Within the song lyrics, “Imagine”, by John Lennon there are several notions about Imaginative Journeys that are relayed to the responder. Primarily, the song displays the power of the imagination to create different realities. Responders are asked to, “Imagine”, and are taken on an Imaginative Journey to an idyllic and almost utopian world. Lennon illustrates his dream world as one without religi
religious, cultural and racial boundaries, without greed, hunger and war, and above all else, responders journey to a world where there is unity. This notion of unity, being an ideal of humanity since time began, is reverberated throughout the whole song and places a strong emphasis on the power of the imagination to create and journey to different realities.
Lennon also provides, through the imagination, a sense of escapism and liberation. Responders are ‘freed’ from their hardships, differences and predicaments through their Imaginative Journey. They arrive to a place, via their imagination, to absolute and true peace and harmony. Although responders are only ‘freed’, momentarily, they become equals in their imagined world.
Furthermore, Lennon uses the imagination to convey the ideology of detaching oneself from the end goal, or destination (“Imagine there’s no heaven… no hell below us”) when embarking on the journey of life, or journeys in general. Lennon places a strong emphasis on the importance of focusing on the process of journeying and living for the now (“Imagine all the people / living for today”).