Utopias and Visions

    Visions and Utopias     

Night view of an illuminated city with skyscrapers and fireworks turning night into day

The word "Utopia" originates from the Greek language and literally means a "place that does not exist" or as pun a "good place."In fact, it is a fantastic or an imaginary ideal place or vision of an ideal world, a world close to perfection where all people enjoy prosperity, equality and peace. In fact, the ancient Greeks, with Aristophanes and Plato, (student of Socrates) were pioneers who introduced this vision of an ideal state as feasible to the world. However, the human quest for an "Earthly Paradise"accompanied people for ever more with Saint Augustine and his work in reference to "God’s State"or "De Civitate Dei", a vision later adopted by the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Charlemagne. The English statesman Thomas More in his work"Utopia" underlines the significance of a perfect imaginary ideal world. Jesus Christ openly spoke that his purpose was to build the Kingdom of God on Earth and in our days a Korean scholar and spiritual leader Rev Sun Myung Moon proclaimed the Chonil Guk, an idealistic version of a unified, prosperous and peaceful world. Another visionary of the 21th century is the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who is an advocate of nonviolent resistance and the author of Compassionate Life and the Wisdom of Forgiveness.  Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948 AD) was an extraordinary Indian spiritual figure, who introduced a non-violent revolution that led to the independence of his country from British colonial rule. Even though he didn’t have a Christian background he would apply Christian values and ethics in attaining peaceful grand goals. Those are some of the memorable personalities who proved to be visionaries who dreamed of or had utopias of a better and peaceful world. I wish I could have included more, but there will be more opportunities for that. 

Ancient Greek comedy playwright Aristophanes (450 BC-388 BC) in his comedy “Birds” demonstrates the desire of two middle-aged Athenians who are in search of a more ideal world. They are fed up with their life in Athens, her bellicose statesmen, the political corruption, the falsehood of oracles and the injustice of the system. According to the story, the two men persuade the world’s birds to build a new city in the sky which were to gain authority over all communication networks between the earth and gods. This would allow them to take control over men and the gods and establish their lordship high above the clouds for eternity. This story shows the failure of the human race to establish a harmonious world of peace and prosperity for all humans. On the other hand the great Greek philosopher Plato (428-388 BC) in his work The Republic, one of the most significant and influential books ever written, stresses the importance of being just in relation to attaining true happiness. He criticized Athenian democracy for having mistaken anarchy for freedom and claimed that excessive freedom jeopardized the essence of democracy. Plato also argued that in that system everyone can come to power and rule despite the fact that he might be a person lacking integrity and moral values, while being motivated by selfish desire and motivation. He maintained that it would be wiser if people with good character and integrity would come to power and rule and that humans should choose to do good things because otherwise, they would end up unhappy. Bad immoral people should never be allowed to rise to power in a society because that would lead to failure and disaster.  

 

Saint Augustine (354 – 28 August 430) was a scholar and theologian with a vision for a better world, a world with values like spirituality and faith in God that goes beyond ephemeral earthly pleasures and sensual satisfaction and in quest for God’s love. In his memorable work the “City of God” he compares the essence of stability and eternity as well as an ultimate consolation in contrast to earthly temporary pleasures and hedonistic lifestyle. He used the city or Rome as a decadent immoral and pleasure-seeking place in contrast to his imaginary ideal place of the “City of God.” However, there was a figure in later days, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Charlemagne (Charles the Great), who totally adopted and believed in the realization of Saint Augustine’s “City of God.” As a matter of fact, he made efforts to apply some of the principles and doctrines of Christian faith in his statesmanship and is considered the man who had the vision of a unified Europe. During his reign he achieved to unite much of what is today Western Europe, and contributed to spreading Christianity throughout his empire. It became a period of increased literacy and cultural activity as well as the development of science and education.  

 It was Sir Thomas More (1478 – 1535 AD) the English humanist statesman who had the vision of an ideal perfect state. His most known fictional work is “Utopia” which was published in 1516 AD and illustrates an ideal state on an imaginary island in the ocean that has been cut off from Europe for a very long time. He supports the idea of a largely classless society similar to a Christian communism (vs. Marxism-Leninism). The state is supposed to supply all the necessary tools so that people can sustain a happy, prosperous lifestyle and live up to the Christian values of brotherhood, love, charity, altruism, goodness, self-control, peace etc. and above all emphasizing the pursuit of God’s will.  

 

Jesus Christ, the Messiah or second Adam, proclaimed God’s Kingdom on Earth as his primary mission. Why would Jesus compromise what was to be his main mission? Wouldn't that be an admitted failure? Can the Messiah or even God himself fail? It's now clearly understood why he pledged of his Second Coming. However, due to the faithlessness and opposition of the chosen people this was postponed until the Second Coming, Revelation 21:1-6 NIV, as he promised. Jesus was not meant to die on the cross because he came to restore Adam’s failure who disobeyed God’s commandment that led to the Fall of Man and the Original Sin. His crucifixion, despite the immense value of his sacrificial love, leaves much more to be desired in terms of his Second Coming. In fact, Jesus Christ’ unparalleled impact on human history brought a revolution of heart because he taught humankind the priority of God’s will, the love to our fellow man and even the love to the enemy.  

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948 AD), Indian pacifist, politician and writer, was one of the most influential, most respected spiritual leaders of the 20th century who is honoured by his fellow Indians as their father, because he was actively involved in their liberation from British rule. He believed in the doctrine of nonviolent resistance to reach independence for his homeland and could inspire the whole world through his  concept of modern civil disobedience across the planet.   His morality-bound approach of non-violent resistance against the British colonial oppression of his people in their struggle for freedom has been unprecedented and will be remembered for its effectiveness. Some of his quotes:

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."

 "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

 "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

Documentary about Gandhi:

Mahatma Gandhi – dying for freedom | DW Documentary

The Korean evangelist and pacifist  Rev Sun Myung Moon, often accused of being a self-proclaimed Messiah, can persuade any truth-seeker that his ideal and vision for an ideal world is not just an elusive dream, but has a realistic approach and magnitude. Despite persecutions and polemic, his movement has expanded throughout the world and has been a catalyst for embracing all religions and cultures. His international  and intercultural marriages have created an effective impact in uniting a divided world, even though this is an unparalleled effort on a limited scale. His teachings are a matter of case study for those who want to understand the world of cause and effect, the principles of creation, the concept of duality, the fall of man, the mission of Jesus Christ and God’s intent to restore the world. His explanation about the human fall and root of sin is extraordinary, even though subtly encoded for the profound reader, all included in his basic teachings.

Some of his quotes:

 

Even though we are deceived, still believe. Though we are betrayed, still forgive. Love completely even those who hate you.

In my opinion, if we have not achieved peace, it is because people forget its most fundamental aspect. Before we talk about peace among nations, we must settle our peace with God.

Up until today evil has lured goodness into evil, but goodness has not been able to lure evil into goodness. This may be the reason why up to today Christianity has not been able to boldly fulfill the Will of God.

The Divine Principle. – DIVINE PRINCIPLE TYLER HENDRICKS - YouTube 

 Part 1 - Reverend Moon live interview from the 1972 in the USA with Al Capp - YouTube 

Part 2 - Reverend Moon live interview from the 1972 in the USA with Al Capp 

https://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/sunmyungmoon77/SunMyungMoon-770000.htm 

DIVINE PRINCIPLE TYLER HENDRICKS - YouTube 

The Dalai Lama (1935-) is a Buddhist monk and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, a pacifist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his efforts to promote peace with neighboring China, even though his country was invaded and occupied by Chinese troops.  The essence of his doctrine and teachings is human values, cultivation of compassion and empathy, warmheartedness, self-control, forgiveness and tolerance. He advocates that all human beings are equal in value and their main desire is to pursue happiness and transcend suffering. 

Interview with the Dalai Lama - BBC News

Dalai Lama teachings

Dalai Lama quotes:

   "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions."

  "Our   mother earth is teaching us a lesson in universal responsibility."

  "Tragedy should be utilised as a source of strength."

Holistic Education

         The significance of a holistic approach to education  

 

                                Happy kids in a forest garden jumping and playing with a ball

Does today’s educational system equip our youth with the necessary tools to face life’s challenges and prepare them to become the driving force of society? Even though in my view character education starts at home, school in general is the backbone that bears the task to educate youth and raise them to become worthy members of our society. Our approach to teaching should focus both on the academics and also the social needs of students in order to activate their intellect, emotions, imagination, body and above all educate their character to become morally integral and achieve personal development and growth. 

It is generally believed that education is an intellectual process whereby mind or brain is trained to acquire knowledge in the form of skills. Of course, we need skills in order to be trained and achieve our goals in learning and career. Basically, education is viewed as the process to acquire a profession and aspire to establish a status in the work market or in academics.  Nowadays, it’s everybody’s dream to be gratified with a desired profession or degree and be successful in professional life and in society. “Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.” —Martin Luther King Jr.  

 

In fact, sheer accumulation of knowledge and skills without education of character and heart is useless. Up to now our educational system has emphasized only knowledge and downgraded the value of character education whatsoever. We might have plenty of good educated, skillful people, intelligent and full of life, however if οur young people are not equipped with a good character and moral values, these aspired young people may fail in their personal or social life. Needless to say, that our whole educational system needs restructuring and revolutionizing in order to reach high standards and sophisticated authority. Furthermore, selected teachers should be role models with high moral standards and exceptional education. States and governments should take responsibility to carry out this crucial task, integrate civic education whereby international cooperation should also be an important component. “By education I mean that training in excellence from youth upward which makes a man passionately desire to be a perfect citizen, and teaches him to rule, and to obey, with justice. This is the only education which deserves the name.”  -- Plato 

The fact that we see increasing violence in schools, bullying, discrimination, human rights violations etc which infringe on the rights of school children to live a life that enables them to enjoy freedom and acceptance. Schools should take responsibility to tackle such abuses and create anti-bullying programmes in order to foster a safe and warm learning environment for their children in which no violence can be accepted. Active participation of well-trained educators and parents is indispensable if they want to raise the standards of safety and achieve improvement in this matter. “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” ― Mahatma Gandhi  

Actually, children with violent character are victims of circumstances and need special treatment to be healed and integrated in the school environment. For that purpose, institutions should be established by states equipped with well-trained educators and psychologists who would take special care of those kids who come from broken families or families where domestic violence has left lasting effects on kids. In fact, school children who grow up in an environment of insufficient love and affection from their parents tend to develop a lower self-esteem and feel alienated, aggressive, vulnerable to hostility, and anti-social. “In situations of captivity the perpetrator becomes the most powerful person in the life of the victim, and the psychology of the victim is shaped by the actions and beliefs of the perpetrator.” 
― Judith Lewis Herman 

  

Therefore, family and school along with the religious community should work together to secure a warm and loving environment for our children so that a holistic approach can take effect and raise the standard of our existing institutions and approach. Human beings are not just physical beings: they possess a mind, body, spirit, will, emotions and instincts and they are destined to become fully enlightened, well-rounded mature personalities. There is nothing we cannot achieve if we learn to cooperate and improve the deficiencies of our educational system provided, we are really concerned and care.