Of Dreams and Dementer's Kissing- The Gospel According to Harry Potter #3

It Does not do to Dwell on Dreams and forget to live.--- Dumbledore

The Gospel According to Harry Potter

-Of Dreams and Dementer’s Kiss

     When Harry is 11, he finds a mirror. As he stars into it for his first time, he sees his parents.  Both perplexed and mesmerized, he stares at it for quite a while before attempting to get Ron.  When Ron sees it, he doesn’t see his parents but himself as head boy and winning the Quidditch cup.

This is the mirror, which Dumbledore says shows the deepest desire of one’s heart.  This is a scary thing, but also one which can give quite a bit of relief to Harry.  As he looks into the mirror, visiting it multiple times, and sees his family. In this moment we learn that this mirror is special.  It is the Mirror of Erised.

     The Mirror of Erised is an important piece of the story of Harry Potter, as Dumbledore teaches his first lesson to Harry through it.  Upon learning that Harry and Ron have found the mirror, he has it removed to another hidden place and asks Harry to not try to find it.  For people have wasted away in front of the mirror not knowing if their dreams are but possible.  And then those famous words: “It does not do to dwell on dreams, and forget to live.

     These words are powerful and simply illustrate for us a very important thing in our lives.  We can not, we must not, we shall not, miss what is around us in this very moment, in this very minute, in our time together.

     It is easy.  We are busy, we are constantly being bombarded with an array of things that have to be done.  And so we begin to work, and we look for the mirror that will give us hope.  Hope that someday it will get better, that someday there is something out there we will achieve.  Maybe it’s a salary, maybe it’s a significant other who will appreciate us more because of something that we do now…but we have places that we are looking for that cast visions like the Mirror of Erised all around us..  Get through this class, go and do this, you will get to where you want.  That’s fine and all, but honestly, let’s take me for an example.  I have some dreams and hopes and even a few plans.  But if all I do is talk about, think about, worry about getting a Ph.D. and saving the campus ministry world without being present with all of you, I might just spend all my time dreaming.  And trust me, you don’t want me to do that.

     Have you ever met anyone that does this, that just dwells on who they want to be and doesn’t allow themselves to be who they currently are… It’s hard to stand.  And worse that than, I think it’s hard to live that life.  It’s like only kind of being alive, like a self-imposed dementor’s kiss.  Like the hollow shell that doesn’t embody anything but the hopes and dreams of a life not yet lived.  The dementor’s kiss is of course what happens to those who are given the worse sentence in Azkaban, a fate Harry, Ron, and Hermoine especially help to prevent from happening to Sirius.  But these Dementor’s Kisses are serious things, and they leave people only with bad memories.  They are as Dumbledore says, “worse than death.”

     As college students, it is easy to get focused on the future, to star into the mirror and look for what you are going to be doing this summer, next year, when you get into the work force.  You’re in an environment that can take your soul… and we’re not talking about your faith here…we’re talking your soul.  You’ve got ambitions, you’ve got plans, you’ve got decisions, you’ve got dreams, but it does not do to dwell on those dreams and forget to live.

     What can I say to you but to stay awake, stay alive to the things that take place every day.  You are part of a community and a world that desperately needs you to be a part of it.  It is easy to get lost on this campus, to stay asleep to political situations, to social concerns, to a community of people who desperately need to be together, but if so, the goal you shall seek will end in nothing but a hollow shell.

     In the end, we give of ourselves to seek a goal for ourselves.  It is beautiful.  It is sacrificial…but it is dangerous.  It is dangerous like the man the rich man who seeks to have something greater, but can not look away from the mirror, or his life achievements, long enough to see.  Do you want to know the truth.. I struggle with this.  You know I want to change the field of campus ministry.  You know that everything I do is built around a statement as much as it is just a reality that I feel altogether called and absolutely love to be with you all.  I believe this is where I am called to dwell, but I want others to see what I’m doing.  I’m dreaming dreams.  But am I living?

     Some of my friends and I haven’t talked much this year. Some of my closest relationships have been strained.  And why… because I sometimes get caught looking at the mirror.  I choose the future hope over the reality of what is happening. 

     Has anyone ever told you to make sure you talk to your grandparents and take time with them because one day you won’t get to have those moments.  It’s true.  Maybe you’ve lost a grand parent, but once that voice is silenced there is no going back.

     Once college is over, you won’t have a chance to come back.  You can never have the same undergrad experience again.  We can never has this specific world ever again.  Even for me, I have been in school for so long, but I’m mourning the fact that I haven’t been an undergrad for 7 years.  It’s amazing.  But you have to live, or otherwise the truth is you will find a hollow and dead shell within, a scary thought for all of us who are being told to join as many things as possible BECAUSE of the future goal to be this or that.

     College is an adventure.  Don’t miss it people.  Because right now, you’re tied up in too many things that have to be done in order for you to be who you want to be.  Perhaps it’s time to look in perspective.  Just a few short months ago you got here.  Trust me, year 1, it’s going to be over real soon. Maybe it’s time to slow down a little, see the world around you, and spend a little more time with people and with the experience of life rather than the experience of school and goals and dreams.  For many have wasted away before the mirror of Erised, not knowing if what they have seen is real of even possible.  What is possible is what is right in front of you:  you might have to look and figure out what it is in order to see it.

But the end of book three and the realities of the harsh world around him is what finally Changes Harry.  He has to let go of his past and begin to live out his life.  His frustrations will change, his focus will become toward living, and the books will ultimately change even in the midst of a very dark time.  Harry must live, because otherwise he becomes nothing but the shell of someone trying to kill Dumbledore.  May we see through the need to focus on the future and instead focus on living today.