Imagine

There is a popular song, called “Imagine” by John Lennon that has been around since 1971. It’s one of those songs that the world, especially Americans, knows and loves. The original song has not only graced our phonographs, tapedecks, CD players and public airwaves for decades, but has been reproduced in many forms. It is even played by symphony orchestras and marching bands as well as sung as a lullaby for sleepy children. The song lyrics tell the listener that a wonderful world of unity and peace can be attained by all humanity if we would only try to picture the reality of such a place somewhere it in our minds- that is, if only we would “Imagine.”

At first glance, (if “glancing” is what one does with ears and eardrums,) the simple song is merely a sweet, soft, melody that spreads a message of brotherly love and peace on earth, goodwill to men. The sweet gentle whispers are so pleasing to the ear, that it’s quite hard to imagine that the words of such a song could in any way be amiss. The listener is taken away into a sort of tranquility, one which speaks of a lofty, desirable and even likable goal, a good and noble pursuit... that of peace on earth. However the lyrics deserve a second look, an investigation of detail. Even things seen with the eyes are not always what they seem to be at first glance, when you take the time to look a little deeper.

If you have ears to hear, then you will understand how it is that such lyrics discredit gospel of Jesus Christ and in particular the biblical doctrine of heaven and of hell. The lyrical loathing for biblical truth is quite conspicuous. More disheartening is that the lyrics invite the listening person to completely dismiss the reality of God, no matter their religion. The suggestion is that humans need only to imagine the world to be much different than they do, and then it will all magically change.

This is remarkable.

It's remarkable because the longing of the human heart is peace and sanity in a world of chaos and crisis and crime. It's the song of a world seeking peace and unity of heart mind and spirit, yet the offered solution, if one listens to Lennon's lyrics, is atheism. It's remarkable because some churches, and many people who would profess to be Christian, sing and really like this song.

John Lennon, of the famed rock band the Beatles, shared the cry of his own human heart with the world in his music, and this song was no exception. Lennon’s heart cry was, “Make love, not war!” “Love is the answer.” Love and peace was a major philosophy of the Beatles' music. Popular in the 1960’s while the Vietnam War was taking place on the other side of the world, the band was asked once in an interview, “Do you plan to record any anti-war songs?” It was John Lennon who spoke out for the group and said, “All our songs are anti-war.”

PEACE. LOVE. PEACE. LOVE. All you need is love.....
Love is all you need.

It is rather ironic that while promoting peace and love on planet Earth these four men had major disagreements and often found themselves challenged to love, even one another. They gave a lot of lip service and musical notations to an idealized world of love, they but in reality they could not even get along between themselves. They certainly had fame and fortune, but tragically they lacked the very thing they sang about in their song... peace and love... in the personal dealings, they had with each other, in their relationships as friends.

The macrocosm of George, Paul, John and Ringo, known to the world as The Beatles, was a lot like the rest of humanity. They did a lot of things quite well together, even appreciated one another's individual talents and abilities. they gave of themselves and took freely what each had to lend to being a group, but they were, just the same as every other person on the plant, human, and being human they had their share of disagreements.

The Beatles didn’t always get along. They had differing opinions about which songs to include and not include on albums, how to arrange the songs, and even about whom would get the credit for a melody or a lyric. They had disappointments and failures. It’s rather ironic that despite their wisdom for the world about love, peace and unity, their own disagreements became irreconcilable. The Beatles broke up.

The first sign of the break up was in 1968. George Harrison released an independent album. Then in 1969, Paul McCartney announced that the Beatles would never work together again.
The world was shocked. The Beatles had come to a point when they decided that they couldn’t love, or live in peace with one another any longer.

Fans hoped for a reunion or even reconciliation between band members for years, but it never happened. The band dissolved with the stroke of a pen. As the ink dried on the page, finalizing the dissolution of the once recognized partnership between them, the Beatles Era ended; and from then on, the four band members remained solo.

There were a lot of things that may have contributed to their falling apart, but one thing that was a key element was the 1967 death of mutual friend and band manager, Brian Epstein, who died of a drug overdose.

At the time of Brian’s death, the band was studying spirituality under the tutelage of a Maharishi whose influence could be seen in their personal lives and in their music. The Maharishi’s flowery solution to the heavy burden they carried about the death of their beloved friend, was simply “to smile” and “be happy” about it, something very hard for them to do, for their souls were unsettled and deeply grieved by Brian’s death. They love him and were at a deep spiritual loss.

Consumed with their own lives and problems, and now each carrying the heavy burden of sadness and caught up in looking to the eastern spirituality of their guru for answers to all their questions about life, and death was too much. They could not simply "smile and be happy" when they were so sad, so deep inside. There was no reserve within them to find the strength or reason to continue pressing on as they had been, especially now without Brian. Helpless and weak, looking for answers and finding nothing but grief and turmoil, being told to "just be happy," there was no longer any glue to hold them together. They fell apart.

John Lennon, who wrote the song Imagine, was not a complete stranger to Christian thoughts and practice. He is often quoted as saying, “the Beatles have more influence over youth than Christ.” In a 1969 interview, Lennon even said he was, “one of Christ’s biggest fans.” Jesus however, was not simply, like Lennon, a Rock Star. Lennon may have heard of Christ Jesus, much like the rest of the world, but he never really knew him, and if he did, he kept him at a distance, for in the crisis of it all Lennon turned elsewhere to find the peace of mind and heart he so desired.

After the death of Brian, it was Lennon who most expressed his disappointment with the so called "wisdom" of the Maharishi that the band had learned spirituality from for years. He and his wife Yoko Ono, ventured forth onto another spiritual journey looking to quell the pain.

There was a pain that afflicted John quite deeply. It was more than disagreements with friends, more than the death of someone he really loved. It was a lot of things together, and things on top of things as well. It would seem from all that everyone has to write and say about John Lennon's history and his life, that the main reason for John's pain was his parents divorce. More specifically the intense feelings he held within himself regarding his father's abandonment of little John, when he was only five.

John now decided that the guru master Maharishi spoke utter nonsense, but he was still searching for answers, so he and Yoko began delving into something called “Primal Scream Therapy” with it’s developers, Arthur and Vivian Janov. John seems to have felt it promised the release he now needed and he believed it would help him deal with the pain.

Lennon discussed this “primal scream therapy” and the reasons he did it with radio celebrity Howard Stern in a 1970 radio interview. He commented, “… as the years go by the pain doesn’t go away, the pain of living, you have to kill yourself to survive. This (Primal Therapy) allows you to live and survive without killing yourself.” He elaborated, “I had to do it to really kill off all the religious myths.”

John believed that he was somehow now, “facing up to reality instead of always looking for some kind of heaven."

A year later in 1971, Lennon released "Imagine. "