Utopian Fantasy

Between 1865 and 1890, in the aftermath of the Civil War, virtually every important American labor reform organization advocated "cooperation" over "competitive" capitalism and several thousand cooperatives opened for business during this era. The men and women who built cooperatives were practical reformers and they established businesses to stabilize their work lives, families, and communities. Yet they were also utopians - envisioning a world free from conflict where workers would receive the full value of their labor.

Utopia is the name given by Sir Thomas More to an imaginary island in this political work written in 1516. Book I of Utopia, a dialogue, presents a perceptive analysis of contemporary social, economic, and moral ills in England. Book II is a narrative describing a country run according to the ideals of the English humanists, where poverty, crime, injustice, and other ills do not exist.

Most people operate from a fixed idea or concept of how things are supposed to be, rather functioning in the moment, where they can change anything as needed to accomplish and create more. This creates a tremendous limitation. We use conceptual constructs to create a purpose and a sense of rightness. Relationship, sex, sexuality, family, and the future are examples of conceptual constructs. Society is a construct. Culture, religion, and reputation are constructs. These things are not actually real; they are conceptual realities that have been dropped into our existence.

Peach Blossom Paradise, set at the time of the reform, is the story of Xiumi, the daughter of a wealthy landowner and former government official who falls prey to insanity and disappears. Days later, a man with a gold cicada in his pocket turns up at their family estate and is inexplicably welcomed as a relative.

Sir Thomas More's Utopia has spurred debate, reflection, and critical thinking since its original publication in the 16th century. More's fictional island of Utopia provides an exploration of issues that shook him and his contemporaries and that continue to be problematic in the modern day.

The Man in the Moone, first published in 1638, is considered one of the first works of science fiction. The author was an Anglican bishop who became interested in astronomy following the circulation of the works of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo. Much of the current speculation about the moon was concerned with whether it was populated, and if so, by what race.

The New Atlantis (1627) is a utopian novel by Sir Francis Bacon in which he describes a vision of the future of human discovery, expressing his aspirations and ideals for humanity. The novel portrays a utopian world where "generosity and enlightenment, dignity and splendour, piety and public spirit" are the dominant qualities of the inhabitants.