T.L. Harris & Laurence Oliphant

[Bruce Michael]

Hello All,
Here is something on Thomas Lake Harris- poet, master of the science of breath, communitarian and teacher/initiator of Laurence Oliphant.
Some poems:
433. Sea-Sleep by Thomas Lake Harris. Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. 1900. An American Anthology, 1787-1900
431. California by Thomas Lake Harris. Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. 1900. An American Anthology, 1787-1900

On individuality:

No two men in creation think alike;
No two men in creation love alike;
No two men in creation are alike.

No worlds, or suns, or heavens, but are distinct,
And wear a separate beauty. Not a star
But differs from the star that nearest seems
And most congenial to its own pure state,
And this unlikeness grows with all their growth.
Manhood is individuality
Of thought.
No two men ever saw the world
Alike through outward eyes, nor ever heard
Just the same music in the wild birds' hymn
Or the deep moaning of the wakeful sea.
Were all men just alike, then there would be
One stagnant ocean, one lethargic swamp
Of fetid and corrupting life, and men
Tired of the sameness of the universe
Unvarying and permanent, grow like
Ghastly and empty shells of heart and brain.

-T.L. Harris

Born in England in 1823. Taken by father to America when 5 years old. During the year 1850 he first experienced what he termed "internal respiration" and founded his first community, which lasted 2 years.
He had discovered the mystery of the breath. In 1859 he was examined by a doctor who said he " never saw such a capacity for respiration in any other person."
He claimed to be in touch with the great Adepts of the old Golden and Silver ages.
He later founded The Brotherhood of the New Life in Wassaic N.Y. afterwards transferred to Brocton.
At the peak there were 2000 people in communities in Great Britain and America.
He died in 1906.
These communities were notorious for their 'free love' nature, but this distracts from the real knowledge Harris possessed.
The poem part of which I posted before, runs to 10,0000 lines.

More on the Christian initiate Oliphant:
The Difference Dictionary:O

The remarkable Robert Owen (spiritualist/social reformer) was much loved by Karl Koenig. It is interesting that Oliphant married Owen's grandaughter and continued the communitarian work in Palestine.
I'm sure that Owen was also a great soul like Oliphant/Ovid.


Br.Bruce