065 - America's New Thought Movement and Hegel

America went through a profound spiritual awakening in the 19th century, most commonly referred to as "New Thought."  Many leaders at this time credited Hegel  for laying the groundwork.  This episode explores several of the early developments in America, but such movements have also occurred across the globe at different times in various cultures. 

And there are many themes of this movement that echo Hegel, including:
 - There exists Infinite Intelligence, or the Absolute Idea as Hegel calls it, 
 - There is divinity or Spirit within each person, 
 - Mind and Nature are linked in Spirit,
 - Aligning your thoughts with Spirit is beneficial to oneself and the world,
 - Progress of Spirit in the world is historical. 

This New Thought movement continues today in various forms and incarnations the world over, and it has never been stronger.  And Hegel was one of its earliest pioneers.  But there is still much work to do.  This episode explores. 

Transcript

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Hello, this is Gregory Nowak. This was the cunning of Geist episode 65. Welcome back. The purpose of this podcast is to explore current trends in philosophy science and psychology. With an emphasis on the great 19th century philosopher, George Wilhem Friedrich Hagle. The goal of this podcast is to awaken in some, in stir in others that giant within, and that giant being mind and spirit. And what I also want to do is provide a forum here or refuge a port in the storm for like-minded individuals. In this materialistic left-brain world, we currently inhabit. First. Let me wish everyone a very happy new year. I'm looking forward so much to continuing the podcast in 2023. And as many of you know, we started this back in. Uh, June of 2020 during the early days of the pandemic. And over this time over two and a half years, we've developed a loyal base of listeners. So I want to thank all of you. for getting the cunning of Geist into the top 25% of all podcasts in terms of downloads. And I'd like to mention something else. I realized that I've cut back a bit on the frequency of each episode. I used to produce them once every two weeks. You could count on that, but for the last several months or so, the frequency has been reduced to once every three weeks and even sometimes once every four weeks. And part of this reason is my own schedule, but a big reason also is that I wait for inspiration for a topic before proceeding. You know, we've covered so much here in the last two and a half years. This being our 65th episode. I really don't want to repeat myself. However I do believe that there will be an abundance of topics to still cover. And I very much appreciate your continued support of the podcast. And also please let me know suggestions for future episodes. Tell me what's on your mind. Now in this episode, I'm going to focus on the spiritual movement that occurred in the United States, beginning in the early 19th century and carried through the 20th century. And continues today and it's commonly called the new thought movement. And importantly, I will be showing how our favorite philosopher Hagle provided an important foundation for these various movements. Several of the new thought proponents in America cited him directly. However, the key point is that he laid the groundwork for a new type of thinking that provided fertile ground for such movements, not only in America, but across the globe. And an important point here is we shall see is that the new thought movement in America was, and still remains widely dispersed without a central organization or dogma. There is not one true new thought church. However, there are certain key themes that tie that disparate groups and individuals of the new thought movement together. And let me cover them. First that there is that there exists infinite intelligence. Second that there is divinity or spirit within each person. Third, that. There's a focus on we versus me mentality. Next that the world out there is linked to mind. And finally that there's an historical process of spirit unfolding that we are part of. As you can see these points all relate to Hegel's project. Okay. So let's get into it. First, I want to speak to a part of America that I grew up in, and that is Western New York state. And how this part of the, of the new country, the United States of America played a significant role in the new thought movement in America. I lived my first 10 years in Western New York and Buffalo, New York then moved 60 miles east to Rochester, New York. And was there through high school. As a quick aside, many think of New York state is only New York city. And what the rest of the state, they just consider upstate New York. And you rarely hear the term Western New York where I'm from. But New York state is not configured that way. North of New York city, there's the Hudson valley region. And then the Catskill mountains, which extend up to Albany, the state's Capitol north of Albany, there's the Adirondack mountain range. And that extends all the way up to the Canadian border. And just north of the border is Montreal and Quebec, Canada. Now, this is rightly called upstate New York. And interestingly. This north south upstate stretch from New York city up the Hudson up lake Champlain to Canada is often called by historians. The great warpath because of the many decisive battles fought along this route, including the French and Indian war, which was a part of the seven years of war between Britain and France. And four Ticonderoga sits strategically on lake Champlain and was captured by both sides during that conflict. And then there's the American revolutionary war and the turning point. And the turning point battle in the American revolution was fought at the battle of Saratoga along this warpath, just north of Albany. So both the British and the revolutionaries knew that controlling this stretch of territory is vital to success because it would cut off new England and New York from the rest of the country. But New York is much, much more than just this north, south. Corridor. You go up about halfway the warpath to Albany. And New York state also extends west from Albany to Buffalo, some 300 miles. And it's a very large landmass. You can see it on a map. Included in Western New York or the major cities of Schenectady Ethica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo. Now a bit of history. The Erie canal was completed during this period of the early 19th century from Albany in the east of Buffalo in the west. And this eerie canal contributed massively to the expansion of New York city. As goods from New York and now be transported up the Hudson river to Albany, then west to Buffalo on the canal. And Buffalo was on lake Erie, which is part of the great lakes, which connected New York city by water to the landmass all the way to Chicago. Which is also on a great leg. And then from Chicago, you could take the Illinois river to the Mississippi river. So this allowed. For the effective movements of good to the expanding country, westward. Now, why do I bring all this up? Well, this area, Western New York state played a vital role in the emerging new thought movement in America. And this area was even given the nickname of the burned over district because of the extreme religious fervor in social reform that grip the area in the early 18 hundreds. The term burned over district was popularized because the whole area seemed to be set on fire was spiritual change. Now many scholars believe that the activities and rebirth of spiritual beliefs that occurred in this burned over part of New York state. At a deep and lasting impact on the nation as a whole. Let me give a rundown and just went on back then. For starters, one of the largest Christian sex in the world. Began there at the time. Mormonism. Today it ranks as the fourth largest Christian sector in the United States. It began when Joseph Smith. And his family moved to Western New York from Vermont when Smith was just 12 years old. At age 15, he began having visions and claimed to have been visited by two specific angels. Whom he later identified as God, the father and Jesus Christ. A few years later, he claimed an angel appeared to him and described some golden plates buried in a hill near his home. The angel finally instructed him to remove the plates and translate them. These texts later became the book of Mormon. The book describes an early indigenous peoples of America and the Jesus had appeared to them as well, shortly after his resurrection in Israel. Now many Mormons believe this book to be historical fact. Well, this considered to be holy, the product of Smith's on hand. As he was influenced heavily by the religious. Fever that was gripping the burned over region at the time. So that's the Mormon is perhaps the best known of the movements that started in that area, but there were many lesser known influential groups as well. such as the millwrights, a sect that became very popular in this area in the 19th century. And the Miller aids grew into the seven day Adventist sect. They are a Christian Protestant group. And they are distinguished by keeping the Sabbath on Saturday as do Jews and by their belief in the imminent second coming of Jesus. And then there were the Fox sisters from my hometown of Rochester. Who in the early 18 hundreds professed to be able to communicate with the dead via table rapping. And they gave demonstrations of this to hundreds of people. And they are often credited with starting the spiritualism movement in the U S. Now the shakers. Originally came from England. And they came to America for religious freedom, but they settled in the burned over district. There were known for their egalitarian approach, females and males could assume leadership in their church. And for their past Sufism. There was also the Oneida society, which is one of the first of the many utopian communities in the us practicing communalism joint ownership of property and community or group marriage, which is a marriage of more than two people. They settled in this area in the mid 1850s. The burned over district of Western New York was also a hotbed of social reform. Many abolitionist movement started there with a goal to end slavery in the U S Frederick Douglas, a leading abolitionist lived and worked in Rochester for some 25 years and is buried there. And notably the first female feminist pioneers. Came from this district. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony essentially started the women's rights movement in the U S Stanton was from Jamestown, New York and the district and Susan B. Anthony was based out of Rochester. And when she was growing. So that's a summary of the burned over district where I grew up. And, you know, perhaps there was something in the air or the water there. I don't know. Maybe that got me thinking more about spiritual and philosophical ideas who knows. But let's get back to new thought. The origins of the new thought movement in the U S however, we're not confined to the burned over district of Western New York. Many point to a new Englander Phineas Quimby as the first true new thought practitioner in the us. Quimby was born in 1802 in the state of New Hampshire and moved to the state of Maine is a baby. Both New Hampshire and Maine are part of the new England states in the Northeast corner of America. And it was one of the first areas, European settlers populated, you know, Plymouth, rock, the pilgrims, the Mayflower, and all that. So it all began when Quimbee attended a lecture on Mesmer ism in 1836. Mesmerism later morphed into what is today known as hypnotism. And, Mesmer's name has remained to this day. And the term mesmerized, but more on mesmerism in a moment. Quimbee then became intrigued with what Mesmer ism. Suggested about the human mind. And the mind's ability to help the body. He began experimenting with it himself. And he soon encountered a youth who was easily hypnotized. And. He went on a tour with his young fellow and showing the results of, of hypnotism. Of mannerism and it was used primarily for healing at this point, healing through hypnotism or mesmerism. And one of Quimby's patients was Mary Baker, Eddy, who was the one on to found Christian science as well as the Christian science monitor, which is a very well-respected newspaper that survives to this day. Now a bit on Mary Baker, Eddy. She was born in New Hampshire in 1821 and had a very sickly childhood or troubles were exacerbated by an abusive father and her ill health continued well into middle-age. Her husband had heard of Phineas Quimby and his healings. And he wrote to him to see if he could help his ailing wife. So Mary Baker, Eddy ended up receiving treatments from Quimbee and was relieved at least temporarily ever symptoms. The key difference here. Was any put a religious significance, enter temporary cure. And this was different than Quimby who thought it had more to do with physical energy flow in the body? Thus begin years long discussion between the two, between Quimbee and Eddie about what was really occurring here. And these discussions continued until Quimby's death in 1866. Shortly after that a very significant event occurred resulting in the birth of Christian science. Mary Baker, Eddy slipped on an ice patch while walking and suffered a severe spinal injury. She prayed hard and claimed miraculously to be healed through spirit. She got up out of her bed and was in perfect health. She believed her return to health. It was the same result of spirit that Jesus used in his healings. And as they say, the rest is history, she went on to form the church of Christ scientists, better known as Christian science. It has also been reported that Mary Baker Eddy was influenced by Eastern religions at the time, particularly the Donta philosophy of India, which is a leading philosophy of non-dualism. Christian science is best. Known for believing in healing, through faith and not traditional medicine. Members are not required to avoid medical care, but believe faith is the most effective cure when not combined with medicine. And now there have been many cases of this going to court of parents who did not seek established medical help for the children who were ill or dying. And the judgments in the courts have been mixed. There have been both acquittals and convictions, so it's somewhat unclear just what the, the law has to do with. not, not seeking medical care for your children. Although Mary Baker, Eddy coder, new religion, Christian. They're clear differences between Christian science and traditional Christianity, Christian science treats disease as a mental air rather than a physical ailment. And at the six should be treated not by medicine, but by a form of prayer, which can remove those beliefs responsible for the illusion of ill health. It is interesting that the more modern new age tome, a course of miracles. Picks up on many of these same themes. And we discussed a course in miracles, as well as the Veda, the Donta in episode 23 of the cutting of Geist. As I said earlier, New thought in America is not one religion. It has many different lines of thought, but one thing they all have in common is the power of mind. So Quimby's interest in mesmerist and got the ball rolling for new thought in America. But where did mesmerism come from? Came from Europe. And interestingly, it also has a direct connection to Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychotherapy. As background Franz Mesmer was a German doctor who in the late 18th century began experiments with what he called animal magnetism. He believed that illness was possibly the result of obstructions of these flows. He would sit in front of his patients and move his hands around them and trying to unblock the energy flows. And his theory and his practice got a lot of attention. Although it was largely discredited at the time. Many doctors remained interested in it because of its purported cure rate. And one devoting of Mesmer. took it a step further and said that animal magnetism was not involved, but the results were achieved by mind alone. When only need to get the mind properly focused to do the healing. But it was the Scottish surgeon, James braid, who picked up on this line of thought in the early 19th century. And he had attended some mesmerizing healing sessions and notice the effects and he liked. A Faria firmly believed it was not due to magnetism, but it was due to the subject operator interaction in the mind itself. Braid conducted many experiments and coined the term hypnotism to describe their process. Hypnotism. As we know it today was born. Braids therapeutic work was then picked up by one John Martin. Sharko a French neurologist, often considered the father of neurology. And it was Sigmund Freud who spent four months working with Sharko in a pair of hospital. And it was during that time, during that four month stretch, that Freud switched gears, so to speak and decided to concentrate his work. His life's work on his Steria hypnosis and the psychological unconscious. And as they say, the rest is history. But let's move back. Across the pond to America. Now onto another new thought leader in America, Ralph Waldo, Emerson. Emerson led the new thought transcendental movement in America in the late 19th century, he was a writer and a philosopher who had great influence during his time. He also studied Hagle and his writing maintains a strong correspondence to her. Galean thought. It was a big proponent of individual freedom and believe the universe to be composed of both nature and soul. And the guy was not separate from the world, but within. Emerson was considered the leading intellectual in America in the latter half of the 19th century, before the advent of the pragmatist philosophy movement of Dewey Pearson, James. Jeff Carrera and an essay entitled Emerson's dialectic idealism describes Emerson's relationship to Hagle and provides an interesting quote. Directly from Emerson. Let me read it. Cool. Hey, Google, like Emerson saw all of reality is emerging from some form of universal mind. Hey go called this mind. The absolute, both Emerson and Hagle saw that human culture develops over time. And both saw this development is emanating from a universal source of intelligence. The distinctly regalian tone and Emerson can be heard clearly in this passage from his essay entitled history from the first series of his essays, sub quote. There was one mind common to all individual men. Of the works of this mind, history is the record. Man is explicable by nothing less than all his history, all the facts of history, preexist, his laws, each law and turn is made by circumstances. Predominant. The creation of a thousand forests is. But one acorn and Egypt, Greece, Rome, Gaul, Britain, America, life folded already in the first man. Epic after epic camp kingdom, empire Republic democracy are merely the application of this manifold spirit to the manifold world and quote. By the way I highly recommend reading the full text of Emerson's history essay from which the court had just read, comes from. Now speaking of American pragmatism. William James and the varieties of religious experience. Describe new thought as follows quote. There are various sex of this new thought. Do you use another of the names by which it calls itself? But their agreements are so profound. That their differences may be neglected for my present purpose. And I will treat the movement without apology as if it were a simple thing. It is an optimistic scheme of life with both a speculative and a practical side. And it's gradual development. During the last quarter of a century, it has taken up into itself, a number of contributory elements. And I must now be reckoned with as a genuine religious power. One of the doctoral sources is the four gospels and others Emersonian aneurysm or new England transcendentalism. Another is Berkeley and idealism another spiritism with his messages of law and progress and development. Another is the optimistic, popular science evolutionism of which I have recently spoken. And finally Hinduism has contributed to the strain, but the most characteristic feature of the movement is an inspiration, much more direct. The leaders in this faith have had an intuitive belief in the all saving power of healthy minded attitudes is such and the conquering efficacy of courage, hope and trust, and a correlative contempt for doubt, fear, worry, and all nervously precautionary states of mind, their belief has in a general way been corroborated by the practical experience of their disciples and this experience forms today. Uh, mass imposing in amount and quote. That was a great summary by James. Another devoted new thought had Gaylene was Wallace Wattles and we discussed him in detail back in episode 41. Betterment, how Hegel's true. Infinity provides a rational basis for achievement. Born in 1860 waddles book, the science of getting rich, which was published in 1910, mentions Hagle and Emerson, specifically as his source of inspiration. And it was this book that was the inspiration for the hit film and mega bestseller. The secret by Rhonda Byrne published in 2006. And of course this success mindset would be used by Napoleon hill in his great work think and grow rich. Published in 1937 So today. Tony Robbins has picked it up and is carrying the torch. So the new thought survived and grew into the 20th century. And the 19 hundreds, there were so many more people in movements I can mention, but as beyond the scope of this episode, And of course there are many other movements that occurred in America in the 20th century related to new thoughts that I've not discussed here, including theosophy Rosa Crucian, ism, spiritualism, contacting the dead belief in his hidden masters reincarnation, the Akashic records, and so on. But suffice it to say today, alternative healing is widely accepted as is much of new age thinking it is everywhere you look. Now, let me address something regarding countries other than America. What I've been describing in this episode is something that occurred in spiritual awakening of a relatively young country. And that is not to say. However, the Europe, Africa, the middle and far east did not have their own spiritual breakthroughs at different times in their own histories. I could do a similar analysis for almost any other culture, but I wonder to focus on the new thought movement early in America's history, particularly because it resonates so much with Hegel's philosophy. So let me review some key correspondences. First is new thoughts, belief in infinite intelligence. This is Hegel's absolute idea. It's what he arrived at at the end of his science of logic. Secondly, there is the belief that spirit is the ultimate reality and spirit as we've discussed here so often is the absolute idea coming to know itself in nature. And is the ultimate reality, according to Hale. Third is that human selfhood is divine. And of course hago Todd, that spirit is manifested by us, through us human beings. Not by some outside force. Fourth, that spirit is a force for good and aligning. Your thoughts with spirit is beneficial to oneself and the world. And we know that handles true. Infinity is about betterment here and now. And finally fifth. That the awareness and practice of these themes is evolutionary. And we know that a key tenant of a Gaylene ism is the belief that the progress of spirit in the world is historical. So to summarize. We have seen how this new country of America provided fertile ground for a rebirth of spiritual thinking and awareness because the country was not tied down to any preexisting dogmatic, religion. It was free to find spirit within it. A key attraction of America was freedom of religion. And this is what occurred in the early 19th century in the us. Particularly in the burned over region of where I grew up Western New York. Well, That's a wrap for this episode. Thanks so much for joining me once again, please follow the podcast. Facebook page at cunning of guys where I'll post references for this episode soon. And I do periodically post comments on episodes and other things of interest as well. So please follow that page. That's at cunning of Geist. It's a. The podcast, Facebook page. You can also follow me on Twitter. At cunning of Geist as well. I do post there occasionally. And also importantly, please tell your like-minded friends about this podcast and share posts that you find meaningful. I would appreciate it. Let's keep spirit alive and growing. Thanks again for listening. This is Gregory Nowak. This is the cunning of Geist. See you next time.