"You may say I'm a dreamer..."

[JoeSzymborski27]

But I KNOW I'm not the only one. I realize quoting a rather cliché anthem may not be the best lead in, but I thought it fit.

My name is Joe, and I am a 21 year old living in California. For over 4 years I have been on what started as a spiritual journey, and has come to be the beginning of a wild passion for truth, wisdom and peace. I try not to bore you with lengthly anecdotes, but let me give you a few details. As a young teenager growing up in a heavily Christian town, I felt incredibly awkward in my attempts to assimilate God into my life. Prayer seemed useless, fellowship (in the form of spreading the good word) was out of the question, and everything which my friends and family claimed to be miracles were clearly just statistically improbable (yet altogether possible) coincidences at best. I felt there had to be something more to our existence.

Fast forward to my freshman year at a community college, and my first astronomy class. Boy was I hooked! What was once a curious black expanse above my head with little pin holes of light (always referred before this point to as "the heavens" by my peers) suddenly became a vivid, incredible vastness of infinite possibilities. I felt as though I could travel to deep space in my minds eye, and meet potentially real extra terrestrial life forms on distant planets while daydreaming between lectures. I finally had some more concrete and evidence based answers for how the universe really looks and works (even if some is still considered partly unsure, ei. Big Bang, quantum physics, etc.)

I could never go back after those first few classes. Long story short, my fascination with science continued until I discovered intellectual celebrities such as Carl Sagan, Professor Kaku, and Neil Degrasse Tyson, among others, who helped continue to shape my understanding of the known universe.

Since then I have constantly been searching for how the universe works, and perhaps, how it could work better. I'm talking of course more specifically about planet earth, and our obsession with dominance and consumerism. We are killing our planet, and for various silly reasons (fundamental religiosity in part), killing each other. We are coming to a point at which we understand the way the world works, and no longer require Bronze Age explanations for our Darwinian hopes and fears.

What I'm getting at is a desire for... A new type of thinking. A type of rational discourse with which to create a sense of hope, love, morality, charity, education and peace WITHOUT the requisite of a mutually exclusive deity or set of beliefs. Something which any open mind can adopt to help make the world a more equal planet.

You may call it secular humanism, and it may dip into a verity of already existing philosophies. In fact, I'm sure such a rationale is already in existence. But I want to ask you all what you think about such a cause.

Firstly, have you heard of something closely aligned with my agenda before? What might you label this philosophical suggestion as?

Do you have any tenants of other philosophies or perhaps your own unique philosophy which may be applicable?

Would you be willing to discuss with me at some length, and with an open mind, ideas by which such a dramatic mental paradigm shift might be popularized or refined?

With the American economy and political atmosphere in shambles, global warming continuing and natural resources depleting, fundamental religious fanatics still killing one another, and superficiality dominating the minds of many humans, the world is in need of some change. You may think such a utopian suggestion impossible or too fanciful, but may I allude that the Great Wall was not conceived without an idea and a dream, and not achieved without laying a few bricks first.

Thank you.

Hate to break this to you but utopia is the same as distopia...

In either there is always a group that does not agree and is left out or persecuted more than others.

There is NO perfect world in which peace and harmony will always exist.

Rather than even waste time with that sort of dream why not dream of a place that we can all get along in that doesn't require we conform to a one specific set of utopian or dystopian ideals.

The books 1984, and A brave New World tell the same story in two different ways. One could be considered utopia the other dystopia. I would not want to live in either of those worlds.

I know this is not a popular view but this is how I see it. Neither of these things can yield growth for the human race. Both are just systems of control disguised as something else.

I may call it a utopian desire, but I'll admit that is perhaps an imperfect definition of my intention. I understand that, especially within my own lifetime, I wouldn't expect even 1/4 of the population to accept even the most refined, educated, open minded and peaceful of ideologies, but I really do have a deep passion to try. Even I can just unlock the higher rationalities and cultivate a nature peace and love in just a handful of individuals, I would be satisfied, but only just barely.

Now whenever I talk about this type of thing I quite often get compared to 1984, or a verity of dictators, including most recently Hitler when I thoughtlessly mentioned that I wanted a "new world order" of sorts -- a scary image pops into people's head with ideas like that.

That's really nothing near what I'm after. I'm after gross national happiness, practical and at least somewhat comprehensive education, and a sense of hope and prosperity for all... I often get criticized for these desires require something of a passion for "radical reform". I am just simply dissatisfied with following the way the world tells me to go.

My biggest problem at this point (at least that I can find from self inspection) is a lack of deep wisdom, and a bit of social grace. I probably shouldn't call my desires utopian or a "new world order". I just recently began to interest myself in philosophy. I've just always noticed that in time, humanity always tends to do the right thing. Civil rights alone have made dramatic advancements in the last 500 years, quite obviously. Why shouldn't we be able to make at least significant advancements in education, peace, and prosperity in equal time???

Again, you may call me a dreamer, but perhaps I really "hope" I'm not the only one.