. For, if you will keep them steadfast in your heart, they will become the world.

To desire is to obtain; to seek is to achieve. Shall mankind’s humblest desires be completely fulfilled, and his loftiest dreams starve for lack of nourishment? This is not the Law. The law is - "Ask and receive."

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be. Your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.

Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not long remain so if you but perceive an Ideal and strive to reach it. You cannot travel inside and stand still outside.

Here is a youth hard pressed by poverty and labor; confined long hours in an unhealthy workshop; unschooled, and lacking all the arts of refinement. However, he dreams of better things. He thinks of intelligence, of refinement, of elegance and beauty. He dreams up an ideal condition of life. The vision of more freedom and a better life takes possession of him; unrest urges him to action, and he utilizes all his spare time and means, (small though they are), to the development of his inner powers and resources.

Very soon, his mind becomes so strong that the workshop can no longer hold him. He outgrows his current environment, and as more opportunities present themselves, he sheds his old world as a snake sheds its skin.

Years later we see this youth as a full-grown man. His mastery of the forces of thought wields worldwide influence and unequaled power. In his hands he holds the lives of many people. He speaks, and lo! Lives are changed. Men and women hang upon his words and remold their characters, and, he controls the destiny of many. He has realized the Vision of his youth. He has become one with his dream.

And you, too, youthful reader, will realize the Vision (not the idle wish) of your heart, be it base or beautiful, or a mixture of both, for you will always gravitate toward that which you secretly most love. Into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts; you will receive that which you earn, no more, no less. Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with your thoughts, your dreams. You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.

In the beautiful words of Stanton Kirkham Dave, "You may be keeping accounts, and presently you shall walk out of the door that for so long has seemed to you the barrier of your ideals, and shall find yourself before an audience - the pen still behind your ear, the ink stains on your fingers - and then and there shall pour out the torrent of your inspiration. You may be driving sheep, and you shall wander to the city - rustic and open mouthed; shall wander under the intrepid guidance of the spirit into the studio of the master, and after a time he shall say, 'I have nothing more to teach you.' And now you have become the master, who did so recently dream of great things while driving sheep. You shall lay down the saw and the plane to take upon yourself the regeneration of the world."

Those that want something for nothing see only the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves. They talk of luck, of fortune, and chance. They see a man grow rich, they say, "How lucky he is!" Observing a woman become intellectual, they exclaim, "How highly favored she is!" And noting the saintly character and wide influence of another, the remark, "How chance aids this person at every turn!"

They do not see the trials and failures and struggles that these people have voluntarily encountered in order to gain their experience. They have no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have exercised, that they might overcome the apparently insurmountable, and realize the Vision of their heart.

They do not know the darkness and the heartaches; they only see the light and joy, and call it "luck"; do not see the long and arduous journey, but only behold the pleasant goal, and call it "good fortune"; do not understand the process, but only perceive the result, and call it "chance."

In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result. There is no such thing as chance. "Gifts," powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruits of effort. They are thoughts completed, objects accomplished, visions realized.

The vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart - this you will build your life by, this you will become.