What happened in the early 1900's?

Many authors and artists emerged during this time period, 1880-1920, who's workings bordered alone the fringes of occult magic and alien gods. Why? If you were to view the works of today's artists, nothing compares to the scope of what happened 100 years ago!

It cannot be simply stated that it was the turn of the century, the dawning of new technology. Technology in this time did influence movie makers. Science was a grand marvel, yet there are many creative persons who leaned towards the spiritual and darker tendancies of man. And there was something else connecting these people.

Their dreams.

H P Lovecraft, noted author of such tales like "Call Of Cthuhlu" and "The Mountians of Madness", mostly famous for his penning of the Necronomican, accredited his dreams and night visions for the influences of his stories.

www.hplovecraft.com...

The ever-famous Aleister Crowley, leader of the Golden Dawn, had recieved dreams and hallucinations from his practiced magics; even having written a book or two during these meditative states.

www.morticom.com...

Some people will recall the name William Blake, 18th century English poet and artist, who re-wrote the worlds mythologies into a darker, more macabe rendition. It wasn't until this time period that his works "emerged" into the light.

www.newi.ac.uk...

Least known would be Austin Osman Spare, artist, occultist... he devled into the works of Lovecraft and was gripped with mental paralyzise.

www.controverscial.com...

These are but a mere handful of creative minds who have influenced much of today's reasoning behind things arcane. Certianly, there are many more, some who will probably be posted here. But the question still lingers, what happened during this time period around the 1900's that caused such an upheavel?

What had crept into the minds of man that caused this... this... insurgance of the unexplained and unknown religious or spiritual depths? Is it merely coincidence that these leaders all reached into the void of reality, or is there something more?



[Edited on 14-12-2003 by soothsayer]

Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution, throwing away the teachings of the Bible... yet many theologians, not directly supporting this system, finding evidence that may lean towards it. How does this add to the 1900's idea of an occult influence? Not only does it take away the account of God, but it is the start (in today's view) of alien influence on our DNA. For the "evolution revolution", go to

www.pbs.org...

Then there is Carl Jung, noted psychologist who studied under Frued. How many know of his studies into the occult, more importantly of Oriental Mysticism? Collective memories, archtypes, the theories behind "coincidence"...

www.sol.com.au...

When the world's sciences are united with religious views, when all aspects of man's achievements are unified instead of simply pushing away from each other, then a greater picture, perhaps the truth, can be seen.

The 1900's. Artists and writers re-writing the history of man. Scientists rewriting the workings of man. Again I pose this question... why? What happened in this time frame?



[Edited on 14-12-2003 by soothsayer]

So far I've mentioned artists and writers, free thinkers, now I will add the scientists to the grouping of something extraordinary happening during the early 1900's.

Albert Einstein, a mathmatical genius, father and founder of the Theory of Relativity. He destroyed many of his own workings, fearing mankind was not yet ready for such knowledge. Where did he come from, what had he all done? Truly a brilliant mind.

www.pbs.org...

Next we have Nikola Tesla. Inventor. Electrical genius. A man with no equal from his time period, let alone ours.

www.parascope.com...

Artists and writers reaching beyond the human understanding of the unknown. Free-thinkers rewriting the course of mankind. Scientists leaping human knowledge well into the future. All from a simple time period of 20 years.

Where else in history has such an event taken place? Go back into history, science led the way, or religion, never both. Go ahead of the 1900's and you'll see science once again pushing religion aside (their achievments, strangely enough, from the works of the two aforementioned scientists).

Something stirred the minds of mankind, something was awakened. Is there a common source? Will we ever have a time like that again, where we are pushed forward along the paths of spirituality, technology, and human understanding?

For more information on the 1900's

www.thocp.net...

Sooth, you can add another phenomena to this time period.

The immense amount of "New thought" books during the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

Joseph Murphy, William Atkinson, Napoleon Hill, Wallace d Wattles, James Allen were a few of those authors. Most of those books can be found online. All of those books were about the true power of the human mind.

websyte.com...
cornerstone.wwwhubs.com...

It can be said that man made these creative leaps in the scope of a larger period than just around 1900: that between all of the Dark Ages and the advent of Mass Media.

Of which there is much in common.

[Edited on 14-12-2003 by RANT]

Just by using the examples of Einstein and Tesla, they were many years ahead of their time... going from "Dark Ages" and Pre-Industrial thinking to those two... that in itself may be nothing, but when coupled with the rises of occultism, the expansion of human understand...

And with the Dark Ages, science was trying to repress religious beliefs, or vice versa. This has been a repeating cycle throughout all the ages... with the exception of 1880-1920.

Man was reaching forward, in most cases not replacing God with science, or claiming God is all, but combining the two. There was a great expansion in this time, in all fields, one that hasn't been seen before, or parralled yet.

H.P. Lovecraft was and is the greatest literary genius of all time. The cthuhlu mythos are more than what they appear. I have been reading H.P. since I was about 12 years old and it never gets old. I believe that the reason you do not find writers like this now a days is simply because we have went backwards in the evolutionary process. We have deviated too far into the spectrum of ignorance. I also believe that whatever beings Lovecraft dreamt up can be called upon and are very real when projected into the outermost banks of our own psyche. I have dabbled with these beings and the ceremony of the nine angels which is a rendition of Lovecraftian entities put into a ritual process by the late great hated Anton Lavey. Anton Lavey was many things but I believe he was first and foremost an amazing literary enigma, a force to be reckoned with in these dark days of ignorance and sheepish mentality. He brought back what we had been deprived of for so long, practicality. Though dark his writings were poetic and informed, just like H.P. And I think as human beings we need that certain dark facade to feel the sorrow needed to create such enigmatic writing. These two men were the very face of literary greatness, along with poe they were the pen ink in the diatribe of undying beauty.


Without a sense of sorrow, there can be no true poet.