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
Imagine by John Lennon 1971
An honest attempt to visualize a place where the things that divide people no longer exist. I love the melody, a soft approach masking a strong political and religious message, although Lennon probably saw these two regimes as one.
Lennon asks the listener to follow him on his journey, his ideological quest for living without the death of heaven, hell, countries, killing, religion, possessions, greed, and hunger. In 2001, under the shadow of a debri-filled New York City, Neil Young performed this song before a televised audience of 60 million; 60 million people still moved by the power of Lennon's prophetic musings.
Lennon was calling for a movement, although he always publicly denied this in interviews, but the third stanza gives his motivation away as he is calling for us to more than imagine, and to join arms with 'us'.
I've been thinking about this, not Lennon but the song, what it means, not to Lennon but to us today and tomorrow. And I've hit a road block.
Doesn't every political and religious force use the same rhetoric as Lennon's? Isn't every war fought to 'end war' or remove suffering? Don't people join a religion to remove 'evil' from their own lives and bring about an end to 'evil' in society? Don't most see heaven as an eternal extradition from things like greed and hunger?
I guess my problem is what Lennon's was, and why his movement has not moved past imagining. He offers no real answers or explanations, only condemning the generation before him for the systems they put in place. That's probably why the song continues to be so popular. Nothing like blaming mom and dad and their politics and religion for all the bad in society.
Lennon struggled to imagine real answers to killing, pride, and poverty because to achieve it requires a purely motivated political uprising demanding equality, a religious movement demonstrating societal justice, and men and woman serving the needs of community over the wants of their souls.
Now Lennon's song will remain on my playlist, and will probably continue as the anarchist anthem for generations to come. But I'm not content to only 'imagine' all the wrongs in government, religion, and society. I want to make a difference, now. I want to do something about poverty in my community, eliminate hatred and fear in my city, and remove divisions of race, gender, and religion.
Maybe politics and religion are not to blame after all, maybe we're the problem. We might be in need of some help from someone who died passionately for what he was(and not just what he believed in), and left a perfect example on how to achieve what Lennon sings of.
So I encourage you to celebrate imagination, let your dreams be unhindered, but be brave enough to move into the fog of living them out.
And the world will live as one
Imagine by John Lennon 1971
An honest attempt to visualize a place where the things that divide people no longer exist. I love the melody, a soft approach masking a strong political and religious message, although Lennon probably saw these two regimes as one.
Lennon asks the listener to follow him on his journey, his ideological quest for living without the death of heaven, hell, countries, killing, religion, possessions, greed, and hunger. In 2001, under the shadow of a debri-filled New York City, Neil Young performed this song before a televised audience of 60 million; 60 million people still moved by the power of Lennon's prophetic musings.
Lennon was calling for a movement, although he always publicly denied this in interviews, but the third stanza gives his motivation away as he is calling for us to more than imagine, and to join arms with 'us'.
I've been thinking about this, not Lennon but the song, what it means, not to Lennon but to us today and tomorrow. And I've hit a road block.
Doesn't every political and religious force use the same rhetoric as Lennon's? Isn't every war fought to 'end war' or remove suffering? Don't people join a religion to remove 'evil' from their own lives and bring about an end to 'evil' in society? Don't most see heaven as an eternal extradition from things like greed and hunger?
I guess my problem is what Lennon's was, and why his movement has not moved past imagining. He offers no real answers or explanations, only condemning the generation before him for the systems they put in place. That's probably why the song continues to be so popular. Nothing like blaming mom and dad and their politics and religion for all the bad in society.
Lennon struggled to imagine real answers to killing, pride, and poverty because to achieve it requires a purely motivated political uprising demanding equality, a religious movement demonstrating societal justice, and men and woman serving the needs of community over the wants of their souls.
Now Lennon's song will remain on my playlist, and will probably continue as the anarchist anthem for generations to come. But I'm not content to only 'imagine' all the wrongs in government, religion, and society. I want to make a difference, now. I want to do something about poverty in my community, eliminate hatred and fear in my city, and remove divisions of race, gender, and religion.
Maybe politics and religion are not to blame after all, maybe we're the problem. We might be in need of some help from someone who died passionately for what he was(and not just what he believed in), and left a perfect example on how to achieve what Lennon sings of.
So I encourage you to celebrate imagination, let your dreams be unhindered, but be brave enough to move into the fog of living them out.
