Daniel Stange de Acatl
Posted May 21, 2026
Discovering new perspectives and returning to new beginnings; it really is something that happens every day. The sun sets in the west and then appears to rise in the east and we count this movement as another night filled with speculation. Things do go bump in the night. They are the unseen energies of shadow and spirit that many of us have been taught to fear. And still, we rise each new day and shake the visions of dreams that melt into oblivion.
We do sometimes have an impactful dream. Some people have very vivid dreams and others have told me that they do not dream. Perhaps they just do not remember the dream? It is so subtle and dissipates in a few moments. By the time our body is stretched and teeth are brushed, there is some challenge to remember the details of dreams; even when the dream was impactful.
History is filled with explanations of how to interpret dreams and even scientists have speculated that your dream might be the result of what you ate the night before? But these are guesses at best and although we have MRI brain imaging and people have studied the parts of the brain active during REM sleep. There is still just a theory. Yet, “to dream is to live and to die is to wake up.”
Those words are a simple translation of a Toltec artist who tried to enlighten the minds of Spanish priests that were hell bent on the conversion of Mexican indigenous communities. The Vatican was convinced that the new lands of this western hemisphere were completely ignorant of the biblical revelations from their holy gospels. They believed that they were apostles of the Apostles of Christ. The Spanish Inquisition had uprooted the evil of heathen practices in Europe, so they now had an entire continent to pursue. Because Armageddon will not unfold until the whole world has heard the salvation of Christ.
This is the version that our history books would like to share. But chroniclers never did improvise an important factor to the indigenous worldview; that linear time is not conformed to reality. We do not move through time, time moves through us. We move through space. The sun does not rise and fall. Mother earth turns around, and we perceive this as another day, and we count the days in a succession that is invented. The calendar that we use today was invented in 1583, and that date might also be incorrect? The future will always remain in the dream world. Something we imagine but cannot fully comprehend.
We find it useful to have this ambition or this goal to achieve. So, we utilize concepts like The American Dream. We perceive a dream to be a desired or beneficial event, yet to the American Indian it was a nightmare. It was an inquisition that devastated the former balance and harmony that existed. Now the rest of the population is beginning to realize that this dream was perpetrated by a small group of families that dreamed of world domination.
Still, we hope for a day when the promise of America will become a reality for ALL. But this cannot be only for the people. This Mother Earth is shared by so many more living, breathing, feeling and dreaming organisms. Perhaps that dream had already existed here 500 years ago. Will our collective dreams be able to restore the biological balance and harmony that will give a greater sense of peace to all?
Collective efforts are a necessary element of change. We will never all agree to the same outcome. We all have our own individual dreams when we rest. We hope that together our children can bring us back from this brink of disaster. Still, we should open our hearts to compassion for all earthlings. Those in the sea, the winged, the four legged, the creepy crawlers, all have a place in this home. Remember them as you work to bring your dreams into reality. This life has been going on for longer than we can measure.
Danny Stange de Acatl is a Denver Native and Cultural activist that serves his community on various levels.
- Colorado Gov. Polis Cuts Tina Peters’ Prison Sentence in Half - May 22, 2026
- Colorado Supreme Court Decision: Boe V. Children’s Hospital Colorado - May 22, 2026
- Chante Chicano: How Long Has This Been Going On? - May 22, 2026
