Awakening from Our Dream Will Help His Dream Come True

Martin Luther King Jr. changed this world by simply asserting his dream of a society where the boundaries of division and duality would be nonexistent. His was a vision that resonated with the true nature of reality and called into question the pervading idea that there exists a hierarchy of humanity, and a separateness that could be used to justify discrimination and discord. This incorrect view caused suffering for countless beings and created a society that encouraged privilege for the majority and second class status for the minority. Remnants of this distorted view of reality still persist today.

Dr. King effected change through peaceful methods that transformed the winds of hatred into a force for compassion and equality. He inspired millions then and now to recognize our shared humanity and to realize how unequivocal human rights, human dignity, and human worth are for every living person.

All of us share a nature that is essentially good. It’s not just reserved for some and witheld for others. It’s fundamental to all humans and it’s as clear and vast as the sky above, and Dr. King deeply recognized this.

This innately awakened nature of ours gets obscured through our tendency to misrelate to our ourselves and others. Our mistaken view of ourselves as solid and separate leads to an distorted experience of the world -- one that thinks in terms of black or white, right or wrong, good or evil, holy or unholy.

We’re all stuck in a self-created dream where this sense of “I” begins in the brain and ends at the outermost layer of skin. This mistaken idea of who and what we are creates an antagonistic environment where discrimination and acrimony inevitably arise.

Dr. King’s uplifting dream will only be fully realized when we wake up from the deluded dream that enslaves us. Love and compassion will prevail in this world when the imaginary boundaries we create between “self” and “other” dissolve once and for all.

May all of us realize how closely interdependent we truly are. May Dr. King’s vision of an interconnected world manifest in our lifetimes, and may we all recognize the responsibility we have in helping this come about.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.