My grandchildren Torsten and Kaia have a potential sibling, who is as profoundly asleep as Princess Aurora in the famous fairytale. This royalty, however, is nothing but a speck, a 0.2 mm-sized egg cell, and its castle is a ULT-freezer in a hospital in Sweden. Given the magic kiss by an infinitely much smaller prince though, it would instantly transform into a human embryo. The single cell would start multiplying, eventually become trillions of cells, communicating via a countless number of neurons. What now is pure potentiality would mysteriously turn into the strange and complex labyrinth we call a human being.

For every existing thing, there was a time when it was nothing but a dormant possibility, patiently abiding its cue to enter the world stage.
About 150 years ago, there was a tiny, dormant egg cell, deep inside the brain of a Russian man called Fyodor Dostoyevski. One day, a microscopic idea found its way into the castle and stirred the sleeping beauty. An embryo started growing, thoughts and words multiplied and a complex network of events, characters and dialogues developed. In 1866, the fetus was delivered into the world. He was named Raskolnikov, a young student, haunted by a terrible crime he committed, fearing severe punishment. He would soon catch the whole world’s interest and fascination.

The question for you is this: is there an unknown hero sleeping somewhere in the castle of your brain? Could there be a deep-frozen, potential Emma Bovary, Atticus Finch or Adam Trask, dreaming of a warming kiss?

Albert Einstein once said, “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” He encouraged parents to read fairy tales to their children and wanted people to live as if everything is a miracle.

What greater miracle is there than the strange sleight of hand that something that did not exist a moment ago, suddenly is there? Try as you may to follow the magician’s nimble fingers, each time you fail miserably to reveal his trick, wondering if what your eyes are showing you is nothing but an optical illusion.