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CREATED REALITY, SHARED REALITY

To dream is to create our reality. It is done in the solitude of our mind. What if we
disclosed this dream to the world? What if we created a dream that is not only ours to fulfil,
but for others as well? Bit by bit, we could construct a new worlda world whose true owner
is everyone on it. In this world, everyone is connected. It is a world that truly embodies:
I am called to a dream greater than myself.
And I will not dream anything less.
Humans construct the way they want to dwell in the world; human existence is
essentially a world-building activity in which we make a world.1 As we create this world, the
question arises. Will this world hold? The world will only hold if it is whole. The most stable
version of anything is the one that is most complete. To create this wholeness, we need to
be able to have 3 things: a sense of value, a sense of purpose and a sense of the thou. For
our created world of shared dreams to hold, it must fulfil these 3 phrases.
A SENSE OF VALUE
Intrinsic to everything created is a value2 Whatever was created has value. Let us
contextualize this into the world of open sourced software.3 In this world, the programs that
are created do not have one owner. It came from one persons dream, a dream he/she has
shared to the world, but the program is developed by people of different ethnicities and
upbringing. It has a value beyond the monetary sense.4 Developers create time to create
bug fixes and new features even without the monetary compensation. This time, which
creates a holiness of time, a time set apart, makes it valuable. This idea of being set apart
gives it value.
In having this time, we immerse ourselves in an endeavour greater than ourselves.
We go against the reality mentioned by Bass: ... [We] are becoming more from
community, and from a sense of belonging to a story that extends beyond ones own span of
years.5 Its value also lies in the relationships which it created.

Terry Veling, To Dwell Poetically in the World, in Practical Theology: On Earth as It Is

in Heaven(Markynoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2005), 194-214.

2 Mystic Imagination handout

3 Open sourced software are programs that release their source code for others
to view and edit according to their needs and wants.
4 Most of the time, if not everytime, open source softwares are freeware.
5 Mystic Imagination handout
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A SENSE OF THOU
Loneliness is a curse or a malediction. Therefore, there is a necessity for
companionship.6 We are social beings. [H]umanity is meant for harmonious
relationship with each other. We are also meant for the eternal thou.7
With a project which binds people together, we fulfil what was meant for us by God.
This shared dream creates a more fulfilling life.
This fulfilment lies in the fact that we have attained knowledge that was unknown to
us. As Levinas said, [e]very philosophy seeks truth.8 But, as it will be later pointed out in the
chapter,9 this search is fuelled by our want to know the truth. This search for truth is what
brings us out of our comfort zones and into the unknown world. We are turned towards the
elsewhere and the otherwise and the other.10
Going back to the analogy with the world of open sourced software, the very creation
of the program is a matter of going out of yourself. As previously mentioned, developers
create bug fixes and new features out of their busy lives. Why do this without the
compensation? In this case, it is the sense of community that fuels the fire. This community
is like the burning bush. The community creates a passion inside that must never be
allowed to die.11
Aside from the sense of community, why else should anyone join the created world of
shared dreams?
SENSE OF PURPOSE
It gives them a sense of purpose. As mentioned in our discussion on Mystic
Imagination:
Everything has a purpose. We have to search for . It does not have to be
a grand design. Everyone has a part to play.

6 Mystic Imagination handout

7 Ibid.
8

Terry Veling, We Will Do and We Will Hear, in Practical Theology: On Earth as It Is in

Heaven
(Markynoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2005), 77-97.

9 Velling, We Will Do and We Will Hear, 79

10 Ibid.
11 On Exodus handout
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In this created world of our shared dreams, we each have a part to play which gives
us a sense of purpose. Our essential duty is to look for a spot on the Earth to till.12 Our
vocation is to work. To what work we commit to is our choice.
This choice might be an answer to a call, a vocation. This call, this revelation, is what
starts the relationship.13 This call would not exist if there was no disclosure of the dream to
begin with. We commit ourselves to this call, this endeavour, which is greater than ourselves.
One which, potentially fulfils us, and one that is currently unknown. The instant of decision
is a madness.14
Going back, again, to our analogy, open sourced developers commit to this vocation
of helping out others, which is greater than themselves. They now have a dream of creating
a dent in the world through their works in the open source movement, which promotes the
freedom of the users.15 They commit to building a world of freedom. We cannot always be
assured of what is to come after committing ourselves but [a]t some point we have to decide
and to act.16
NOT TO DREAM ANYTHING LESS
This created world is full of uncertainties. It is our wilderness.17 If we let this
uncertainty consume us, we would be paralyzed.18
We are, naturally, drawn to our comfort zones. In this place is a world where the self
is the inhabitant, together with those close to us. But this is not what God has set us out to
do. We are to relate to others and to Him.
In our analogy, to dream anything less would mean to think of ones self, this would
be creating a new project to gain the worlds riches while disregarding the thou, in other
words, it creates a realpolitik world.19

12 Mythic Imagination handout

13 Class discussion on On Revelation lecture series
14 Velling, We Will Do and We Will Hear, 80
15 Freedom of the users in terms of not binding them because of financial
obligations, burden of bloatware (unnecessary components in proprietary
software) and giving them the ability to make what they need, if need be.
16 Velling, We Will Do and We Will Hear, 81
17 The way Moses had the literal wilderness and Christ had the desert for 40
days
18 Velling, We Will Do and We Will Hear, 81
19 As described by Dunne in the lecture series On Exodus
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But this is not what is intended of us. The task and vocation of humanity is not to
turn away from the world, but to cherish the holiness of life in all its truth and goodness
and beauty.20
Every one of us creates the world we live in, may it be in the digital realm or the real
world. We should strive to keep it for ourselves and for others and to make it count. As
Abraham Lincoln said:
[I]ts not the years in your life that counts. Its the life in your years.21
(1047)

20 To Dwell
21 Mystic Imagination handout
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