Imagine... the World of Peace

When I first heard the song "Imagine" by John Lennon, I was somewhat skeptical about the phrase "Imagine there's no heaven". Although at one point of his life, Lennon denied his identity as a Christian, the lyrics denying heaven seemed to decrease my enthusiasm for the song. But, I believe that John Lennon included this with a deeper meaning. In his song, John Lennon suggests his listeners in three stanzas on things to imagine: no heaven, no countries, and no possessions. In someways, these are the things that causes conflict between nation to nation and person to person.

In the first thing to imagine, why did John Lennon mentioned "no heaven"? The question of after-life, either heaven or hell, is a huge controversy among religions and even inside one religion, different proposals exists on how after-life is going to be. In other words, this is a religious conflict. It is a philosophical conflict of after-life that divides people. And instead of arguing about a world that we will eventually meet, Lennon suggests that we must make the world that we live in today a better place first. As the classic poet Horace writes, "Carpe Diem". To some extent, it does not mean John Lennon does not believe in heaven, but the main point of his message is that it is pointless to argue about something that we cannot see, when there are other visible problems that lies ahead of us.

(What kind of world did John Lennon see behind his glasses?)

The second thing to imagine is "no countries". This resolves the problem of political conflict. It is clear that there has been many deaths that arose from political conflicts. And John Lennon sings even after his death, through his lyrics, "Imagine all the people living life in peace." Then, no longer people do not have to die for a cause that will not benefit them in any ways. To the people of this era, dreaming of such utopia, a peaceful world is only considered as a dream in this culture, as John Lennon writes that people may refer to him as a dreamer. This culture seems to be dominated by pop culture, but what would be a more meaningful cause to work for? On the last stanza, Lennon writes, "Imagine all the people sharing all the world...". We are often referred as a global family. I hope to see that the global family can set an example to the smaller families in the world by sharing with one another.

And these three things match with the vision of HWPL. Only difference is that the world is no world is no longer being imagined for some people. It is now being created through reality. Religions are coming to together accepting the fact that we are from one divine Creator. And politicians are becoming one under the banner of peace by working towards enacting an international law on ending all wars, so that no youths need to die. This idea was first proven through what happened in WARP Summit. And this message is what the Chairman preaches all over the world.

Imagine by 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...

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

The Road to Peace

Recently, I came across a book called "Road to Peace" and "Peacework" by Henri Nouwen, a priest considered to be one of the greatest figure on spirituality inside the Catholic Church. Although peace work does restrict itself to only religions, the thoughts that Nouwen suggested in his book was ideal and similar to what the Chairman was doing. In "Peacworkd", Nouwen wrote, "For Jesus, there are no countries to be conquered, no ideologies to be imposed, no people to be dominated. There are only children, women and men to be loved." Jesus Christ also taught of peace and to love your neighbors as yourself, in a time where conflicts persist, just as today. In other words, I would like to say, in terms of peace, there are no countries to be conquered, no ideologies to be imposed, no people to be dominated. When everyone is under the banner of peace, nothing matters, in terms of political ideology or religion. There are only children, women and men, who are our neighbors, waiting to be loved. 

Peace does not restrict itself to one type of group. It approaches all people in same way and thought. But, no matter how much the thought of peace visits our minds, if we do not act upon it, will we reach our destination? We have to start walking. We have to start meeting different people, who have different ideals and views about the world. This reflect the actions of the Chairman, who have been travelling around the world, in order to make peace a reality. Peace, in other words, is love and grace. The Chairman addresses, "Dear global family, I know that we have many things to learn from the heaven. The heaven provides human with light through the sun, moon, and stars. This life given to us is grace. And we, who live on earth with this grace of heaven, must also love one another and become the messenger of peace, by showing grace to others, in order to walk the path of prosperity".

In addition to Nouwen's love of our neighbors, the Chairman extends the idea of love and peace, insofar as the origin. He exaggerates the grace that we have received from heaven and how it provided mankind with sunlight, rain, and wind for sustaining life. Likewise, we must also show our love, since we received love from heaven. Nouwen also wrote, "Peacemaking can be a lasting work only when we live and work together [and that] community is indispensable for a faithful and enduring resistance." As we see a common ground in two figures, who are both Christians from different denominations, we can see that the road to peace comes to us in same path. Although our starting points maybe different, because of our different backgrounds, our ending point, which is peace, is same. It does not mean that we will all end in our each destination of peace. It all leads to the same ending, when peace is achieved.

The sense of community is portrayed through the vision of HWPL by gathering different people from different background. I hope that people can accept the difference, but recognize the love for peace, in order to work together with HWPL and the Chairman.