Back in the Sixties there was a popular song that originated as a jingle for a Coca Cola ad.
It spoke of people singing in perfect harmony, growing apple trees, bees and holding the world in their arms, as someone bought the world a coke.
Of course, someone had to buy the world a coke, they weren’t talking about giving away their products as they sang of a land of orchards, everyone standing hand in hand as peace rang throughout the land.
It seems that some of the generation that heard that jingle and song has taught the subsequent generations that this is somehow possible if we all close our eyes and wish really hard as we sing Kum Ba Ya together.
Many people seem to really believe that this type of Utopia is possible, if certain factions would just cooperate and not push their capitalist agenda, it would happen overnight.
Jean Jacques Rousseau is credited with the “Noble Savage,” philosophy, though he never used that exact term, believing all people are basically good if not corrupted by civilization. That the natural state of man was ideal and that civilization would contribute to the fall of man and the perversion of him.
The term “Noble Savage” was also referred to in the Seventeenth century play by John Dryden, The Conquest of Granada. The term soon was associated with a natural gentry that all men have within them.
Another who was credited with the idea that man is essentially good and moral based, by his feelings alone, religion notwithstanding, is the third Earl of Shaftesbury, a Whig who supported the constitutional Monarchy.
Since the time of Original Sin, man’s nature has been in conflict with what is right and what is wrong. Adam willingly took the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge from Eve and set us all on a path of doubt and choice.
If one only takes the Bible as literature, forsaking the religious connotation, Nimrod, king in the land of Shinar, and a mighty hunter throughout the land, was one who was corrupted by his ego and arrogance, feeling that he was like a god. He was the builder of the failed Tower of Babel, which confounded human languages in order to disrupt the unity and work on building a tower to heaven and being like God.
The religious lesson of these two examples is that man, according to his nature, has been given a free choice by God, to choose to embrace the right path or the wrong.
That is the moral part, but what of the financial part that prevents all from sharing and embracing their nobility and creating a world in perfect harmony?
Ultimately, many are greedy and will take more than their share if given free rein, and the bill has to be paid for all of things that are needed to sustain life.
It would be great if this land of rainbows and unicorns could exist, but it cannot and will not.
It is sad that so many are living in disillusion, for they will continually be disappointed.
Image: Fair Use; Screen Shot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VM2eLhvsSM
