I'm going to say it right now so you
can stop reading if you hate it: I like Thomas More's Utopia
and his utopian vision. I really enjoy the Utopians' outlook on so
many things. For instance, academics are an important element of
society (great for bookworms like me); politics and private life are
not allowed to mix; and priests may not occupy political positions, which prevents corruption.
There
are, of course, bad things. We have the Utopians sowing lots of
assassination plots and other interesting forms of skulduggery
amongst their enemies; encouraging suicide for medical purposes; committing genocide of the Zapoletes; and giving public honor for virtue.
… But
I'm beginning to digress.
The
Utopian society seems so perfect and wonderful, but it's not. When I
read this book last semester, I thought it was. Even when I sat down
to begin this post ten minutes ago, I
thought I was going to write some clever little letter from a Utopian
railing against our society or some sort of post about how I'd like
to take an extended vacation to Utopia.
And
then I remembered something: a utopia must
have two halves, one internal and the other external (hello, Saint
Augustine). See, the external world can look all pretty and perfect
(Utopia), but the
internal world can still be terrible.
...Perhaps
I should tell you what the internal world is. It's you, or more
specifically, your feelings and your state of being.
Let
me tell about two people I've had the opportunity to meet over
the past year. I met one a few months ago. During the course of our
conversation, she told me that she gets so depressed that she cuts
herself. The second person had some serious anger management issues.
Rather than confronting them, he would just lose himself in his
addiction: Xanax. They were total strangers, and I was more or less
powerless to help them.
I
thought if everyone in society moved to Utopia we would all enjoy
life a lot more, but we wouldn't. These two people would still be
self-harmers and addicts. They—and we—all look a little bit like this on the
inside:
Moving
to Utopia wouldn't change a thing.
We
can make the outside world as utopian as we'd like, but without work
on the inside it's just a decaying shell.
(Train wreck picture from www.eccchistory.com).
It's interesting how you bring up that the Utopians haven't really planned for taking care of their citizens mental health. I hadn't thought about that. Though, I suppose a world where property and the threat of homeless and starvation were non-existent might lend itself to a better mental state...
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge stigma attached to mental health issues especially in the United States. I have several friends that suffer from the same sort of things and many times refuse to seek help because of the association of "crazy" to going to therapy for help. Utopia can only exist if we work not only on the external structure of society instituting new laws and regulations but we must also work to ensure true happiness of the population. The social stigma surrounding mental health needs to be eradicated. Without true inner happiness and peace utopia can't exist even if society is perfect.
ReplyDeleteMental health is a soft spot for me. I was in an inpatient facility 2 years ago for an mental illness and have been in therapy ever since. I have such a fear of speaking up to even my doctors about slip-ups and days when I'm not doing too well because I feel as though I have to put on the happy front. I guess I go along with the utopian ideals so far as putting on a happy front and making it seem like everything is okay.
ReplyDeleteI liked that you were not afraid to say that you enjoyed Utopia but I have often been faced with the idea that I can not argue with More on many of the things that he talks about because they are supported really well, so I liked the fact that you were able to see an outlier in Utopia.
ReplyDeleteI liked to different approach you took to looking at Utopia as a whole. I had never thought about it that way.
ReplyDelete