What is a Perfect World?

eight versions of

UTOPIA

Pastoral Peace

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love 

Christopher Marlow

COME live with me and be my Love, And we will all the pleasures prove That hills and valleys, dale and field, 

And all the craggy mountains yield.   

There will we sit upon the rocks          5And see the shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers, to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals.   

There will I make thee beds of roses And a thousand fragrant posies,  

10A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle.   

A gown made of the finest wool Which from our pretty lambs we pull, Fair linèd slippers for the cold,  

15With buckles of the purest gold.   

 

A belt of straw and ivy buds With coral clasps and amber studs: And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me and be my Love.   20 

Thy silver dishes for thy meat As precious as the gods do eat, Shall on an ivory table be Prepared each day for thee and me.   

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing  25

For thy delight each May-morning: If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me and be my Love.

IKEA’s “Home, Sweet Home”

Martin Luther King’s dream:social equality

"I Have A Dream"

… I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see

it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. (…)

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Tropical Paradise

John Lennon’s Imagination

Imagine John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven,It's easy if you try,No hell below us,Above us only sky,Imagine all the peopleliving for today...

Imagine there's no countries,It isn’t hard to do,Nothing to kill or die for,No religion too,Imagine all the peopleliving life in peace...

Imagine no possessions,I wonder if you can,No need for greed or hunger,A brotherhood of man,Imagine all the peopleSharing all the world...

You may say I’m a dreamer,but I’m not the only one,I hope some day you'll join us,And the world will live as one.

Privilege and Opportunity

The Apostle John’s visionRevelation 21 (NIV Bible)

   

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Homer’s Heaven