“Just when you thought Sol couldn’t go any deeper … he does. Sol constantly—and I mean relentlessly—challenges you to remain open-minded. In fact, the term ‘open-minded’ doesn’t adequately convey what he’s doing. It’s more like he’s stripping your mind naked, and cornering you into thinking outside the box where he then provides the match for you to burn the box itself […] I don’t just recommend this book, it’s prerequisite reading before embarking on the ‘Ultimate Hero’s Journey’ in your ultimate Dreambody. It’s as inspiring as it is practical.”—Johnny Flynn, author, THE MANDELA DILEMMA

“What makes Sol’s writing work isn’t that he’s a guru talking down to you. It’s the opposite, he’s an approachable guide, helping you unlearn what we’ve all been taught about ourselves, individually and collectively. This isn’t a book of abstract theory, and it never wanders off into esoteric elitism or ungrounded mysticism. It’s a genuine handbook, practical in the best possible sense for elevating your consciousness and taking your power back.” —Emma Lyons, founder of Trauma Matrix

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🎸 “Runnin’ Down a Dream”: A Watershed Moment

Sol Luckman

Looking back with 20/20 hindsight from my late fiftysomething perspective, one word stands out to best characterize the year 1989: watershed. Truly, 1989 was a turning point not just in my personal life but on the world scene.

Watching my internal movie of that momentous period, I recall in vivid, slo-mo detail a particular still-mild early November day toward the middle of my final year of college.

On that unheralded date in history, my bowtied Romantic poetry professor suddenly appeared five minutes late (he was never late) with an astonished expression behind his smudged spectacles—before abruptly, jubilantly canceling class with these electric lines:

“Your assignment until next we meet is to go celebrate. The Berlin Wall has fallen!”

That was in the salad days before smartphones ruined any chance of lasting world peace. This giddy news had only just flashed—but only to those accessing mainstream mouthpieces.

My professor had heard the earthshaking news over his crackly office radio. We OG students living in a simpler world where it wasn’t yet possible (or fashionable) to be jacked into the Matrix 24/7 were blissfully unaware and taken completely off guard.

Funnily enough, as much as this historical event seemed to presage the dawn of a new day on our divided planet, the exact opposite seemed to happen.

Over the ensuing years (which, being a music buff, I tended to label “Shoegaze,” “Grunge,” “Hip-hop,” etc.), people tended to get more and more—not less and less—dualized in sneakier and sneakier ways as the collapse of the Soviet Union had no measurable impact on my own life.

But another event from 1989 actually did, at the very least, memorably shift my perspective on—and experience of—this slippery “reality” we’re deeply conditioned to take for granted.

I’m talking about the release of American rock star Tom Petty’s iconic song about dreaming big and living large in a world dominated by facts and figures, “Runnin’ Down a Dream.”

Three Master Manifestation Keys

This catchy tune wasn’t Petty’s greatest hit (or even best song, which I’d give to “Don’t Come Around Here No More”), but it certainly made enough waves to be anthologized in the collective memetic database that is pop culture.

Also the name of the 2007 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers documentary, “Runnin’ Down a Dream” served as the official theme song of two NBA Finals, closed Petty’s Super Bowl XLII Halftime Show, and graced an impressive number of video games, movies, and TV shows.

For mercenary reasons belonging to the shady realm of clever music industry lawyers, you can quote unmonetizable poems ad nauseam, but sharing lucrative song lyrics at length can get you sued for copyright violation.

Long story short: I’m not at liberty to cite the full lyrics of Petty’s inspiring, multidimensional tune that unless you live under a rock and don’t listen to rock, you’ve most definitely heard sometime, somewhere.

But I can and will give you an enlightening overview (complete with choice snippets and an unconventional literary reading) of this second single from Petty’s first solo album, FULL MOON FEVER.

So if you don’t mind, please be so kind as to humor this former English teacher by visualizing this mental space we’re temporarily sharing as a virtual classroom.

If you stick with me, I’ll wager you’ll agree that the meanings that can be unearthed from Petty’s seemingly simple lyrics become both more intriguing and empowering the deeper you dig into them.

Amazingly, these ostensibly straightforward lyrics intimate what I like to refer to as the three Master Manifestation Keys:

1) The Key to worldly success;
2) The Key to a better life in all ways; and even
3) The Key to reality creation at a logically “impossible” level.

So if you weren’t paying attention before, now that class is in session, it might be a good time to start. (Hint, hint.)

Copyright © Sol Luckman. All Rights Reserved.

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