As regular readers likely realize, I love to write about dreaming because it has become the oxygen that I breathe. Without dreams we are destined for “lives of quiet desperation,” as Thoreau observed. But buoyed by our dreams, we experience breakthroughs that were once thought impossible. Upon perusing former blog posts I was reminded that I also have written about dreams since moving here a couple years ago here and here so help yourself to them.
And for this post I’d like to share more excerpts from my latest reading to help inspire you to chase your dreams also. It was French philosopher Gaston Bachelard, author of The Poetics of Space, who reported, “If I were asked to name the chief benefits of the house, I should say: the house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.” How poetic.
As for Linda and I, living at this circa 1895 lightkeeper’s house is literally the fulfillment of a dream for us, even if it comes with its share of tourists during the year. And Bob Trapani, head of the nearby American Lighthouse Foundation, notes that while Maine’s lighthouses attract people from all over the world, “They are places of solitude. The quiet is amazing. They are places where you make life-changing decisions.” And I add, dream.
Author Erica Bauermeister writes in House Lessons: Renovating a Life: “It wasn’t until I discovered geographer Jay Appleton’s theory of prospect and refuge that I found a framework to explain my reaction [to home]. According to Appleton, humans are most comfortable in situations where they can observe (prospect) and feel safe (refuge) at the same time.” Our privy perch affords us the same perspective.
For further reflections on the dynamics of dreaming, I welcome you to check out the video we filmed this weekend from our deck overlooking the lighthouse here. Linda and I feel very blessed to live where we do and we owe it all to God, who “works everything together for our good,” to paraphrase a favorite scripture. And suffice it to say that he delights in giving his people the good desires of their hearts.
Finally, Rachel Carson wrote in The Edge of the Sea, “Like the sea itself, the shore fascinates us who return to it…In the recurrent rhythms of tides and surf and in the varied life of the tide lines there is the obvious attraction of movement and change and beauty. There is also, I am convinced, a deeper fascination born of meaning and significance.” But wherever you call home, dare to dream and discover your destiny!