Utopia.

UTOPIA.

ALTHOUGH I grant that Utopia on earth is perhaps a contradiction, as human life is imperfect in so many respects, nevertheless, as a kind of relative perfection or lesser imperfection, the notion of Utopia is useful in the pragmatist’s sense as an ideal of human society. I have written somewhat of this in my essay On Society in my work The Gamut but, before I die, I would like to rather more factually record my simple thoughts on what might in the future of the world be called an Utopian society.

   Firstly, there should be a gentle religion such as Christianity when it is not dreadfully abused in churches as any organisation might be, the police, a school, a government, so that the fear of death and the comprehension of life is temperately mediated in the hearts of man. The religious philosophy of existence I believe should be regulated with science through pantheism, as I believe pantheism is the only admissible interpretation of consciousness in the universe. All poetry, which is verse of the highest inspiration, is a reflection of this principle of consciousness permeating all existence, the victory, triumph, and redemption, of honourable passion over the quietening false notion of death, that is, over that quietened phase of a transmuting life which is considered to be mortal death but which is, in truth, the simple evidence of immortal life’s alteration. This belief I think is the essence of all which is forward, improving, and constructive, in the arts and sciences, as well as in the simple lives of ordinary people, in the happiness of family life and the nobility of daily labour. Naturally, I should hold the really inspired architectural schools so wonderfully followed in the past, as in the gothic and classical schools, to be an excellent reflection of this inner faith which projects itself outwardly into manifested beauty and splendour. 

  This first foundation granted the rest would follow naturally I think. Societies should be clean first of all, this is a point of view I have held since I was young and became strangely obsessed with awkward angles, dirty signs, and graffiti, as abhorrent instances of uncleanliness. I would have everything clean which can be clean; nature of course supplies many instances of chaotic beauty as scattered leaves of a golden autumn, but that is nature’s prerogative, not ours. Symmetry and cleanliness should be the principle of an Utopia.

   Politics should very naturally be gentle, as in gentility; debates should be grandiose and oratorical, fashion should be traditional and finely cut as in Victorian times, and each side should be so genial and learned that it should not matter which side should win as each would be cradled in the same tradition of noble faith in the power of life, and the admiration of human achievement as a reflection of God’s power. Such a state once existed in England when the Whigs or Liberals and Tories were one another’s opposites, that though different alliances should distinguish each from the other, quality should not.

   There would be such a development of medicine, especially in the regions of gene therapy, that much of the suffering caused by mortal ailments will be curable, although I would not wish for there to be the kind of mechanical design through the same means of making a child look a certain way; the surprise at nature is a blessed emotion. Population on earth will hopefully stabilise because the rate of growth lately has been too much to be eventually sustainable. Space colonisation is rather too fanciful I think to be seriously considered, the expense concerned is so great and the technology so awkward that I do not think it a probable proposition. Improvement of desert land, however, I think a much more reasonable possibility. If we cannot through technology learn to make the Sahara desert, the Gobi desert, the Outback, and the two arctic poles, more inhabitable, then I cannot see how space colonisation is an even remotely attainable dream. By great projects of foliage planting and perhaps the digging of canals these now barren places may one day prove havens bristling with mortal life.

   I think eventually nuclear power will supersede all the other forms of power generation, simply because it is more sustainable and copious than the other forms. Hopefully, as with plastic waste, there will one day be developed some means of eliminating the toxic waste of the process, some chemical or process to absorb the radiation thereof. By this essential means of power generation the amount of fossil fuel emissions caused by agriculture and ordinary living, even that generated by chemical manufacturing, will not be so much as to imperil the climate of the earth, which is warming anyway. This same warming will also increase the quantity and variety of plant life, as in the Jurassic period when ferns were the size of trees.

   Yes, I could wish that aerosol paint were banned so to eradicate graffiti from the cities, if it is art they can do it on a canvas. Also, I could wish that shatter-proof glass were used and reused for bottles of drinks and that tins designed so as not to have sharp edges were used instead of plastic. Furthermore, I think compartment train carriages panelled in varnished wood would be a mightily refined addition to society, with all suitable modern accoutrements provided. These little things make a difference I hold, many a mickle maketh a muckle.

   Eventually, I could hope, society at large will begin to be rather more aesthetically pleasing again as it was in the nineteenth century, so that every lamppost, every manhole cover, every window frame, every carpet, every fence, gate, and façade, will be an ornamental delight. My wish is that brutalism and skyscrapers will forever be consigned to the past as an unnecessary concentration of space and forgetfulness of symmetry and beauty. Education will return to consisting of compulsory Latin and Ancient Greek as well as a thorough reading of the King James Bible and Book of Common Prayer with Hymns Ancient and Modern, as well as naturally Shakespeare, Keats, Coleridge, Byron, Johnson, and Boswell, as also a thorough reading and listening of Sir Winston Churchill's speeches. By these means a much better grasp of wider literature and therefore better thinking will be achieved.  There should also be strict lessons in calligraphy in Diamine ink and letter writing. This is the kind of world I would like posterity to inherit.