Eutopia

I just attended a lecture about the importance of a good city environment to William Penn. I've read books about the so-called New Urbanism. These experiences have instilled in me a great appreciation for place. Consider my excitement when I, an etymologist, thought I discovered that the word "utopia" came from the Greek eu- "good" + topos "place." Utopia is obviously a "good place." Imagine my shock and despair when I found out that "utopia" actually comes from ou- "no, not, without" paired with "place." I haven't studied Thomas More at all, but when I hear that the ideal place is no place or a lack of place, my hackles rise up to confront (in a Christian, non-violent way) the Gnostic heretic. But one more etymological note: the lexical opposite of utopia is dystopia, which is derived from the Greek for "bad place." Why the heck would "no place" be the opposite of "bad place"?

I have a couple of ideas about the provenance of these repugnant words (or rather, the vile masquerader utopia; at least dystopia could be useful). The idea of an ideal seems to spring from Plato's ideas. (They're like the people chained up in the cave, in the allegory of the people in the cave by the Greek guy.—Thanks, TMBG.) An ideal was necessarily not real; it had no root in reality. The only use that school of thought had for reality was that it was a dim shadow of the ideal. So in a rigidly literal sense, an ideal place would be a "no" place. I'm sure different people have noted this, but I first heard Andy Crouch talk about traveling to speak at a conference. He said America was increasingly becoming a no place. At home in Massachusetts (at the time, I think) he could visit Starbucks, PF Chang's, the mall or other favorite comfort establishments. He could travel to San Diego and visit the exact same places and expect the same quality. This gave him the comfort of "home," even though it reveals a total lack of home. I believe America has become the Utopia in most cities. We can find everything we're used to with virtually no uniquity. The America most of us live in is indeed a "no place."

Which brings me to my proposal: We need a word for the people who are trying to be creational and redemptive (against Gnosticism) to indicate a very pleasing place. (I would say ideal, but I've already deconstructed that word.) Naturally, I think that word is what I thought utopia was all along: Eutopia, the good place. The only downside is people may be confused by the different spelling. I could also propose syntopia ("with place"), but I think eutopia really works.

A thought about eutopia. It's good to dream of where that might be. Colorado comes very close for me. I don't really want to live anywhere else. But more goes into this than climate and mountains. How does the city look? What is it like to walk in a neighborhood, to get to the local grocer? How is the farm/ranchland? Are all the churces warehouses? (Remember, brothers and sisters, place doesn't matter! We're trying to emulate the no place, languishing till we can shed these shells and get to heaven, the ideal no place! Sorry . . . had to spew a little heresy.) In contrast, the new creation that we will inhabit in the age to come will be the real eutopia.