Sumber ilustrasi: Unsplash
1 Mei 2026 16.51 WIB – Akar
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Desanomia [01.05.2026] It may be interesting to listen to conversations with children, or with those who are beginning to imagine their future. At large family gatherings, adults sometimes, or even quite often, ask children: what are your dreams? What do you want to be when you grow up? Adults, on the other hand, when asked the same question, often answer with a certain depth of meaning. They say that they once had dreams of their own. Yet life has brought them to where they are now, to a condition not quite the same as what they once dreamed of. Such conversations unfold warmly, often with a quiet sense of inspiration.
So, what are dreams?
From that simple conversation, perhaps dreams can be understood as life goals. In everyday life, dreams often appear like a distant point someone hopes to reach: becoming something, having something, building something, or experiencing a condition felt to be better than the present one.
Yet, when looked at more deeply, dreams may be more than practical goals. Dreams are not merely a list of wishes attached to the future. Within them lie more basic questions: who does a person want to become, what kind of life is considered meaningful, and what kind of world is worth striving for?
An important question then arises: do dreams already exist somewhere, so that human beings only need to walk toward them? Or do dreams not yet exist, so that human effort is needed to bring them into reality?
In everyday life, dreams are often imagined as a kind of place. A child wants to become a doctor, a young person wants to become a writer, a nation wants to become just and prosperous. All of this seems like a place already waiting somewhere ahead, and human beings only need to take the road that leads there.
This view is not entirely mistaken. Dreams do give direction. Without direction, life is easily carried away by habit, pressure, and the current of circumstances. Dreams help human beings know where to turn their steps, what choices need to be made, and what must be left behind.
Yet dreams are not as simple as geographical places. Becoming a doctor, for example, is not merely a matter of reaching a certain degree or profession. Becoming a doctor also means shaping oneself: learning, practicing discipline, sharpening sensitivity, bearing responsibility, and serving life. What is reached, then, is not only a position, but also a quality of self.
Here, dreams begin to appear as something not yet fully present. Dreams may already be present as images, values, or possibilities, but not yet as reality. Dreams live in imagination and hope, yet still wait to be realized through action.
In this sense, dreams stand between “already existing” and “not yet existing.” They already exist as inner images, as values that call, as directions that give meaning. Yet they do not yet exist as full reality in the world. Dreams appear as possibilities asking to be brought into being.
If dreams are seen only as something already existing, human beings become mere seekers of a road. They simply walk toward something already complete. But if dreams are understood as something that must be realized, human beings become agents of history. They do not merely follow a road; they also help open one.
In this sense, dreams have a creative character. Dreams invite human beings to create forms of life that have not yet existed. A good home, a just society, a dignified life, useful knowledge, or beautiful work does not simply appear on its own. All of these are born from the courage to imagine, to choose, and to work.
However, dreams are not fantasies without ground. Dreams need to remain connected to reality. Healthy dreams do not deny limits, but read those limits clearly. From there, an important question emerges: in conditions such as these, what can still be made better?
For that reason, dreams differ from daydreams. Daydreams can stop at the pleasure of imagining. Dreams demand a willingness to change. Dreams require practice, failure, patience, courage, and sometimes sacrifice. A person does not only have dreams; a person is also slowly shaped by those dreams.
There are personal dreams, but there are also shared dreams. Personal dreams concern someone’s life: work, family, knowledge, creative work, or happiness. Shared dreams concern the lives of many people: justice, peace, independence, welfare, and sustainability. The two meet when human beings realize that personal life is never completely separate from the lives of others.
The deepest dreams, then, do not merely ask, “What do I want to become?” The broader question is, “What kind of life do I want to help bring into being?” This question lifts dreams from mere personal ambition into moral responsibility. Dreams are no longer measured only by personal success, but also by their contribution to life.
What do you think? (njd)
Note: This article was made as part of a dedicated effort to bring everyday life around us to our minds.
