Transcendentalism, Peers, and Patterns Via A Gallery Walk?
After engaging in the gallery walk and perusing your peer's Modern Utopian Society project creations, what are
you thinking about the patterns you noticed in their Transcendentalism creations? Other? Please complete this blog
response by 2:30p.m. on Fri., Sep. 15th.
posted by Greg T at Friday, September 15, 2017
34 Comments:
The utopias that I saw all included a natural aspect. They also wanted to keep their community small and simple. Every society had something to do with living off the land and away from society. Most overall seek rejection of modern society.
While walking around I noticed that many of the people Utopias were based on seclusion and being alone. These creations were very creative and lively and funny. It was awesome to look at everyone's pictures and what they related to them.
I have noticed that most of these modern day transcendentalist places follow one of the tree qualities; Simplicity, seclusion, and non-violent. These qualities show that the transcendentalist will be in a calm, relaxing environment where they can be themselves.
Each location is remote, quaint, and incorporates self-reliance through living off resources and living outdoors. The properties were not surrounded by neighbors and the nearest communities were ones of great acceptance. There is a lack of electricity in majority of the houses causing the individuals living there to disconnect from the outside world via a blue screen. Due to the wide proximity from resources such as grocery stores, the individual must live off the land and provide for themselves. There are very few distractions in and around these homes giving the individuals an immense amount of time to connect with nature, religions dn their true purpose.
Some patterns I noticed in other peoples Utopias were that they usually took place in a fairly secluded off place away from society. They also mainly had a sense of simplicity that allowed stress to be reduced and focus to be on important things so they included things like no electronics. Also they had non violence and encouraged interactions with other people to be helpful and peaceful. Most also took place somewhere where people could be emerged in nature.
While I was walking around looking at everyone's projects I noticed that the one thing they all had in common was they were all located in secluded area, away from any civilization. Do all transcendentalists live outside of urban areas? If someone wanted to start this way of life would they have to move out of there city?
I noticed that most communities were as technology free as possible. I believe, that in a modern transcendentalist community, even the most basic of computerized technology is necessary. If no technology is present, someone who is even the slightest bit skeptical of transcendentalism will become uncomfortable, and the community will be unsuccessful. If a technology free community were to exist, every member must be 100% on board with living a technology free lifestyle.
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After walking around and looking at other's utopia projects, I found that a common theme was for the utopia to be located somewhere very seclusive, for example in the woods or in a canyon. I think most people are aware that calmness and loneliness can help someone learn about themselves, and can teach them about their purpose in life.
I noticed that everyone focused on nature and the isolation of others. There really wasn't much spirituality and everyone focused on relaxation and beautiful nature. A few focused on the co-existence of humans and them building up each other by working together. A few also thought that living in a city was better.
The most obvious similarity between all of the projects was the idea that every utopia is located in a remote location, away from modern society and technology. In addition to this, a handful of projects focused on obtaining inner peace and a sense of personal destiny.
After looking at my peers modern utopias I noticed that many of them were based on nature and that they aren't materialistic in nature. They focus on living of the land away from others and taking care of ourselves. Many of the utopias are located miles away from any society but they also have commodities, like a nice living space and a good food source.
After looking through the gallery of other people’s utopias I noticed a few similarities and differences. Some similarities I saw was the location, not specifically the same place but many were places outside of the USA that were in a tropical or forest setting. Another similarity I saw was that many utopias were focused on less electronics and more homegrown food and were trying to be “less modern”. Lastly a difference that I saw was in the presentation.. Some people used pictures and some used slideshow presentations and since this project was fairly open ended it was interesting to see which way people took their modern utopia project.
One of the things I noticed in the Utopias I saw was that every single one seemed to say that their utopia was in a place away from society and civilization. I think this is because most of the people who believe that they are considered to be transcendentalist agree that the best place to find yourself is the one away from the cares of the community. Another thing I noticed is that they all were very simple, and didn't include anything that makes things more complicated than it needs to be.
Most places were very isolated and on their own. They're very close to or located in nature. Transcendentalism is a very solitary life and so in order to attract a transcendentalist to a place they need to be convinced their going to be alone so they can find absolute truth and purpose within themselves. Most students seem to catch onto this idea and though the locations and pictures differed, most of them came with that general idea of being isolated from society.
Every single utopia mentioned seclusion. It is a very important part of a transcendentalist community, as it needs to be complete without customs of other societies, and the best way to accomplish this without temptations is seclusion. Another pattern shared by most of these communities is the setting. Most were depicted in a forested area, very similar to Colorado's landscape. I believe this may just be a side-effect of all of us living in Colorado, but it is still an interesting similarity.
As I was walking around I noticed that many of the Utopia's had the same characteristics, such as, they were all mostly in forests and they all were secluded from other houses. Also, what I noticed in one of them was that there were no cell phones which I thought was very good because if you are separating yourself from others then you do not need a cell phone. A lot of them also had gardens/ waterfalls which are very peaceful.
I noticed a lot of people were talking about Utopias with an actual society. Which I found ironic considering that Transcendentalism is against the idea of society. I think a lot of people were too focused on the Society part of a Transcendentalist utopia. Society id said to be a huge problem in the eyes of Transcendentalist. So it seems backwards thinking for Transcendentalist Utopias to involve something even close to the word Society. A few people had a single cabin in the woods deal, and focused less on the big ppicture idea.
While walking around the room and looking at my peers Utopian societies they all included minimalism and the outdoors. Most of the societies had smaller wood houses and community aspect somewhere within them. I think the use of the outdoors was so people are not as influenced by technology and distractions that come with it. The community is a big part, with it everyone is helping one another. The aspect of community is big because this shows that people should help each other and not everyone should have to fen for themselves. I think community is a huge part of Transcendentalism, it is hard for people to be alone and be completely independent.
Very few of these societies were actually societies. Isolation is key to transcendentalism and the idea of a transcendentalist town is just stupid. Instead most people focused on creating living areas reminiscent of Walden pond.
Nearly every project had pictures of a rural cabin or meadow in a forest. All of the descriptions of the societies mentioned their seclusion and how far away they were from modern society. Each and every one followed the same three points, seclusion, lack of modern technology, and attractive imagery. Our class overall has boiled down transcendentalism into it's lack of modern society.
While I was observing the modern-day utopian societies created by my fellow peers I noticed how similar they all were. The majority of the societies were based in nature, more specifically isolated cabins in nature. There was also a lot of breathtaking settings that would make me feel fresh and replenished. I also saw a couple of signs that said, "No Phone Zone" and "No Judging Here." These signs demonstrate a transcendentalists life.
After walking around the gallery walk at the classes Modern Utopian Society project creation, I noticed that everyone's project was almost all the same. There were a tons of pictures of forests or cabins. I believe that a majority of the projects were based on no technology and getting away from society. Its interesting to see that a lot of people feel the same way about transcendentalism and how we would be like if we were all one with nature.
After doing the gallery walk and looking at multiple people's Modern Utopian Society project creation I noticed that they had many similarities. I noticed that a lot of them revolved around nature and having close/involved communities. The pictures that I saw from several different projects had cabins in a forest or some sort of piece from nature involved which is a very transcendentalist way of thinking. I think it was unusual that a lot of what people wrote down was so similar.
People want their communities to be in beautiful locations far from other people. Those are perfect locations. What I have seen with transcendentalism is that they like seclusion and simplicity.
After engaging in the gallery walk and viewing my peers creations, a common occurrence was the desire for the lack of technology in their societies. This observation has led me to ponder how much technology distracts us from fully discovering and experimenting with our true identity. In saying that, all of my peers modern utopias seem very appealing, as all of them allow us to commence our journey to self reliance, discovery, appreciation, and personal growth.
When walking around the room, and scrolling through the different projects, I realized that most people had similar projects. The first thing I noticed was that most included nature, where people lived in forests or on farms. A lot of them included cabins or farm houses. The second thing I noticed was that the projects had small villages or small cities instead of big cities and towns. The last thing I realized was that we all had the similar idea on getting rid of technology.
With all of the projects I saw, there were elements of solitude, and minimizing technology use, the idea of their utopia was centered on nature and solitude within a small confinement, this gave the idea of transcendentalism but did was it truly transcendental, the answer is no, transcendentalism requires solitude, society requires multiple people, they are the antithesis of each other.
Walking around the classroom showed a lot of similar themes. The idea of being isolated from technology and the big city. Being surrounded by open fields and trees. The idea of rejecting society and being true to yourself. Using your surroundings to find who you really are, and living deliberately.
I noticed that a lot of people chose isolated nature scenes for their Utopian project. Each student's transcendental creation allowed for the transcendentalist to be far away from society and closer to nature. The nature represented in the photos were always beautiful forests or beaches or someplace that seemed extremely beautiful.
All of the projects seemed to follow along with the main ideas of transcendentalism: independence, self-reliance, confidence, and so on. They all also seemed pretty isolated and away from the rest of society, the idea that people are their truest self away from society. One more commonality was nature. All of the utopias were somewhere in nature whether it be a forest or a beach, because nature is very important.
I noticed that people created places that are exiled from civilization and in a satisfying place that is relaxing and stress free. Everyone's utopia did not have technology and was based on surviving off the nature.
I noticed that a lot of the utopias that people created were very nature inspired and a sort of far off place. They were mostly self sufficient.
During the Modern Utopian Society gallery walk I noticed that my peers presentations had a sad tone. Looking at these patterns of racism, starvation, illness, and the rights among humanity, my emotions became triggered. Thinking about the overall project I have learned the value of change within humanity and how nature impacts our ability to change.
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