Open your mind. . . This is what John Lennon invites us to do in his thought provoking song, Imagine. Just think of the word imagine. Think of all the contexts in which you find this word. The human imagination can, and has, created some of the most horrible atrocities, but it has also conjured up some of the most beautiful hopes and dreams. Lennon asks us to imagine the world as a better place and we can actually make that come true. This very meaningful song was brought about during one of the most turbulent times in our history, the Vietnam Conflict. The United States was fighting a war that wasn’t its own, and consequently it was leaving hundreds of thousands of dead innocents in its wake. John Lennon wanted very much for peace to be found abroad and also hear at home, so gave us a set of logical steps to fix the world. Each verse of this
song is actually one of those logical steps.
Roughly 86.5% of the world’s population believes in some form of a higher power, and ultimately some kind of life after death. Here Lennon asks us to forget about our cares and things to come just by living for the day. Nothing can make us forget about our cares like living for the day. Why tie ourselves down with the concerns of tomorrow, when we aren’t even there yet?
What things have caused more war and bloodshed in the history of mankind? Our culprit here were most definitely have to be a combination of patriotism and religion. Think about it, some of our most infamous massacres have occurred due to this combination: The Crusades, the 9/11 attack, any persecution of the Jews from the Days of the Egyptian Empire to the Holocaust of World War II, Ireland and Northern Ireland, and even the divorce of King Henry VIII. If we could just get rid of countries and religion, there would be no need for peaceful cohabitation of different groups of people. There would be no groups of people, just people.
Another obstacle that keeps the people apart is their inability to keep everyone equal, and with this inability comes a long line of problems between the haves and the have-nots. However, if we are somehow able to cut out our possessions and our greed, we could create a universal sense of brotherhood in humankind. With this obstacle out of the way, we are able to share the world as equals.
The chorus is, in my opinion, the most important and powerful part of the song. The chorus is a message to all of those closed-minded people who don’t think that Lennon’s goal is possible. I particularly like how Lennon plainly says that he isn’t the only person who has taken this message to heart and that even if you don’t see eye to eye with him at the present, he isn’t going to shut you out. He is going to just hope that you will come to terms with the message yourself and make the world a better place. This approach is particularly powerful because it is practicing what the rest of the song preaches: peace and understanding.
This song is, was, and always will be refreshing for at least one reason; its voice of optimism and hope for mankind. The world should be filled with ‘people’, not Blacks, Christians, Homosexuals, Russians, Jews, Whites, Italians, not even Moslems or Buddhists. . . just people. This song is an example of what can be as people, and what we can actually accomplish if we try.
song is actually one of those logical steps.
Roughly 86.5% of the world’s population believes in some form of a higher power, and ultimately some kind of life after death. Here Lennon asks us to forget about our cares and things to come just by living for the day. Nothing can make us forget about our cares like living for the day. Why tie ourselves down with the concerns of tomorrow, when we aren’t even there yet?
What things have caused more war and bloodshed in the history of mankind? Our culprit here were most definitely have to be a combination of patriotism and religion. Think about it, some of our most infamous massacres have occurred due to this combination: The Crusades, the 9/11 attack, any persecution of the Jews from the Days of the Egyptian Empire to the Holocaust of World War II, Ireland and Northern Ireland, and even the divorce of King Henry VIII. If we could just get rid of countries and religion, there would be no need for peaceful cohabitation of different groups of people. There would be no groups of people, just people.
Another obstacle that keeps the people apart is their inability to keep everyone equal, and with this inability comes a long line of problems between the haves and the have-nots. However, if we are somehow able to cut out our possessions and our greed, we could create a universal sense of brotherhood in humankind. With this obstacle out of the way, we are able to share the world as equals.
The chorus is, in my opinion, the most important and powerful part of the song. The chorus is a message to all of those closed-minded people who don’t think that Lennon’s goal is possible. I particularly like how Lennon plainly says that he isn’t the only person who has taken this message to heart and that even if you don’t see eye to eye with him at the present, he isn’t going to shut you out. He is going to just hope that you will come to terms with the message yourself and make the world a better place. This approach is particularly powerful because it is practicing what the rest of the song preaches: peace and understanding.
This song is, was, and always will be refreshing for at least one reason; its voice of optimism and hope for mankind. The world should be filled with ‘people’, not Blacks, Christians, Homosexuals, Russians, Jews, Whites, Italians, not even Moslems or Buddhists. . . just people. This song is an example of what can be as people, and what we can actually accomplish if we try.
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