Welcoming billin dinges. [applause] doctor dinges ok, thank you. Good evening, everyone. , anddelighted to be here im delighted you are here on muggy, welcome, to washington, d. C. In august evening. I am going to start this with this image. Up anoriginally conjured image of rough water everson. Ralph waldo emerson. I doctored it with long hair and beads and a headband. I looked at it a while and came to the conclusion this would probably verge on sacrilege. Thisad, i am starting with particular image in the title. Woodstock, pond to the transcendental and roots transcendentalist roots of the 1960s counterculture. I am going to share with you some thoughts this evening and some ideas about a mid19th century american religious, philosophical, and Literary Movement known as transcendentalism. And, its connections with socially,ture that culturally, politically generation gap. The age of aquarius, make love, not war, times they are a changing. Turn on, tune, in, drop out. Sex, drugs, rock n roll. Diane nishi and flowerpot ysian flower power era known as the 1960s. What i would like to do is first, give you a working definition of what i mean by transcendentalism. Then, a definition of what i mean by the counterculture. And then, i want to talk briefly about some of the general affinities and differences between these two movements. And specifically, i want to length,t at greater four particular issues that i believe most directly linked transcendentalism to the 1960s counterculture. Matters havinge, to do with individualism, the interest in Eastern Religions, new forms of humanitarianism, and various views and attitudes towards nature. These are the main points i want to stress in terms of how these two eras in time link up so to speak. From walden pond to woodstock, the transcendentalist roots, is a rather large one, of course for an evening lecture. Know it you to just want you to know that i am hyper conscious of the hazards of caricature and oversimplification. Least try to avoid or at temper these dangers. See you i cannot distinct leave because of the lights. Asuspect there is enough of like me demographic here that youre going to know whether i am lying or not about the 1960s. [laughter] noter dinges also want to by way of introduction, i am not arguing or asserting this evening that there is any kind of a direct causal relationship between walden pond and woodstock. Henry david throw or rough water thoreau, oravid Ralph Waldo Emerson were not immediately progenitors of jimi hendrix. Gape is a nearly 100 year between the heyday of transcendentalism and the rise of the 1960s counterculture. Obviously, a lot happened in between. It is also important that we see in the these phenomenon context of their own historical uniqueness however they may be connected to one another. What i would like to do instead is to point and just kind of rephrase the title of this talk. Toent to point to i want point to certain ideas, certain cultural impulses and orientations that were part of 19th century transcendentalism and suggest hello these dynamics suggest how these dynamics showed up again and showed certain affinities with the counterculture of the 1960s. Perhaps a different way to frame the talk, and i will come back to this later, is to ask not so much where the roots of the counterculture lay in relationship to transcendentalism, but rather, why similar ideas were cultural impulses or social trends why did they assert themselves in these two very different historical moments . What circumstances of the tumultuous 1960s facilitated the rise of themes and interests that can also be found in the mid1800s . We could say the transcendentalist showed an obvious interest in eastern religion as elements of the counterculture also showed 100 years later, an obvious interest in eastern religion. What produced these affinities . Why was it in these different hester context that these these different historical contexts that these arose . I also note that both the Transcendentalist Movement and the counterculture these are well plowed academic terrains. Both of these phenomenons phenomena part part of the lexicon cultural narrative. Both have been the focus of mountains of scholarly commentary, analysis, and so forth along with numerous biographies of leading movers and shakers from each of these eras. Were you given a one page handout . That is just an obviously a starter bibliography. If you want to read moreover no more, there is lots to read and lots to know. On the backside of that, just kind of an outline of how i am going to proceed. With wait a minute. Pardon me. I am using a new clicker for the first time. Probably worth noting at the beginning that while some of the ideas and aspects of transcendentalism or transcendentalist thought remains subject to critical commentary today, for example, you can still find arguments s thought or transcendentalist thought is fuzzy and not particularly coherent. Emerson has also been charged with not doing well in terms of thinking about evil and suffering in the world and so forth in terms of how he processed that with those kinds of things with his thought. There were a considerable number of people in his own day who needed a lot more than his somewhat you theory a sense of 1 somewhat ethereal sense of wonder. They needed concrete help. Sometimes, emerson has taken a little bit of flak over those kinds of issues. Thater, it strikes me there is far more negative commentary associated with the meaning and significance of the 1960s in general and the counterculture in particular. Decade still operates as something of a cultural punching bag that evokes disdain and occasionally, outright hostility. Particularly from individuals who are convinced or have convinced themselves that virtually every form of contemporary american social, cultural, economic, political, or spiritual pathology today somehow or other has its roots in the turmoil and disruptions of, the 60s the 1960s. It is to say, if you are going one of William Faulkners bestknown lines, the path is never dead. It is not even the past is never dead. Sed. S not even pas you may or may not agree with that. That if you say transcendentalism, people may look at you glassy eyed. 1960s, that is oftentimes that will oftentimes evoke a response to response. A common anti1960s trope is counterculturehe was nothing but a bunch of eventually sold out to the establishment. This particular cartoon summarizes that negativity shall we say. With a definition of sorts of what i mean by transcendentalism. Literature on the topic of transcendentalism is a little bit fuzzy with regards to definition. The movement has noted was a rather small one of new england intellectual elite in the mid19th century. Transcendentalism is generally gun as aod to have be selfconscious movement with the publication of Ralph Waldo Emersons nature and the founding of the Transcendentalist Club in the boston area in 1836. In its day, transcendentalism was referred to in different ways. School,e club, the new the intellectual philosophy, or simply as the movement. Religious,arily philosophical, and literary in nature, and consisted of significant numbers of individuals with ministerial background, especially ones associated with unitarianism. Cases xny unitarian ministers. Continued their reaction against calvinist orthodoxy. They also abandoned unitarian tradition because they believed it had lost its overly intellectual or theological and emotional appeal credibility. , theing at Harvard Divinity School and 1838, which at the time was a stronghold of unitarianism, Ralph Waldo Emerson pronounced unitarianism, a decaying church. In this sense, it is very much a religious movement, a religious reform movement, whatever case we want to make. Philosophical movement. Most of the transcendentalist are relatively young, educated, middleclass, white, and male. Meetings, their public lectures, their debates, their discussions, essays, and poetry, they also launched various publishing initiatives. Most notably, the dial. Notable transcendentalist writers and poets and thinkers included Henry David Thoreau, george riley, margaret fuller, Elizabeth Peabody palmer, and perhaps most famously of all, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Transcendentalist for the most transcendentalists, for the most part, were not political revolutionaries. We are not talking about the sts or the weatherman the sds or the weatherm. The weathermen. Day,e standards of our most of them took rather progressive positions on social issues in a number of them like theodore parker, for example, embraced the abolitionist cause with fervor. Nor is this a case with as with most social and intellectual movements, all of the transcendentalist were not necessarily all in agreement with all of the assumptions and ideas that are generally considered core to the movement. In one sense, part of the emphasis part of the impetus behind their informally coming together was to argue with one another, to discuss, talk, debate, and so forth. The intellectual genealogy of transcendentalist thought includes various threats of german idealism, german and english mysticism romanticism, and for some, especially emerson various for various philosophical and religious ideas associated with eastern traditions. Most notably with hinduism. I will have more to say about this. Chart were to do a summarizing what are ideas that transcendentalism, it would include these. First of all, and this is not necessarily in order of priority , but, a desire to conceive of new ways of thinking about the human condition. A new sense of wonder, of excitement, and challenge about knowing the universe and everything in it. This is something in many ways, this is stated explicitly in the writings. Somebody like emerson, this is something that comes fairly clear to me. Thingsse of wonder at was really quite exciting. It also entails a quest for new and more authentic types of spiritual experience and spiritual growth. The argument being that at that point, unitarianism, so to speak, was running out of spiritual energy. Along with a desire to expand spiritual knowledge and this also included assumptions about the fundamental unity of mind and of the world. This is something this idea is a very is very basic to emersons thought. There was a strong emphasis on intuition as the highest source of knowledge on these kinds of unconscious or nonrational not irrational but nonrational sources of insight and creativity. That interestsng some of theg at been of people who have entranced you have been immensely creative and have come up with new things. Often times, the process involves a deep intuitive insight. I am thinking of a letter of a letter that einstein did to a physicist friend about getting to the eagles mc squared how did that happen e equals mc squared and how did that happen. He describes this intuitive insight. This secondorder struggle to find a mathematical language to express this intuitive level he knew. Conversely, among transcendentalist, there was a sense of the limitations of thinking. Ional they were very much tried to avoid secondary or mediated knowledge if you will. Also a rejection of conventional theism. It is kind of a religious piece of transcendentalist thought. God for someone like emerson was not a person. Not some kind of a cosmic commander in chief up there somewhere, but more of a kind of depths ofality in the the human person and in nature and importantly, accessible to all. Involved a critique of historical christianity and especially one that included a rejection of miracles. Jesus in the sense may have been a great moral teacher and a great man, but not beyond that in relationship to supernatural miracles and things of this sort. Ofre was also a rejection conventional religious creeds, doctrines, dogmas, rituals in general, or we could just say, any type of religious formalism. At least in the sense of trying to argue those things are the primary datum of religion. They are not. They are secondary. Deep, spiritual insight. Divine energy that is that emerson saw as eminent in nature and every human person that was available to all. That gave life meaning and purpose and direction. In terms of their theological anthropology, was one that rejected a negative view of human nature. Innatelyinstitutes corrupted from the womb. You would not have heard that coming from emerson. Are inherently good. They have great potential. Noted, the transcendentalist generally took progressive positions with regard to what today we call gender issues. The emancipation of women, also the abolition of slavery. What about the counterculture . What is a working definition here . Speaking, the counterculture was a far more amorphous and chaotic phenomena than transcendentalism. And, a different type of social movement in multiple ways. I will come back to this again later. They were the same type of movement in one particular way. The rise of the counterculture this too raises the question of if i say the 1960s to you, what does that mean in d ofs of a specified perio time . Ean 1960 to 1970 echo it does not to me. The 1960 started about 1963 and ed about 1973 in terms of on one end, the murder of john kennedy. The other end, the u. S. Getting out of vietnam. In terms of what years your referencing, different people play with that in different ways. So anyway, this time is associated with an antiestablishment mood. Of primarily but not exclusively youthful rebellion theunrest, opposition to numbing conformity of the 1950s, to the social, racial, and gender injustices in american society, to the stifling nature of bureaucratic structures and consumer culture, and if Theodore Roosevelt got it right in his, the making of the counterculture, the counterculture represented a collective rejection of technocracy, of purely instrumental reality, the regime of corporate and technological expertise, and other forms of industrial dehumanization. Interesting to think through the counterculture and all that it meant with the Space Program in the 1960s in terms of the difference in that was also obviously a big part of the 1960s, man on the moon. About the difference in terms of the cultural dynamics in this regard. And he lost his place. Ok. Wereg to russia, rorsach, for at least some alienated youth, alternative ways of finding, and one could say parenthetically, and in a lot of cases, only temporarily finding, comfort and meaning. Nor can the rise of the 1960s the understood outside of that has to enter culture of the 1960s the counterculture of anti60s cannot be understood outside of the tragedy of what happened in vietnam and the resistance that arose in that trauma. Understood outside of the Civil Rights Movement. In my mind, Civil Rights Movement in particular was one forhe primary main springs social activism throughout much of the 1960s. There is a Student Movement and heavy. The Civil Rights Movement was the primary main screen. The counterculture had two streams, and attend to think of them in two kinds of models. Counterculture envisioned a future american free, andfreedom and you fill in the blank, free love, free music. It was a future that would be achieved by dropping out or at least dropping out of middleclass Bourgeois Society and turning on if you will. I call this the tim leary option of social change in relationship to the 1960s. The other counterculture stream envisioned an eventual utopian future, not so much by way of dropping out, but by way of confrontation, political activism, protesting, street demonstrations, and so forth. This is the counterculture dynamic associated or directly with the rise of the socalled new left and what seems like democracy,ticipatory community building, and so forth. I tell i call this the tom hayden counterculture option of social change. Obviously, this was something more directly associated with the Student Movement, the antiwar movement, and the Civil Rights Movement. Earlier, the 1960s in general and the rise of the counterculture are associated with his negative criticism. The era produced a great rush of events. Spend hours could sharing with one dr. Dinges these events have often been interpreted as ones that, ripped apart the nation. As such, the decade has been described as a time of national american, or as the religious historian Sidney Ahlstrom put it, a time of national trauma. A. In which, i really like this a well america has passed away. It has a poetic ring to it. I like that phrase. More recently, scholars like putnam and campbell in their book, american grace, which by the way is an excellent study of, among other things, the challenges of american prose and culture. In their book, and these are not people hostile to the 1960s, they nevertheless refer to it as, the long 1960s. Again, implying a decade of national travail. In terms of these more negative contours, the 1960s has also been associated with the sexual revolution, something that had serious ramifications and much of conventional or traditional family life. It has been associated with a. Onunfettered selfindulgence the part of privileged children of the american middleclass. Associated with a tidal wave of moderation, mindlessness in moderation immoderation, mindlessness and hedonism. It is also a time when at least some naive youth degenerated into revolutionary fantasies, anarchy, antiintellectualism, and a kind of protest grotesque pseudomarxist occultism. Think of the weathermen, the white panthers, and so forth. A more positive vein, the counterculture of the 1960s is hippieinnocently with , so as i dressed emerson up in this picture im not going beads, bellbottoms, long shirt, long hair, shaggy hair. Associate has been with the rejection of placid conformism, the deep sleep of the eisenhower years. It is associated with releasing the human spirit from stifling institutional limitations and ask and restrictions per the rejection of competition and status seeking. With heightening moral sensibility, particularly guarding the contradictions surrounding american race relations. We hold these truths to be selfevident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And then watch these dogs trying to to these people up trying to register to vote. Chewing these to dogs these people up trying to register about. Sexism, and environmental exploitation and the misuse of government power. This is something that im saying the counterculture brought attention to these kinds of issues and problems. This was a time when us to get think of individuals norman mailers armies of the not only their conscience but their lives on the line. To witness to freedom. To racially quality. To peace. To justice. And to just simply a better vision of america and its possibilities. The 1960s also produce a fresh surge of kind of new left, lacked as a. Years newrliest left political activism. In its earliest years, there was thisinou may not share its earliest years there was a , shoot forsionate the moon idealism. Which also, i think, is something i think made John Kennedys murder particularly traumatic, in relation to that kind of idealism. All great eras, the 1960s and the counterculture thereof, had its own unique goings and sounds, i was to start this with jimi hendrix and the doors and janis joplin. I chickened out. [laughter] i did not do it. Dr. Dinges what can i say. [laughter] i could do a rendition of me and bobby mcgee for you. When it be fun if we had the time . I would be intellectually curious to do a little free association. So, i would say the 1960s or the counterculture and who are the first five people whose images come to your mind . Changing. Mes they are yes. Abby hoffman, allen ginsberg, tom hayden, gloria steinem, walter cronkite, peter paul and king, malcolmdr. X, bobby mae kennedy, marshall mcluhan. And so on. Body candidate. Bobby kennedy. This is the putting it on the line conscience, the direct action. All right. So those are my two working definitions for transcendentalism to counterculture. Id like to Say Something about a few commonalities of which there are many, just as there are obvious many differences between these two eras. The first point i would make is that they were both relatively shortlived. Movementcendentalist is a vibrant intellectual social movement had about a 20 year to 30 or shelf life. Mid19th again, in the century. Although as the stalker lecture suggests, summit transit let dental lust as this lecture suggests, some transcendentalists ideas touch the countercultural era and have lasted longer. I think this is particular the notable and the essays and poems of emerson and thoreau. Studied still read and by American School students. If you i sophomore in high school and you take an American Literature class you have to read walden or, i dont know. I suspect in some classes that would still be the case. The counterculture, especially flamboyant hippie manifestation, the Counter Culture with even more shortlived. Having arisen around the early to mid 1960s, and pretty much collapsed by the 1970s. Although again, some of its cultural and political influences have also endured. If for no other reason than by virtue of the fact they were coopted and absorbed by much of mainstream american culture. So that is the first thing. Theyre both kind of short in terms of time. Secondly, both transcendentalism and the 1960s counterculture oriented, rather than normal oriented types of movements. This is something that only throws people that are into social Movement Theory and what have you. By this i mean by saying that these represented value oriented as opposed to normal oriented movements, i mean that each of these, the transcendentalist thought, the counterculture and so forth, these seriously challenged not only the norms of american society, but also some of the deepest values of the status quo. Emerson, exercised these ghosts exorcised these ghosts. Each seriously critiqued and the traditional modes of authority. Each suggested many paradigms not not just new suggestions but new paradigms for Human Happiness and fulfillment, forks banning consciousness, for spiritual growth, for new types of communal relationships, and for a new kind of relationship with nature. Both also represented forms of resistance to the social, cultural, political liabilities of early industrial capitalism. Casee translate dentals in the transcendentalist case. And those of late consumer capitalism in regard to the counterculture case. Both repudiated a purely materialistic or commercial reading of the american dream. Although, as a cartoon i showed suggested, theres an argument that the counterculture may have sold out in this regard. Thoreau did not. Third, both transcendentalism in the 1960s and the 19 six east counterculture arose amid widespread religious ferments. Modes of aise to new religious experimenting, spiritual questing outside of conventional, theological, and institutional channels. And i would add outside the western religious tradition. In the case of transcendentalism, the early and mid19th century was appeared heightened fires of religious passion. This is the alex de tocqueville frenchy kratt french aristocrat sent to the United States in the early part of the 19th century as some of you may know. He was a particularly keen observer of American Life and culture. Hugely famous work which is still in print i would add. Called democracy in america. Socallede in the second great awakening. , bywas quite taken by this these fires of religious passion. That is a phrase taken from his writing. And he also noted, as he was observing this. He said americans have a chillier proclivity for religious madness. [laughter] by that he did not mean they meant a arqule your a peculiar proclivity for religious madness. He meant a fervor in society. Transcendentalism arose during a time of religious revivalism. Again going back to the idea being a value oriented movements. Browns emerson and norman making statements saying something that to me suggests the seriousness of what was being implied about what was going on in the context of transcendentalism and the counterculture. Ok. There rose in terms of this religious ferments. Angelicalntalism, of revivalism, proliferation of sex calls. Cults. Colts elysian inspired communitarianism, mind care phenomena, and so it forth. Of religiousot churning, if you well. Likewise the 1960s was also a decade that saw and exposing of religious and spiritual exurban imitation in the form also of sex cults, new religious movements. Ofwas an era of a new death god articulation. You never that early 1960s Time Magazine black cover, is god dead . Religiontime of inspired social activism. Certainly the mainline churches, black church in the context of the civil rights met and the antiwar movement. Civil rights movement. Toeventually gave right jesus freaks. These were often people about not particular good experiences in the counterculture and were trying to come out of that if you well. It was a. Of time that saw the rise of renewed pentecostalism and that charismatic movement. By the end of the decade, a revitalized conservative eventually, some. It was also a. Of time conservative event gela goal is him evangelicalism. Whatlso a time that began came a long term steady decline. When acingd of time get number of americans began turning east when Many Americans began turning east, literally and figuratively. More on this in a bit. About differences . Between these two areas. Two eras. Three points. The Immediate Impact of the counterculture on American Life extensive was more than the impact of transcendentalism even in its own time. The counterculture was a more very gated type of social varigated. It was one that touched the lives of many people, not primarily as an intellectual force, but in terms ,f its diverse Cultural Impact especially by way of the arts and particularly music. Think rock n roll, monterey pop festival, woodstock, the beatles, film, easy rider, hair on stage, pop art andy warhol and the factory, clothing styles and so forth. , at least this one stream had a more diffused impact on american culture. The more extensive Cultural Impact stemmed in large part from the huge baby boomer demographic. Reality. Of the counterculture. The 1960s you had a whole lot of young people, many of whom had leisure and discretionary time. For anways makes interesting cultural mix. At the beginning of the decade, in 1950, 30 of the u. S. Population was between the ages of 14 and 34. So there were a lot of us. You still here that occasionally that the baby boomers still control the infrastructure of many things because are so many of them. Though in stand that now bit millennials have surpassed baby boomers and numbers. Though i now understand it that. And something that was not available to emerson also through mass media ecology of the day. Notably, television. That was huge. That was a huge difference between the trajectories of these movements. The counterculture, unlike transcendentalism, had a more direct connection with a wide ranging sexual revolution. Which i think was one of the major social transformations of the 1960s. Hand, both the thinkers andlists the counterculture both pushed what we will call gender issues in relation to matters of equality and fairness. But the sexual revolution as im using the term here, that is a little bit different dimension. A hyphen against the expression in the counterculture to the e those of permissiveness that animated much of the counterculture. It included a rejection of many traditional moral and traditional religious norms regarding human sexuality. And the sexual revolution was also directly related to the availability of more effective forms of Birth Control, notably the Birth Control pill. While one can make a case that andscendentalism indirectly at least partially, advanced gender issues and the cause of women in its time. And here i think for exam live. Our great fullers women margaret fullers women in the 19th century written in 1845, this is one of the first thorough and intellection mature treatises on feminism and equality in american society. The transcendentalists in a sense, they were onto that in their own way. Wasrtheless the movement hardly associated with a sexual revolution. In relationship to freelove, ofmiscuity, or displays public nudity. Alice didcarol and not register. A third difference between transcendentalism and the counterculture of the 1960s has to do with the countercultures association with the use of psychedelic, psychotropic drugs, notably of course, acid or lsd. Transcendentalists and many of the counterculture folks both shared, as i noted, a renewed into his breast in interest in mysticism, heightened consciousness, and new types of spiritual experience. The difference in part had to do with how this was to be achieved. In the blissed out counterculture mill you, that achievement that achievement came to be associated with the conviction that you could smoke, drink or ingest enlightenment. And promotion of psychedelic drugs was considered fuel for liberation of the body and liberation of the cell. Of the sole. Can soul. Alan watts, came cheesy, tom wolfe, the electrically acid test. Kesey. The Ken Association of enlightenment was psychotropic, psychedelic drugs to whole new spin on the american path to spiritual enlightenment. Although i guess i would add outside of what to the degree that there was some usage among inst nation peoples, more so south america than north mecca. We used to live around peoples about as and they were third catholic, third methodist and the third Native American Church. And the Native American Church folks use peyote. As part of their sacramental experience. Emerson, spiritual questing, for the transcendentalists, this had to do with introspection, intuitive insight, subjective knowledge, getting in touch with the depth of ones own inner being. Again, also with nature. I could imagine emerson showing an interest in tim larrys league timothy and his Timothy Leary league for spiritual discovery in 19 627. What im not sure i can imagine emerson on the bust with on ken k on the bus with esey and the merry pranksters. Im not sure what he would do here. Ok. Do we need to stretch . Ok. I cannot see her facial expressions because of the slight, so i do not know what so because of the light, i do not know what the fidget factor is at this point. Thinkre the four things i where there were direct connections. Individualism. Iews toward the individualism individualism is hardly new to the american cultural experience. To you it unique transcendentalism. Individualism was already deeply rooted in protestant cultural codes, in various Emma Craddock republican political democratic republican political form relations, and in the ideology of laissezfaire capitalism. What transcendentalism was to e individual is him to new individualism to new heights by rejectingtically conformity. Thestrongly extolling virtues of individual freedom. Emerson, farike too many people of his days lives unhappily because they tried to hard to conform. They allowed themselves to be imprisoned because of what others thought or felt about them. Transcendentalists, individual human beings were the locus of meaning and authority. Be true to yourself. Trust thyself. Truth had to find deep with in, which for some of like emerson made ideas like that of selfreliance, of such prime importance. Think cardinal virtue. Nothing emerson would say, is at integrity ofut the your own minds. Sacred butat last the integrity of your own mind. Popularfer to the pride. Through intuition and insight, the individual could find this deep truth within. This deep truth, however, was not a kind of narcissistic selfindulgence. Not a kind of cocky Frank Sinatra do it my way individualism. It was much deeper and richer and in my mind a more spiritualized sense of the integrity of the human person. For emerson, by trusting oneself, the human was confiding themselves into an all embracing in verso being or oversoul that he saw the center of and the unifying agent of all things. Within this pantheistic spiritual orientation, lay assumptions about the basic goodness and perfectibility of human beings. Their capacity for their ability to develop to their false capacity. Their fullest capacity. 19 six tease parlance of 1960sactualization was a selfactualization. We associate hawthorne and melville with transcendentalism, who had a much darker sense. I mean captain ahab and reverend dimsdale showed a shadow side of humanity. That did not quite share the same optimistic view that you could find again with some of mike emerson. And Henry David Thoreaus case, individualism aside from the kind of universal spiritualized universal mind component. For thorough individualism had much to do with conscience and the importance of the individual acting against the state. Especially where they discerned that the state was morally wrong and what it was doing. Here individualism was tightly linked with a moral sensibility that extolled the cardinal virtues of activism and civil to civilians in relationship to again work was perceived that the state was doing something that it. It is interesting to me that some transcendentalists, and i would put emerson in this category, part of their restraint, and emerson was somewhat restrained in relation to what he did terms of being socially active. Part of the restraint with regard to social activism or social reform was driven by the conviction that before reforming society, the individual had in some way to be reformed from within. In other words, progress started with improving the individual, with the cultivation of personal virtue, rather than if you will, forms of external pressure or coercion. Ok. What about the counterculture . In relation to an visuals and. Of the 1960sture also had an obvious heightened individualism street. Thecially relating to psychology of authenticity, the importance of being oneself, of living more freely or intensely and living well beyond freuds norm of ordinary and happiness. As i noted earlier, this impetus toward freedom and liberation in the counterculture in the 60s, was a reaction against the conformity of the class passive eisenhower era against a bureaucracys ordering of human relations at against the growth of the corporate state and government control and regular. Think, to a lot of the impetus, the drive, the revolt if you well, the reaction by virtue of the fact that were talking about young people, a lot of this had to do with going after mommy and daddy. Values thatecting many of them felt their parents had pushed on them, even though material speaking living relatively nice lives materially speaking, this idea that life is about keeping up with the joneses. The organizational man and so forth. So there is this psychodynamic, theres this interesting child parent thing i think is part of revolt, individualism associated with the counterculture. Also a type of individualism that harbored certain antinomian impulses. By this i mean where do your own thing for some easily morphed into do your own anything. Attitude was, i believe, something that was far less evident in terms of what transcendentalists would have meant by the term individualism. But the 1960s, and belittles him and american societies have these two dynamics which i suggest in the slide. One was this utilitarian or instrumental individualism. Maximizing self interest, satisfying ones when, pursuing self interest efficiently. Here, human relations were governed by utility, by costbenefit analysis or calculus. Social relationships were dominated by these utilitarian considerations, not by biblical norms or conventional moral codes. Ofs was the individualism this technical, instrumental reason. And i meant losing 2 alluding to max faber. This is not the end visual is him that was the transcendentalist connection this is not the individualism of transact transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is referred to thatpressive individualism parrot ties openness, honesty, feelings, spontaneity, letting it all hang out, producing good vibes, practicing universal love and so on. This expressive individualism rejected the utilitarian efficiency in the spiritual sphere. It was a type of individualism that tended to rejected dualisms and placed a strong emphasis on direct unmediated religious experiences in terms of reaching truth. It striking to me that if you look at many of the new religious movements of the 1960s, and you ask yourself what do these things, what do these phenomena have all in common, a great part of it has to do with the manner or the degree to which they convince people that they could offer some type of a religious experience. Purelyas opposed to creed, doctrine, ritual. This type of expressive individualism was, in my mind more clearly connected to transcendentalism, even though it had more of a psychological character rooted in the quest for authenticity. I think the transcendentalist and the is him had a deeper spiritual residence to it. Then just simply psychologically speaking wanting to be authentic. , be real. Ok. Transcendental counterculture collection had connection had to do with an interest in eastern religion. Thescendentalism and counterculture arose in a. Of intense religious experiment in and ferment. The nation was again in the throes of religious enthusiasm appeared by the 1960s, religion , our spiritual marketplace was expanding dramatically. This was a time when gotituality also kind of connected with self actualization, realizing ones inner self and so forth. Aside from the role of psychedelic drugs and all this, the 1960s was a. Of time thats on explosion of interest in Eastern Religions. Something that was already prefigured in the beat generation of the 1950s. Again especially in this regard some buddy like alan watts and his writings. This American Interest in eastern religion is a long and fascinating story. The transcendentalist phenomenon come the Transcendentalist Movement represented one of the first earliest of the encounter with these Eastern Religions. The transcendentalists were among those who were the first theicans to be exposed to then nearly translated bhagavadgita, the rig veda, the upon shots, and so forth. And so forth. Ads literally, nearly translated sacred text. Also articles that began to appear in various journals dealing with different aspects of asian religions. Transcendentalists especially emerson and throw were fascinated by these religions. And saw certain affinities between aspects of their own thought and these traditions and tried to use ideas drawn from eastern sources to fortify their own mystical vent if you will. And to affirm their convictions about the emergence of what emerson called this kind of absolute religion or universal religion. Primarilynterests was an intellectual interest. In these traditions. Particularly with their more kind of mystical and universal ist aspect. There were not so interested in the ethics per se or ritualization. They saw these traditions as in terms of their philosophy of cosmetic this coming universal religion, and they assimilated and reproduced some isthese ideas and emerson very rich in this regard if you read his essay compensation and you know anything about the concept of karma, you can see the obvious connection here. This is a wellknown poem by emerson. Again, i would make the point that while they were intellectually interested in these traditions and so far as they could know them by way of these texts. And yes there were these texts translated properly those are other issues. There were where these texts and used these tax. But they were not in a sense, forming ostroms or becoming disciples of eastern gurus or worshiping at hindu temples. As severalyou can scholars have suggested, you could make a case that in as a fact away, Henry David Thoreau lived something of the life of kind of applied yoga or an yogin, by way of meditation, vegetarianism or asceticism at walden. Or his meditation sybil fike, 75, civil five. Youll simplify, civil five, simplify. Civil five. Simplify. His steps in the morning. They moved american religious pluralism forward. The counterculture of the 60s was another chapter in this process. By the time of the counterculture, the interest in eastern religion had taken a new turn. Because of changes in u. S. Immigration policy 19 625 included. There was an intellectual curiosity by the 1960s, but by this time in comparative religion. But by this time there were significant numbers of Young Americans who are joining these traditions. Becoming practitioners of their meditative strategies and techniques. And in some cases actually trying to embrace the cultural lifestyles if you will of these traditions. All of which went beyond pure intellectual curiosity. That was shown by the transcendentalists. Ok. The third connection point. Individualism. Interested in eastern religion. Point,rd connection communitarianism. The Transcendentalism Movement did not produce largescale communitarian phenomena. Mid19thme in the century there was a considerable amount of religion inspired communitarian experimentation going on. In the United States. The two communitarian endeavors associated with transcendentalism were brook farm and fruit lands. Much has been written about each of these. Brook farm was founded in 1841 by George Ripley and his wife sophia. He was a former unitarian minister. And fruitland was established in and by Bronson Alcott charles rein. Both of these utopian adventures were relatively shortlived. Fruitland lasted seven months. [laughter] nice try. And it did not attract a lot of people. Longer andlasted attracted larger numbers of participants and curiosity seekers, lets go check them out, both ventures were inspired by transcendentalist beliefs, especially fruitland. Both were secular in the sense that no single religion was imposed on the communities. Unless you want to associate transcendentalist thought with a kind of pseudoreligion. Both of these communities try to establish transcendentalist ideas about individual freedom, relationships, both of these experiments combine work and leisure and intellectual pursuits with spiritual regeneration, closer communion with nature, and also with nurturing not a lie spiritual but also physical health also. 1960s also saw a resurgence of counterculture inspired unitarian as a. Much of this desk counterculture inspired communitarianism. Was stimulated by the postwar impact of a growing sense of rootlessness, driven by high levels of geographic motility. It was driven in mobility. And in part by family instability reflected in growing rates of divorce. We look for surrogate family community. And by a general longing for toernatives to the leave it beaver version of american domestic city. Some counterculture communes were purely secular in nature. Some derived from religious influences or were organized around some type of charismatic leader. And some wreck presented a act nature romances as a, a preference for handicrafts, small skill farming, contrast to business and industry. A preference for more intimate facetoface interpersonal relationships with one another. In contrast to impersonal bureaucracies. And also in contrast to a kind of growing cultural dynamic of the Nuclear Family becoming more and more isolated. In both the transcendentalist case and that of the counterculture, we can see that communitarian interests expressed the quest for a simpler and less materialistic sterile indictment of and conventional forms of social relationship. A quest to realize or holistic and enriching human interaction. And rejection of much of the social and cultural apparatus of Industrial Society. Although by the 1960s Industrial Society was much farther along than in the mid19th century. Ok. Last or fourth connect point transcendentalism. This is thinking about nature. Transcendentalists had a deep gratitude and appreciation for nature. Not only for aesthetic and pastoral reasons. Way tore portly as a observe and understand the innerworkings of the spirit. Of the universal oversoul. Nature was the flesh of the spirit. Power. Tic transcendentalists and here i am relying heavily on emersons thought, saw nature as deeply spirit orth a transcendent signifier. Unifier. Experiencere was to the light and wonder of a child. And to put this in perspective at the awesomeness. Nature was where one lost ones egotist go self. Egotistical self. And became one with the divine or universal spirit. This is from emerson. In the woods we return to reason and faith. There, i feel nothing can befall me in life. No disgrace, no calamity. Which nature cannot repair. Standing on its bare ground, my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space. All mean egotism vanishes. When i first read that i remember thinking of wendell berry, philosopher, point. He has this beautiful poem of wilde peace things. Read the poem. He is talking as a parent and grandparent, thinking about at night, laying in bed, fraught loveworry, the wages of come about his family, his children and grand children. What does he do . He gets up and he walks down to this pond. And he just sits there. Loons. Theto the piece of wild things. The peace of wild things. Emersononates with what is suggesting. One lost the egotistical self and became one with the define or universal spirit. Nature served the love of beauty and was a source of moral discipline, spiritual fulfillment, where one truly came to know oneself and this in essence. Why helps us understand transcendentalists in their own ways had certain reservations about capitalism, westward expansion in their day, industrialization and so forth. Think of thoreau sitting in his cabin, hearing the train and starting to fret about the implications of this. Here comes the train. Transcendentalists they were not ecologists. In my mind. As you and i would understand that word today. But they did have something of an ecological consciousness insofar as they harbored concerns about the impact of industrialization. They rejected the utilitarian view that nature was simply a tool, thing, a commodity. Formative collation and profit. Four manipulation and profit. Thiscatholic, to me, echoes a certain kind of sacramental or incarnational kind of sensibility toward the Natural World. What about the countercultural dock without the sayterculture . I would not the counterculture of the 1960s had a deep sense of nature suffused with divinity. I dont know how many people here bound haightashbury what have read emerson or teilhard teillard de chardin. But it did talk about the shifting of the human relationship to the Natural World along with elements of the renewed search for the sacred in nature. Ae counterculture included type of back to nature or back to the land romanticism. Thisw personal examples of , that emphasized the importance of getting in touch with and living close to nature, living more simply. And often in communes. One of the more novel things about communitarianism in the 1960s was that they were not only in rural areas but also in urban areas. That was different from the 19th century. Counterculture, they lived in communes and begin eating natural, organic foods, promoting vegetarianism and so forth. It was part of that scene if you well. The counterculture interest in nature was a last spiritualize a less spiritualized character than what i find in transcendentalist lot. It was more of an ecological sensibility relating to growing concern at the time about pollution, chemicals, pesticides and other forms of environmental damage. Caused by the excesses of industrialization and commercialism. By the time the counterculture, we are seeing in america, a growing awareness of the fragility of the planet. And i think in this regard, Something Like Rachel Carsons flashingnt spring, a yellow light. Time, this environmental awareness evolved into a stronger sense of the interdependence of all things and took on a more spiritualized sensibility. To me this is a long story. It has to do with the beginnings of religious traditions starting to engage environment issues. 1960s. More belay particularly in response to the essay that lynn white did on the religious roots of our ecological crisis. That was not initially the sensibility of the counterculture as i see most of it. I would also note in this regard, that at least some of counterculturehe and particularly in the later part of the 60s, part of the appeal of Eastern Religions was driven by the perception that these traditions offered a more benign view of the human relationship with the Natural World. You want to know why people were attracted to Eastern Religions. 10 reasons. Heres one. These views, these eastern views. Were not as exploitive. There were not characterized by a theology of anthropocentrism. Thats the human person as the beall and endall of the created order. Theologyhey promote a of dominion over nature. So i think that, again theres no single law of social causality offered here is to why people got interested in Eastern Religions. I think this is part of it. The modern environment of movement however, in my mind is more of a 1970s phenomena that a 1960s phenomena. There were develop into the 1960s, including within the town or culture that were harbingers of arising consciousness in this regard. These do have connections with earlier transcendentalist since abilities. With regard to nature. Ok. So it is all most over. [laughter] thank you for your patience. This is what i would want you to come. Connection . Individualism, Eastern Religions, communitarianism, nature. I would like to throw a few additional in before calling it quits. All, the Transcendentalist Movement and the counterculture of the 60s me, evidence of a very serious kind of cultural crisis. Structural strain. Serious deficiencies. Mores ands, institutions of their time, both religious and secular. Thatrepresent a conviction some important things about American Life and culture were seriously out of kilter. Wereinges these movements like canaries in the minds. I feel strongly about this. Particularly in relation to my own studies of religious movements. Cults. Ike sex and these anomalous, strange, weird, outside the parameters. You know about the canary in the coal mine . Minors taking canaries down and i cannot explain this. There were gases that would cause the canary to croak before the miner. So if it canary killed over in its cage, get out of the mine. These kinds of phenomena like transcendentalism and counterculture, to me these paycanaries in the mine. Attention to them. Theyre telling us about the wider, the deeper, the bigger culture if you well. Secondly, im struck and thinking about transcendentalism and the geithner culture and insofar asculture, these phenomena represented a quest for a new humanity. A new age. A new dynamic of human relationships, possibilities, new venues for human potential. To me gives expression to that seemingly away humanr goes quest, millennial quest, utopian quest, for some kind of ideal. Some kind of purpose. Maybe this is a peculiarly american phenomena. But our culture has a rich tradition, as western culture in toto has, a rich history of this aspiration to find a better way of doing, better system, a better way of living together, and so forth. I think of the puritans, why when ye enter that howling wilderness, to build a city on a hill. To be a beacon unto all nations. This utopian impulse. Has a dark pathological side. Think of jim jones, johnstown. There is this perennial human desire for a better way to live. To me these phenomena tell something about that. Final punch i would like to make is that both transcendentalism and the counterculture raised a new this having to dostion with the relationship between individualism and community and social stability. Again this is hardly a new issue. How do we fulfill genuine human freedom within a Community Setting . The impetus to release the human spirit from institutional limitations, which was the rgeousie bou culture, was already something new. Freedom was human far from something that be realized. And as was pointed out the book one nation, two cultures, sometimes you can also end up liberating people from values and virtues, work, delayed gratification, that have stabilizing, socializing, and moralizing effects on society. Once these are significantly diminished, or gone. You have a much more problematic cultural situation. Transcendentalism and the counterculture offer us a useful moment to reflect in this regard. [laughter] [applause] dr. Dinges so going back to my comment about the altered picture of thoreau. I wanted to do was to put one of yours truly back in the long hair, beads, bellbottoms days ourmy wife and our oldest daughter. But i thought that would be selfindulgent. Thank you much for your time. [applause] dr. Dinges so you want have a discussion or comments, reflections. Yes. Do you see anything in this culture today, that is anything kind of protest or alternative , sort ofn of what this Mad Technology Oriented Society is there anything today like what youre discussing . Is dinges i think there more concern, or want to believe there more concern, about where we are going, by way of technology. I mean this both in terms of the Digital Media revolution, the internet and what this is doing. Natalie to a socially and culturally, but in terms of neural physiology with young people. I think there is among some of about thern possibilities. This may still be sort of science fiction. Of transhumanism. And what this is going to mean, once consciousness moves from an organic to a mechanical basis. Which is already prefigured in computer technology. I think that is of some concern. I think there is still perennial concern over the reality of nuclear weapons. The fact that suicide is no longer an individual problem. It is now a species problem in the sense that we can literally take the torch to this planet. Just a growing over issues related to the environment and environmental degradation. There is no plan two in relation to this planet. We cannot continue this destruction. If we do not act responsibly in , nature will react brutally and our children will inherit the ruins. I am speaking of myself and many of these regards. I am quite involved in environmental and ecological issues. In the university and outside of it. Long time. At this a is pushing a big rock up a steep hill, but i sense ofave a communities of faith starting to get this. Then, andtransformed it varies from congregation to congregation, but it gets transformed into people as individuals trying to change their lifestyle, eat less meat this is a protest the preeminents interfaith issue of our time. I happen to think, sort of like emerson that we are living in the midst of a global synthesis taking place. It is not an accident. So, i think there is energy out there. I find myself needing to make myself careful about not beating up on younger. Eople i am very much a child of the 60s. I say this with no apologies. Environmentalhis there war inat is vietnam, their civil rights, not tothan those of us sound macabre, but our days are numbered. Passion andore particularly moral passion. I have a file cabinets full of resources for environmentalism. This has to be solved in ways other than bureaucratically. It needs moral passion. This is what dr. King brought to the Civil Rights Movement here to he brought a moral passion. Moral passion puts people in the streets appeared your credit forms dont. Bureaucratic forms dont. [applause] [indiscernible] oft happened to the children those of us who were in the 60s . I dont nearly call them millennials which may be a bit off in time, but in terms of values. It seems to me the values are less generally speaking, less altruistic. You spoke about a Certain Group which are the environmentalists, but otherwise is it because the wasncement of technology such that it stole them away from caring . I am very concerned about that. Good question. Forward someone else like to . Dr. Dinges i cant speak for millennials. Wanting to be cautious about not why haventem or you and thise things reflects my Academic Research with regards to religion. You can find a cross the board you can find across the board of youngerements people that grew up in this kind secularized values that have now gone back to very conservative traditional religious groups and so forth. This was quite a long time ago, so i dont know that this person would have been a lineal, but i was at the Unification Church in upstate new york for a threeday , meet the moonies. Sunday morning we were sitting around a large table with 15 of us, young members of the church. There was a young man who i would have guessed to have been in his late 20s. I remember being struck they each went around witnessing, so to speak about what the allure forthine principle and so. This young man i was struck by what he said and the tone in his voice. , my dadsid to us was idea of religion was the race track and my moms was the art gallery. Subtext. You gave me nothing. So, i think there is a certain element among younger people today that are trying to work out what they saw as too many choices or a void in relationship in what kind of a values. Fornd that, i dont speak millennials. I still there was a time i walked into a classroom and i could look at a 19yearold sitting in front of me and kind likeink delusionally maybe i knew where that persons head was. I have to tell you come i am not convinced of that anymore. Call it the generation gap or what have you, so i try hard to listen. In terms of what they are thinking and saying. Again, we have to be careful. This is not a homogenous population. We may share a demographic, but likewise with gen x and millennials. So, i didnt answer your question very well. [indiscernible] your earlier claimed that millennials and younger people are not altruistic, they looked at studies and you will find that millennials and younger gen x spend more time volunteering for the candidate, spend more on charity and are less likely to selfindulgent as older generations. I intimated that, but they are very good about doing volunteering work and things of the sort. Interest me about that is i think of religion and american culture. One of the longterm transformations of religion in aerican society, and this is dynamic of the conflation of religion and psychology is that for ever fewer numbers of people, it does not matter what denomination you belong to or church you go to, what matters are you a good person . It is golden rule christianity. To the degree it becomes a normative effort it inspires people to do good things. Others have done Interesting Research on what inspires young nones. Who are nuns spiritual but not religious. That population is now about it is the Fastest Growing religious demographic. So what inspires them more late to do the right thing . Interestingly, it is not so much i am simplifying her research , but it is not so much do unto others as you would have them do unto you if you think about that it is utilitarian. The Good Samaritan ethic. He do it because it is the right thing to do. That seems to be a more pervasive attitude among younger people. I thought maybe you couldnt see us. Thats ok. You talked about the young man whose parents his dads religion was the racetrack and his mothers was the art gallery. My parents certainly taught me values, but eating a child of the exterior, my values were different in a lot of ways. So what is the difference between that and maybe my son who is a millennial his values now are different from mine p it is different. Who am i to say that my values are better . Do you think love is better than hate . Yes, but he has that failure to. That is an important value. Dr. Dinges did you have any role in that . Of course. Im just saying when i was 19 or 20, my mother thought i had no values. And i did, but they were different. Millennials have values. In many ways they are different than mine. Dr. Dinges or they are trying to figure out values in a very postmodern ive, how do i know what . I hope by now and he has established what his values are. [laughter] so i just dont know what makes mine right and his wrong anymore than my parents were right and i was wrong. Dr. Dinges would you agree there is an appropriate tension or dynamic of, on the one hand in our marital relationships, our lives with our children that in point of fact, we do try to imbue them with very deep kinds of values relating to the integrity of the human person, ability, love, compassion, mercy, doing the right thing, and what have you. These are not just flippant choices. These are things that arent meaningful. They have enriched our lives and we want to enrich your lives. That is thee roots, as you will. But we also need to give them wings. These are not applicants of us. Explore their world, develop their values. That is one of the joys, tensions, and challenges of parenthood is to be able to convey something besides anything goes to them and at the same time respect their integrity. Ultimately, existentially, they have to work these things out themselves. And to give them space to do that. I think they need to learn to [indiscernible] [laughter] dont we all . My guess is that television is what spread a lot of hippie culture and norms during . Yes. During the Transcendentalist Movement, was there a class a difference where it would have been just the elites who knew something about . Dr. Dinges strategic elites. They got literacy rates in 1836. Think of literacy rates in 1836. It was a small group of white, upper class, elites. Its a different profile than the 1960s. Ithink you could argue where is the intellectual juice . We know where the flower power juice is and the acid. There were some interesting intellectual outputs in the 1960s, but the movement, the counterculture was a much more. Iffused i dont not that i would use the the elite to describe hippie counterculture if you are talking about that particular caricature of it. Young people that came from middle or upper middle class families, relatively affluent. They were a generation the cousin of the affluence of their parents that had discretionary time that others as some of us went to class and then to work. There was not much by way of discretionary time. But, others had more discretionary time. This enabled them to experiment with fill in the blank. That is just a structural of an age cohort relative to a particular level of economic develop at that made that possible. Just as the interest in Eastern Religions which have been going on for a new for a long time. Esophagus society, the World Religions in chicago and 1983. The first time americans heard about hinduism from a hindu as opposed to a Christian Missionary home on leave. World war ii, bringing brides home from japan, buddhism. The interest in Eastern Religions in the 60s had way more to do with the 1950s than it did with the there wasntalist, but a common interest. I think alan watts was a particularly important person. The beatniks were the predecessors of the hippies and there are some very tight to me, one cannot get the 1960s if you do not get the 1950s. You cant. Which is to say the 50s should have been from alan watts to woodstock. Do you think there will be an can characterize the greatest generation, the parents of the baby boomers who lived through the depression and world war ii with millennials, which i would group in my own gen x and this new up and coming basedtunt economic on economic scarcity. We have 3 trillion of student debt. Living with economic scarcity perhaps like our greatgrandparents did in the 1930s. When you say we are not altruistic enough, although studies show otherwise, we are other ways. The Sunrise Movement when it comes to climate emergency, so we are all not that bad. Dr. Dinges again, i want to be repentant here. [laughter] not saying gen x or millennials are not altra spirit you make a good point. For my parents come at two defining moments in their lives worth the depression and world war ii. In terms of their deepest values. I think that is the case for each for me, the Civil Rights Movement, the war in vietnam were the defining moral moments in my young life. Thank you, kindly. I appreciate being here. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] Labor Day Weekend on American History tv. The 1950 army film invasion of Southern France and monday, ther day at 8 p. M. Eastern first General Assembly held at jamestown. Explore our nations past. Every weekend on cspan3. Tonight, on q a, university of Pennsylvania Law School professor on Free Expression on college campuses. It ruffled people that not all cultures were alike. A code of behavior that was functional and suited to our current technological democratic capitalist society and comparing it to other cultures which arent as functional. We gave some examples and it immediately caused a firestorm. Tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan secure a day. In 1945, four black privates serving in the u. S. Women army corps went on strike to protest his cremation. Tvt, on American History they talk about the womens decision, their courtmartial, and public reactions. She is the author of glory in their spirit. We recorded the interview at the annual black history luncheon. Clyde posley, you wrote a book about hidden protest narratives in the black american athlete. Tell me where you feel it begins. Clyde i believe that the protest narrative actually began the moment that africans were brought to american soil. We are celebrating the dubious 400 Year Anniversary of that arrival here, and immediately upon the arrival of blacks on the