How to be a Dreamday Worker - Part 1

It´s not easy to be a dreamday worker. So I´ve discovered throughout the years. At first my dreamday work was never even meant to be a project at all. It wasn´t until years later that I noticed I was actually working on something that could be called a "project". Maybe a documentary project, maybe an art project, it did not really matter, at least it was a "project" of some kind...


It was a bit of a relief I think to discover that. All those small "ticks" that I have had for many years, like asking everyone around me about their dreamday for example, were not just a silly side of my personality to be ashamed of and to be polished away as I grew older. Instead they were the fundamental key stones in a project that was existing even before I knew it myself.

Parallel to this I was buying one colourful notebook after the other, even started a blog a couple of times. But the problem was I had absolutely nothing to write about. Then one day I just realised the most obvious of all. I was going to write about my dreamday project. I was going to write about the process and let the project grow into something new and undefined. I am somewhere on that journey now.


Ithaca

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.


Written by
Konstantinos P. Kavafis