LITR 5439 Literary & Historical Utopias

 Research Posting 2009

Felicia Byrd

Motives for Utopias

When considering what is a utopia, the traditional definition from the Latin or the Greek root is often quoted “no place” or “good place.”  The way most of us choose to define utopia is as a perfect nonexistent place.  While our conscience knows that it can never exist, our subconscious wants it to exist.  The possibility that a utopian society could exist is what drives us to make the decisions we do.   This thought is evident when considering religion and the creation of Earth, the creation of the US, and the creation of Celebration, Florida.

In religion, specifically Christian based religion, there is a belief that God created the Earth. God had a vision of a perfect world out of the void; He began with Day and Night. Then, He created the water and the firmament, which He called Heaven.  Unfortunately, because of Adam and Eve’s sin, there is no longer Heaven on Earth.  It is now an eternal life that takes place outside our Earth and past the sky; this is where Heaven is.   This place, Heaven, is a utopian location.  If a person has faith, accepts Christ into his or her life, then they will go into Heaven.  The ideal, or perfection, of Heaven is that not only will the person be reunited with their friends and family, but with the creator of all, God.  In this life, Christians believe through faith that they will be in Heaven, the perfect place – no pain, no suffering, no more sacrifices.  The faith of Christians is what drives their daily decisions in this life.  Christians do try to make where they are a better place and live as Jesus did, but they know that they will fail.  It is only in Heaven that true happiness can exist which makes Heaven a “good place.”

More than a millennia later, after the colonies won their freedom from England, decisions had to be made.  How to keep the colonies working together?  How to keep from repeating the mistakes of England, France and Spain?  How to unify the people?  Ultimately, the answer was given: provide a shared vision of a perfect society, a Utopia.  Thomas Jefferson is credited with the writing of the Constitution; most of us know that there were other contributors, and most of us know that the draft of the Constitution that we follow today is not the original draft.  Thomas Jefferson is often viewed as a hypocrite by writing “all men are created equal” because of the number of slaves he owned.  While owning people is never right, Jefferson did try to correct this in the first draft of the Constitution in which he blames England and Spain for their roles in creating slaves and wants to free them.  It is the objections of the “Southern” colonies that force the removal of that portion of the pending Constitution. Jefferson wrote in his autobiography how displeased he was with the “mutilations” of his original document.  Perhaps, it was this resistance that it is the preamble that they were creating “a more perfect union.”   The inference could be that even Thomas Jefferson realized that there could not be a utopia on this earth.

Perhaps, there cannot be a perfect, utopian country, but a utopian city.  Walt Disney had a vision of a utopian city that he believed could exist in this nation.  Walt like many visionaries had followers and enemies.  Fortunately, he seems to have had more followers than enemies.  While his vision was not seen during his lifetime, Michael Eisner continued Disney’s vision of EPCOT, Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.  Using the land that Walt and Roy Disney purchased, Eisner broke ground on a town that he and his wife named “Celebration.”   The town is to be a celebration of many of the traditional values that Disney and Eisner saw were being lost, and the values that they believed to be fundamental to our lives. Celebration is founded on five guiding principles: health, education, technology, community, and place.  There are many harsh critics of this city, but the fact of the matter is: people live there, and they continue to live there.  So, there must be something of value to the five principals.  While some of the original covenants that the homeowners must sign, the core values have stayed intact. 

One must start with a vision; not just any vision, but a vision of perfection.  God created this world with the hopes of creating a utopia.  Whether is it starting a new country as Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers or starting a new community as Walt Disney through Michael Eisner, the creator must have a vision for a better life. However, until we as a people can agree on what a perfect life would be, we cannot agree on what a utopia is.