What’s Your Idea of Utopia?

I recently watched a show about a woman who had a near death experience. Like many people in that situation, she described what she saw as beautiful. “I was told by these wise beings that heaven can be anything we want,” she said. “I was in my own utopia.” That got me thinking: What would my personal utopia look like? Here’s a list of six things I’d want if I oversaw my own world…

No violence of any kind—There are certain countries on this planet where no one locks their doors and murders are almost unheard of. However, I’d take this one step further. In my utopia, there would be no violence of any kind—car accidents, drownings, or airplane crashes. There would be no guns since there would be no need to defend ourselves. Even Mother Nature would calm down, and we’d have no more hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes.

No animal cruelty—Everyone would be a vegetarian, but the food would taste really good. There would be no factory farms, slaughterhouses, or hunting. I can hear people now saying, we need to cull the herds, or they’ll get overcrowded. But in my fantasy, no overcrowding or need to eat animals exists. Food is plentiful. There’s also no safari hunting. We always have just the right number of deer, lions, and mountain goats.

And especially—no war—I’d like to find some high court of enlightened beings from another galaxy. Opposing countries must appear before these sage ones. I was going to say they should all be elders, but I’ve heard some real smart young people lately so they can join too. This group would help us work out our more primitive human instincts and guide us on an evolved path. Most importantly, people would listen and abide by their judgments. Conflict would be solved with words and ideas, not weapons.

No disease or suffering—Illness is gone, but there would still be an end to life, to give existence meaning (plus, I can’t imagine going on forever). No more long-lingering pain from devastating diagnoses. Death would come peacefully on everyone’s own terms when they’re ready. Oh, and everyone would have healthcare for the lesser sicknesses. No one would die because they didn’t have insurance or the money to stay alive.

Earth looks like an English country garden—In addition to vibrant, fun cities, most of the planet would be abloom with fields and wildflowers and butterflies. There would be no more scenes of smoking rubble, bombed out urban blight, or huge pits from missiles. Earth would be healthy and thriving. The air would smell like just-cut grass, morning dew, and freshly baked bread. The oceans would be clean and healthy. We would all take care of our beautiful planet.

All children are loved, cherished, and nurtured—They’d all get the best education, with no exceptions. There would be no such thing as “other people’s children.” They’d all belong to us and their well-being a top priority across the globe. The thought of killing them, whether in schools or battle fields, would be unthinkable. They’d all have regular hugs and told how beautiful and special they are.

My God, I just described Denmark.

No wonder it’s been called the happiest place on Earth. Maybe I can brush up on my Danish and see what it’s all about.

In the meantime, to quote John Lennon… “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one…”

Sigh.

 

What’s your idea of utopia? Comments are always welcome. If you’d like to receive posts by email, just press here. Thank you!