A glimpse of paradise

Stoddard House

First Church

Where Edwards House was #1

Where Edward’s House was #2

Pascommuck: the Great Awakening begins at the foot of Nonotuck

Read this, too.

The Meadows

Rainbow Beach

How Northampton Became Paradise

Thomas Aquinas believed paradise was not just in heaven; it was terrestrial—but impossible to get to.

In the Summa Theologica, he wrote,

“The situation of paradise is shut off from the habitable world by mountains, or seas, or some torrid region, which cannot be crossed; and so people who have written about topography make no mention of it.”

Four centuries later:

Puritan Captain Edward Johnson crosses the Atlantic Ocean, beholds Massachusetts and calls it “the place where the Lord will create a new Heaven, and a new Earth in, new Churches, and a new Common-wealth together.”

The idea of Massachusetts as paradise on earth is the centerpiece of Puritan ideology. It’s experienced at Plymouth Plantation, and immortalized, as Thanksgiving. It’s imagined, too, by Governor John Winthrop as a “city on a hill.” For Puritans, paradise is wherever God communes with humans. If Massachusetts is to be the “new Jerusalem,” someone—lots of people—have to commune with God.

In 1740, about a century after Captain Johnson makes his claim, Sarah Edwards, daughter of a Yale founder, & wife of Jonathan, tells Jonathan paradise is upon them. God is physically present in Northampton.

“To my mind there was the clearest evidence,” she wrote,

that God was present in the congregation, on the work of redeeming love; and in the clear view of this, I was all at once filled with such intense admiration of the wonderful condescension and grace of God, in returning again to Northampton, as overwhelmed my soul, and immediately took away my bodily strength.

——
Swedish opera star Jenny Lind gets the credit for calling Northampton the Paradise City in 1851.

But, Sarah did it.

And by doing it, unleashed the Great Awakening.

And by doing that, changed the world.

We’re also assessing 6 new sites (click to see)!

Sodden Brook, in Westhampton, near Hampshire Regional High School:

2010 Sodom Brook RBA performed w/Tara O'Brien's science classes

Mill River in Northampton, at Baystate:

Mill River in Haydenville, at Brassworks:

Upper North Manhan River in Westhampton, at Perry Hill Ext.:

Upper North Manhan River in Westhampton, at Rt. 66:

If you love nature, and would like to know why, you’ll benefit from these four discussions about American Animism.

We’ll explore the primary textual sources, and discover the basic concepts of, animism—the belief inherent in all religions that God is alive, in (and sometimes as) nature. My goal is to equip you with a historically-grounded understanding of what modern Western animism is, as nourishment for the growth of your own environmental philosophy.

When you sign up, you’ll receive readings and discussion questions. We meet on Sunday Sept. 25, Oct. 9, Oct. 16, & Oct. 23 from 3-5 pm at Grey Matter Books in Hadley.

Discussions:

#1) Animism in ancient Greece and Judea
This discussion focuses on myths that become the foundation for modern Western Animism. We investigate the Greek figures of the autochthon and genius loci, the Orphic Creation myth and the story of Persephone. Then, we investigate the Judaic stories of Adam and Eve, and of Moses.

#2) Animism in the English Enlightenment
This discussion focuses on how the “natural law” animism of Plato and Epicurus inspired John Locke and Isaac Newton. Locke’s theory of consciousness and Newton’s physics became the foundation for modern Western Animism—and politics, science and psychology. You’ll be amazed when you realize how much of your love of nature derives from these sources.

#3) The Animism of Jonathan Edwards
This discussion focuses on Northampton’s Jonathan Edwards, whose assertion that God is alive in nature begot evangelical Christianity and Transcendentalism. We’ll investigate selections from his sermons and his journal writings—and revel in the fact that his most interesting ideas were developed right here in the Nonotuck biome.

#4) American Animism
This discussion ties together our previous discussions, by focusing on the animism of Thomas Jefferson, who told John Adams:

To talk of immaterial existences, is to talk of nothings. To say that the human soul, angels, God, are immaterial, is to say, they are nothings, or that there is no God, no angels, no soul. … Jesus taught nothing of it. He told us, indeed, that ‘God is a spirit,’ but he has not defined what a spirit is, nor said that it is not matter. And the antient fathers generally, of the three first centuries, held it to be matter, light and thin, indeed, an etherial gas; but still matter.

Jefferson’s political theory, his Declaration of Independence, and his ghostwriting of the Bill of Rights, derive from his neo-classical and Newtonian animism. You’ll learn how his liberal concept of “equality” derived straight out of his definition of nature, and what meant when he said, “freedom is the gift of nature.”

His political influence is incalculable, and is matched by his influence in inspiring our love for nature in the area of aesthetics. In his description of the Natural Bridge of Virginia, he introduced American culture to the concept of the sublime:

The Natural Bridge, the most sublime of Nature’s works… must not be pretermitted. It is impossible for the emotions arising from the sublime, to be felt beyond what they are here: so beautiful an arch, so elevated, so light, and springing as it were up to heaven, the rapture of the spectator is really indescribable.

To hint at the extent of his influence, know that Melville used these words to describe the first appearance of Moby Dick:

“But soon the fore part of him slowly rose from the water; for an instant his whole marbleized body formed a high arch, like Virginia’s Natural Bridge, and warningly waving his bannered flukes in the air, the grand god revealed himself, sounded, and went out of sight.”

We’ll investigate key selections from Jefferson’s writing together—and you will be amazed and inspired to know that you are not alone in your love for nature—this love has been shared by “westerners” since the Bronze Age, and is the source of what we most admire about our culture.

Sunday Sept. 25, Oct. 9, Oct. 16, & Oct. 23 from 3-5 pm at Grey Matter Books in Hadley.
Cost: $50.00 for 4, $15.00 per

American Animism

Discover the history and culture of American Animism

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Thomas Jefferson at the Natural Bridge, by Caleb Boyle c. 1801. Jefferson purchased the natural bridge from George the 3rd in 1774, to use for aesthetic, recreational and spiritual purposes.

He liked purslane, a superfood loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, that is growing now here in the Nonotuck biome. Strew a handful into a salad; it provides the satisfying crunch of a succulent, and does not have a strong flavor.

purslane

Gandhi:

Harijan, 15-2-1935

(For more of his thoughts on purslane, search “luni” via the link above.)

* A weed is a plant we think is in the wrong place, which means that there really is no such thing as a weed, just our judgement of a plant being one.

Tokyo lies between Fukushima and Shizuoka, which means … some big news is being suppressed.

You might ask why it’s being suppressed: the government is trying to prevent panic; maybe the people of Japan are reeling from too much bad news as it is?

Imagine New York City radioactive.

Indian Point nuclear power plant “sits on a small earthquake fault on the east bank of the Hudson River, 38 miles north of New York City …. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80 km) was 17,220,895, an increase of 5.1 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include New York (41 miles to city center); Newark, N.J., (39 miles); Stamford, Conn., (24 miles); Bridgeport, Conn., (40 miles).”

A “a federal report branded it the most vulnerable to earthquakes in the nation … Detailed plans for evacuation exist, but few believe they’re realistic. A 2003 traffic study concluded it would take nine hours to evacuate a 10-mile radius around Indian Point in good weather.”

Where do 20 million people go when their land is contaminated with cesium-137?

In Japan, this no longer a hypothetical question.