Up@dawn 2.0

Thursday, September 8, 2016

My Utopia is Pain.

(H2)

            Plato's idea of a perfect Utopia in the Republic highly intrigued me due to the fact that I had never seen (read) that side of Plato: the side of hostility towards democracy and the (way ahead of its time) gender equality views. While reading this I couldn’t stop but think how similar, if not exact, is his view compared to the fictional character of Madara in Naruto. Madara's view of Utopia is that of Plato's in the sense of equality, no fear, love and unconditional peace. Madara wanted to envelop the world in a "genjutsu" (magic, if you must) that would entrap the people in a dream-state illusion where peace is the main factor. Unlike Plato, Madara wanted no wars or deaths, but a peaceful Utopia where everybody minded their own business nonetheless. I tend to disagree with both Madara and Plato in this regard. I feel that a perfect Utopia is 1) impossible for our human capacity and if possible then 2) it would be a "lifeless" world, a world where no originality or "fun" happens. On the other hand, there is Naruto, the hero of the story and the nemesis of Madara. Naruto wants an Utopia that they themselves make through hard work and perseverance; Naruto doesn’t want an illusion, he wants them to find peace within themselves, through hard work, struggle and self-belief.  
Now, there is a 3rd party here, in the Naruto world, that believes in a 3rd option: pain. Pain, is the name of this 3rd party character, not to be confused with his ideal which is pain. Pain wants to bring pain (suffering) to everyone so that they can embrace worth and love and true peace. Pain wants to bring about an Utopia through pain; Pain believes that If you don't share someone's pain, you can never understand them; but just because you understand them doesn't mean you can come to an agreement. That's the truth.  
So, in conclusion, I believe more in Pain's Utopia than Plato's or Naruto's. I believe that if there is a slight chance of any Utopia, it would be through pain; understanding each others pain might be the quickest way to true peace.

1 comment:

  1. I really enjoyed this arch, and I'm glad someone else read it with the same interpretation. Although Pain's utopia may bring peace most quickly, you would first inflict pain upon them, as a sort of revenge, for them to experience what you had felt. You can't really go that route, unless you think the ends justify the means. Although Naruto's utopia is very idealistic, almost foolish, it still is quite beautiful to have a hope and an optimistic perspective of people. And yet, it's tragic because we all know true peace does not exist on earth and can not be achieved by humans. It's very reflective of the nature of human beings- fallible, yet hopeful.

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