Imagining Utopias And Other Gehennas

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...

repeat chorus

“Imagine” – John Lennon

It doesn’t take much study of John Lennon to realize that he was gifted with wit and intelligence while at the same time troubled and confused. From his earliest childhood Lennon was a person without moorings, a situation to which he adapted and a style he adopted until coming under the even more negative influence of Yoko Ono about 1968. Until his death twelve years later, Lennon’s talents were under the destructive dictates of Ono.

“Imagine” is the leftist utopian anthem. It reflects the disdain of the regressive, pathologically stuck adolescent for all that has gone before, all that, ironically, makes his life possible. It uproots and tears down, but does nothing to plant or rebuild. It merely glories in rootlessness and trusts that the elimination of the boundaries of civilization will free humans to be the meaningless but somehow angelic beings he envisions. The advocates of “Imagine” never seem to wonder how the traditional pillars of civilization came into being or what purposes they might serve. If they consider it at all, they will blame the greedy oppressors, forgetting -- it seems, that those oppressors are members of the same flawed race as themselves.

Indeed, if men and women were perfect, there would be no need of governments, national boundaries, rules or regulations. We could all live in a garden and get along. The reality is that we were kicked out of the Garden for being self-willed and rebellious, and when a perfect Man did show up, we crucified Him.

As far as Lennon’s offhand remarks about the decline of Christianity and the popularity of the Beatles relative to Jesus, I thought, even forty years ago, that the reactions were excessive. What he said was nothing more than the effusions of a typical pop culture icon enamored of his own success. In that, he was no different than a Sean Penn, a Matt Damon or a George Clooney misperceiving fame for worth and substance. In fact, it is no different than the support for Obama – notoriety over substance. Many politicians, from Arnold to Jesse Ventura, Clinton to Obama think that popular appeal equals worth. This is little more than the high school mentality that the popular kids must be the best, that consensus is the same as wisdom and understanding.

The fool says in his heart, “God does not exist.” Even as the fool says it, he glorifies God, once again proving Him right. The fool’s blindness and arrogance in rejecting meaning and purpose leave him free to create meaning based on his own self-centered desires and interests. That one fool’s utopia is another fool’s concentration camp never interferes with the visions of the “Imagine” crowd. I would not want to live in John Lennon’s world, and I probably wouldn’t be welcome.

I suppose the Imagine-ers think I am just not highly evolved, but I want my own space and my own property and the right to worship God as I understand Him, to trust in His revelation and find the reason for my existence through His eternal reality. I prefer to imagine a kingdom where the Lord reigns. To put it simply, I don’t trust anyone else.

Is there really any difference between the bland, leveled, dead world of “Imagine” and the homogenized socialist society of 1984? How would people act if there were no restrictions, no fear of punishment, no traditions or taboos? Some people would behave decently, and they would be the slaves of the strongmen, the tyrants, and the sociopaths. Would not a Big Brother be required? Who is that going to be? Will it be the scientist, the sociologist, the lawyer, the accountant or the psychiatrist? All of the above? Al Gore? Jeremiah Wright? Bill Ayers?

Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll stick with Jesus.

In reality, Lennon and his like imagine a hateful, restrictive, petty little world where, as the kid in The Incredibles said, calling everybody special really means that no one is. Such a world would have had no place for John Lennon. Imagine.