According to some accounts, Martin Luther King moved from his planned text to his improvised "I have a dream" speech when Mahalia Jackson prompted him, "Tell them about the dream, Martin."
"Tell them about the dream." Could it be that these words still ring out for us today? In a time of scaled-down national imagination, the vocation of spiritual leaders of all faiths is still to speak a prophetic word—to "tell them about the dream."
These days I have been pondering the role of the imagination in transforming persons and nations. As a person of faith, I recognize the power of a holy imagination to deliver us from hopelessness and open the door to new possibilities. Unemployment, illness, injustice, and poverty can constrict our vision, imprisoning us in the pain of the present moment, unable to look beyond our own personal misfortunes. In describing her mother's last days, Simone de Beauvoir noted that the world had shrunk to the size of her mother's hospital room. At such times, we lose our dreams, mistaking realism for reality. Our goal is merely to survive, when our destiny is to thrive. It takes all the energy we have to look beyond our misfortunes and failures, but this larger vision—the power of the holy imagination, the lure of an alternative reality—has always been the inspiration for the prophet and spiritual guide. The dream reminds us that within what we perceive as limitations are possibilities for adventure and growth.
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