the riddle of A m e r i c a edited by John Wulsin David Mitchell Hilmar Moore Julia E. Curry Rodriguez John Root, Sr. Barbara Schneider- contributors Serio David Adams Virginia Sease Christy MacKaye Barnes Jeanne Simon- Henry Barnes Macdonald J. Leonard Benson Rick Spaulding Norman Davidson Philip Thatcher Tom Dews Edward Warren Virgilio Elizondo Thornton Wilder Juan Flores Linda Williams Joe Glosemeyer Michael Winship Hikaru Hirata Dorit Winter Gertrude Reif Hughes John Wulsin Michael Miller Lara Wulsin The Riddle of America Essays Exploring North America’s “Native Expression-Spirit” edited by John H. Wulsin, Jr. Contributors: David Adams Julia E. Curry Rodriguez Christy MacKaye Barnes John Root, Sr. Henry Barnes Barbara Schneider-Serio J. Leonard Benson Virginia Sease Norman Davidson Jeanne Simon-Macdonald Tom Dews Rick Spaulding Virgilio Elizondo Philip Thatcher Juan Flores Edward Warren Joe Glosemeyer Thornton Wilder Hikaru Hirata Linda Williams Gertrude Reif Hughes Michael Winship Michael Miller Dorit Winter David Mitchell John H.Wulsin, Jr. Hilmar Moore Lara Wulsin v Published by: The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America 38 Main Street Chatham, NY 12037 Title: THE RIDDLE OF AMERICA Essays Exploring North America’s “Native Expression-Spirit” Editor: John H. Wulsin, Jr. Executive Editor: David Mitchell Cover: Hallie Wooten Proofreaders: Judy Grumstrup-Scott, Ann Erwin © 2001, revised 2004, 2012 by AWSNA ISBN # 1-888365-32-3 vi Table of Contents Acknowledgments . x Introduction . xi Mythology Oraibi . 1 Edward Warren Awakening Spiritual Consciousness through Legend: The Legend of Huitzilopochtli . 3 David Mitchell The Ramapo Salamander . 9 David Adams Geography The Etheric Geography of North America . 22 David Mitchell North of the Border . 55 Philip Thatcher Oklahoma . 68 Joe Glosemeyer Texas . 79 Hilmar Moore Music, Art, and Literature Reflections on Early Sacred Music of New England . 82 Michael Winship Music and Manners: The American Experience . 89 Tom Dews What Is American Light? . 92 J. Leonard Benson vii What Is “American” in American Art? A Summary Survey of Two Centuries . 99 David Adams The Birth of American Literature: The Altering of the Early American Mind . 148 John H. Wulsin, Jr. Vishnu’s Pursuit of Maya in the Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson . 158 John H. Wulsin, Jr. Emerson’s Epistemology with Glances at Rudolf Steiner . 178 Gertrude Reif Hughes Toward an American Language . 183 Thornton Wilder The American Loneliness . 207 Thornton Wilder Emily Dickinson . 217 Thornton Wilder The Creative Use of Language by Some of America’s Great Writers . 228 Christy MacKaye Barnes The Thief Who Kindly Spoke . 237 Michael Miller Mary Oliver, Inspired Teacher . 245 Jeanne Simon-Macdonald To Each Her Honey . 247 Lara Wulsin Immigration Choosing America as a Place for Incarnation or Immigration in the 21st Century . 251 Virginia Sease Immigrant Contributions: las contribuciones de los emigrantes . 258 Julia E. Curry Rodriguez viii The Sacred in Latino Experience: lo sagrado en la experiencia latina . 260 Virgilio Elizondo Latinos, Too, Sing America: los latinos, también, cantan américa . 262 Juan Flores Who Is Truly a Westerner Today? . 264 Henry Barnes Education Waldorf Education in North America: The Curriculum and the Folk Spirit . 272 Norman Davidson Movement in America: And So—What’s Moving Us? . 279 Barbara Schneider-Serio Multiculturalism and Waldorf Education in America . 282 Linda Williams Columbine …. Afterthoughts . 288 Hikaru Hirata More Riddles Feminism or Humanism? Women’s Studies Meets Spirit Studies . 300 Gertrude Reif Hughes America – The Price of Greatness . 306 Edward Warren Freedom, Thinking, and Individuality: Ways to a New Style in Culture . 317 John Root, Sr. Anthroposophy and the Spirit of America . 335 Rick Spaulding America’s Gold Rush: Can It Be Redeemed? . 342 Dorit Winter Biographies of Contributors . 349 ix Acknowledgments I am grateful to many people who considered possible articles for this book and to others who pointed me in the right direction. David Sciarreta led me directly to Americanos; Edward James Olmos and Dr. Lea Ybarra encouraged me to solicit official permission from Little, Brown, and Co., to reprint three articles from Americanos. Tappan Wilder was extremely encouraging, urging me to solicit permission from Nicole Verity, of the Barbara Hogenson Agency, to reprint three Charles Eliot Norton Lectures that Thornton Wilder gave at Harvard University in 1952. Sherry Wildfeuer, editor of Journal for Anthroposophy, generously allowed us to reprint “American Light,” J. Leonard Benson, 1981; “Emerson’s Epistemology with Glances at Rudolf Steiner,” Gertrude Reif Hughes, Spring/Summer 1986; “Reflections on Early Sacred Music of New England,” Michael Winship, Spring/Summer 1987; ”The Thief Who Kindly Spoke,” Michael Miller, Summer, 1988; ”Anthroposophy and the Spirit of America,” Rick Spaulding, Fall 1998; and “Choosing America as a Place for Incarnation or Immigration in the 21st Century,” Virginia Sease, Fall 1999. The Waldorf Education Research Institute Bulletin gave permission to print Dorit Winter’s address, “America’s Gold Rush … ,”given at the 1999 national AWSNA conference. Susan Stephenson led us to Joe Glosemeyer’s “Oklahoma.” Gosha Karpowicz, James Vaughn, and Dale Hushbeck teamed up on the cover, completed masterfully by Hallie Wooten. David Sloan and Jane Wulsin (who has, more importantly, given me sustenance throughout) helped edit the editor in the introduction. And most important, David Mitchell has been a dedicated partner, helping to co-conceive the notion of the book, consulting well along the way, asking tough questions, making good suggestions, and engaging in Paul Bunyanesque labors, helping the language and manner of these many streams become, as well as possible, one mighty river. x Introduction by John H. Wulsin, Jr. In 1997 the Association of Waldorf Schools in North America focused on America as the theme of its annual conference in Wilton, New Hampshire, at the Pine Hill and High Mowing Waldorf Schools. When there are over eight hundred Waldorf Schools in many parts of the world, what does it mean to be a Waldorf School in America? In 1999 AWSNA focused again on America at the annual conference at the Toronto Waldorf School. That year a resource for study was the newly published edition of Carl Stegmann’s The Other America. John Gardner’s American Heralds of the Spirit has also given many people helpful insights into America. In a conversation with David Mitchell, the idea arose to collect various articles that had been written on America and to publish them in one volume. Hence, The Riddle of America. Initially, I combed sources familiar to people who had some relationship to Waldorf education. In time, however, in true American fashion, the trails started leading in many directions, such as Thornton Wilder’s Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard, 1952, and Edward James Olmos’ new book, Americanos, 1999, the first book fully about and by Latin Americans. Some people were willing to write new articles about particular aspects of America. And, of course, dimensions are missing. The Riddle of America endeavors to explore and reveal what Walt Whitman, in his essay “Democratic Vistas,” calls America’s “native expression-spirit.” This term, original, slightly rough-hewn, nevertheless is the most distilled seed-name I can think of for the subject of this book. I hope all the articles, some implicitly, some explicitly, will shed light on America’s especially mysterious “native expression-spirit.” The Riddle of America begins with three articles exploring the mythic background of America. “Oraibi” is the Hopi story of the evolution of the xi world until the arrival of the first white settlers, as distilled by Edward Warren. David Mitchell then considers one of the Americas’ primary myths, “Huitzilopochtli,” the feathered serpent, as a key to understanding American consciousness. An old American folktale “The Ramapo Salamander,” with a strange blend of Native American and European settlers, geology, and Rosicrucianism yields an esoteric glimpse at America, with the help of David Adams. What does the “body” of America suggest? Four articles look at America geographically. David Mitchell presents an expanded version of his talk at Wilton in 1997, “The Etheric Geography of North America,” a broad view culminating with exercises one can do to better understand one’s particular geographic region. Philip Thatcher pays attention to the geographical influence of western Canada in “North of the Border.” Joe Glosemeyer explores the geological, geographical, and cultural dimensions of Oklahoma. Then Hilmar Moore sets a geographical background for waves of interaction between Native and European, Mexican and Anglo, Catholic and Protestant in neighboring Texas. How do the music and the art of America reveal some of its character? Michael Winship notices specific qualities of “Early Sacred Music of New England,” as they reflect traits of soul of the early American settlers. Tom Dews characterizes America’s improvisational music, particularly blue- grass and jazz. J. Leonard Benson, through attention to the Hudson River School’s Luminist Movement, 1850–1875, considers the possibility of a particularly “American Light” in painting. Then David Adams explores “What Is American in American Art?” in an arcing spread from that Hudson River School through architecture, sculpture, and abstract expressionism to pop art and minimalism, with illuminating perspective. A series