Imagination is more important than knowledge, for it is limitless
We’re taught that facts are all-important. But we risk forgetting the power of our imagination says Luke Turner, as he deciphers John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’
“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...
It must be accepted that we are each unique in completely different ways, physically as well as mentally. Each person has their own personal way of thinking, their own imagination which they control. It can create a world without limits of any sort. To ‘Imagine’ is simple to do. All you have to accept is that it is through imagination that human progress can be made. Let us say that, the human race is constantly evolving. Be it technologically or mentally, it is happening without us even trying.
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...
Why don’t we then attempt to control the direction of our evolution of thought, as we do with material benefits? In first world societies, there is no need to fight one another for food as in the wild, like the cavemen did, because it’s provided for us by farmers in a system that has developed over many years. Considering this, it’s also not necessary for the selfishness of a human being to be as dominant as it used to be, with respect to the bare necessities of life. We all live on Earth together now, we are no longer striving to survive, we are striving only for money. In fact, if we didn’t already work together the world would now fall to pieces.
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
Lennon said he was a dreamer. He also said he was not alone in his dreams, implying that there is a possibility for people to think in the same way he does. In a less selfish way.
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”
There is an emotion in all of us which is the feeling a child has towards their mother/father/brother/sister. There is something that feels different towards one’s own genes. Some call it Love. No matter what it is, it does exist. It’s the feeling that causes you to give your life to save that of a sibling or your own child. You wouldn’t however, give your life for a friend. Giving your life for someone else has to be a completely selfless action. Say that one boy has 5 brothers, and another boy has 10. These boys would give their lives to save that of their brothers’, however one has considerably more brothers. This doesn’t mean that his Love has been spread thinner or means less, because he would still die for all 10.
This must mean that the boy with 5 brothers also has the ability to Love another 5, or 10 even. So this emotion has no limits, in that case, can somebody Love a friend in the same way as a brother? Of course, people get married and love each other so much that they would also die for one another, the ultimate sacrifice.
I believe that with imagination, it would be possible to plant the idea of branching this brotherly love for one within one’s own vertical genetic tree, horizontally, to a friend. If this is achieved, we already know that this emotion is limitless and we could evolve to become one.
