1855

The year 1855 was an auspicious one in the modern history of human spirituality. In that year, Walt Whitman published the first edition of his "new American Bible"--Leaves of Grass. And, in March of that year, Leo Tolstoy confided to his diary that

"Yesterday a conversation about Divinity and Faith suggested to me a great, a stupendous, idea to the realization of which I feel capable of devoting my life. That idea is the founding of a new religion corresponding to the present development of mankind; the religion of Christ but purged of dogmas and mysticism--a practical religion, not promising future bliss but giving bliss on earth."

1855 was a landmark year in the revival of Pantagruelism.