 In their book The Words and Music of John Lennon , Ben Urish and Kenneth Bielen suggest that in the first verse of " Instant Karma ! " , Lennon rebukes his listeners with the sarcastic lines : " Get yourself together / Pretty soon you 're gonna be dead . " Norman comments on the " hippie catchphrase of the moment " contained in the first of these two lines , which together provide a warning that is " obviously not to be taken literally " . Author Mark Hertsgaard notes the lyric " Why in the world are we here ? " as a further example of Lennon " asking what purpose his life on earth was to serve " , after his 1966 composition " Strawberry Fields Forever " . 
