The Invitation to Dreamland.

What comes to mind when you hear the word "dreams" ? Perhaps, there is an image with a dark blue or even purple background. On the background there are many stars symbolizing the night. Maybe you can see yourself dancing among the stars. Then, you can take a rest on the moon and use it as a banana chair.

Macau

Close your eyes for a moment.
Walk on the stars.
Sit on the moon.

In our world, the moon and the stars are far apart, but in the dreamworld they are like other sides of the pond.

Dreams do not have limits, nor are they only at night. If dreams have no limits, they can reach an infinite point. Even if you cannot count to infinity, it is still moving onward in dreamland.

Dreams of the night or daydreams both lead us toward higher standards in life. They bring us closer to both our imagination and self-reflection. There are those who try to dig deeply into what our dreams mean, but before one interprets the significance of seeing a certain object while we sleep...let us first marvel at its beauty.

Where would the world be without dreams? Would we toil away each day and then drop into the darkness of night without seeing anything? Would we spend each waking hour without a concern for the future or even reflecting on how the past could be?

A world without dreams is bleak and bland.

Close your eyes once more when you conclude this short note.
This time there is no purple or blue. There are no stars or moon. There is only the chance for you to create your world. What do you see on your own infinite landscape?

What color are the surroundings? What magic shall be created? Who is there for you to love?
The power that is within your dream is greater than anything in the material world.

In a dream, creativity turns to magic, and all the wizardry you can muster is within your grasp.
Create. Compose. Compile. Exert. Extrapolate, and explore. Let the colors fly. Bend the boundaries and the fundamentals of the universe. Challenge the laws of physics and the course of nature, for you are the creator, and for a single moment every day.......you have powers.

See you in Dreamland.

Respond to Challenges: Strength and Education

Fangcao Lu, Shanghai, China

Each day often begins with the opening of your eyes. Unless you've gone 24 hours without sleep, and let's hope you enjoyed those 24 hours. The beginning of the morning can lead to a day filled with challenges, problems, and there is always a possibility that each day could be your last.

A person walking down the street could be hit by a car. A person who reaches down to pick something up might touch an electrical wire by mistake, and those in the office buildings on September 11th, 2001 went to work on a normal day only to become famous participants in the worst terror attack and mass murder on American soil in history.

Danger can arise at any moment, and there are challenges waiting for your in each day. Some big and some small. Some physical and some in the mind. As an ordinary citizen, one cannot predict changes such as a terrorist attack or a car crash, but you can prepare yourself for the mental challenges in life.

The way is to begin with strength of education. There is a famous saying that people only believe what they hear. If a person hears the same thing over and over again, they will start to believe it eventually. You must anticipate that this is always a possibility, so the need to verify facts and information is paramount.

Mental clarity can only come when deception has been eliminated, the same way illumination can only come when the light has been brought to the dark. Even on the darkest of nights,  you must become the moonlight. Then, you must always remember the moon produces no light of its own. Moonlight is a just a reflection of light from the sun. You must become the moonlight and the sunlight.

Then, remember that the sun is a star itself, and the sunlight is actually starlight. You are the moonlight, the sunlight, and the starlight all in one.

Education has many layers and many interlocking features. You must study them as much as possible, but factoids alone are idle without precise self-reflection and evaluation.

Argumentation and debate cannot take place if one side is not being factual or using deception and misleading information. Therefore, there is a large necessity on the strength of education.

Challenges will take many shapes and forms during your days. The only way to know to find a true acceptance for the challenge is to know your material and believe in a pathway toward goodness.