The Chemistry of Modern Dreams

 

By Abioye Tosin Lawrence, Publisher of Oriontimes and Author of Voices from the Fire: My Journey Through a Hollow Empire

It seem

s every dream nowadays must pass through a laboratory test before it’s allowed to breathe. We live in an age where imagination is measured in drops, like acid and base, and the end of every titration marks the death of wonder. People no longer dream, they conduct experiments on hope, expecting it to behave like a predictable reaction.

The young man with a burning idea is asked, “Where’s your feasibility study?” before he is even permitted to believe. The artist is told to “monetize” before she is told to “create.” We have become a generation that wants formulas for inspiration and instant results for patience. Dreams are no longer sacred journeys; they are now projects with deadlines.

Once, we dreamed to discover. Now, we dream to defend PowerPoint slides. We build castles in the air only to apply for building permits from committees that hate clouds. The tragedy of modern ambition is that everything must be practical,  no space for madness, no time for mystery. We demand solutions before we even understand the problem.

It’s why many dreams end at titration, right at that perfect point where color changes, applause sounds, and nothing follows. We celebrate “proof of concept” more than actual achievement. Our universities produce graduates of analysis, not architects of imagination. Everyone knows the formula, but few know the flame.

In this new world, failure is forbidden but mediocrity is certified. The brave ones who dare to dream beyond the lab bench are labeled “unrealistic.” Yet, every revolution that ever changed the world began as an unapproved experiment, a dream that refused to end at titration.

So here’s a thought for the dreamers: perhaps it’s time to return to the raw, the reckless, and the ridiculous. Let the solutions wait. Let the experiments fail. Let imagination misbehave again. Because the most beautiful reactions in life are not the ones that turn color, they are the ones that set the soul on fire.