John Lennon. Imagine.

John Lennon.  A legend in his own time.  His voice was more than the voice of an entertainer.  He saw the world as it was and envisioned it as it might be.  His manner was sometimes aloof, but underneath was an abiding love for humanity that was expressed in the music he wrote and sang.  He was a voice for peace, for love.  He was, in a time of hypocrisy and violence, a voice for hope and humanity.  John Lennon was the voice of a time and place, and a generation, whose message is nevertheless universal.   

Is it strange for someone like me to find inspiration in someone like John Lennon?  Probably… but I do, even so.  John Lennon wrote and sang truth.  His truth and mine are not exactly the same as they have found expression, but there is more to truth than words. 

I believe in a God of love; John sang about God as “a concept by which we can measure our pain.”  Yet he did believe in a higher power; it’s just that John envisioned that higher power in quite different ways than I do.  No matter.  We see the world from different angles, John and I, but we are seeing two different aspects of the same great reality.  We are seeing from two divergent points of view, a vision of a better world that could be, a world where “all you need is love.”

That’s why I can listen to the line, “Imagine there’s no Heaven” and feel the same thing John Lennon did, hope with him that people might really focus their effort to make this world a better place.

Jesus was accused of blasphemy by the religious authorities of his time.   John Lennon continues to be accused of the same.  Both envisioned and spoke of greater possibilities of which most people were unaware.  John Lennon was no messiah; he was purely a man, and he had his own problems and shortcomings as all of us do.  But John Lennon was a voice crying in the wilderness, inspired, idealistic, urging us to better things.  He saw visions of a better world, and tried to share those visions.  His songs did make the world a better place.  His words and voice and music will still be heard centuries from now, the voice of one who did his best to create beauty, inspire hope, and share peace and love.

Lennon’s words seem incomplete without his music.  The lyrics and the melodies he created, and the expression he invested, are all of one essence.  He was more than a musician, and more than a poet.  His words should be heard together with the music that provides emotional context and is an integral part of the whole message.

With that in mind, here’s a link for you to follow.  I copy the lyrics below for you to contemplate as you listen, or to help you as you sing along.  www.john-lennon.com/imagine.ra

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.

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.

I end with a few of John’s lyrics that seem particularly appropriate on this anniversary of his death.  John sang of his own departure, his own rebirth, his own humanity.

I just believe in me, Yoko and me,
And that's reality.
The dream is over, what can I say?
The dream is over, yesterday,
I was Dreamweaver, but now I'm reborn.
I was the walrus, but now I'm John,
And so dear friends, you just have to carry on.
The dream is over.

John & Yoko, November 26, 1980

John is gone, but the visions he created and shared with us remain.  His song still will resonate as long as we continue to remember, and hear, and sing.

Thank you, John Lennon, wherever you are.

Gryphem