Koreshanity
Encyclopedia
Not to be confused with the teachings of David Koresh
Koreshanity is the set of religious/scientific beliefs put forth by Cyrus Teed
(also known as Koresh). Followers of this belief were called "Koreshans", and most of them formed a utopia
n communal society called the Koreshan Unity
.
and his followers. They are:
" as an ideal commune for his followers, to be located on the Mississippi river. In 1894 Teed moved to Florida where he accumulated land for yet another community. He was influenced, according to historian Robert S. Fogarty, by Emmanuel Swedenborg, as was Thomas Lake Harris
, and these ideas helped craft his own notion of a “new spiritual heaven…called New Jerusalem.”.Teed shows the degree to which the concept of ‘New Jerusalem’ not only translated into the ideal of creating a heavenly place on earth but the re-labeling of heaven to constitute a New Jerusalem up above.
David Koresh
David Koresh , born Vernon Wayne Howell, was the leader of a Branch Davidian religious sect, believing himself to be its final prophet. Howell legally changed his name to David Koresh on May 15, 1990. A 1993 raid by the U.S...
Koreshanity is the set of religious/scientific beliefs put forth by Cyrus Teed
Cyrus Teed
Cyrus Reed Teed was a U.S. eclectic physician and alchemist turned religious leader and messiah. In 1869, claiming divine inspiration, Dr...
(also known as Koresh). Followers of this belief were called "Koreshans", and most of them formed a utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
n communal society called the Koreshan Unity
Koreshan Unity
The Koreshan Unity was a communal utopia formed by Cyrus Teed, who took the name "Koresh", the Hebrew version of his name Cyrus . The Koreshans followed Teed's beliefs, called Koreshanity....
.
Main beliefs
The main beliefs of Koreshanity, or Koreshan Universalogy, are put forth in the many writings of Cyrus TeedCyrus Teed
Cyrus Reed Teed was a U.S. eclectic physician and alchemist turned religious leader and messiah. In 1869, claiming divine inspiration, Dr...
and his followers. They are:
- Cellular Cosmogony, which is Teed's unique form of Hollow Earth theory which puts forth the idea that the EarthEarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, and universeUniverseThe Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
are contained within a concave sphere, or 'cell'. The Koreshans even conducted several experiments, similar to those conducted by believers in a Flat EarthFlat EarthThe Flat Earth model is a belief that the Earth's shape is a plane or disk. Most ancient cultures have had conceptions of a flat Earth, including Greece until the classical period, the Bronze Age and Iron Age civilizations of the Near East until the Hellenistic period, India until the Gupta period ...
. The most well known was conducted on the beach of Naples (the Koreshan Geodetic Survey of 1897), a town south of the Koreshan UnityKoreshan UnityThe Koreshan Unity was a communal utopia formed by Cyrus Teed, who took the name "Koresh", the Hebrew version of his name Cyrus . The Koreshans followed Teed's beliefs, called Koreshanity....
commune at Estero, FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Here is the description of the earth from Cellular Cosmogony:
-
- "The sunSunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
is an invisible electromagneticElectromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
batteryBattery (electricity)An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...
revolving in the universeUniverseThe Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
's center on a 24-year cycle. Our visible sun is only a reflection, as is the moonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, with the starStarA star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s reflecting off seven mercurialMercury (element)Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
discs that float in the sphere's center. Inside the earth there are three separate atmosphereAtmosphereAn atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...
s: the first composed of oxygenOxygenOxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
and nitrogenNitrogenNitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
and closest to the earth; the second, a hydrogenHydrogenHydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
atmosphere above it; the third, an aboron (sic) atmosphere at the center. The earth's shell is one hundred miles thick and has seventeen layers. The outer seven are metallic with a gold rind on the outermost layer, the middle five are mineral and the five inward are geologic strata. Inside the shell there is life, outside a void."
- "The sun
Other beliefs
- ReincarnationReincarnationReincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
, the belief that people are reborn. - ImmortalityImmortalityImmortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
, the belief people will not die. - CelibacyCelibacyCelibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...
, the belief of abstaining from any sexual conductHuman sexualityHuman sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
, which they felt was a scientific method to obtain immortality. - CollectivismCollectivismCollectivism is any philosophic, political, economic, mystical or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. Collectivists usually focus on community, society, or nation...
, the community lived communally, with everyone sharing in the work without being paid. This began with the first communeCommune (intentional community)A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, and, in some communes, work and income. In addition to the communal economy, consensus decision-making, non-hierarchical structures and ecological living have become...
in Chicago, leading to them moving to Estero and building their "New Jerusalem". - AlchemyAlchemyAlchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
, which was an area that Teed had experimented in for years. - Teed's inspiredRevelationIn religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...
leadership. Teed claimed to be the 'seventh' messianicMessiahA messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
leader (JesusJesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
was the sixth)
Koreshan settlement
Teed proposed the creation of a "New JerusalemNew Jerusalem
In the book of Ezekiel, the Prophecy of New Jerusalem is Ezekiel's prophetic vision of a city to be established to the south of the Temple Mount that will be inhabited by the twelve tribes of Israel in the...
" as an ideal commune for his followers, to be located on the Mississippi river. In 1894 Teed moved to Florida where he accumulated land for yet another community. He was influenced, according to historian Robert S. Fogarty, by Emmanuel Swedenborg, as was Thomas Lake Harris
Thomas Lake Harris
Thomas Lake Harris was an American mystic, spiritualistic prophet and poet.-Early life:Harris was born at Fenny Stratford in Buckinghamshire, England. His parents were Calvinistic Baptists, and very poor. They settled at Utica, New York, when Harris was five years old...
, and these ideas helped craft his own notion of a “new spiritual heaven…called New Jerusalem.”.Teed shows the degree to which the concept of ‘New Jerusalem’ not only translated into the ideal of creating a heavenly place on earth but the re-labeling of heaven to constitute a New Jerusalem up above.
Major works of Koreshanity
- Cyrus TeedCyrus TeedCyrus Reed Teed was a U.S. eclectic physician and alchemist turned religious leader and messiah. In 1869, claiming divine inspiration, Dr...
Cellular Cosmogony, or, the Earth a Concave Sphere. Originally published in 1905, later reprinted in 1975. Gives the 'scientific' proofs of a concave earth, and details of their Naples experiment. - Cyrus TeedCyrus TeedCyrus Reed Teed was a U.S. eclectic physician and alchemist turned religious leader and messiah. In 1869, claiming divine inspiration, Dr...
Immortal Manhood. Published in 1902, details the relationship of man with God. The work, along with Cellular Cosmogony, are considered the pivotal works in Koreshan teachings. - A.W.K. Andrews. The Identification of Israel. 1882. Gives the basis for their beliefs in reincarnationReincarnationReincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
and its importance in building their "New Jerusalem" - Koreshan Foundation. Koreshanity: the New Age Religion. 1971. A fairly recent reprint of 4 works by Teed and J. Augustus Weimar. Covers their beliefs in reincarnationReincarnationReincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
, male-female duality of God, messianic prophecy, and more. - Ulysses Morrow. Scientific Experiments on Lake Michigan. 1899. Details their first experiments to prove a concave sphere.
External links
- Koreshan State Historic Site, official web page.
- Unofficial Koreshan State Historic Site, unofficial web page.
- American Communal Utopias and The Koreshan Unity: A Bibliography Brief overview and great bibliography of works, if slightly dated.
- Turning the Universe Inside-Out: Ulysses Grant Morrow's Naples Experiment Examination of the Naples Experiment, and why it failed.
- The Startling Testimony of Plumb-Lines Earlier experiments of Ulysses Grant Morrow
- Catherine A. Anthony Ohnemus- Dr. Cyrus Teed and the Koreshan Unity Movement
- Biography of Cyrus Reed Teed