Random Ruminations of My Mind

so everyone pretty much knows that its important to have goals. we all have dreams of doing this or that, going here and there, becoming such and such. some of us realize our dreams and goals. other’s go through life without seeing any of their goals come to fruition. but here’s the real question and point of my post: do you think its more important to HAVE goals, then it is to realize them?

a little background on this topic. its something that came up while i was reading this book called ‘the Alchemist’ and one of the topics of discussion was this very question. the book itself is basically about a boy who sets off to pursue his dream of finding treasure in Egypt. along the way he meets different people, and realizes that each person he meets is helping him along the way in finding his treasure, or his Personal Legend, as the alchemists would say.

so back to the question: is it more important to have goals or dreams, then it is for them to come true? of course, the latter requires the former to be true in the first place. but what if you lived all your life, dreaming for one thing, hoping for it every waking moment. and then finally it comes true. what then? the boy in the book meets a muslim man who dreams of going to mecca for pilgrimage. finally when he is able to do so, he claims “I’m afraid that if my dream is realized, I’ll have no reason to go on living” and that its “the thought of Mecca that keeps [him] alive”. the man decides that its better to have this dream than for it to come true. the boy, on the other hand, is of a different philosophy. he wishes to complete his dream of finding his treasure and focusses on the realization of the dream, rather than the dream itself.

personally, i’d agree with the boy. i think if it came down to it, and i realized each of my dreams, i’d probably think of new ones. i’d establish newer goals in life and strive to achieve them. well, at least on paper (or the internet) i would. i had a goal of creating a photoblog on my own, using mysql and php (programming tools) and i did so. i have a few other goals which haven’t been realized yet and are work in progress, but they are there, and hopefully, god willing, i will realize those goals.

btw, i just finished the alchemist, and its truly a great and easy read. short and sweet, i think i finished it in 1 week, which is probably a record for me, hehe.