At night your subconscious works out problems or things you were thinking about before you got to sleep. For example, if somebody is worried that they are going to lose something they might dream about losing something important to them like a purse or their keys. Another example is when you have to pee in the middle of the night you might have a dream about raging rivers and waterfalls. These are the kinds of dreams that I think Thomas E. Lawrence is talking about when he says: “Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity”. These are the dreams of your subconscious that make no sense and are just the rambling of your mind.
However, in his quote Lawrence also says: “but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.” I believe that here Lawrence is talking about the dreamers that go beyond the rambling of their mind and they consciously make their own dreams and set out to do great things. Then they go out into the world and set out to put their hopes and dreams into action to accomplish something great.
One great example of somebody that is a dreamer of the day would be Martin Luther King Jr. He had a dream that some day black and white people could live and work together in harmony. When he had this dream everybody thought that it was an impossible dream that would never happen. But he opened his eyes and acted upon his dream and he went into the world and made a difference. Thanks to his dream of the day our world is a better place. Even though he did not live to see it be carried out his dream made an impact on the world.
Another example of day dreamers would be the Wright Brothers. At the time the idea of a flying machine was unheard of but they had a dream to make the first flying machine and set out to do just that. Just like Martin Luther King Jr., they left an enormous impact on the world. Thanks to them, we now have all of the jets, planes, and space vehicles that all started when two young men put their dream to work.
Obviously, dreams of ending segregation or getting off the ground are much more important than your subconscious telling you that you have to go pee in the middle of the night. As Lawrence said, “the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams.” As shown through the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Wright Brothers they were able to change the world by only upon their dreams with open eyes.
