24 October, 2008

American Transcendentalism: An Indigenous Culture of Critique

Posted by Socrates in book reviews, books, Kevin MacDonald, leftism, leftists, Socrates at 10:18 pm | Permanent Link

Dr. Kevin MacDonald reviews the book “American Transcendentalism: A History” by Philip Gura. The review appears in The Occidental Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 91-106, Summer 2008 (this is a Microsoft Word document): [Here].


  • 28 Responses to “American Transcendentalism: An Indigenous Culture of Critique”

    1. Antagonistes Says:

      I bought the tapes on the Transcendentalists put out by the Teaching Company. Very interesting:

      On Brook Farm, the men would spend hours philosophizing and the women ended up doing most of the work (just like a liberal!).

      The Oneida Community, as did others, held all things in common, including marriage.

      One guy went around nude because he thought he was in a state of Adamic innocence. . . blech.

      A bunch of nutcases.

      I have always wondered how the stern biblical morality of the Puritans gave way to the nuttiness of New England. Professor MacDonald explains it quite well. I am copying this article to read again, as needed.

      Genetics and evolution explain more than dusty scriptures.

    2. Mark Says:

      Indigenous? Not if you consider it came from Christians, and Christianity isn’t historically indigenous to Europe, it’s another Middle Eastern cult. Interesting that so many of our problems are from a similar source: Jewish, Muslim and Christian.

    3. Old_Dutch Says:

      Hmm. Trancendentalism can also be seen as a back to nature movement, or a nature worship movement. On the other hand, Unitarianism is judaism without jews. LOL. Does cross membership in both groups establish a connection? And if so how many were members of both groups? If I read MacDonald correctly quite a few.

      There’s also a break here with most Americans, and even the Harvard administration in the 19th century—in the belief that there is salvation without belief in Jesus Christ.

      It would be interesting to study the “Southern” Transcendentalists, which as I recall there were, as opposed to their HYP brethren in New England.

      In my humble opinion, the jew along with all other pagans will burn in hell forever. LOL.

    4. Old_Dutch Says:

      From The Southern Literary Review of October 1842:
      http://books.google.com/books?id=nrURAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA440&dq=southern+transcendentalist#PPA437,M1

      ;)))

    5. Zarathusta Says:

      Traces of old-fashioned New England Yankee culture can still be found in some remote areas of VT and NH, places where the NYC Jew and Boston area Yuppie have not yet infiltrated…….There are even a few towns left where the residents have never even seen a Negro! Just like the old Andy Griffith Show.

      If I’m not mistaken, Transcendentalism was championed by the likes of Emerson and Thoreau and is a very spiritual, individualistic and pro-Nature ideology. How can anybody knock that?

      Olde_dutch, the only Hell that exists is here on Earth at the hands of the merciless Jew and his Nigger goon-squads. Try to remember that.

    6. Zarathusta Says:

      Traces of old-fashioned New England Yankee culture can still be found in some remote areas of VT and NH, places where the NYC Jew and Boston area Yuppie have not yet infiltrated…….There are even a few towns left where the residents have never even seen a Negro! Just like the old Andy Griffith Show.

      If I’m not mistaken, Transcendentalism was championed by the likes of Emerson and Thoreau and is a very spiritual, individualistic and pro-Nature ideology. How can anybody knock that??

      Olde_dutch, the only Hell that exists is here on Earth at the hands of the merciless Jew and his Nigger goon-squads. Try to remember that.

    7. Old_Dutch Says:

      Zarathustra, if you wish to join the jew & the other pagans in hell, you will have all kinds of non-White company there too. Think about it. And think about who in reality the pagans are. LOL.

      What we do on this earth is our own choice.

    8. a simple Christian monk-woodworker Says:

      I have always had a particular fondness for the middle-ages and especially the Church of the middle-ages. A Church, which, by the way, was aware of all the difficulties in reconciling the four Gospels to each other.

      In this Church, Christian doctrine and Greek philosophy were fused into a powerful, clean, and effiecient machine.

      Protestantism threw sand into the machine, and the Transcendentalists later completed the act by putting a crowbar into the gears. Modern-day Christianity is largely Transcendentalism.

      Have you not noticed that the “back to nature” types make no distinctions? Interracial marriage, homosexual unions–it’s all the same to them. It’s all “nature.” So is “no borders”, illegitimate birth, share-the-wealth and “any language is OK for America.”

      The truth of the matter is that Christianity saved us from race-and-culture-mixing. It in no way introduced it. Notice the reaction of the true Christians to the Transcendentalists’ race-mixing.

      In traditional Christianity, race-mixing was as rare as denial of the divinity of Christ. As a matter of fact, I see a direct proportional historical relationship between the two.

      The problem is not Christianity; the problem is US.

      Refer to the post of Ms. Carter on Hitler on this same page.

      The Church and Greek Philosophy–a stained glass window set in a frame of sturdy oak.

      Grace and peace.

    9. Zarathusta Says:

      A Simpleton Christian Mick-Woodpecker………

      Christianity brought down the Western Roman Empire and threw much of Europe (except the Byzantine Empire) into political, economic and intellectual chaos for hundreds of years. Christianity also helped spur the creation of Islam…………. And how can you say that Christianity prevented race-mixing???? Do you realize there are tens of millions of Mestizoes in Latin America who are the descendants of Spanish and Portugese missionaries who copulated with Indian squaws??? If Christianity is the White Man’s religion, then why do so many churches, including the Catholic Church, constantly try to convert dusky heathen savages???

      Christianity promotes internationalism and celebrates the weak and sickly. You’d be hard pressed to find a Catholic priest or Protestant minister who sees nothing wrong with sending billions of dollars to starving Niggers in Africa or allowing millions of wetbacks into this country.

      And where’s the peace and grace you Christians always jabber about? Is the world really any better off after 2000 years of Christianity? Would you consider slimeballs like Jerry Fartwell and Pat Slobertson to be servants of the LORD??? If not, then who is? Pastor Pete Peters? the late Aryan Nations guy Richard Butler? Are those the best the LORD could find?

      The Sun is the source of all life on this world, not some invisible Jewish guy nailed to a piece of wood. That’s another thing I resent about Christianity, ie, its lack of respect or reverance for Nature. That is very UN-Aryan. No wonder most White people have never been able to fully embrace your religion. Christianity goes against Family, Nation, Nature, Reason and Race, all the things that Aryans value so much.

    10. gw Says:

      simple monk says: “In traditional Christianity, race-mixing was as rare as denial of the divinity of Christ. As a matter of fact, I see a direct proportional historical relationship between the two. “

      In the Medieval world, where most people never traveled more than 20 miles from their place of birth, what opportunity did they have to meet exotic races?

      Was this the result of religion, or simply the lack of opportunity?

      Certainly, when Europeans (Christians) did expand abroad in the Age of Exploration, they copulated with everything in sight, and this with royal (and presumably religious) approval, as they were encouraged to mix with the native women and create a hybrid race. This was true of Catholic Portugal, Spain, and France. Not Protestant England.

      European royaly itself, had already been international for many centuries. And the Church called itself “catholic”, meaning universal.

    11. gw Says:

      Zarathustra said: “And where’s the peace and grace you Christians always jabber about? Is the world really any better off after 2000 years of Christianity? ”

      According G.B. Shaw (who had something to say about everything), the only thing wrong with Christianity is that it’s never been tried.

      No argument from me there! I could add that after 2000 years of false attempts, it doesn’t look like it ever will be either.

    12. -JC Says:

      Transcendentalism generally but not Thoreau was exalted in a high school Western Civilization class I had many years ago. I recall that Emerson and Thoreau did not agree on civil disobedience and particularly the per capita poll tax that was not a tax on the voting franchise but on existence itself– something that landed Thoreau in jail and allegedly stimulated his writings on the subject.

      The Florentine Renaissance was a humanist intellectual and spiritual response following the “dark” middle ages and arguably the stultifying Dominican Roman Catholicism. It was halted briefly by a convincing Roman Catholic orator who was ultimately burned atop a pole after which the Renaissance proceeded apace.

      I’m not sure where Francis of Assisi falls on a time line but his influence toward the simply life regarding nature and particularly animals, if not his popularity compared with Thoreau being virtually unknown in his own time, somewhat parallel one another in some respects. Tuscany and Umbria were Italy’s New England of their day and apparently remain strongly Roman Catholic.

    13. Zarathustra Says:

      Christianity HAS been tried, in small communal environments like the Quakers, Shakers, Essenes, hippies for Jesus, The Peoples’ Temple in Jonestown and in countless other cults and communes through the centuries. They all failed because such ways of life are not in keeping with human nature. Christianity has nothing to do with reality.

    14. a simple Christian monk-woodworker Says:

      “The sun is the source of all life on this world . . .”–Zarathustra

      Where is this cult of the Sun God, which exalts family, nation, nature, religion and race? The “invisible Jewish guy” has his following, surely the Sun has its (his?) following? I would really like to see how this is working out now, or has worked out in the past. Where has it been on earth, anywhere at anytime? Perhaps you can point to some small band of family-friendly nudist “sunworshippers” on some beach somewhere.

      Don’t tell me it was Hitler’s Germany–most of those people were Catholics.

    15. Mark Says:

      Christianity, like altruism, can be beneficial when it’s ingroup. But when it becomes intergroup, and often to the detriment of one group (whites), it becomes a destructive force.

      I see ads from this organization, http://www.worldvision.org, all over the internet.

    16. Zarathustra Says:

      Mr. Woodworker…………..

      Where do you think Easter and Christmas come from? They are based on ancient festivals that celebrated the Vernal Equinox and Winter Solstice, respectively. Worship of the Sun goes back to prehistoric times and has taken many forms. The myth of Jesus is based on earlier solar-god cults. Don’t you think it’s rather more than coincidental that Jesus was said to have been born during the Winter Solstice and resurrected during the Vernal Equinox? He is also referred to as the Light of the world. Sounds like a Sun God to me!

    17. shabbos s. shabazz Says:

      “Where is this cult of the Sun God,”

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjGkRFFBd0A&feature=related

      Be sure to see all three parts. The bible is a book of astrology.

    18. gw Says:

      “Be sure to see all three parts. ”

      Unfortunately, the people who most need to watch it …. WON’T!

    19. a simple Christian monk-woodworker Says:

      “Sounds like a Sun God to me.”

      So, the sun is the source of all life, and Jesus is cast into the role of a sun god, his life embellished with solar events . . . the new embodiment of the “sun god” (or Corn King) . . . accepted as such by generations of Europeans . . . according to the designs of the Church . . .

      Then what is your resentment, Mr. Z?

    20. Zarathustra Says:

      My resentment, sir? My resentment lies in the Jewish/Oriental cult trappings of Christianity, where a Christian is expected to HATE his own family and his own life in order to follow Hay-soos. He is also required to denounce the gods of his fathers and worship alien Jewish deities instead. Christians celebrate the weak and sickly over the healthy and normal and are expected to pray for the destruction of this beautiful planet so that a merciless Jewish King can rule over the survivors from a throne in Jerusalem. What a nightmare that would be!

      Actually, I hate knocking other peoples’ religious or personal beliefs. To me, that smacks of spiteful Jewish nastiness. It’s just that Xianity, IMO, has caused lots of harm to the White Race and promotes a close-minded, irrational superstition among its adherents.

    21. the Mighty Sulla! Says:

      I am the mighty Sulla, who drove the Marionites out of Rome!

      When I take power, I will drive out the simple-minded Christian peckerheads!

    22. The Red Skull Says:

      Hello,All.I notice a distinct divide on this thread!We have some serious pagan/christian issues i see.Too bad as this weakens us.I am forced to agree with Z,that overall Xtianity has weakened our people thru effeminate,soft values of embracing your enemies or those that hate you.This goes against all survival logic.If Xtianity is to remain with our people it must be “Aryianized” to be a tool to help instead of destroy our people.Hitler said “compassion for the Lower Races is a Great Danger to ones own Kind” and he’s right.Its the CHURCHES(Catholic in particular) that WANT these muds here as new parishoners and such.We’re all Gods’ children right?WRONG! That kind of Coddling has got us where we’re at.Any Religion that Doesn’t focus on our Survival as a People must be flushed.Christianity might have been strong and positive for our people once,but now its a weakness,that helps destroy us.However,we have to put aside religious issues for the larger goal of the suvival of our race.We can argue about religion,but lets agree to disagree and focus on the jew.Who’s got a good comeback to the Xtian Whine-Line “we’re all gods children?”

    23. Zarathustra Says:

      “We’re all god’s children”………………That line has caused more trouble for the White Race than any other. No, the present races of humanity are not made in the image of the LORD, they evolved from different species of related hominids, some obviously more evolved than others.

      The Red Skull is correct, we need to get past religious differences and unite as a Race. But if only we could re-write the Bible so that Jesus lives in the Black Forest and is baptized in the Rhine or the Danube. And instead of all that jive about the fig tree and what the servants did with the talents their master gave them, Jesus preaches loyalty to one’s race and kinsmen and a love of Nature. That would be way cool.

    24. Antagonistes Says:

      If we are all God’s children—

      “Well, the Big Guy must have a worn-out penis and a lot of paternity suits.”

      If we are all God’s children—

      “Man! That Dude passed on some real bad genes!”

      This line is just another way for the inferiors to make themselves equal to the betters. If I (the lesser) am God’s child; and you (the better) are God’s child, then we are equal. Somehow you got more than me–probably through greed or exploitation, or lack of “economic justice”. The step from the concept of all being God’s children to “economic justice” is very small and easily made.

      That’s what it usually is all about–some (Whites) have more than others (Blacks).

    25. a simple Christian monk-woodworker Says:

      Very interesting films, Shabbos. I saw all three parts.

      I did not stop at viewing those three films by “reborndead”, though.

      I went on to watch “Divide and Conquered”, also by “reborndead”.

      Very interesting. In this film he advocates “one-world” and has pictures of Martin Luther King, Ghandi and John Lennon, not to mention a quote from that wise sage, Jimi Hendrix.

      Did you ever notice how anti-Christian beliefs and New World Order-type beliefs tend to cluster together?

      I see an inverse proportional relationship between the New World Order and Christianity. In other words, as Christianity goes down, the New World Order gains power, and vice-versa.

      I will think about this as I go about my woodworking.

      Again, Grace and Peace, sincerely.

    26. gw Says:

      “I see an inverse proportional relationship between the New World Order and Christianity. In other words, as Christianity goes down, the New World Order gains power, and vice-versa.”

      Yes, it’s an interesting thought. Thanks for the comment.
      It’s like a child’s teetertotter, as you present it: one side goes down when the other goes up.

      But here’s another thought for you: Why does it have to be either/or? Why accept EITHER ONE???

    27. Antagonistes Says:

      I have just read MacDonald’s paper again. This time I was struck by the havoc these nutcase transcendentalists wrought in framing the then-coming Civil War in moralistic terms. As MacDonald says, They desired genetic White cousins to die, for the benefit of African slaves.

      They were not Jews, these transcendentalists. As MacDonald says, they represented the highly-intelligent Left.

      But they were affected by Jews, via their Puritanism, someone might say. Maybe, but MacDonald traces their mind-set back to the Anglo-Jute connection, in the hunter-gatherer era.

      This is not a defense of Jews. Most Jews are Leftists; even the ones that aren’t are ethnocentric.

      MacDonald recommends a healthy dose of Darwinism–we are competing against other races with different genetics for territory and survival. Darwinism actually took over the intellectual field, after the Transcendentalist cause faded with the Civil War, but the Jewish Boasians, Marxists and Freudians beat it down by pushing their egalitarian doctrines with the power of publishing and education.

      This paper goes a long way in explaining the current Obamamania among Whites.

    28. Chonodomarius Says:

      “re-write the bible so that Jesus lives in the Black Forest” This has already been done. It’s called the Heliand. Read the Saxon Savior and the Germanization of Christianity.