Utopia Discussion Question #1
April 24, 2008 by mswilson
Give a description of your idea of a utopia.
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April 24, 2008 by mswilson
Give a description of your idea of a utopia.
A utopia is like a paradise. It’s the happiest & most peaceful place you’ll ever be in. My idea of a utopia, is a beach resort with chocolate covered strawberries and a personal masseuse to follow me around 24-7. It’s relaxing, it’s warm & sunny, & I can tan all day long.
Utopia is an ideal society. However, there is not one clear cut description of this. It is completely up for interpretation and varies from person to person. What comes to mind for me when I think of utopia is a world without hunger, pain, disease, and death. Without any of those the world would basically be perfect. However, as much as removing those things from society would make everyone’s life a lot easier, I don’t think that I would personally want to live in a society like that. Nothing and no one is ever perfect. Society is meant to have imperfections and flaws. I feel like living in a world where everyone is happy 24/7 would get old after a while and become quite irritating. A balance between good and bad is necessary and tipping the balance in favor of any side is not definitely not ideal in my book.
In my mind, utopia is just another word for a state of complete bliss. Utopia is more of a frame of mind than a location on a map. Only two things are absolutely necessary to create my personal utopia. The first being that I absolutely need to be close to my family and friends. Physically and emotionally close, because no experience is as rich as one shared with people you love. Secondly, the natural world is about as close to paradise as mankind can get. A beach, forest, meadow, ocean or anything else could be utopia, so long as “traces of civilization” are at a minimum. Now I’m starting to sound like a self-help book, so I’ll just stop. But basically, utopia has nothing to do with communism or perfection, but the happiness that comes from acceptance of life’s imperfections.
I’ve always had my own notion of what a utopia is. I see utopia as a large green roofed building right off the highway in Norwalk that sells smoking paraphernalia and trippy posters…. Just kidding. More seriously, to me utopia is a state of mind where all your worries melt away. There is nothing nagging you, and any stress that my have plagued your mind before (deciding what college to go to) ceases to exist. Utopia is a state of contentedness with all aspects (social, mental, physical) of your life. I guess I assimilate utopia with the Buddhist concept of nirvana. It is my goal to reach ‘utopia’ during the course of my life. Also, Liana, your writing puts me to sleep. (that’s a compliment, not an insult)
A Utopia is literally a perfect society, as said before no violence, no pain, just bliss. The problem is that this kind of world can not exist in reality we need food which leads to pain and violence, the closest thing to a Utopia (in my opinion) is an utter lack existence, at the very lest a human race with massively reduced numbers, there are just too many people in society today. I found that when I am in a small group I can get along with people far better than in a larger group (this is what is so great about RenLit). I have to agree with Vanessa, a world happy 24/7 would be irritating to say the lest (sorry I keep using that phrase), I got irritated after reading the first paragraph of Utopia. On the other hand, strawberries 24/7 would be nice.
My view of a Utopia is that of an almost perfect society. First of all it would be very civilized and an educated place, no sickness and hunger. All of that fun stuff, it would be like beverly hills but without all the drug addict rich people, and all the stupid spoiled kids. When i say it will be like beverly hills i just mean that it would be a very successful place, financially speaking. Or maybe it would be like midtown manhattan without the homeless people you see every once in a while.
A utopia is a perfect society without violence or jealousy. It is a perfect and happy place were all types of people can get along in peace and harmony.
I see Utopia as an ideal place or society where everything is peaceful, happy, and nothing goes wrong. Utopia is somewhere that has no evils and no violence. I picture people holding hands singing, children playing in lush fields of flowers, and a masseuse and chocolate covered strawberries would be nice as well. However for obvious reasons, like many people have already stated, a true utopia could never happen because it is simply human nature to envy one another and have conflicts. We can wish though.
I would have to agree with all of the comments above, in particular Vanessa’s. As she mentioned, a utopia is up for interpretation and everyone has a different view of their ideal world. To me, a utopia consists of a shelter, people, food, and English class with Mrs. Wilson. What more could one ask for? If you think about it, we are all in a way already living in a utopia. Not to sound hippie-ish, but the way life works is pretty crazy. There is a reason behind almost everything and there is so much to learn about. So to me, a utopia is nothing more than the world we live in. And I agree with the chocolate covered strawberries..those are essential in a utopia.
A utopia is basically an ideal, blissful society. However, as people, we are all different, and thus have different views of what is ideal and blissful. I agree that a utopia is open to interpretation, as everyone’s ideal society is different. To me, a utopia would need to be a place that is not only blissful, but perfect: shelter, food, water, brillant people, beautiful, no violence, sickness, or any sorts of conflicts/evils, and of course chocolate covered strawberries.
I agree with the above that my utopia would be free of hunger and disease. I also see it as a place where people would willingly accept their moral responsibilities and would work for the advancement of the society as a whole rather than for the sake of their individual interests. It would also be a place where jealousy by nature does not exist, as I think that its a prevalent cause of daily social problems. Although I enjoyed reading Kristen’s interpretation, I disagree, as I think that a utopia is by definition unrealistic; a perfect society cannot be attained and we must accept the human condition with its imperfections. In the case of my own interpretation, humans are jealous by nature and an end to this characteristic is in my opinion impossible. While I dream of a perfect society where each individual works for the common good, with each obtaining mutual gains, I realize that this fantasy is an idealistic one.
Well I think what other people pointed out is essentially true, that my own ideal world would not be so for another person. But what about an ideal society/world for everyone? Nothing immediately comes to mind except that sort of cliché no pain, no death, no suffering thing that doesn’t really add anything to the discussion (and I also have to disagree with the chocolate covered strawberries thing, I just don’t like them that much). However, I think the no pain/no suffering answer is basically as good as it gets. But I think I’ll have to go a little bit Buddhist here (Ancient World lit represent). In order to have no pain then either all desires have to be fulfilled (unlikely) or everyone has to achieve some nirvanaesque revelation (probably even less likely) which leads to an elimination of all desires. Granted, such a world without desire or conflict would be incredibly boring, but a world without desire to be what you can’t be or to have what you can’t have really would be pain free as that’s where all our pain stems from when you think about it (aside from physical pain I suppose).
To me, a utopia is not really paradise, because paradise can even get boring after a while. Instead, I like to refer to a utopia as a society in which everyone has necessities, a nice house, a good education, and lots of opportunities for fun, recreation, and relaxation. However, problems still exist, yet are ephemeral. A big part of life to me is overcoming difficulties and obstacles and earning what I work for. If people didn’t have any problems to solve, then they would never have a sense of achievement. I feel that although having nothing to worry about is relaxing, it is rather depressing, because there is no do-it-yourself attitude and self pride. I do agree with everyone who has already responded about a utopia being perfect, but I believe that a utopia is perfect in the sense that it isn’t quite perfect, but almost perfect. If you don’t understand that last sentence I just wrote, then just forget I ever wrote it, I don’t really understand what I wrote myself.
In my opinion a Utopia is a place where all your dreams can come to life. There is nothing holding you back, no stress, just yourself and whoever you please. This Utopia could be anywhere that makes you happy. Whether it be laying on the beach tanning eating strawberries or hitting the slopes in Utah with fresh new snow. Finding a Utopia is virtually unrealistic but it doesn’t mean that we cannot think about it as if it were real.
A utopia must be, above all, two things: perfect, as is mentioned above, and unattainable. For a utopia to exist, all desire has to cease. If there is desire, people are in want, which means the world is no longer perfect, and thus, no longer a utopia. Since desire cannot be extinguished, utopias cannot exist. In addition, part of the implication of the word “utopia” is that it is present only in the imagination. For example, all of the responses above describing “perfect” places are, essentially, dreams that are quite obviously never going to be realized.
My Idea of a utopia is more achievable then everyones so far it would be a place were people would live in the wilderness. If people went back to the older days of hunter gatherers then we wouldn’t have the cities and massive pollution. In that kind of society there would be classes or a society really. But if that doesn’t work then my idea of a utopia would be a place that would integrate the natural environment with a city environment.
My opinion of Utopia is that it is a place where people have there own opinion on the world. Where people just have there own ways of doing things and they won’t be judged by others. It is a place that is different from all the others place and society. My vision of Utopia is a beautiful place where it is peaceful and there are no stresses around you.
My description of utopia is very much like Dan described in that it is very much like the Buddhist nirvana. To me it is a place where there is no suffering, no pains of the life that we go through every day in our mortal lives. It can also be compared to Heaven… No not the white fluffy clouds and pearly white gates that you always hear of, but more of just a perfect world where you can spend time with the people you love. A Utopia to me seems like a place that is mostly centered around you where everything in it seems perfect to your standards. It is a place to relax and to escape the suffering of life and to enjoy the simple things like nature, the little things around you and just those simple things that you enjoy.
I guess it has been made pretty clear that Utopia is a society or place with no flaws. I think everyone would want to live in a world where there was no hunger,poverty,war, or injustice but like Vanessa said earlier; even perfection would get boring after a while. When I think of Utopia the book “The Giver” comes to mind. The society in the novel did everything possible to prevent problems but controlling and restricitng everyone just caused more chaos.
I believe a utopia is a place that makes you comfortable. Whether it’s a place that allows you to tan all day on the beach, or relax in the wilderness-it’s ultimatley a place that allows you to be free from the stresses we encounter everyday. To me utopia would be a place where everyone would be equal. There wouldn’t be any pain, violence, or suffering. People would be allowed to voice their opinions and live in harmony. A utopia isn’t so much a setting as much as it is the relationships with the people around you. Of course it would be nice to sit back on the beach all day, but essentially my utopia would encompass a group of people who got along by their on free will. But a tropical beach would be nice too.
A utopia is a perfect place that has no problems and everythin gis perfect. There is no such thing as problems, It’s inhabitants live in a sort of golden age. Such place cannot exist since it is human nature for us to seek things through solving problems
I agree with the class collectively that a utopia should be peaceful and the ideal place to live. It should be perfect in your eyes and suited to fit your specific wants and needs. My utopia would be free of hunger, poverty, sickness, pain. Death would obviously be necessary but pain is not necessary. There would be no need to steal because everything is free. There is no currency and people work to keep society just because they want to. The evil in the world would be gone. Diversity is a necessity but handicaps and deformities would be abolished. No one would take advantage of anything they have especially the earth. Nature would be free of contaminates and the waters would be crystal clear everywhere. Homework would be optional in every class and quizzes, tests, and essays would be banned.
My personal utopia would be a place of comfort, where each moment clings like a teeshirt in july. Days would blur into each other, a chaos of friends and time to hang out, while nights could be confined to learning at my own leisure. The world would have no need for war, because other people would be involved too heavily in their own realities. I would prefer a place where time is undefined, and questions are asked yet never answered.
My personal version of a utopia would be located on an island near florida, so that minimal amounts of energy would be needed for heat or air conditioning throughout the year. The rains would be plentiful, allowing all people to maintain personal gardens or livestock with which to keep themselves relatively self-sufficient. There would be a strong sense of community, in which leaders are elected by a popular vote, and all people have some degree of influence on decisions. I believe that the community would be peaceful and harmonious, but not free of conflict. Leaders would still argue, in order to stop a majority from becoming too powerful, and taking too much control over the citizens of the utopia.