Читать книгу Thanks Be to Bono - Brent Barton - Страница 16

We U2opians are by no means the only ones who’ve been getting into this love and peace promotion business. Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, all of the great religions of the world, have deferred at one time or another to the ultimate higher ideals of love and peace. The brilliance of U2 encompasses the constructive and beneficial virtue of all human thought.

U2opian dogma, if there can be said to be such a thing, is the universal declaration of human rights accompanied by a rock’n roll soundtrack and vibrant light show. To the core, our movement’s position was no different from that taken by many other religious organizations that believe in the existence of fundamental human rights – rights that, by birth, belong to every person on this planet. The main difference we discovered, between other religions and U2opians, is our contrasting opinion on the importance of one person, in this case Bono, in the salvation of all humanity.

The U2opian philosophy embraces a worldview that accepts differences, conflicts and contradictions. Monotheism. Dualism. Belief in the trinity. Yup, sure. That’s all good and what have you. But it’s all been done. Our beliefs came via quartet. The U2opian philosophy accepts the distinctions between all the instruments in the band. Literally and metaphorically.

Singers in a choir, we can sing. We can meet together in the same key. We can accept the differences between tone and pitch and move on, to the common ground, harmony, where we, as humans, can put the idea of opposition aside (even if just for a brief moment, please). It’s a recognition of all the connections that we share on all the other levels of existence.

Other levels of existence?

Stay with me now.

I’ll do my best to keep our discussion here grounded.

The U2opian philosophy embraces the idea of a connected universe. Don’t ask me how it all works (ask a physicist) but it appears that there is a mysterious gravitational force, binding us all together. Call it science, call it magic, it can be poetic, and it can be religious if that’s how you like to look at things. But this is the ultimate fact: in the bigger picture of the universe, we’re all tied together. Connections. This is the essence of it all.

U2opian scientists have found overwhelming evidence for these connections. Recent experiments point to a defining quantum energy behind it all. People in the past referred to this connecting energy as “spirit.” That’s what we often called it in our service. Others have liked to call it “God,” or “chance,” or “complete and total chaos.” I’m not sure. I don’t care, really. Shit! Fuck! Whatever. Call it what you want. These names are the least important things about it. It’s the connections, not the names, that are the point. The connections. The U2opian belief system is not concerned about semantics and mere words.

Fuck all that.

We’re all about the bigger picture!

Forward, clear thinking.

The U2opian view is a rational one, one that aims to strip away the artifice of distracting ritual to target the purpose, the goal of life at the universal level. As a global movement, we connected with people. And they in turn connected with what we had to say.

And what is there not to like about what we had to say?

It’s clear to me why people liked our message. We offered positivity and acceptance for a change. The mandate of TEMPLE™ was positivity, plain and simple: Spread the message of love and peace throughout the world. No baggage limit. No baggage required.

WOO-HOO!

Sing a song!

Our talking points were well articulated.

Our slogans were direct and relevant to all of humanity:

Quench thirst!

Satisfy hunger!

Stop hurt!

Easy now: Breathe.

Alright!