The Kinds of People who "Gather-in"

[Doug Hamilton]

In a range and distribution, Codman in his Brook Farm account makes an
observation about the kind of people around who are drawn in to
experiment with communal life. It's a good relative frame of
reference about people generally. I notice the same characters in the
people of the two communal groups that I have been involved with for
decades of much of my life: the old style of Quakers generally and
also the meditators of the larger TM movement and Fairfield, Iowa.
Elements of Quietism, Piety, and Inspiration blended.

Quoting from Codman's book:

“The Transcendental philosophy to which Mr. Ripley had become a
convert,
claimed that there was in human nature an intuitive faculty which
clearly discerned spiritual truths, which idea was in
contradistinction
to the beliefs of the day, which declared that spiritual knowledge
came
by special grace, and was proven by the divine miracles; this latter
belief being largely joined to the doctrine of the innate depravity of
man. Mr. Ripley's own words to his church on Purchase Street, declared
that


“There is a class of persons who desire a reform in the prevailing
philosophy of the day. These are called Transcendentalists, because
they believe in an order of truth that transcends the sphere of the
external senses. Their leading idea is the supremacy of mind over
matter. Hence they maintain that the truth of religion does not depend
on tradition nor historical facts, but has an unswerving witness in
the
soul. There is a light, they believe, which enlighteneth every man who
cometh into the world. There is a faculty in all--the most degraded,
the most ignorant, the most obscure--to perceive spiritual truth when
distinctly presented; and the ultimate appeal on all moral questions
is
not to a jury of scholars, a hierarchy of divines or the prescriptions
of a creed, but to the common sense of the human race.

"There is another class of persons who are devoted to the removal of
the abuses that prevail in modern society. They witness the
oppressions
done under the sun and they cannot keep silence. They have faith that
God governs man; they believe in a better future than the past; their
daily prayer is for the coming of the kingdom of righteousness, truth
and love; they look forward to a more pure, more lovely, more divine
state of society than was ever realized on earth. With these views I
rejoice to say I strongly and entirely sympathize."


The prevailing tone of New England life was Calvinistic. Its doctrines
may be said to have entered every household, penetrated every
sanctuary
and influenced all the leaders of society. The new departure was not a
going away from religious thought, but it joined intellect and heart.”

[Doug Hamilton]

More broadly, but characteristic too,

“In truth, the new departure which had begun, soon attracted to itself
the most cultivated persons of the time, some of whom, Sept. 19, 1836,
formed a club that met at one another's houses and discussed all the
important social and religious topics of the day. They were mostly
young people, college-bred, learned, artistic and thoughtful, and of
high ideals in intellectual acquirement, religion and social life.
They
were all agreed that there were many evils to be eradicated from
society; in what way--individualistic, governmental or socialistic, or
by a combination of ways--few were agreed.” Codman, Brook Farm

[Doug Hamilton]

On Feb 17, 2:17 pm, Doug Hamilton <dougham...@gmail.com> wrote:
> More broadly, but characteristic too,
>
> “In truth, the new departure which had begun, soon attracted to itself
> the most cultivated persons of the time, some of whom, Sept. 19, 1836,
> formed a club that met at one another's houses and discussed all the
> important social and religious topics of the day. They were mostly
> young people, college-bred, learned, artistic and thoughtful, and of
> high ideals in intellectual acquirement, religion and social life.
> They
> were all agreed that there were many evils to be eradicated from
> society; in what way--individualistic, governmental or socialistic, or
> by a combination of ways--few were agreed.” Codman, Brook Farm
>

Adding this, I recognize these kind of folks as types from being
around modern vital communal groups in my experience. Often from the
middle of the groups they are propelled by people like these who are a
combination of spiritual, thinking and culturally social.

In reading the journals and biographies this combination seems to have
been there in the formative group around George Fox. Again with
Mother Anne in her time. So it is currently with some of the modern
saints who gather communal people around them. Ammachi, Mother Meera,
Karunamayi for instance and some others. The firmament brings around
a kind of folk. It's not exclusive but in a nature rather inclusive
at a time.

I like this example of Springwater where this combination shows itself
again.

For instance this quote from Faldet again,

"In the matter of high community standards, the most notable Yankee
settlement in Winneshiek County was Springwater, which grew up between
the years of 1852 and 1860, but which had all but disintegrated as a
Yankee settlement by 1870." …
"Springwater was an exceptional community knit together by strong
bonds of Yankee cultural background, Quaker religious practice, an
active intellectual culture that included interest in
transcendentalism, and an active political culture that focused in
particular around the issue of abolition and to a lesser degree,
around the issue of temperance. More than any other Yankee settlement
in the county, Springwater qualifies as strongly community-centered in
its makeup. As resident Edgar Odson would later write, “It was a
pretty good community and died young” (Oodson 250)"

"Plain living (enforced) and high thinking was the order of the day at
the settlement."

"Odson's recollection is a very telling one. His entire reminiscence
suggests that two orders of life bound together the people of
Springwater. The first was the enforced Quaker order of plain living
which could be found among the families of any organized Friends
meeting in the country. The second, more unique, was the elected
order of high-minded discussion: an order elected by the young, and
very much marked by the New England background of Springwater's
residents.


Kindly,
-Doug Hamilton