The aspiration of many men throughout history has been to establish and maintain a utopian society. While the concept is not new, the idea of a society that is in perfect harmony is a vision that many have had. The philosopher, Plato suggested such a society could exist, yet could not deal with all the logistics and mindset. His was a society of four different classes of people where the rich and wealthy ran things, and the lower classes did the bidding of the upper class. The problem is that it is not fair for the lower class people.
Many people have written books and stories about a utopian society. Some of these were satire and sarcasm pointing to the corruption and wickedness that their particular societies had digressed towards. Others tried to promote the idea of single colonies, communities, and cities that worked on a utopian framework.
The problems involved in setting up a utopian society is that nobody can agree on who does what, who is in charge, who benefits, or any other number of things. There have been attempts by many groups to set up these types of societies, and according to history, the longest running utopia lasted right at one hundred years.
In our world, there are those who suggest utopia can come about, but only if people are forced into it. Sure, people envision a world where there is no war, and everybody works for everybody else. The closest concept to utopia is the communistic society, but even then, most know the flaws of such a system. George Orwell wrote “Animal Farm” which was a satire on communism. Even in that society, it started out that all animals were equal, but soon we read that some animals were more equal than other animals. Soon the more equal used force to make the less equal submit.
One reason Utopia will never happen on this earth is because of freedom. Once people taste freedom, or they see it in others, it is something precious that they do not want to let go of willingly. Many have sacrificed the ultimate for the sake of freedom. Many have died for others to see that they taste freedom for themselves.
Another reason Utopia will never happen is because of sin. Sin’s primary root is selfishness. And self can never be a part of a utopian society. Because the utopia is supposed to be one for all and all for one (like the three musketeer’s motto). Unless one can truly deny themselves and become servants of others, the society will fail. Selfishness will cause people to take what is not theirs, and will cause people to not work for the benefit of others.
Many people think of utopia as a place of bliss, where there is no sorrow or pain, and everybody treats each other with love, kindness, and respect. People who read the Bible are aware of such a place, but it will not be on this earth. This is the great heaven that is prepared for the righteous of God. People will be able to get to this wonderful place by being faithful to God and doing their best to make life here a utopia for those around them. If people would just observe many of God’s commandments found in the Bible, we would have a much better society, and it could be a close model of a utopian society.
For utopia to exist there must be harmony, unity, like-mindedness, and willingness. Until that happens, utopia will remain just a dream.

By Carey Scott 6/6/2012

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