believed, and after which few have aspired. There is a lofty power
of moral principle in the depths of our nature which is nearly
allied to Omnipotence; compared with which the whole force of
outward nature is more feeble than an infant's grasp. There is a
spiritual insight to which the pure soul reaches, more clear and
prophetic, more wide and vast than all telescopic vision can
typify. There is a faith in God, and a clear perception of His will
and designs, and providence, and glory, which gives to its
possessor a confidence and patience and sweet composure, under
every varied and troubling aspect of events, such as no man can
realize who has not felt its influences in his own heart. There is
a communion with God, in which the soul feels the presence of the
unseen One, in the profound depths of its being, with a vivid
distinctness and a holy reverence such as no word can describe.
There is a state of union with God, I do not say often reached, yet
it has been attained in this world, in which all the past and
present and future seem reconciled, and eternity is won and
enjoyed: and God and man, earth and heaven, with all their
mysteries are apprehended in truth as they lie in the mind of the
Infinite."
The poet chimes in with the prophet. We marked for quotation several
passages from the "Dial," but a few detached stanzas must suffice. C. P.
Cranch opens his lines to the ocean thus:
Tell me, brothers, what are we?
Spirits bathing in the sea of Deity.
Half afloat, and half on land,
Wishing much to leave the strand,
Standing, gazing with devotion,
Yet afraid to trust the ocean,
Such are we.
And thus he closes lines to the Aurora Borealis:
But a better type thou art
Of the strivings of the heart,
Reaching upwards from the earth
To the _Soul_ that gave it birth.
When the noiseless beck of night
Summons out the inner light
That hath hid its purer ray
Through the lapses of the day,--
Then like thee, thou Northern Morn,
Instincts which we deemed unborn
Gushing from their hidden source
Mount upon their heavenward course,
And the spirit seeks to be
Filled with God's eternity.
That a philosophy like this will impel to aspiration need not be said;
aspiration is the soul of it. The Transcendentalist was constantly on
the wing.
"On all hands men's existence is converted into a preparation for
existence. We do not properly live, in these days; but everywhere
with patent inventions and complex arrangements are getting ready
to live. The end is lost in the means, life is smothered in
appliances. We cannot get to ourselves, there are so many external
comforts to wade through. Consciousness stops half way. Reflection
is dissipated in the circumstances of our environment. Goodness is
exhausted in aids to goodness, and all the vigor and health of the
soul is expended in quack contrivances to build it up."... What the
age requires is not books, but example, high, heroic example; not
words but deeds; not societies but men--men who shall have their
root in themselves, and attract and convert the world by the beauty
of their fruits. All truth must be living, before it can be
adequately known or taught. Men are anterior to systems. Great
doctrines are not the origin, but the product of great lives. The
Cynic practice must precede the Stoic philosophy, and out of
Diogenes's tub came forth in the end the wisdom of Epictetus, the
eloquence of Seneca, and the piety of Antonine."...
"The religious man lives for one great object; to perfect himself,
to unite himself by purity with God, to fit himself for heaven by
cherishing within him a heavenly disposition. He has discovered
that he has a soul; that his soul is himself; that he changes not
with the changing things of life, but receives its discipline from
them; that man does not live by bread alone, but that the most real
of all things, inasmuch as they are the most enduring, are the
things which are not seen; that faith and love and virtue are the
sources of his life, and that one realises nothing, except he lay
fast hold on them. He extracts a moral lesson, a lesson of
endurance or of perseverance for himself, or a new evidence of God
and of his own immortal destiny, from every day's hard task."
That last strain came from the man who for many years has been known as
the foremost musical critic of New England, if not of America, John S.
Dwight. Another writes:
"The soul lies buried in a ruined city, struggling to be free and
calling for aid. The worldly trafficker in life's caravan hears its
cries, and says, it is a prisoned maniac. But one true man stops
and with painful toil lifts aside the crumbling fragments; till at
last he finds beneath the choking mass a mangled form of exceeding
beauty. Dazzling is the light to eyes long blind; weak are the
limbs long prisoned; faint is the breath long pent. But oh! that
mantling flush, that liquid eye, that elastic spring of renovated
strength. The deliverer is folded to the breast of an angel."
The duty of self-culture is made primary and is eloquently preached. The
piece from which this extract is taken, entitled "The Art of Life" is
anonymous, but supposed to be from Emerson's pen:
"The work of life, so far as the individual is concerned, and that
to which the scholar is particularly called, is _Self-Culture_,
the perfect unfolding of our individual nature. To this end above
all others, the art of which I speak directs our attention and
points our endeavor. There is no man, it is presumed, to whom this
object is wholly indifferent, who would not willingly possess this
too, along with other prizes, provided the attainment of it were
compatible with personal ease and worldly good. But the business of
self-culture admits of no compromise. Either it must be made a
distinct aim or wholly abandoned."
But it is time wasted to speak on this point. It has been objected to
Transcendentalism that it made self-culture too important, carrying it
to the point of selfishness, sacrificing in its behalf, sympathy,
brotherly love, sentiments of patriotism, personal fidelity and honor,
and rejoicing in the production of a "mountainous Me" fed at the expense
of life's sweetest humanities; and Goethe is straightway cited as the
Transcendental apostle of the gospel of heartless indifference. But
allowing the charge against Goethe to rest unrefuted, it must be made
against him as a man, not as a Transcendentalist; and even were it true
of him as a Transcendentalist, it was not true of Kant or Fichte, of
Schleiermacher or Herder; of Jean Paul or Novalis; of Coleridge, Carlyle
or Wordsworth; and who ever intimated that it was true of Emerson, who
has been one of the most industrious teachers of his generation, and one
of the most earnest worshippers of the genius of his native land;--of
Margaret Fuller, whose life was a quickening flood of intellectual
influence;--of Bronson Alcott, who, every winter for years, has carried
his seed corn to the far West, seeking only a receptive furrow for his
treasured being;--of Theodore Parker, who sacrificed precious days of
study, his soul's passion for knowledge, his honorable ambition to
achieve a scholar's fame, in order that his country, in her time of
trial, might not want what he was able to give;--of Wm. Henry Channing,
to whom the thought of humanity is an inspiration, and "sacrifice an all
sufficing joy;"--of George Ripley, who offered himself, all that he had
and was, that the experiment of an honest friendly society might be
fairly tried? By "self-culture" these and the rest of their brotherhood
meant the culture of that nobler self which includes heart, and
conscience, sympathy and spirituality, not as incidental ingredients,
but as essential qualities. Self-hood they never identified with
selfishness; nor did they ever confound or associate its attainment with
the acquisition of place, power, wealth, or eminent repute; the person
was more to them than the individual; they sought no reward except for
service; and the consciousness of serving faithfully was their best
reward.
To Transcendentalism belongs the credit of inaugurating the theory and
practice of dietetics which is preached so assiduously now by
enlightened physiologists. The people who regarded man as a soul, first
taught the wisdom that is now inculcated by people who regard man as a
body. The doctrine that human beings live on air and light; that food
should be simple and nutritious; that coarse meats should be discarded
and fiery liquors abolished; that wines should be substituted for
"spirits," light wines for heavy, and pure water for wines;--has in all
ages been taught by mystics and idealists. The ancient master of it was
Pythagoras. Their idea was, that as the body was, for the time being,
the dwelling-place of the soul, its lodging and home, its prison or its
palace, its organ, its instrument, its box of tools, the medium of its
activity, it must be kept in perfect condition for these high offices.
They honored the flesh in the nobility of their care of it. No sour
ascetics they, but generous feeders on essences and elixirs; no
mortifiers of matter, but purifiers and refiners of it; regarding it as
too exquisitely mingled and tempered a substance to be tortured and
imbruted. The materialist prescribes temperance, continence, sobriety,
in order that life may be long, and comfortable, and free from disease.
The idealist prescribes them, in order that life may be intellectual,
serene, pacific, beneficent.
The chief mystic of the transcendental band has been the chief prophet
of this innocent word. "The New Ideas," wrote Mr. Alcott, "bear direct
on all the economies of life. They will revise old methods, and
institute new cultures. I look with special hope to their effect on the
regimen of the land. Our present modes of agriculture exhaust the soil,
and must, while life is made thus sensual and secular; the narrow
covetousness which prevails in trade, in labor, in exchanges, ends in
depraving the land; it breeds disease, decline, in the flesh,--debauches
and consumes the heart." "The Soul's Banquet is an art divine. To mould
this statue of flesh from chaste materials, kneading it into comeliness
and strength, this is Promethean; and this we practise, well or ill, in
all our thoughts, acts, desires. I would abstain from the fruits of
oppression and blood, and am seeking means of entire independence. This,
were I not holden by penury unjustly, would be possible. One miracle we
have wrought nevertheless, and shall soon work all of them;--our wine is
water,--flesh, bread;--drugs, fruits;--and we defy, meekly, the satyrs
all, and Esculapius."
"It was the doctrine of the Samian Sage, that whatsoever food obstructs
divination, is prejudicial to purity and chastity of mind and body, to
temperance, health, sweetness of disposition, suavity of manners, grace
of form and dignity of carriage, should be shunned. Especially should
those who would apprehend the deepest wisdom, and preserve through life
the relish for elegant studies and pursuits, abstain from flesh,
cherishing the justice which animals claim at men's hands, nor
slaughtering them for food or profit." "A purer civilization than ours
can yet claim to be, is to inspire the genius of mankind with the skill
to deal dutifully with soils and souls, exalt agriculture and manculture
into a religion of art; the freer interchange of commodities which the
current world-wide intercourse promotes, spreads a more various,
wholesome, classic table, whereby the race shall be refined of traits
reminding too plainly of barbarism and the beast." Said Timotheus of
Plato, "they who dine with the philosopher have nothing to complain of
the next morning." That the doctrine has its warm, glowing side,
appears in a characteristic poem in the little volume called "Tablets."
The anchorite's plea was not always as good as his practice. Arguing the
point once with a sagacious man of the world, he urged as a reason for
abstinence from animal food that one thereby distanced the animal. For
the eating of beef encouraged the bovine quality, and the pork diet
repeats the trick of Circe, and changes men into swine. But, rejoined
the friend, if abstinence from animal food leaves the animal out, does
not partaking of vegetable food put the vegetable in? I presume the
potato diet will change man into a potato. And what if the potatoes be
small! The philosopher's reply is not recorded. But in his case the
beast did disappear, and the leek has never become prominent. In his
case health, strength, agility, sprightliness, cheerfulness, have been
wholly compatible with disuse of animal food. Few men have preserved the
best uses of body and mind so long unimpaired. Few have lost so few
days; have misused so few; are able to give a good account of so many.
The vegetarian of seventy-six shames many a cannibal of forty.
The Transcendentalist was by nature a reformer. He could not be
satisfied with men as they were. His doctrine of the capacities of men,
even in its most moderate statement, kindled to enthusiasm his hope of
change. However his disgust may have kept him aloof for a time, his
sympathy soon brought him back, and his faith sent him to the front of
the battle. In beginning his lecture on "Man The Reformer," Mr. Emerson
does not dissemble his hope that each person whom he addresses has
"felt his own call to cast aside all evil customs, timidities and
limitations, and to be in his place a free and helpful man, a reformer,
a benefactor, not content to slip through the world like a footman or a
spy, escaping by his nimbleness and apologies as many knocks as he can,
but a brave and upright man, who must find or cut a straight path to
everything excellent in the earth, and not only go honorably himself,
but make it easier for all who follow him, to go in honor and with
benefit." "The power," he declares, "which is at once spring and
regulator in all efforts of reform, is the conviction that there is an
infinite worthiness in man, which will appear at the call of worth, and
that all particular reforms are the removing of some impediment. Is it
not the highest duty that man should be honored in us?" "In the history
of the world" the same great teacher remarks, "the doctrine of Reform
had never such scope as at the present hour. Lutherans, Herrnhuetters,
Jesuits, Monks, Quakers, Knox, Wesley, Swedenborg, Bentham, in their
accusations of society, all respected something,--church or state,
literature or history, domestic usages, the market town, the dinner
table, coined money. But now all these and all things else hear the
trumpet and must rush to judgment,--Christianity, the laws, commerce,
schools, the farm, the laboratory: and not a kingdom, town, statute,
rite, calling, man, or woman but is threatened by the new spirit." "Let
me feel that I am to be a lover. I am to see to it that the world is the
better for me, and to find my reward in the act. Love would put a new
face on this weary old world in which we dwell as pagans and enemies too
long, and it would warm the heart to see how fast the vain diplomacy of
statesmen, the impotence of armies, and navies, and lines of defence,
would be superseded by this unarmed child."
The method of reform followed from the principle. It was the method of
individual awakening and regeneration, and was to be conducted "through
the simplest ministries of family, neighborhood, fraternity, quite wide
of associations and institutions." "The true reformer," it was
proclaimed, "initiates his labor in the precincts of private life, and
makes it, not a set of measures, not an utterance, not a pledge merely,
but a life; and not an impulse of a day, but commensurate with human
existence: a tendency towards perfection of being." The
Transcendentalist might easily become an enthusiast from excess of
faith; but a fanatic, with a tinge of melancholy in his disposition, a
drop of malignity in his blood, he could not be. He was less a reformer
of human circumstance than a regenerator of the human spirit, and he was
never a destroyer except as destruction accompanied the process of
regeneration.
This fine positive purpose appeared in all he undertook. With movements
that did not start from this primary assumption of individual dignity,
and come back to that as their goal, he had nothing to do. Was he an
anti-slavery man--and he was certain to be one at heart--the
Transcendentalists were glowing friends of that reform,--he was so
because his philosophy compelled him to see in the slave the same
humanity that appeared in the master; in the African the same
possibilities that were confessed in the Frank, the Anglo-Saxon, and the
Celt. Did he take up the cause of education, it was as a believer in the
latent capacity of every child, boy or girl; as an earnest wisher that
such capacity might be stimulated by the best methods, and directed to
the best ends. What he effected, or tried to effect in this way will be
understood by the reader of the record of Mr. Alcott's school; that bold
and original attempt at educating, leading or drawing out young minds,
which showed such remarkable promise, and would have achieved such
remarkable results had more faithful trial of its method been possible.
Was he a reformer of society, it was as a vitalizer, not as a machinist.
In no respect does the Transcendentalist's idea of social reform stand
out more conspicuously than in this. With an incessant and passionate
aspiration after a pure social state,--deeply convinced of the mistakes,
profoundly sensible of the miseries of the actual condition, he would
not be committed to experiments that did not assume his first
principle--the supreme dignity of the individual man. The systems of
French socialism he distrusted from the first; for they proceeded on the
ground that man is not a self determined being, but a creature of
circumstance. Mr. Albert Brisbane's attempt to domesticate Fourierism
among us was cordially considered, but not cordially welcomed. He seemed
to have no spiritual depth of foundation; his proposition to imprison
man in a Phalanx, was rejected; his omission of moral freedom in the
scheme was resented; no sincerity, no keenness of criticism, no exposure
of existing evils or indignation of protest against them, disarmed the
jealousy of endeavors to reconstruct society, as if human beings were
piles of brick or lumps of mortar.
In 1841 a community was planned in Massachusetts, by Liberal Christians
of the Universalist sect. Though never put in operation it did not
escape the criticism of the "Dial." The good points were recognized and
commended; the moral features were praised as showing a deep insight
into the Christian idea, and the articles of confederation were
pronounced admirable in judgment and form, with a single exception,
which however was fatal. Admittance of members was conditioned on
pledges of non-resistance, abolition, temperance, abstinence from
voting, and such like. Though these conditions were easy enough in
themselves, and were expressed in the most conciliatory spirit, they
were justly regarded as giving to the community the character of a
church or party, much less than world embracing. "A true community," it
was declared, "can be founded on nothing short of faith in the universal
man, as he comes out of the hands of the Creator, with no law over his
liberty but the eternal ideas that lie at the foundation of his being."
"The final cause of human society is the unfolding of the individual
man, into every form of perfection, without let or hindrance, according
to the inward nature of each."
When the Brook Farm experiment was under way at West Roxbury, its
initiators were warned against three dangers: the first, _Organization_,
which begins by being an instrument and ends by being a master; the
second, _Endowment_, which promises to be a swift helper, and is, ere
long, a stifling encumbrance; the third, the spirit of _Coterie_, which
would in no long time, shrink their rock of ages to a platform, diminish
their brotherhood to a clique, and reduce their aims to experiences.
Brook Farm, whereof it is not probable that a history will ever be
written, for the reason that there were in it slender materials for
history,--though there were abundant materials for thought,--was
projected on the purest transcendental basis. It was neither European
nor English, neither French nor German in its origin. No doubt, among
the supporters and friends of it were some who had made themselves
acquainted with the writings of St. Simon and Chevalier, of Proudhon and
Fourier; but it does not appear that any of these authors shaped or
prescribed the plan, or influenced the spirit of the enterprise. The
Constitution which is printed herewith explains sufficiently the
project, and expresses the spirit in which it was undertaken. The
jealous regard for the rights of the individual is not the least
characteristic feature of this remarkable document. The By-Laws, which
want of space excludes from these pages, simply confirm the provisions
that were made to guard the person against unnecessary infringement of
independence.
CONSTITUTION.
In order more effectually to promote the great purposes of human
culture; to establish the external relations of life on a basis of
wisdom and purity; to apply the principles of justice and love to
our social organization in accordance with the laws of Divine
Providence; to substitute a system of brotherly cooperation for one
of selfish competition; to secure to our children and those who may
be entrusted to our care, the benefits of the highest physical,
intellectual and moral education, which in the progress of
knowledge the resources at our command will permit; to institute an
attractive, efficient, and productive system of industry; to
prevent the exercise of worldly anxiety, by the competent supply of
our necessary wants; to diminish the desire of excessive
accumulation, by making the acquisition of individual property
subservient to upright and disinterested uses; to guarantee to each
other forever the means of physical support, and of spiritual
progress; and thus to impart a greater freedom, simplicity,
truthfulness, refinement, and moral dignity, to our mode of
life;--we the undersigned do unite in a voluntary Association, and
adopt and ordain the following articles of agreement, to wit:
ARTICLE I.
NAME AND MEMBERSHIP.
SEC. 1. The name of this Association shall be "THE BROOK-FARM
ASSOCIATION FOR INDUSTRY AND EDUCATION." All persons who shall hold
one or more shares in its stock, or whose labor and skill shall be
considered an equivalent for capital, may be admitted by the vote
of two-thirds of the Association, as members thereof.
SEC. 2. No member of the Association shall ever be subjected to any
religious test; nor shall any authority be assumed over individual
freedom of opinion by the Association, nor by one member over
another; nor shall any one be held accountable to the Association,
except for such overt acts, or omissions of duty, as violate the
principles of justice, purity, and love, on which it is founded;
and in such cases the relation of any member may be suspended or
discontinued, at the pleasure of the Association.
ARTICLE II.
CAPITAL STOCK.
SEC. 1. The members of this Association shall own and manage such
real and personal estate in joint stock proprietorship, divided
into shares of one hundred dollars each, as may from time to time
be agreed on.
SEC. 2. No shareholder shall be liable to any assessment whatever
on the shares held by him; nor shall he be held responsible
individually in his private property on account of the Association;
nor shall the Trustees, or any officer or agent of the Association,
have any authority to do any thing which shall impose personal
responsibility on any shareholder, by making any contracts or
incurring any debts for which the shareholders shall be
individually or personally responsible.
SEC. 3. The Association guarantees to each shareholder the interest
of five per cent. annually on the amount of stock held by him in
the Association, and this interest may be paid in certificates of
stock and credited on the books of the Association; provided that
each shareholder may draw on the funds of the Association for the
amount of interest due at the third annual settlement from the time
of investment.
SEC. 4. The shareholders on their part, for themselves, their heirs
and assigns, do renounce all claim on any profits accruing to the
Association for the use of their capital invested in the stock of
the Association, except five per cent. interest on the amount of
stock held by them, payable in the manner described in the
preceding section.
ARTICLE III.
GUARANTIES.