The Dreamseller
by Augusto Cury • Brazil

The following is an excerpt from the novel,
The Dreamseller: The Calling.

Printed with permission from Atria Books,
an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

The project to sell dreams doesn’t conflict with your religion, culture or beliefs. In fact, respect your beliefs, value your culture, appreciate your nation’s past and the traditions of your people. I only ask that you change one thing . . .” He paused for a long time, as if slowly moving toward his fundamental goal. “I ask you to expand your horizons. To value and, above all else, respect your condition as human beings. My greatest dream is that we can form a network of people without borders, in every nation, among all peoples, all religions, all scientific environments. A network of people to rescue human nature, the instincts our species has lost. Humanity lives in a pressure cooker of stress because of the ruthless way in which we compete, because of our lack of respect for the international rules of commerce, because of social conflicts, because of the devastation to the environment. Yet, when we look to the future we have no guarantee that our species will survive one or two more centuries.”

Then he spoke of his model. He said that Jesus repeated more than seventy times in the New Testament that he was the son of man. “Throughout history, few have understood what he meant. He revealed that he was for all mankind. By insisting he was the son of man he wanted it known that he was the son of humanity—the first human being completely without borders. His culture, his race, his nationality were important, but his humanity was much more so. His passion for his fellow man was at a level that theology doesn’t understand and psychology can’t reach. Only a human without borders could say that prostitutes should enter heaven before illustrious Pharisee theologians. His limitless love was a scandal during his time, and still is in our own.”

And the dreamseller added solemnly: “I have thousands of shortcomings. I’ve made more mistakes than any of you can imagine, but Jesus’ philosophy and psychology is my model.”

And he proposed founding a society of human beings without borders, based on just four principles:

To go beyond race, culture and nationality and position ourselves as humans without borders, with a vital commitment to protect man and the environment;

To fight discrimination in all its forms and support all forms of inclusion;

To respect the differences that make us unique;

And to promote interaction among people of different cultures and beliefs.

The dreamseller knew that his proposals shared the principles of the French Revolution, the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the Magna Carta of many nations. But the difference was that he dreamed of taking pages from those charters and printing that text within the hearts and minds of humans without borders.

“It’s too utopian,” I muttered to myself. But the dreamseller read my lips.

“You’re right. Nothing could be more utopian, imaginary, romantic. But take away the dream of utopia and we are left as machines. Take away hope and we are left as slaves. Take away dreams and we are left as robots. If business and political leaders thought in terms of humanity, two-thirds of the world’s problems would be solved in a month. And that’s no dream.”