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YOKO ONO, JOHN LENNON, AND THE NON-DUAL MESSAGE AS SHARED BY THEM
Some “non-dualists” have complained that the song lyrics in "Imagine" miss the mark as far as any “pure non-dual message” is concerned. Let’s review and then consider:
“Imagine”
Yoko Ono / John Lennon
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 . . . Aha-ah . . .
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.
You, 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.
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, 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.
One “incongruity” which some have complained about over the years focuses on this stanza when Ono and Lennon accept an "identity" as “a dreamer”:
“You, you may say I'm a dreamer, / But I'm not the only one.”
Okay, fine, but note that Maharaj would offer point “A” to a seeker one day and then in the next session would offer point “B” to another seeker with “B” directly contradicting that point “A” which had been offered the day before.
True or not? That’s true, but . . . why?
In the early going, Maharaj offered a seven-step path for seekers to follow but later offered a four-step path after determining that none needed to find the answer to “Who am I?” but that all needed to find the answer to “What am I not?”
Either way, one might have noticed that Maharaj would usually spend some time talking with (but mainly listening to) a seeker and allowing that seeker to say whatever she or he might say; then, Maharaj - after a seeker’s words indicated where on the path that seeker was presently located - would begin offering the guidance needed for the seeker to move to the next step.
Note that he did not offer pointers that might allow a seeker at step two to jump to the end of the path. That is impossible. The steps on the path must be completed in an exact, specific order; thus, a seeker at step 2 needing to advance to step 3 would hear something completely different from what a seeker at the step 1 would hear as Maharaj tried to guide that seeker to step 2.
The "seeming contradiction" brought about because of his offering “level-appropriate” pointers led many over the years to criticize Maharaj for being “so inconsistent” and led many to be unable to grasp his teachings at all.
Well, the lyrics of “Imagine” are the same. Oko and Lennon were writing a song intended for the masses, whether or not they were on any path; whether they were at step 1 or say at step 6 early on; or whether they were at step 1 or at step 3 later on.
Knowing the broad audience which they were seeking to “speak to,” then talk about “a dreamer” offered an ability for many among the diverse masses to possibly relate to.
Next, others have complained about the use of the word “imagine” itself. True enough, the word would be “incompatible” with certain levels of the non-dual understanding if used in the sense of “to fantasize” or “to dream”; however, it could be spot on if used in the sense of inviting listeners or readers to “envision” or to “see.”
How did their strategy work out? Well, over 21 million copies of the song have sold, but it is likely that most humans among the 7+ billion people on the planet have heard the song or read the lyrics.
There is likely no other song in the history of music that has been sung by so many singers on so many occasions in so many venues and to mark so many events.
If one’s existence on planet earth lasts long enough for one to begin to cast aside the crap taught and the crap learned and to seek some answers before taking mahasamadhi, then lyrics which encourage listeners
to imagine a world at peace without the barriers of borders
or
the divisions of religion and nationality
and
to consider the possibility that the whole of humanity might live unattached to material possessions
just might resonate.
[The exceptions are those who despise what they take to be a looking-at-the-world-through-rose-colored-glasses, all-we-need-is-love kind of message. That would include those who care not a whit about peace (including sociopaths and psychopaths); those who are border-and-country-conscious xenophobes; those who are religious (or spiritual) fanatics; and those who are trapped in the desire to accumulate as a result of the capitalist or consumerist, more-more-more belief systems which they have been taught or have learned and now cherish.]
So why not give a pass to Oko and Lennon regarding the complaints from the hard-to-please among us. If the two were able to offer a message which has resonated with billions of persons for over five decades, do they not deserve "a tip of the hat" instead?
Meanwhile, the song will still be labeled, as it has been since its release, as “controversial” (primarily over its request to imagine "no religion too”).
With 97% on the planet claiming an affiliation with one organized religion or another and with the rest being involved with similar kinds of “sky cults” and with “sky cult philosophies” and “sky cult ideologies” and “sky cult spiritual movements,” the fact that the song even sold one copy, much less millions of copies, is probably the real wonder.
To be continued.
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THE EXPLANATION
Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on:
"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places
"There is no hell."
