The Dreamseller: The Calling (32 page)

To the beloved Catholic friends and leaders, of whom I cite as representatives the priests Jonas Abibe, Oscar Clemente and Salvador Renna. In them, love of one’s fellow man and tolerance ceased to be theory and entered the pages of reality. With surpassing love, they have sown dreams of a society suffused with brotherhood and altruism. To the beloved Protestant friends and leaders, of whom I cite as representatives Marcelo Gualberto, Aguiar Valvassora and Márcio Valadão. The pleasure of giving of oneself found in them a fertile ground. Wherever they
go, they have spread the perfume of love and greatness of soul. To my countless Buddhist, Muslim and spiritualist friends. They have enchanted me with their dreams. To my atheist and agnostic friends, I was part of that group and know that many of them are outstanding human beings, dear dreamers.

I dedicate this novel especially to society’s greatest sellers of dreams, the educators. Even with low salaries, they insist on selling dreams in the microcosm of the classroom so that students may stretch the frontiers of their intellect and become agents of change in the world, at least in their world. I have numerous professor friends in all fields. To represent them, I cite Silas Barbosa Dias; Dr. José Fernando Macedo, president of the Medical Association of the state of Paraná, not only an excellent professor of vascular surgery but a seller of humanism in medicine; and Dr. Paulo Francischini. Dr. Francischini has used one of my programs to notable effect to guide thoughts and protect emotion in masters and doctoral courses in his discipline, with the aim of molding thinkers.

To Jesus Badenes, Laura Falcó and Francisco Solé, brilliant executives in the Planeta firm, one of the largest publishers in the world. They do more than publish books; they sell dreams to nurture creativity and the art of thinking in their readers. To dear friends César, Denis, Débora and all the other members of the Planeta Brasil team. They were so excited about
The Dreamseller
that they stimulated me to write the continuation of this work. I especially thank my friend and editor Pascoal Soto for his intelligence and serenity. His opinions were of extreme value to the present work.

To my inspiring father, Salomão, who from childhood I watched selling dreams by taking needy sick people to hospitals for the simple pleasure of helping. He was always an excellent storyteller and an exceptional human being. To my cultured father-in-law, Georges Farhate. As incredible as it
seems, among the dreams he sold, he taught us that it is worthwhile to believe in life when, at the age of ninety, he again ran for public office, while many young people of twenty or thirty feel old and alienated. To dear Dirce and Áurea Cabrera for their affection for my works.

To my beloved wife, Suleima, and my daughters Camila, Carolina and Cláudia. They fascinate me with their astuteness, intelligence and generosity. I hope they will never come to love the worship of celebrity, that they will live the art of authenticity and understand that the most beautiful dreams are born in the terrain of humility and grow in the soil of nonconformity. I yearn for them not only to be in school, but for school to be in them, and for them to become dreamsellers until the last breath of life.

To my beloved patients. I not only taught them but also learned much from them. I learned much more from their deliriums, their crises of depression, their panic attacks and obsessive disturbances than from the restricted universe of scientific treatises. To all of them, my eternal gratitude. I found diamonds in the soil of suffering human beings. Whoever fails to recognize his conflicts will never be healthy, and whoever refuses to be taught by the conflicts of others will never be wise.

I have lived in a forest for close to twenty years, in a small and beautiful town that has no bookstore. In that unusual setting, I developed the psychological, sociological and philosophical ideas found in my books. I never expected that one day they would be read by millions of people, published in many countries and used in various universities. My dreams have taken me to unimaginable places.

[email protected]