"MANAS is a journal of independent
inquiry, concerned
with the study of the principles that move world society
on its present course, and with the search for contrasting
principles, which may be capable of supporting intelligent
idealism under the conditions of the twentieth century."
— from the
MANAS publication statement
When we moved
to the Berkshires in 1980, Bob Swann's "subscription" to MANAS,
an eight-page weekly journal, followed us. Subscription
is in quotes because I don't ever remember a subscription
renewal request. Bob was just on Henry Geiger's list. Geiger
was the extraordinary writer, editor, and publisher of MANAS for
forty-one years from 1948 through 1988, the year before
his death at the age of 80.
MANAS was the highlight of the week for me.
I would walk to the mailbox at the foot of the drive and
start reading on the way up. It was like having a
private clipping service which spanned the ages of great
thinkers and activists. The same issue would have
bits of Plato, Kropotkin, Simone Weil, combined with news
of Wes Jackson's work to recreate a perennial agriculture.
MANAS never failed to reorient me to the finest idealism,
an idealism that was, after all, at the heart of our work
at the E. F. Schumacher Society. Though I had never
met the author of those many articles in person, the cessation
of publication of MANAS still meant the loss of a trusted
friend. MANAS was a singularly steady and wise voice
in a rapidly accelerating and uncertain age.
To our delight a new MANAS appeared in
the mailbox in 1999—not exactly a new MANAS but a
MANAS-sized newsletter announcing the availability of all
past issues of the weekly journal on CD-Rom. The CD
was the project of "MANAS Reprints," a devoted group of
friends of MANAS who knew Geiger personally. They also
knew that Geiger maintained an annotated index of all his
articles in card files. It was a valuable resource
that should be preserved. The Index too was digitalized.
Geiger was already publishing at the
time of the McCarthy hearings in the Senate in the early
1950s. Though not a political journal, the ideas discussed
in MANAS may well have been called subversive, for all great
ideas have the potential of overthrowing the status quo.
In such a political climate, Geiger kept his mailing list
very private, on a single set of metal label plates.
But MANAS readers came to know each other.
Martha Shaw, who made the wonderful drawings for the Schumacher
Society's letterhead and posters, was a subscriber. Martha
so loved her weekly MANAS that she crafted a purse just
the right size to hold an issue without folding. On her
daily morning bike ride to the neighborhood diner for a
coffee and roll she always brought along her purse, the
newest MANAS, and several photo-copies of her favorite MANAS
essays for giving away. She understood well the spirit of
MANAS, which was to encourage the free exchange of ideas.
MANAS was not a business affair for Henry
Geiger but an affair of the heart. The saving and
sharing of MANAS with new readers for a new century has
also been an affair of the heart. Thanks to the help of the MANAS Reprints team, to David Long and Asa Hardcastle of Zenn New Media, and to Dane Springmeyer of the E. F. Schumacher Society, we are pleased to make available through the Internet the complete library of MANAS articles—a
"record of 'intelligent idealism' in the past [that]
can be relied upon for guidance, [so that] the courage of
good men [and women] is not dampened by evil prospects,
but rather increased."
Enjoy, as we have, and share freely with others.
Susan
Witt
Susan Witt
Executive Director
E. F. Schumacher Society
140 Jug End Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230 USA
www.smallisbeautiful.org
"Publication of MANAS spans nearly
a quarter of a century. This has been a time of great vicissitudes
and ominous portents in the affairs of mankind. There have
also been some encouraging developments, with the emergence
of currents of thought suggestive of new strength and vision
for the future—a future still
darlky unclear and by no means certain. Yet if the record
of 'intelligent idealism' in the past can be relied upon
for guidance, the courage of good men is not dampened by
evil prospects, but rather increased. MANAS would continue
its chronicle of the constructive thought of the times,
endeavoring to separate messages of authentic meaning from
the 'noise,' and give to them what amplification it can.
In the terms of the scope of this undertaking, there is
nothing else to do."
—From the "Foreword"
to the MANAS READER, published in 1971
