Selections from "Orphic Sayings" by Amos Bronson Alcott (vegan), Part 1 of 2

Amos Bronson Alcott (vegan), a famous figure of transcendentalism, was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. He also founded other utopian communities, including Fruitlands, which was based on the principles of vegetarianism and simplicity. In today’s episode, we are honored to present excerpts from “Orphic Sayings” by Amos Bronson Alcott (vegan).

IMMANENCE. “There is neither void in nature, nor death in spirit, — all is vital, nothing Godless. Both guilt in the soul and pain in the flesh, affirm the divine ubiquity in the all of being. Shadow apes substance, privation fullness; and nature in atom and whole, in planet and firmament, is charged with the present Deity.”

INCARNATION. “Nature is quick with spirit. In eternal systole and diastole, the living tides course gladly along, incarnating organ and vessel in their mystic flow. Let her pulsations for a moment pause on their errands, and creation’s self, ebbs instantly into chaos and invisibility again. The visible world is the extremest wave of that spiritual flood, whose flux is life, whose reflux death, efflux thought, and conflux light. Organization is the confine of incarnation, — body, the atomy of God.”

PATIENCE. “Be great even in your leisures; making, accepting, opportunities, and doing lovingly your work at the first or eleventh hour, even as God has need of you. Transcend all occasions; exhausted, overborne, by none. Wisdom waits with a long patience; nor working, nor idling with men and times; but living and being in eternity with God. Great designs demand ages for consummation, and Gods are coadjutors in their accomplishment. Patience is king of opportunity and times.”