Fantasy of a Utopia
“Utopia is that which is in contradiction with reality,” states Albert Camis in Between Hell and Reason.
Throughout history humans have constantly been on the pursuit of a better life, in search of a utopia, without realizing such a goal is unachievable. A utopia, an ideal place or state, is a concept that dwells in the gray area as each interpretation is drastically different from one to another. And in this entirely perfect concept human emotions cease to exist because in a utopian society one could never hold desires of success over another if the balance is to be kept. Still through time humans visualized of this perfect world and with that so changed the utopias of the times from stone to industrial to technological – a utopian society must be ever changing. A utopian society eludes reality as abstract definition, human nature and the need for constant evolution to accommodate changing times hold it to the world of fantasies.
The undefined nature of a utopia is the first roadblock in materializing it. In the worlds of John Carey in The Intellectual and the Masses, “one person's utopia is another's dystopia.” A utopia in simplest form can be defined as the materialization of one's deepest desires. In 1941 Adolf Hitler attempted the complete obliteration of the Jewish race to achieve his utopian dream of having only Teutonic races living in the Ukraine. For Hitler this was expression of his desires, his utopia. Since other's desires are unknown a utopia as creating a singular dream of perfection is impossible without disregarding some, if not all but one opinion. Therefore the task now becomes to not only create a singular dream, but to encompass all people into this perfect world. Many dream of being waited on hand and foot by slaves. These dreams are clearly outlines in both Plato's The Republic and Thomas More's Utopia. In a utopia all people would live a perfect world not just those that some deem fit and this makes the dream of a utopia unrealistic as not every one holds the same morals. This is illustrated best in “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury. In the short story the parents hold family time to a greater importance than the children who pine for their beloved technology. They can not come to agreement and it ends in tragedy because since they hold different morals their utopias can not co-exist. Where one's utopia begins the other's ends. As dynamic as humans are, opinions are are just as unique hence one collective vision of perfection is impossible.
Human character and emotions such as greed, ambition and opinion all prevent from a utopian society, or in other words the possible inhabitants become the environment's downfall. In the short story, “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury the selfishness of humans is exposed as in the pursuit for technological possessions to fulfill their quest for a utopia the children, Peter and Wendy, go as far as to murder their own parents. If a utopian society were to exist the emotions of greed and selfishness would disrupt the peace of an equal community. By nature all animals, including humans have ambition. 'The grass is greener syndrome', the desire to get father in life and never being satisfied with what one has would over throw the frail balance of every person in a utopian society. If one person began to strive for more than the balance allowed then everyone would be thrown off kilter and the result would be the destruction of the entire society. For the perfect civilization everyone must always agree on and be content living with every rule, law and social trend. As humans it is inevitable that various opinions arise and this is how balanced laws and rules are created. Hypothetically if there was only one mass opinion the world would be a very bland place to live and even the slightest change would destroy the entire social structure. This has been shown in history time and time again with citizens decide to rebel against an unjust ruler. For example in January 2011 in Egypt the citizens realized they had a very different idea for a utopian society than their leader and decided to make a change. This shows that a single opinion can not decide the utopia for all and this completely shuts down any utopian concept. Since everyone has different opinions and aspirations there can be no one perfect utopia that holds true to everyone's dreams and still if there was to be one it would only be a matter of time until human nature would bring up a new desire that would call for a completely new utopia.
Discontent is the first step towards progress. It is with new discoveries and ideas that humans have been able to continue their progress in all aspects of civilization and without the flexibility of change any society is petrified in time. With the concept of a utopian society's perfection it is implied that everything is already at it's climax and can not be bettered in any way. This would mean that all scientific research and intellectual gain would cease to exist therefore this hypothetical utopian society would not have allowed for humans to even come out of the stone age. In order for new conceptualization old concepts must be challenged for humanity's gain as a whole. In approximately 1610 Galileo disrupted the general belief that the sun revolved around the earth by stating the exact opposite and today humans have gone so far as to have explored nearly every planet in the solar system. In a utopian society this would not have occurred as Galileo would have had to be content with the general social opinion and even before that he would not even be searching for new astronomical findings as he would have been content with his utopia. Without the flexibility to change and ability create new semi-utopias humanity would have been wiped out long ago. The capacity to learn is one of the traits that have made humans such a global somewhat of a global success story. When humans are cut off from the ability to adapt they relatively quickly can no longer survive. This is proven with many ancient civilizations such as the Mayans. The Mayans were a utopia in the sense that they did not feel the need to change because they felt everything was already perfect, however this ultimately led to their demise as their empire fell due to lack of adaptability. A utopian society is not only impossible it is impractically as it does not allow for human beings to adapt to new environments with their gaining knowledge.
The fable of a utopian society can never exist in an authentic situation as it's ambiguous definition, human nature and lack of flexibility are that of only fairy tales. This concept of a utopia is much too personal to be practiced in an actual society as what one may find to be the ideal existence the other would define the same as hell on earth. As humans are naturally wired to strive for what they believe in and as a utopia calls for a balance that all find acceptable, it's existence is not possible because it demands for the destruction of one of natures beauties, the unique qualities of each human's character. Not only is a utopia impossible and against natural instinct, it is self destructing. A utopian society shuts down progress and freezes itself in time which eventually leads it into regression. The aim of a utopia is what keeps humans moving forward in their accomplishments and for that maybe it is a good thing that it remains an aim, so there shall always be something to strive for.
