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What is the meaning of the phrase "this is not here"? I saw this on a door in a John Lennon video and wonder if this is a Zen phrase or specific English usage.

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This doesn't mean anything as it stands. But consider interpreting the sense more broadly: it could mean something like "this might as well not be here" (e.g. the door exists, but does not fulfil its purpose), or "this is not real" (e.g. the door seems to signify something which isn't really true or doesn't really exist). Incidentally, "This Is Not Here" is an exhibit of Yoko Ono. – Billy Sep 18 '11 at 13:00
How about also asking on SkepticsSE? skeptics.stackexchange.com – Kris May 12 at 7:36

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I think it's a self-referential joke in the style of say Magritte's "Ceci n'est pas une pipe".

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+1 for Magritte! – JeffSahol Sep 20 '11 at 17:42
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I think it's some sort of paraphrase on the line "nothing is real" from Strawberry Fields Forever. It could literally mean "This is not here. You're not really looking at it." — as in, nothing around you is real, nothing is here. That's my take on it.

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I think it means "we are not living in this world; we are living in the world we want to live in, which is not here".

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