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
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 live as one
Open Mind 
Imagine there are no climate sceptics…
or anti-evolutionists, too …
+2 internets for Alexander and dhogaza!
But as my Down’s syndrome niece would say: “You have a big imagination.”
Imagine all the people, thinking about our future . You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope some day you’ll join us and we’ll all do what we need so the planet will stay as we have known it
April used to be the cruelest month; but for the last 30 years, we’ve had not one but two December days that live in infamy.
Dream on, my friends.
Nothing’s more powerful.
That song is a red flag for religious believers. Like me. What’s with the trend toward anti-Christian and anti-theist posts lately? That’s a good way to drive away potential supporters.
BPL
You know my faith. What I take away from Lennon’s song is that it is a beautiful creation of song and poetry, but ultimately leaves one with the same feeling as when one reaches the bottom of the bag of potato chips: full, but sadly empty at the same time, yearning for more…
The Yooper
Only some. Dolly Parton remade the song, and she is profoundly Christian.
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Burning carbon like there’s no next generation
soon enough there won’t be.
Barton, it is a special anniversary and this sweet imagining of “nothing to kill or die for” keeps its appeal for ample reason. That said, I want to support your point. Religion is a very mixed bag, and too many are unaware of the important Creation Care movement.
I liked when this song was used on WKRP (television sit-com) to the address the issue of censorship. One character says it supports communism. The song has meaning beyond all that, though, and BPL’s comment suggests to me that public discussion even 30 years after Lennon was killed could serve to help us better understand ourselves and each other.
BPL displaying a stunning failure of imagination.
Did is displaying that his underwear itches.
Ah, I see. That’s Christianity, is it? Keep it. It doesn’t sound very nice.
[Response: Let’s not go there.]
Merry Christmas, Barton!
Thanks, luminous! Same to you, and to non-Christian folk here, happy Hannukah, happy Winter Solstice, joyous Tet, or solemn and dignified Ramadan, as appropriate.
Errr…..Ramadan was three months ago, Barton. You might just have insulted someone (nah, I can hardly imagine we have any muslims reading this blog).
Barton, Don’t forget Newtonmas. After all, he was actually born on 25 December.
Thanks, BPL! Very much in the spirit of Luke 2:14.
And I’d “second the motion!”
Transcending our differences — all of them — in order to see our common humanity appears to be harder than Lennon ever imagined.
Inspired by a great article by Raymond Pierrehumbert. And Dame Shirley, of course…
Carbon is forever
It is all that is left to tease me,
It will acidify and heat me,
It won’t leave overnight,
I don’t fear that it might desert me…
Carbon is forever
Analyse it and research it,
Prod it, taste it, even breathe it,
I can see isotopes,
Nothing hidden that might deceive me,
I don’t need truth,
for what good will truth do me?
Carbon never lies to me,
When the fire is gone,
It will heat on…
I’ll have to get more familiar with the Muslim holidays, so I can cite something that happens at about the same time…
Unlikely to happen a lot, though, since they are on a different calendar.
I interpreted the line “and no religion too” as an indictment on the outward encrustations of man-made rituals, dogmas and literalisms that are erected around the inner core of truth and divine wisdom common to all faiths.
Strip away that outer layer of institutionalised, fossilised thinking, thinking that divides so many billions into mutually incomprehending, suspicous camps… strip that crud away to it’s inner purity and simplicity…. and you have the insiration for John Lennon’s immortal words.
Redlogix,
I really wish Mark David Chapman had interpreted it similarly. It would have been interesting to see what John Lennon would have produced in the last 30 years.