“The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promise of every cobbled alley so great that I thought I was in a dream.”

– Jack Kerouac

At first I thought I was reading the description of a night I’ve known so many times.  I was loving the part about “soft” air — you know the kind — the sort that is just a degree cooler than your own skin and caresses your cheek and recalls the touch of your mother’s fingertips as she laid you in your cradle to sleep.  I love those dreamy nights when I am absolutely certain that each star in the cloudless sky is shining its message of light just for me, telling me that I am part of their world and not only living in my earthbound realm.

I still think that Kerouac was describing that sort of night; and I know he has breathed in such evenings, because his next words transport me to the passion that I feel on those magical nights — the siren song that plays as the stars twinkle and stirs my soul and challenges it to soar.  Have you ever felt this way?  Have you ever seen promise in every direction you look?  Have you ever felt your heart swell until it is so full that you simply must release that creative passion in some way that adds beauty to the world?

When waking and dreaming become entwined and the spirit and mind become intermingled, the lighter-than-air passion that fills our being can send us soaring to heights we haven’t even imagined as we plod through our daily existence.  When I read Kerouac’s words, I find myself stopping and forming an intention to wander outdoors under starlight as often as I can.  I close my eyes and recall those uplifting moments when I swear I can merge with the sky and take my own spot among the stars.  There I will sit, benevolently shining my own spot of light on all who walk the cobbled alleys and sense the promise that lies in the world where dreams become real.

Tonight I will venture outside in the darkness and breathe in the starlight that kindles the glow that reminds me that, although I am one small point of light, I do have a place in the infinite universe where each star has its own place — where the light of each star matters to one who dreams.