Is it possible to live in the world that John Lennon “Imagined”?

Let’s See:

Imagine there’s no heaven (fine with me, but most would disagree)
It’s easy if you try (It’s easy if you abandon everything your were taught growing up)
No hell below us (again, fine with me, but…)
Above us only sky (and airplanes, and satellites, and…)
Imagine all the people
Living for today… (most people spend their time worrying about tomorrow)

Imagine there’s no countries (but there are)
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for (tell that to an extremist)
And no religion too (and again, fine with me, but…)
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace… (I think most people do live in peace – so this is a “yes”)

You may say I’m a dreamer (idealist)
But I’m not the only one (true)
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions (not likely in this consumer culture – and I like gadgets)
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger (hunger sure – but eliminate greed, unlikely)
A brotherhood of man (I don’t know many siblings who get along)
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world… (we do, just very disproportionately)

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 (big, dysfunctional family)

So I’m going to say, “no” – not entirely (and certainly not in my lifetime). But it’s nice to dream…

@cprevite – Ten star answer. Thank you.

@cprevite nicely put. but wouldn’t it be nice.. sigh

one of the most absurd songs ever written

@archer gasp now why would you say that? there’s nothing wrong with daydreaming.

i hope for it everyday. IMAGINE PEACE

Lennon dreamt of a world where everyone would live as one people exclusive of all entities which cause division among us, be it religion or nationalism or possessiveness. Was Lennon right to dream of a brotherhood of man, living in peace? Absolutely! Sadly, we didn’t come anywhere near it in his lifetime. And, I rather doubt I’ll live to see it either. Is it possible? Sure, but a whole lot would need to change and there is substantial resistance. But, I still dream. And I do Imagine. wtf

The world John Lennon (an artist, not a politician) imagined can never be, not even in theory. A Russian with a very similar name imagined a world with no possession too. He ended up with the USSR. And that’s as good as it gets.

The problem with the USSR (and Cuba, and China, and the early Christian Communes or the Jewish kibutz) is that they are all societies built by humans. It is only a matter of time before we stop “living as one” and “sharing all the world” and one of us decides to gain power and then abuse it. Throw any number of humans in a vacuum, and within a couple of generations, if not days, you’ll have a hierarchy. The greed, lust, anger, jealousy, laziness and all sorts of other traits, intrinsic to humans, will come out sooner or later. And we’ll have a society with beggars, thieves, prostitutes, and worst of all…politicians.

So no, this world is a utopia (the original word “U-Topia” created by Plato to describe a similar society 2500 years ago). Humans as we know them can never create, nor even sustain such a society. But Lennon, unlike Lenin, is an artist. And he’s allowed to dream.

I love John Lennon. Looooove. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t read Leviathan.

@Jack79: Great answer.

Even if it were possible, I can’t imagine that it’d be a very interesting existence. “Nothing to die for”? I can’t imagine a life so lacking in meaning that I’d have nothing in it worth dying for. What then, would be the point of living?

Also, “living as one” doesn’t really appeal much to me. Even peaceful, rational people will rarely agree on what direction their individual lives should take. The divisions in humanity that Lennon (and other hippies) railed against are merely disagreements about what different people want their own lives to look like. If you could somehow do away with those divisions, you would still make some people unhappy. And forcing otherwise peaceful people to live against their will often relieves them of their aversion to violence.

So, no, it isn’t possible. Because people are individuals. Not ants.

@Jack79 that is a great answer.
@Poser and i do agree with you. even though it is nice to dream.

The problem is that when people dream of a world like that, it’s always of the world that they would like to see. Anyone who doesn’t agree with their version of utopia must be wrong. Lennon’s utopia sounds more like hell to me.

@Poser personal preference. interesting view!

big props to poser. excellent.