create_destiny (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
create_destiny) wrote2006-11-01 08:45 pm
create_destiny) wrote2006-11-01 08:45 pm
Entry tags:
Imagine This
I love John Lennon as much as the next guy but the song "Imagine" has always bothered me.
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
I imagined there was no heaven once, gathered all my strength and imagined that this life is all there is.
above us only sky
I imagined this not just for an hour or a day, but every waking moment for several years. Initially it was liberating, but that sensation didn't last long. An all-consuming emptiness set in and I began to obsess over the implications of such an existence. In short, I went quite mad. I came to the same conclusion this Russian Orthodox monk did who wrote:
"If man is to end in nothingness, then in the deepest sense it does not matter what he does in this life, for nothing he may do is of any ultimate consequence, and all talk of 'living life to the full' is empty and vain. It is absolutely true that if there is no immortality, the world is absurd and 'everything is permitted'--which is to say, nothing is worth doing, the dust of death smothers every joy and prevents even tears, which would be futile...Nothing in this world --not love, not goodness, not sanctity, --is of any value, or indeed even has any meaning if man does not survive death."
I ain't no day tripper, but I changed my mind. I'm a dreamer, a believer and a lover of peace. I get high with a little help from my friends and I imagine heaven.
I also like to imagine that this ball of blue light is my sister Karma, visiting my parents and I in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. I always used to call her "the blue thing" because her eyes were blue and also because of a They Might Be Giants song.
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
I imagined there was no heaven once, gathered all my strength and imagined that this life is all there is.
above us only sky
I imagined this not just for an hour or a day, but every waking moment for several years. Initially it was liberating, but that sensation didn't last long. An all-consuming emptiness set in and I began to obsess over the implications of such an existence. In short, I went quite mad. I came to the same conclusion this Russian Orthodox monk did who wrote:
"If man is to end in nothingness, then in the deepest sense it does not matter what he does in this life, for nothing he may do is of any ultimate consequence, and all talk of 'living life to the full' is empty and vain. It is absolutely true that if there is no immortality, the world is absurd and 'everything is permitted'--which is to say, nothing is worth doing, the dust of death smothers every joy and prevents even tears, which would be futile...Nothing in this world --not love, not goodness, not sanctity, --is of any value, or indeed even has any meaning if man does not survive death."
I ain't no day tripper, but I changed my mind. I'm a dreamer, a believer and a lover of peace. I get high with a little help from my friends and I imagine heaven.
I also like to imagine that this ball of blue light is my sister Karma, visiting my parents and I in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. I always used to call her "the blue thing" because her eyes were blue and also because of a They Might Be Giants song.
no subject
"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..."
Instead of living for some afterlife, try to live a good life today, for the people here and now. Live to celebrate life, not to prepare for death.
no subject
I do think, though, that in "Imagine" that Lennon was probably thinking more about religion than spirituality. Not everyone who considers themselves a spiritual person is preparing for death; it's organised religions (particlarly the Judeo/Islam/Christian religions) which espouse the idea that righteousness is rewarded with eternity.
no subject
A wise man once told me that we should live each day as if it were our last and as if we were to live another hundred years.
Celebrate life, yes, but there is also much to be mourned on this planet. Some might even say that we are celebrating too much it's destroying the earth's resources.
I celebrate The Resurrection above all.