Why Doing the Impossible Happens All the Time
and why you need to surround yourself with dreamers
“For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible.” (Journeys In Wonderland, pg. 9)
As far as I know, teleportation is not a thing, neither is speed of light travel, and there is no cure for cancer. But, wireless communication is, a man took “one small step for man,” and atoms are no longer the smallest unit of matter.
I have a sneaking suspicion that we have been down the rabbit-hole all along. Out-of-the-way things happen too often for dreams to exist outside of reality. I fully believe we can teleport.
Society relegates dreams to the lands of sleep, sandbox and asylum, until they work. Until life today only slightly resembles life yesterday. Until dreamers have changed the world.
Consider, however, that every idea comes from a brain that was designed to operate within the learned parameters of the universe, to make subconscious decisions that help us to survive, and is hardwired to think inside the box — quickly. Our brains make rational decisions that we later classify as impossibilities when we cannot consciously see their denouement. Imagination, visions, bold and impossible ideas are possible precisely because they are the fruit of the human brain.
People that realize this, our Howard Roarks, understand pragmatism is accounted for in their ideas. And, like Galileo they are willing to pay the price. These visionaries trust their instincts. They believe their brains came up with an idea that is unique and difficult, possibly unreasonable, but goddam possible if they can figure it out.
All of us dream, but not all of us trust our brains. Not all of us have the confidence or the chutzpa. Not all of us believe that we are capable of overcoming the difficulties required to realize our visions.
To ease the anxiety I surround myself with other dreamers. We must surround ourselves with talented people who validate our ideas, and are inspired by them. We surround ourselves with people who believe it is impossible to think of the impossible. Avoid the plague of pragmatists imploring you to consider this problem and that issue and how you’ll monetize and where the capital will come from. In a community of dreamers, being pragmatic seems odd. A community of dreamers will cure cancer, by teleporting to another dimension at the speed of light.
Alice experienced it best:
“She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, “Which way? Which way?” holding her hand on top of her head to feel which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size: to be sure, this is what generally happens when one eats cake, but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.
So she set to work…” (Journeys In Wonderland, pg. 13 — 14)
