You may say I'm a dreamer...but I'm not the only one

'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 .'
(John Lennon)


John Lennon was in my estimation a visionary. While some people believed him to be a socialist, perhaps because of his desire for a certain mediocrity among the classes and the wealthy, and his calling for an end to the march of capitalism and so on. These were likely to be those very group within society which inspired him to express his vision for a more equal society in this song.

Whereas others cast him as a dreamer, based upon what they viewed to be his  unrealistic do-gooder flower power ideals, which seemed so at odds with the society of that time. Others claimed his message to be too simplistic, suggesting that  throughout the history of mankind, wars, greed, power and violence have dominated, that it is somehow determined by the evolution of mankind itself.

According to evolution, man is predisposed to being selfish, thinking only of himself first, and the survival of the fittest. Yet John Lennon was trying to express to people that there was another way of looking at the world. It is up to us to change history, to throw off the shackles of those very motivations, and worldly pursuits which somehow end up entrapping us all in a vicious circle of violence, power, and greed.

For me, I believe he was all of the above, but so much more. He was a revolutionary in his thinking. I genuinely believe this was his philosophy which he wanted to share with the world. I believe his song 'Imagine' holds a timeless message, transcending all time.

In my opinion, we do have to live in reality, however, we are the architects of that reality and can make it as we so choose.  To attribute man's selfishness, greed, or hatred and violence to evolution is inaccurate. What evolution has given us is the capacity for good or evil as we so choose it. After all, evolution gave us the Gandhi's and Mother Theresa's of this world, just as it gave us the Hitler's  and the Genghis Khan's .

Taking the easier route in life does not always yield the best results. Sure, it's easier to wage a war, than work towards finding a peaceful solution, but if we all worked for peace, there would be no war. If we all just believed in a love and understanding that had no name or face, there would be no religion, if there was no money, we would be valued based on the merit of our actions, not the size of our bank accounts.

For me this is the whole point of the song; imagine a world where there is no war, no religions, no material items nor classes to divide us, unity instead of division and segregation. If we all imagined a better world as John Lennon envisaged, and achieved to make this world a reality, then it would be in my opinion a better place.


"I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong. " - John Lennon




"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality. " - John Lennon.