Imagine: Back to the Garden

"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". Have you ever listened to John Lennon's 'Imagine' and actually accepted his challenge?- probably not. 'Imagine' is Lennon's most popular solo work, although some would argue that it was a collaborative piece co-written by Yoko Ono, so let's just call it Lennon's most popular song "without the other Beatles". In any case the song was and is a heavyweight, always a title contender among the best songs of all time lists. Is it because a Beatle wrote it? Is it because it has a catchy tune? Do people really envision the described Utopia when they hear the song? I often wonder if it speaks to others as it does me.

One day I thought I would take a closer look at this song and try to figure out what it is that grabbed a hold of me and didn't let go. First of all, it's incredibly simple in its structure. The lyrics are straightforward prose, completely bereft of allegory and metaphor, not the lyrical poetry that's more likely to be included in my list of favorites. So for me it must be the message. Well what is the message? Here is my interpretation...

Some readers might be offended by the first three or four lines of the first verse, so let's skip to the last line of the first verse which says "imagine all the people living for today". Try to imagine having just this life. If you lived this life knowing that it's your only life rather than living it preparing for a "heavenly paradise" would you do anything differently? If you didn't have to follow the manufactured path of righteousness, complete the required tasks, pledge allegiance to an exclusive deity, would you spend your time in other ways? Would you have the same moral values? Would you adhere to the prejudices that are inherent in most modern religious beliefs?

"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." In verse two Lennon is asking us to imagine there are no countries and no religion, then making the assumption that if this were the case all the people would live in peace. That's a rather large assumption to make, but is it possible? If there were no conflicting ethereal beliefs and no borders, what would we have to fight about? There would be no divinely reserved space for the "chosen people", no "killing in the name of", no burning of heretics, no witch-hunts, no Inquisition, no genocidal ethnic cleansing, no "crusades", no pointless Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and no pedophile priests (I'm sure there would still be pedophiles but at least they wouldn't pretend to be holy). What would Cyrus, Alexander, Ashoka, Julius Caesar, Constantine, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and Hitler have done with their lives if there were nothing to conquer?

I'll save the chorus for last. The last verse says "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." Can you imagine no possessions? If nothing was our own but belonged to everyone would we have the starving and the over-fed, the rich and poor? Would we all be considered equal? I realize that this verse more than any other reeks of communism. In fact, Lennon was quoted as saying the song is "virtually the Communist Manifesto", but you don't have to be a communist to appreciate the utopian ideal.

'Imagine' ends with the chorus. "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/live as one". Yes, I would say he is a dreamer, and certainly not the only one. I think he's asking us to join him in his dream. I don't think he actually believed his hoped-for world was possible if we just thought as he did. I think he wanted us to do what he plainly states - "imagine"... to use your imagination to picture this place and really think about it... and just by taking the time to actually think about a world without war, without intolerance, with understanding and acceptance, we actually become better people. Or maybe it's just me, but even if that's the case it's well worth the dream.

Obviously, this world is impossible. We as humans are individuals and as such will never have one ultimate common goal. So this is our world today... embrace it. It is as we've made it. We made the bed, we sleep in it. You know what they say, love it or leave it... so love it while you're here. Do what you can to change it for the better but don't ever let it change you. To me Lennon's utopia is more of a time than a place. It did exist once. It was the time before P'an ku's egg hatched, before Sosano-wo was sentenced to the sea, before Coatlique lost her ball of feathers, before Pandora opened her gift from Zeus. It was the time before Eve took the apple, it was the Garden of Eden. We know that world is not possible... but just 'Imagine'.