Marsha, dmb, and others,
[dmb]
> Along the same lines, I have a chart or map of
> Western philosophies. It shows which schools grew
> from which. I think its very interesting that traces
> a line from the mystery cults and religions of the
> ancient world directly to the transcendentalists, a
> line that goes AROUND everything between them. The
> same chart shows pragmatism as the next step out of
> transcendentalism. I happen to know that James and
> Dewey were both HUGE fans of Emerson. That chart is
> in a frame, nailed to my office wall, and has a tiny
> statue of Buddha resting on top. That makes me smile
> almost every time.
Zen is about independence. An independence that
philosophers such as Thoreau, an direct admire of
Emerson, called for an American philosophy for this,
in his view, would complete the revolution and
independence from European ways in which started as
far back, by some historians, around 1755 during the
French and Indian War when General Braddock came from
England demanding total U.S. colonial compliance,
which rubbed many people the wrong way for many years
to come and this gave an instance of how the U.S. was
naturally becoming its' own.
Thoreau noticed a homegrown, a grassroots taking
off, just as many British did when they came here.
Thoreau was into the 19th century but he saw a where
this truly American way of life sprouted from. It was
in the woods. The pioneers and frontiers people who
rediscovered a way of life free of the institutions
that Concords ties with Paris represented. Thoreau
rediscovered something of value that was here long
before the Europeans, and he learned from the
Penobscot. This land grounded the abstract thinkers
of European with real pragmatic experiences. While
Concordians were rising into the Ivory Towers of Paris
worrying about the lastest fashion and popular
behaviors, the people that lived outside of town were
experiencing the seasons. I venture to say that much
of the pragmatic understandings of the U.S.
philosophic roots are present due to the mix of
European education were experiences could be written
down and taught, with these then applied to the plow,
the mill, and lumber yard, etc...
woods,
SA
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