This momentous song by the one and only John Lennon is one that will never be forgotten. Even Glee has done a cover of it.
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No Hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
This song is asking for something so simple, yet something so unattainable. To have peace in the world is something we all desire, but we don't want to have to sacrifice anything we have already to gain it. A world without government, religion or possessions means that all potential opportunities for fights are ruled out, if only people could be happy with all being equally nothing. If we could only hold onto emotions and nothing material, Lennon is saying, we could all coexist harmoniously.
This will most probably never happen.
Imagine is so relevant to everyday life it is rather disturbing. The song was written during the height of the Vietnam War, as well as the Nixon Administration and the Peace Movement. Yet it still manages to relate to the horrors of today: the war against terrorism, for one, as well as the war in Gaza and the war in Afghanistan and the war that is everywhere else.
And the most troubling thing is that it is us as humans that are the ones who provoke these problems. Yes, earthquakes in Haiti and Japan and New Zealand are trembling the earth with their horrific effects, but essentially it is our human brains which cause our troubles. Heaven and Hell are only in the human mind. To be at one with everything would mean a stop of time: only when things change and our memories detect the change do we decide that time has passed. To be at one with the Universe would an eternal bliss.
Thoughts? We at the English review would love to hear anything you have to say on such a philosophical topic.
By Jess
In philosophy we study something called the state of nature, which I'm not convinced I 100% understand, but the point is that it's a society-less world, where humans are not influenced by 'society'. I like to think that, in this hypothetical world, humans would be good, and altruistic. I think that it's kind of society that corrupts us, and brings evil into the world, because I think that if you took the most evil people, and brought them up in the most wonderful families, they would be fine. 'Happy people just don't shoot their husbands'. To be honest though, that's probably because I have a ridiculously over-optimistic view of human nature...
ReplyDeleteOthers say that to say that society corrupts mankind is nonsense, because mankind IS society. People, the likes of Marx and John Lennon, think that we could change society and therefore change people's evil behaviour, but their critics argue that mankind created society, so we can't blame it as if it were a separate entity. Hmmmm...
I think the critics may be right in saying that society is mankind, but maybe, just maybe, evil could be prevented further if there was a lack of something to fight over. And yes, Abi, you are always terribly optimistic.
ReplyDeleteJess