It was the birthday of John Lennon earlier this month, and I've been listening to some of his music to mark the occasion. He was one of the most talented and greatest rock and pop musicians who ever lived. His song, Imagine, which is often voted as the best and most profound pop song ever written, is one of my favourite songs of all time. It echoes my sentiments perfectly and has a strong atheistic flavour, and I'm a self-confessed atheist. Lennon said that Imagine is virtually the Communist Manifesto. I think that religion and superstition are exactly the same; it's just that religion is ritualised superstition. They arose from primitive man's fear of the unknown, and we haven't yet evolved enough to discard such insecurities. Neither religion nor superstition is rational or provable.
One of the best policies that the Chinese Communist Party implemented was to promote atheism and discourage superstition. I believe that all communist countries have declared themselves officially atheist. As I've mentioned before, communism is more advanced than capitalism, so atheism is more advanced than religion or superstition. However, humans are still emotionally and psychologically not advanced enough to discard such primitive thoughts and practises.
It certainly strikes me as paradoxical that we now have technologies like the internet and mobile phones and even the ability to travel through space to explore other planets - yet some people still in ghosts, psychics, clairvoyance and fortune-telling etc. I've yet to hear of a clairvoyant who's correctly predicted the lottery numbers!
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
Kind regards,
Waiman
Thank you for your interesting email.
The key point about Socialist thinking is that it is a natural dialectical process that cannot be rushed or forced. Socialism emerges from the brain patterns of the individual when inner and outer conditions permit. Socialism obviously expands into the body (and through progressive patterns of behaviour) into the environment! As Socialism advocates 'class' as the vehicle of material struggle - then the outer structures of objective Socialist culture serve to reinforce and strengthen the inner Socialist convictions of each participating individual. Marx talks about this in the 'Theses of Feuerbach'. Although our behaviour must be transformed away from superstition and ignorance - the key to this lies not in forced (external) compliance but rather through the positive process of good and sound education. The central point of this permanent 'change' of humanity lies firmly within 'freedom of thought' and nothing else. If the mind is allowed to 'cascade' its way through all the trivia of existence - it has been my experience working with hundreds of students - that eventually, even the most conservative and steadfast in their ways eventually experiences an epiphany whereby all vestiges of bourgeois pollution drop away in an instant and an entirely new way of viewing the world becomes evident! Religion in China exists to a) support the building of a Socialist State, and b) assist each interested individual in a 'private' capacity to develop their mind and body to be 'better' Socialists! Socialism and spirituality are merged without contradiction. This is because most, if not all Asian religions are naturally left-wing in ideological interpretation of the world. It is only when Asian religions are polluted by Western religious thinking and capitalist ideology that this 'left-wingism' is lost. Buddhism, for instance, strive to uproot greed, hatred and delusion, and this a priori 'anti-capitalist' in nature. Confucianism supports education as well as good and virtuous behaviour toward one another - but firmly rejects exploitative profit making! Daoism often fully rejects the world of ordinary life and settles instead for a high mountain-peak from which the four-seasons that define a 'year' can be quietly observed. Eating and not-eating are all the same to the Daoist! You see, even religion has its place within building the Socialist State - but if Marx and Lenin are correct, then eventually the pain and suffering that generated religion in the first place will be slowly (and naturally) eradicated as structures of the 'new' Socialist society become apparent and start the process of guiding humanity into a 'Communist' reality that is 'free' of any structures of controlling 'State'. It is this latter reality - from Socialist 'State' to Communist 'non-State' - that John Lennon is singing about. Marx does toy with the idea of 'instantaneous' Revolution (I think in 'The German Ideology'), but thinks better of it on the grounds that the workers need time to gather together, organise and agitate!
Best Wishes
Adrian