Dreams are illusions, and we can't let go of them because we

The words “Dreams are illusions, and we can’t let go of them because we would be dead,” were spoken by David Copperfield, the master illusionist whose life has been devoted to crafting wonder from the unseen. Though he spoke them in the language of magic, their meaning reaches far beyond the stage. Beneath the shimmer of his art lies a truth as old as the stars: that dreams, though made of mist and longing, are the very breath of the human spirit. To live without them, he says, is to die while still alive. For in every illusion we cherish—in every hope, vision, and impossible yearning—there beats the pulse of life itself.

When Copperfield calls dreams “illusions,” he does not condemn them as falsehoods. He honors them as acts of creation, the reflections of what the soul dares to imagine before it exists. Illusions, after all, are not lies—they are glimpses of what could be. The magician creates wonder by making the impossible seem real, but the dreamer lives by the same craft. Every great invention, every work of art, every act of love began first as an illusion—something unseen, yet deeply felt. Copperfield reminds us that this power to dream is our most sacred gift. Without it, the world would be nothing but stone and dust, motion without meaning.

To call dreams necessary to life is no metaphor. For humanity has always survived through its capacity to imagine beyond suffering. When the Greeks told the myth of Prometheus, who defied the gods to bring fire to humankind, they spoke of this same truth. Prometheus’s fire was not only the flame of warmth—it was the light of imagination, the ability to dream of a better world. He was punished for it, yet his sacrifice gave life to civilization. So too, Copperfield’s words remind us that the dreamers, though mocked or misunderstood, are the ones who keep the world alive. It is their illusions that feed progress, their visions that keep despair from turning the heart to stone.

And yet, the magician’s insight carries a bittersweet shadow. For if dreams are illusions, they are also fragile, impermanent, and often unrealized. To live by them is to walk a narrow road between faith and disappointment. But it is precisely in this tension that life becomes meaningful. The dreamer does not flee reality—he transforms it. The illusion gives shape to purpose, and purpose gives strength to endure. Thus, Copperfield’s words are not a lament, but an invocation: cling to your illusions, even when the world calls them foolish. For they are not deceit; they are the heartbeat of hope.

Consider the life of Martin Luther King Jr., whose dream of equality was once called an illusion. In the face of hatred, imprisonment, and violence, he refused to surrender it. His “dream” was not yet real—it lived in the realm of vision, like a magician’s trick glimpsed through smoke. And yet, through his faith, the illusion began to take form in the hearts of millions. It was not the dream’s fulfillment that sustained him, but the act of dreaming itself—the conviction that one must keep believing in what the eye cannot yet see. Such is the divine paradox of Copperfield’s words: to hold on to what is not yet real is the only way to bring it into being.

We must, therefore, understand that to let go of dreams is to surrender to lifelessness. The body may continue to move, but the soul ceases to grow. Those who abandon their illusions soon become like hollow vessels—efficient perhaps, but empty. For dreams are the unseen currents that carry us forward when reason falters. They are the music beneath the noise of the world, the invisible thread that binds meaning to existence. Even when they fail, they leave us transformed, wiser, and more alive.

So, O seeker of truth, heed this wisdom: cherish your illusions. Guard your dreams as sacred fire, for they are the breath of your spirit. When the world grows cold and cynical, dare to see beauty where others see emptiness. When fear whispers that your hopes are impossible, answer with wonder. Do not measure your dreams by their fulfillment, but by the vitality they give your soul.

For as David Copperfield reminds us, we live not by certainty, but by imagination. Our dreams, though woven of illusion, are the only realities worth striving for. To abandon them is to die in spirit, but to cling to them—to create, to imagine, to hope—is to live forever in the bright theater of possibility.