In a perfect world

Which will never ever happen but it is fun to dream.

If there was a universal truth it would be this that this perfect world will never even happen never even remotely come close to it despite what some philanthropic other dreamers think, wish, or expect.

But in my perfect world anyway as I have a feeling that there are 7 billion plus perfect worlds out there here it is in its best approximation.

Hmmm where to start? With today’s news?

The French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, said today and I translate literally that he is
“hostile to all provocation in this hostile era”.  The context being another “offensive” caricature in the French paper called Charlie Hebdo.

Laurent Fabius, s'est déclaré depuis Le Caire, en Egypte, "hostile à toute provocation en cette période hostile".

Some journalism site goes as far as pixelating the drawing as if we were talking royal boobs here again.

Well! Well! Well! Two wrongs don’t make a right they say and also one of my favourite quotes from Walt Whitman: 

“The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book.”

In a perfect world there would be no need for provocation as there would not be petty religious or nationalistic affections in all the senses of the word to be attached to and be provoked by.

There would be no need for censure as well as all would be free to decide for themselves and all could use cold logical critical thinking as opposed to hot ignorant inflammable passions.

So how serendipitous as I am writing this and listening to my modern “mixed tape” of music titled CHESS and the song I had in mind just popped up, a great help in reflecting on a perfect world wonderfully well expressed by Alanis Morissette in her song Utopia of which I will paste and copy the lyrics for sure if anyone knows me at all.

My perfect world seems to have a lot of No’s if not too many Yesses as most things in my life I am much more aware of what I don’t want and what I don’t like than the opposite.  

For the same reason I suppose I prefer what I call the negative golden rule as opposed to the golden rule.

Do Not Do Unto Others What You Don’t Want Them to Do Unto You

As opposed to

Do Unto Others What You Want Them to Do Unto You.

The latter being much more complex than my negative form.

So here it goes

No Religion

No Country (John Lennon was on to something here)

No Bullying

No War

No Hostility therefore

No need for Resilience

No poverty and by extension

No riches

No Greed

No Lies (here’s a big one) no deceit etc

Hmmmm what else?

That alone would be a great (though impossible already) start

No Censure is definitely a must too in this scenario

It gets complicated though when ones is trying to define Freedom.

My perfect world seems to be a lot like the Eloi WITHOUT the Morlocks.

Now people if you read only two books in your whole life forget the bible even though I like some of its attempts at ancient wisdom and I should attempt reading Shakespeare along with Dostoyevsky, Balzac, Dickens and what not but then again I could read over and over these 2 absolute must in anyone’s life curriculum:

• George Orwell’s 1984 and
• H.G. Wells Time Machine.

Even though here the Eloi are still far from a perfect example. I would like them with a little more intellect appetite but then again intellect appetite seems to be the perfect antidote to “perfection” or at least a great friend of ethnocentrism, schisms, and hostilities of all sorts. As Denys Arcand once said in The Decline of the American Empire: Intellectuals make lousy parents

Pierre: “Les intellectuels font rarement de très bons parents.”

So what now? 

Does the human species need to be a dumb species to survive?

It would certainly seem that our great intellect has compounded the problems rather than solving them.  

I mean chimps have much less complex problems than us. 

The old mythical stories tell us apparently that this Promethean gift from the gods or the devils, this “Knowledge of Good and Evil” has created an irreversible downfall.

The human species will not stop short of flushing itself right off this planet while hoping for a better Ha Olam Haba : a hope I might say that might in fact precipitate that downfall in a form of self-fulfilling prophecy.

So in the meanwhile maybe if luck, fortune, destiny, fate and all their cousins have mercy on me I will leave this planet one day leaving behind me an excellent dystopia to remind us all of my passage for as long as this planet exist anyway and there is someone to read old fables.

Because paradoxically enough in this world the best way to try to describe a utopia is by reverse psychology in a good dystopia showing us all where the future could lead or has lead us.

We'd gather around
All in a room
Fasten our belts
Engage in dialogue
We'd all slow down
Rest without guilt
Not lie without fear
Disagree sans judgement

We would stay and respond and expand and include and allow and forgive and
enjoy and evolve and discern and inquire and accept and admit and divulge and open and reach out and speak up

This is utopia 
This is my utopia
This is my ideal 
My end in sight
Utopia 
This is my utopia
This is my nirvana
My ultimate

We'd open our arms 
We'd all jump in 
We'd all coast down 
Into safety nets

We would share and listen and support and welcome 
Be propelled by passion, not invest in outcomes
We would breathe and be charmed and amused by difference 
Be gentle and make room for every emotion

This is utopia 
This is my utopia
This is my ideal 
My end in sight
Utopia 
This is my utopia
This is my nirvana
My ultimate

We'd provide forums
We'd all speak out
We'd all be heard
We'd all feel seen

We'd rise post-obstacle, more defined, more grateful
We would heal, be humbled, and be unstoppable
We'd hold close and let go and know when to do which 
We'd release and disarm and stand up and feel safe 

This is utopia 
This is my utopia 
This is my ideal 
My end in sight
Utopia
This is my utopia
This is my nirvana
My ultimate