Meditation on Imagine by John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky

Imagine there's no country
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 nor 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

It's not really about religion, or God. Come on, folks. I was going to link you to some of the online discussion surrounding these lyrics, but a simple search will show you all the fanatical positions out there. Don't be scared.

John Lennon's--and my--opposition was not to religion as spirituality, it was to what religion has become: an excuse to marginalize, caste, demonize, murder, judge, separate, oppress, and devalue people. Let's open our eyes, Religion--big "R"--is a sham. It's a competition. Who's closest to God? Who's cornered the market on truth? There are a few churches who manage to avoid getting hung up on the dogma and leave room for the diversity of our world; but not many. It just feels so good to be on the "right" team.

The same goes for "country," or "nation," or "state." It's a club, it's a creation. It's nothing but an idea. "What about our culture?" some will say. Nations don't have culture, people do. American culture in Hillsboro, KS has distinct and important, unashamed differences from American culture in New York, NY. Free your mind! We've all, worldwide, been sold these clubs that have colors and their own flags, and someone is telling us that we should be willing to kill and be killed in the name of something that isn't even real. In our blood, in the eyes of whoever is watching the human race, we are the same! Languages, flags, customs and colors can never change that! It's so much easier to just love.

But in the end, it all comes down to selfish human pride. Greed. If I own the best truth, and the best stuff, and the best team, I can demonstrate that I'm the best human. Why do we have so much more than we need? Why do we need to raise ourselves up when so many are pushed down--pushed down by the very mechanisms we use to raise ourselves up: religion, nationhood, status. We starve them, we damn them, we kill them, and we believe we're better. And we back it up with our faux-Christianity, which mimics the Pharisees and ignores Jesus' message that laws are made for people, not people for the laws.

Imagine ALL the people living life in peace.