Skip to main content

Visions and Ideals

In this episode – Visions and Ideals . . .



If you were to ask me, “When are you most receptive to positive inspiration?” Without a doubt, I would say - “While cycling.” It’s a joyous experience. You feel the familiar rhythm of your breathing and cadence, and the thrill of effortless speed. Your mind is free to explore new ideas as the wind gently brushes your face.


During these experiences, ideas explode into my mind. For me, it’s the perfect time to listen to audio segments that remind me of how important it is to go back and be inspired, once again, by powerful ideas that have shaped my dreams.

A superb example of this transcendent experience is taken from the book, As a Man Thinketh, published in 1903, by James Allen. It's entitled Visions and Ideals. And it's one of the most beautiful segments I've ever heard. It goes like this, “The dreamers are the saviors of the world. As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, so men, through all their trials and sins and sorted vocations are nourished by the beautiful visions of their solitary dreamers. Humanity cannot forget its, dreamers. It cannot let their ideals fade and die, it lives in them, it knows them as the realities which it shall one day see and know.

Composer, sculptor, painter, poet, prophet, sage, these are the makers of the afterworld, the architects of heaven. The world is beautiful because they've lived, without them laboring humanity would perish.


He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart will one day realize it. Columbus cherished the vision of another world and he discovered it. Copernicus fostered the vision of a multiplicity of worlds and a wider universe and he revealed it. Buddha beheld the vision of a spiritual world of stainless beauty in 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, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts. For out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment. Of these, if you would remain true to them your world will, it must be built. To desire is obtain. To aspire is to achieve.


Shall man’s basis desires receive the fullest measure of gratification and his purest aspiration starved for lack of sustenance? Such is not the law. Such a condition of things can never obtain, 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 within and stand still without.


You 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.


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."


This is Patrick Ball, thanks for listening, see you in the next episode.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular of All Time

Sunflowers, French Steel, and the Yellow Jersey

Watching Le Tour de France this year, I found myself transported back to August 1983 as the Peloton in Stage 10, Bastille Day, flowed through the French countryside like a brightly colored ribbon. I was in my twenties, visiting family in the Charente-Maritime region of France, completely obsessed with bicycle racing—and convinced I was much stronger than I was. My connection to cycling—and to France—runs deep. I was born in France, and my very first real road bike, at age fifteen, was a Mercier . To me, it wasn’t just a bicycle; it was a work of art made from beautiful French steel. I rode that bike for miles, through high school, into college, and until the day someone decided they needed it more than I did. I hope they at least appreciated the craftsmanship. Its untimely disappearance led me to a Schwinn Voyageur, and later, when I started racing around Illinois, to a Raleigh Competition . But during that summer of ’83, while staying with my Uncle Jean Paul in Lagord, just north of L...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rediscovering the Magic of Summer . . .

Summer mornings, especially on a holiday weekend, have a special magic. The air is cool, the world quiet, and the day full of possibilities. This July 4th weekend, Lori and I decided to capture a bit of that magic by beating the holiday traffic with an early morning bicycle ride. We went through our usual pre-flight checklist: Stretched out the morning stiffness. Filled the water bottles. Strapped on the helmets. Checked the tires. Three tires passed inspection. The fourth had apparently declared independence. The rear tire on my e-bike was flatter than a Kansas highway. “Well, it looks like we’re not riding today,” Lori said, with the calm acceptance of someone who had already mentally promoted coffee to the day’s main event. “Why not?” I replied. “I’ll ride my old bike.” She gave me that look —the one that safely translates as, "Are you sure about this? " “Absolutely,” I said. “Why not?” I dragged the bike stand out and surveyed my options. One glance at the aggressive gear...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Places You'll Go . . .

Well, the time has arrived. Yes, July's drawing near, And somehow I've managed to last seven years! I've analyzed forecasts and studied the trends, While spreadsheets multiplied without seeming to end. We've planned for the sunshine, the storms, and the load, while Mother Nature kept changing the code. But through all the numbers, the forecasts, and charts, the best part of Cenergy's always been hearts. The people beside me, year after year, Made even the toughest challenges clear. To the bright, talented folks reading this today, The future is yours now—you're well on your way. And unlike my era, here's the key: You’ll work with AI just as smooth as can be. The reports that took hours may take only minutes. The models you build with intelligence in it. The data will flow faster than ever before, While AI handles tasks that are mostly a bore! But here's my advice as I head out the door: Technology changes, but people matter more. AI can predict, calcula...
Post a Comment
Read more

Parabolic Arcs, and Pulled Putts

In this episode, the Retirement Mulligan Welcome to the first official morning of the rest of my life. With no alarms and no meetings, chasing a little white ball around The Lakehouse—a par-58 canvas—felt like the perfect way to christen retirement. Golf is a game of profound integrity, so I must disclose that my playing partner, Steve, and I took a couple of mulligans off the tee today. When you overswing like you're launching into low-Earth orbit, the most mature choice is sometimes a do-over. In retirement, these aren't mulligans. They are Executive Retirement Relief Strokes —a benefit package we’ve earned. When the swing connected exactly as intended, it was pure geometry in motion. Watching a crisply struck iron trace a towering parabolic arc against the San Marcos sky is the everyday magic we try to capture here at On the Fly . We witnessed it eleven times today, to be exact. Hitting eleven greens in regulation meant I repaired so many of my own pitch marks that I wonder...
Post a Comment
Read more