Sárospataki Füzetek 1. (1997)
1997 / 2. szám - Dr. Frank Sawyer: How can we go forward? (Hogyan tovább?)
HOW CAM WE GO FORWARD ? How can we go forward when we don’t know which way to turn? How can we go forward into something were not sure of? Oh no, oh no.... To summarize, we can say that in the spirituality found in the lyrics of John Lennon there is a strong ambivalence between the dream and the direction of fulfillment. ’You may say I’m a ’ dreamer’, but Lennon had an answer for that Tm not the only one’ - therefore the dream will somehow come true. But when Lennon sings his lyric GOD, he eradicates all things people believe in - it sounds quite nihilistic - but he ends by saying ’I just believe in me’. That is exactly what people think in the ’postmodern’ era. Lennon was a dreamer, but the dream is over. Which dream? the dream of being a Beatle who captured the admiration of millions with their music? Or the dream of a new world where people will be one again? The belief level of Lennon's lyrics sometimes seems superficial, but at other times it goes very deep and points to the unexposed spiritual wounds festering in western society. The one question remains: how? how can we go forward? John Lennon did not develop a full answer to that question. But the spiritual aspect of his lyrics is significant: he used his imagination, signaling the need to ’give peace a chance’, and stood at the crossroads of countercultural changes, saying ’how can we go forward?’ He was a dreamer who knew that something is missing in western society. How can we go forward? That question was raised by John Lennon at a time when great changes were taking place in western society. Many contemporary people try to ignore that question and continue to live off the dream, the unity, and the spiritual gifts of the past, not realizing that they cannot name the center anymore. 67
