The World Is Bigger Than You Think, Part 3
The "Twilight Zone" episode called "Two" first aired September
15, 1961. It starred Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery. They played individuals
coming to a town not occupied for five years. It is the
aftermath of a devastating war, presumably nuclear. Money means nothing.
Everything's free, but mostly broken.
Both are desperately lonely, but find it difficult to
trust. Much of the show is about the struggle to disarm
— not to disarm the enemy, but oneself.
It was a script with few words.
Ms. Montgomery spoke only one and in another language.
But Bronson got to make a speech:
There's no longer any reason for
us to fight. There are no longer any armies, only
rags of various colors that were once uniforms,
like the two sets of rags we wear. There are
no more boundaries, governments, or noble causes,
and therefore no reason to fight.
Noble Causes
In 1961, the human race was staring
an apocalypse square in the eye. People were afraid that
someone else's "noble cause" might get everyone killed.
But even supposing a post-apocalyptic world with few
human survivors, there would be noble causes. If there were a million humans left,
there would be a million noble causes.
In "Part
2" of this series and in "Forgotten
Corner of YouTube" , we talked about Carl Sagan
arguing that because the world is small compared to the
size of the cosmos, the things humans think important
are therefore not important, and so we should not engage
in war. We spoke of a similar sentiment in John Lennon's
"Imagine."
Released in
1971, "Imagine" seems more
popular today than ever. In 2004, Rolling Stone called
it the third
greatest song of all time. NBC used the song in its
promotion of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Former President
Jimmy
Carter has said, "In many countries around the world
— my wife and I have visited about 125 countries — you
hear John Lennon's song ‘Imagine' used almost equally
with national
anthems."
Every Christmas, its ironic use
as a carol seems to increase. The beautiful, haunting
melody has a hook like few songs ever
written, and the simplicity of both lyric and melody
make it a masterpiece of the popular songwriter's
art.
If Lennon had in any way cared what I
would one day think, he probably would have considered
it praise for me to characterize "Imagine" as possibly
the most subversive song ever written. And in a way, it
is praise. He did what he was trying to do, and did it
probably better than even he could
have imagined.
"Nothing to Kill or Die
For"
The
song's so familiar to most people, I don't think it's
necessary to spend much time quoting it. In the first verse,
he says to imagine there is no heaven or hell. He
endorses the idea of people "living for today" as a way
to peace. In the second verse he imagines the end
of nationalism — "no countries."
Certainly, many an evil man has
cried "faith and patriotism" as an his excuse for wicked
wars, and as a means of whipping up fighting fervor
among the masses. Does it then follow that life would be better
without faith or patriotism?
Finally, Lennon hits the crux of his
imaginings:
Nothing to kill
or die for
And no religion
too
Imagine all the
people
Living life
in peace...
Imagine a man standing over your child's
bed with a knife poised in the air, and then beginning
to strike. Imagine your empty hand. Does it long
for a gun? Does it ball into a fist? Do your legs hurl
your whole body toward the intruder? Are you intent on
committing violence, at least enough violence to prevent
your child's murder? In that moment, does it matter
whether the planet you live on is large or small
compared to an atom or a galaxy? Would you give your
life to save your child's life? Would you kill? Imagine
an existence where nothing's important enough to kill or die for. Imagine the emptiness of
such an existence.
If life holds nothing important
enough to die for, does it hold anything worth living
for? On the other hand, if John Lennon didn't
mean it the way he said it, if he deemed some things
(perhaps the life of his own child) great enough to die
for, we're back at square one. We're back at a point
where we must discern when it is right to use violence
in the cause of good.
Would Such A World
Be Peaceful?
More questions arise.
Would a world that so devalues human beings be a
peaceful one, and are the suppositions behind the song
true? In other words, is there no God, no meaning
in this life, and no hope beyond it? We won't take time
here to give a list of reasons for the hope that is in
us. The bottomline is, God exists. He gave meaning to
our lives by creating us in His own image. He paid for
our redemption with the lifeblood of His only
begotten Son. That's high
value.
Even if Lennon's view is
not true, would adopting his philosophy bring peace? In the
last century, we saw men who wanted to obliterate
national boundaries — make the world one. We saw men who
did everything in their power to destroy belief in God
and the influence of religious faith. We saw men who
espoused a world of common ownership. "No possessions
. . . no religion . . . no countries."
These men were the most
prolific murderers in history.
Posted: 1-9-2009
Note: At original posting, all links were active.
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