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America's Spiritual Utopias - The Quest for Heaven on Earth (Hardcover)
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America's Spiritual Utopias - The Quest for Heaven on Earth (Hardcover)
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There are some 20,000 utopian communities in present-day America.
Most of them keep a low profile, welcoming new members without
advertising for them. Nearly all are hidden from view -- in rural
America, in city slums, behind monastery walls. A majority of them
are motivated by religious faith and seek to approximate heaven on
earth. Some are startlingly successful. Utopian communities share a
belief in the essential goodness of human nature and the
possibility of personal perfection. The glue that binds them is not
coercion, but commitment. Most are radically egalitarian. Their
members are persuaded that their individual interests coincide with
the values of the group, which stands in the place of God. The
earliest Christians embraced a communal life of mutual caring,
prompting pagans of the time to marvel, "See how they love one
another." Contemporary spiritual communities in America enjoy the
same motivation. For a disconnected society obsessed with
unfettered freedom and acquisitiveness, they demonstrate the power
of fellowship and sharing over individual isolation and narrow
self-interest. These are their stories. From the outset, settlers
freed from the cynicism of the Old World welcomed the opportunity
that beckoned in the New. The Puritans conceived of Massachusetts
as the biblical City on a Hill. The Quakers made Pennsylvania a
Holy Experiment. Like the Israelites before them, the Mormons
trekked through a desert to create an empire of the spirit. Even
failed utopias offer lessons. The Shakers are remembered today for
their furniture, tools, and songs, but in their time they attracted
thousands to a devout life of simple abundance in community. It was
only because they werecelibate that their numbers decreased. By
contrast, the Amish still thrive because their birth rate is three
times the national average. Today there are 660 Amish congregations
across 20 states -- 14,000 of the simple farmers in Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania alone. Most of the communes that flourished in
the counter-culture of the 1960s and 70s failed for lack of
resources and rules. But some, motivated by spirituality rather
than anarchy, have become models of self-sustaining modern Edens.
Here, Yount describes the history and place of several utopian
communities in America, offering a glimpse into their lives,
beliefs, and the ideas that sustain them.
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