Utopia a poem -

in our heads, communism arises
like woven threads it suffices
does a cloth which is woven
survive the adversity of vices ?
envision utopia
compassion without humility
truth without wisdom
peace without sacrifice
but are such notions viable in guises
is catastrophe a melody or a malady
do we now laugh at the melancholic portraits
are we still in the influence of Socrates
have we not yet learned from the past century
are we really aiming to end up in a penitentiary
in these question threads may we abandon ideology
and reframe our ontology, bit by bit
thread by thread
-js

Quotes on Utopia-

  • "Find joy and solace in the simple, and cultivate your utopia by feeling the Tao in every cubic inch of space." -Wayne Dyer
  • "'Utopia' is a positive and constructive program that gives people the opportunity, if you can start all over again, start from scratch and create laws and make decisions, will you be able to build a society that is better than the one we have; will it be chaos or happiness." -John de Mol, Jr.
  • "Our life dreams the Utopia. Our death achieves the Ideal." -Victor Hugo

What is Utopia exactly ?

To quote words of John Malkovich, Utopia means elsewhere. It is a state which lacks challenge, possibility of evolution. One may call as 'Heaven', 'Garden of Eden', 'Valhalla', 'Paradisal state'. But how we may define in a more understandable sense is 'voluntary denial of reality'.

Why live in Utopia ?

It is easier to struggle in fantasy than reality and even easier to pretend to be satisfied by our fantasy. Our own proclivity to ignore what's important and must be dealt with is remarkable beyond belief. Even if we deal with suffering once, that isn't the end of it, so it is quitw understandable why people like us turn a blind eye to suffering than combating with it with everything we've got.

Why Utopia can't and will not work ?

To quote a paragraph taken out of Dostoyevky's novel Notes from the Underground- Even if a utopian society was attainable, says Dostoyevsky, we would not be satisfied by endless food, comfort and pleasure. If you satisfied every human desire, we would throw it all away just for something interesting to happen, just to give ourselves a challenge to overcome and prove that we are human beings and not lap dogs. According to Dostoyevsky, we would rather wallow in misery and self-pity than be handed everything on a silver-platter! It is our unique proclivity for destructive decisions that make us human, and we wouldn’t give that up for anything. . .  Even heaven on earth. WE LOVE CHALLENGE, that's why we compete, cooperate, socialise, grapple with the unknown. However, in utopia there's no challenge, so there's no possibility to change.

Theological Questions on Utopia

  • On the Flawed Weaver (Original Sin): If the weaver is inherently flawed, must the tapestry inevitably unravel? Can the hands that built the Tower of Babel ever successfully recreate the Garden of Eden?
  • On the Necessity of Suffering (Soul-Making Theodicy): Is a world entirely devoid of suffering a sanctuary, or is it a spiritual wasteland? If human virtue, courage, compassion, and wisdom is forged in the furnace of adversity, what becomes of the soul in a state of absolute comfort?
  • On Heaven on Earth (Secular Eschatology): When we attempt to drag Heaven down to Earth, do we inadvertently build a penitentiary of our own design? How many lives must be sacrificed at the altar of "perfection" before utopia reveals itself as dystopia?
  • On Hubris and Wisdom: In our quest to engineer humanity's salvation, have we merely substituted humility with hubris? Are we trading the sacred mystery of the unknown for a manufactured, sterile certainty?