xavier delengaigne

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• We are a society increasingly focused on pragmatism, on how. We want to get things done and we invest a lot in finding out what works. But we are increasingly a society focused on getting results by looking to what already works whilst dismissing the ideals that seeded them. And this can have a strangling effect on your dreams.
• Why? Because ideals, and dreams built from ideals are often not pragmatic. They usually require new ways of thinking to realize. They may offer few (if any) guarantees of success but lots of perceived risk and maybe some real uncertainty. In fact, ideals are not meant to be reasonable or even practical at times. And for that reason, many (unconsciously) negate them in favor of ‘what works’.
• What we seem to have forgotten (or foregone) is that ideals are valuable in and of themselves. Honesty, justice – the virtues – are beautiful. Wanting to change the world for the better is an ideal, and can be beautiful. It just may not be an instantly beautiful process. In fact, it might be quite a stumbling frustrating one, but one always driven by the ideal.
• You need why as well as how
• We need the ‘how’ – AND we need the why first (and always ) if we are to unfurl and blossom the dream.This is the essence of genius – to be able to hold two opposing ideas in mind at once.
• The How may Die without the Why
• While I am not advocating dreaming over doing (both are important), there is a significant truth that many realists – rat racers mostly – ignore: to be idealistic is to be realistic. (p41)
• The challenge is to say YES to an ideal calling or purpose with no guarantee of successfully realizing that ideal in physical form. It is the challenge to say YES to something that you believe is worthwhile in and of itself. Even when other people abuse the name of that ideal, you still hold it as valuable.

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