Dispatch from the European Front vol 3.5

[Efrim]

God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain
I'll say it again
God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain

I don't believe in magic
I don't believe in I-Ching
I don't believe in Bible
I don't believe in tarot
I don't believe in Hitler
I don't believe in Jesus
I don't believe in Kennedy
I don't believe in Buddha
I don't believe in mantra
I don't believe in Gita
I don't believe in yoga
I don't believe in kings
I don't believe in Elvis
I don't believe in Zimmerman
I don't believe in Beatles
I just believe in me
Yoko and me
And that's reality

The dream is over
What can I say?
The dream is over
Yesterday
I was the dreamweaver
But now I'm reborn
I was the Walrus
But now I'm John
And so dear friends
You just have to carry on
The dream is over
-John Lennon "God"

"God" is one of my favorite songs in the entire Beatles/Solo Beatles catalog. It´s so honest and John´s vocal on it is incredible, there is no doubt about his belief in the words he sings. It is one of the finest songs John ever recorded, but Beatles fans rarely discuss it. They don´t like to. They don´t like what it implies and don´t want to think about the true message of such a song. Hell, I don´t even like to discuss it...but it needs to be done.

John Lennon was not a very nice guy by all accounts. Most people thought he was an asshole. But that fact is totally irrelevant because John Lennon came to represent something much larger through his songwriting. He came to represent hope. His songs were far beyond him, they belonged to everyone. He was one man who actually convinced us with his music that we really could change things, that all the ugliness could go away.

And everyone is all too eager to discuss that John. The John who tells us all we need is love or that we just have to Imagine, but people are loath to talk about the John who says "The Dream is Over". What does that say about us? The living embodiment of hope has just told us that were are up shit creek with no paddle. Hope has told us to hang it up and go live in faraway shanties because society as a whole is far too twisted to save and not worth the attempt anyways. We probabley should have listened to him...

And why do I bring this up? Because this is what I am currently thinking about. My dream is over. Next Monday, I wake up. I´ll find myself at O´Hare international airport and then I will know this European fever dream is all over.

I have to go back to reality, to a world of student loans, part time jobs and yes, even college. I knew this day would come, but I was hoping I´d somehow outrun it. "Maybe they´ll declare me king of Belgium", I thought...Nope. No, It´s back to the front for me, back to the Republican natural habitat, the land of rape and honey. I had an awful lot of fun doing my bit against the neo-cons from a distance, but at home it will be all tooth and nail until November. Then the real fight starts.

And maybe you´re saying to yourself at this point "but wait, what about the European horde? What about Joel and Sarah and that crazed Irishman? He´s only on volume 3 for the love of Pete Sampras it can´t be over." Well let me say this, you´ll find out about their fates in due time but I´m going to give it to you slowly. After all, I need to milk this European trip for all the sermons it´s worth!

And so it is with much sadness that I inform you that my dream is indeed over. My dispatches from Europe series will now be told as history lessons while I return to the harsh lands from wence I came.

Be seeing you

[The Good Reverend Roger]

And why do I bring this up? Because this is what I am currently thinking about. My dream is over. Next Monday, I wake up. I´ll find myself at O´Hare international airport and then I will know this European fever dream is all over.

Heh.  They'll have you in leg irons in less than a half an hour.  You will be one of the people who, 50 years from now, people will discuss in puzzled voices.  

"Why didn't they get out when they had a chance?"

We say that about German Jews now...people will say it about YOU soon enough.  I'm too old and stubborn to leave, but you should be looking for a permanent domicile in the civilized lands in which you have found yourself.  

Maybe they won't even detain you...there is more and more noise on the hill about a draft.  Your stay back in Unistat may be very short, indeed.

Flee while you still can.

[Trollax]

God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain
I'll say it again
God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain

I don't believe in magic
I don't believe in I-Ching
I don't believe in Bible
I don't believe in tarot
I don't believe in Hitler
I don't believe in Jesus
I don't believe in Kennedy
I don't believe in Buddha
I don't believe in mantra
I don't believe in Gita
I don't believe in yoga
I don't believe in kings
I don't believe in Elvis
I don't believe in Zimmerman
I don't believe in Beatles
I just believe in me
Yoko and me
And that's reality

The dream is over
What can I say?
The dream is over
Yesterday
I was the dreamweaver
But now I'm reborn
I was the Walrus
But now I'm John
And so dear friends
You just have to carry on
The dream is over
-John Lennon "God"

I disagree with you that this song is about the abandonment of hope. While dreams are important they aren't reality, and they can never become reality unless we acknowledge that they are just that, dreams. 'God is a concept by which we measure our pain' is very close to the Nietzschean ethos where he said 'God is dead' It was not about the irrelivance of religion or the lies inherent in it, it was about the loss of its lusture due to the petty actions of the people who controlled the hows and whys of the way people felt. The very Reason Nietzache rebelled against the church was for that precise reason, 'God is a concept by which we measure our pain' To a self-confessed yea-sayer, it was a continual slap in the face. Lovecraft wen the same route, just in a different vein. The horrors he wrote about were the real creators of man, a bunch of vile demons, growing a living, thinking crop to sate their own passions with no regard for the results. Given what I've heard of other people's metaphysics of creation recently, it doesn't suprise at all.

God is dead, because god is not god.

[Efrim]

I disagree with you that this song is about the abandonment of hope. While dreams are important they aren't reality, and they can never become reality unless we acknowledge that they are just that, dreams. 'God is a concept by which we measure our pain' is very close to the Nietzschean ethos where he said 'God is dead' It was not about the irrelivance of religion or the lies inherent in it, it was about the loss of its lusture due to the petty actions of the people who controlled the hows and whys of the way people felt. The very Reason Nietzache rebelled against the church was for that precise reason, 'God is a concept by which we measure our pain' To a self-confessed yea-sayer, it was a continual slap in the face. Lovecraft wen the same route, just in a different vein. The horrors he wrote about were the real creators of man, a bunch of vile demons, growing a living, thinking crop to sate their own passions with no regard for the results. Given what I've heard of other people's metaphysics of creation recently, it doesn't suprise at all.

God is dead, because god is not god.

You could certainly make that arguement. You could say that the song is a rejection of typical beliefs in exchange for a deeper and more reliable self-belief...but I don¬¥t think so. I feel that it is a lament. And even if I felt otherwise I¬¥d lie about it because that interpretation fits with my post