God – The Dream is Over

“I just believe in me…Yoko and me, and that’s reality…the dream is over. . .the dream is over, yesterday I was the dream weaver and now I’m reborn.” – John Lennon

For many years I disliked John Lennon’s song “God.”  Like so many other things in life, my dislike of this song was rooted in the threat its lyrics posed to my vision of the world.  It threatened to awaken me from my “dogmatic slumber.” Such a comfortable place, you know? But the dream has been slowly fading during the past few months.  I now understand this song. Lennon had the wonderful gift to describe awakening in a way that was simultaneously offensive and beautiful. I now see the beauty of it, the beauty of being stripped of all these surrogates of Self: heroes, teachers, philosophies, projects, careers, religions, relationships, and lovers.

In celebration of this, below I have altered Lennon’s lyrics to fit my own life and experience of waking up.  This is my personal confession of non-faith in things and people I once trusted and believed in, but life revealed them to be illusions of varying levels of sophistication that merely perpetuated my co-dependence and kept me from seeing life as it is.  Life is happening right now, right here. Don’t miss it because you’re “in love,” “in hate,” a character in someone else’s neurotic story, or otherwise exiled or unconscious.  Be exactly as you are. Find the natural joy and completeness that is already within you.

If you play the video above you can read my revision of the lyrics to Lennon’s original version of the song.  If “God” speaks to you, I invite readers to write their own version of this song.  It will prove quite painful but beautifully illuminating and liberating.

GOD – THE DREAM IS OVER

 

God is a Concept by which we measure our pain

I’ll say it again

God is a Concept by which we measure our pain

 

I don’t believe in Batman.

I don’t believe in Elvis.

I don’t believe in Messiah.

I don’t believe in Calvinism.

 

I don’t believe in Oxford.

I don’t believe in philosophy.

I don’t believe in Hare Krishnas.

I don’t believe in Survival.

 

I don’t believe in sugar.

I don’t believe in 12 Step.

I don’t believe in therapy.

I don’t believe in Carmel.

 

I don’t believe in goddess Shakti.

I don’t believe in Autumn.

I don’t even believe in Zen.

I just believe in me…

Aidan and Me

And that’s reality. . .

 

The dream is over.

What can I say?

The dream is over.

Yesterday I was the Dreamweaver.

But now I’m reborn.

 

I was the philosopher.

But now I’m Michael.

And so dear lovers,

You’ll just have to carry on.

The dream is over.