Good example, MD of how a spiritual movements can spread in a time. Sort of like TM did in the 1950-70's. By shakti of experience and then word of mouth from family and friends. That was the Quaker spiritual movement in its day. Mobility through kin and connection.
Someone here in Fairfield with connection to Vermont and New England just handed me a 900 page dissertation that was written on the spread of what the author is calling, 'antinomianism' of various shades. A study of separatist spirituality from European roots moving across New England, jumping and going around what was then the ISIS-like colony of its day, Massachusetts Colony to settle further into New England. A thesis in this work amongst others is that this separatist spirituality (different than religion) moved in its day following kin and business connection often through seaports and then inland. MD writes: My tenth Great Grandfather , Ambrose Dixon, was born in London in 1623. He migrated to James Virginia about 1640. He came over as a ship's carpenter.He was a Quaker, living in a predominately Presbyterian community. He and a few other Quakers felt discriminated against for their faith and petitioned Lord Baltimore to move to Maryland where they were welcomed and granted land. I guess you could say he was *in* on the beginnings of the Quaker Sect and one of the first in the colonies. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <dhamiltony...@yahoo.com> wrote : Yes, I had wondered this too and chronicled some of it in a subject thread here on FFL. Often those who were referred to as 'separatists' had quietism as a central practice in addition to may be having Ritam Bhara P (inspired) or attending spiritual (chakra) energy work (Pietists). Maharishi's tenet of 'collective meditation' is most similar to George Fox's movement in its day. Today someone like Ammachi or Janet Sussman are good examples of the spiritual practices of 'piety' at work. Connie Huebner in Fairfield is a great example of the old spiritual line of inspirationists (RPB) coming out of Europe that goes way back. They each blend quietism with their spiritual disciplines. It seems that every generation or so another one rises up with their manifest spiritual experience and a satsanga may form. Generations of separatists generated a lot of writing that they passed around between each other in and across Europe. You would proly enjoy scrolling down through these posts on transcendentalist European separatists: 423860RE: In Quiet, European ancestral genealogy of transcendentalism https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/423860 https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/423860 # # ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <yifux...@yahoo.com> wrote : Does TM have any European antecedents? . The Quietist Movement arose in the Catholic countries: Italy, France, and Spain and is most associated with Miguel de Molinos, 1628 - 1696. A parallel type of thinking and practice arose through George Fox, but many rudimentary antecedents can be found, for example, some practices of certain Gnostics, Cathars, and Meister Eckhart. .The online sources are using the term "contemplation" (Quietism would be an example). The sources use the term "meditation" implying meditation ON various religious images and themes including silent repetition of prayers and vocal prayers, as well as various religious rituals. To clarify TM's place in the 17-th century controversy, we can isolate the Silence/Transcending aspect of TM, and for the same of discussion, forget the Puja part. Then, TM would definitely be in the Quietist camp, since there's no imposition of any religious images (they may or may not arise spontaneously). But all of this is heretical, as Miguel de Molinos found out some time after his Spiritual Guide was published. At first, the Mystical approach of Molinos was accepted among many Catholics, but detractors eventually emerged such as Gottardo Bellhuoma, who in 1678 pointed out that (what he called the Quietism of Molinos), was definitely heretical since it elevated "contemplation" above "meditation (i.e. meditation "on" various religious images along with prayer). . Some key works or phrases in the Quietist movement: self-annihilation (of the ego), self-absorption, withdrawal of the mind, passivity, and continual contemplation on "God" (i.e. the Absolute...not the "God" of the Bible); all leading to what the Quietists called the "Unitive Life" (sound familiar?). At any rate, Molinos was eventually tried for Heresy and died in the Inquisition prison. But thanks to people like George Fox, the Quietist movement lived on under different names.
