The Pursuit of Dreams

Dragos Bratasanu was brought up in Romania and has a doctorate in satellite-based intelligence. This is the inspirational story of his life and how he persisted against all the odds in following his heart to achieve his dreams, including travelling to the poles, and culminating in the release of his film The Amazing You. While sharing his own story and the wisdom he gained along the path from various life changing counters, he situates his narrative within a context where many people are not following their hearts, so they experience depression and emptiness, often leading to addiction as a way of trying to cope. All this is reinforced by a social environment of fear - he gives a number of examples. The key is to honour the spirit of God within, which is also life, love and truth. Then we realise that we have no excuse for not listening to the call of the spirit. Dragos does not pretend that this is an easy process, describing his own challenges and struggles, especially in connection with the film, where he had to reach out hundreds of times for minimal response.

We should not fall for shortcuts offered by many self-help books but realise instead that worthwhile things take time and that we have to cross the desert, embody grit and live faith. Against the expectations of his friends, the impact of his film turns out to be massive. Dragos is more enthusiastic than I am about the singularity forecast of Ray Kurzweil, uncritically accepting that by 2050 we will upload our minds to computers or transfer them to robots that will replace our bodies. Towards the end of the book, though, he reports a profound conversation with a Greek Orthodox priest who recommends putting the mind's power of creation in the service of spirit, in the service of love. In this way we live in Truth and our actions are aligned with our mind and heart. Dragos provides readers with a workbook consisting mainly of questions that we can put to ourselves to achieve the same alignment. This is a powerful and important message.