Page 102 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

Perfect Livelihood

It will not be disputed that everybody dreams. Psychologists tell
us that we all dream four or five times every night. We are even

told that animals dream,. as we can sometimes see in the case of
our pets. Not only does everybody dream at night, when they
are asleep, but everybody daydreams. On a warm, sunny

afternoon when, maybe, you are sitting on a park bench, and
feeling very comfortable and quiet, you just start daydreaming.

This is something everybody does at some time or other.

The daydream is, of course, usually a sort of wish fulfilment: a

sort of Walter Mitty exercise. We dream of all the things we
would like to do and would like to be, and the reason for this is

that only too often we find everyday life very dull and
uninteresting. We may have a tiresome, monotonous job. We
may be in circumstances which we dislike. We may be having to

associate with people with whom we are not on particularly
friendly terms. It may even be that we find life not only

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