Examples Of Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism, a literary movement influenced by the romantic era, encouraged the idea of finding and understanding oneself in order to understand the world. The Transcendentalist advocated soul searching in order to find ‘infinite knowledge’/truth about the universe and yourself, understanding the influences of education, and doing what you believe is right despite what those around you may think. The works of Thoreau (Walden and Civil Disobedience) and Emerson (The American Scholar and Self Reliance) are great examples of these practices.
In his The American Scholar Emerson says, “The next great influence into the spirit of the scholar, is, the mind of the Past,- in whatever form, whether of literature, of art, of institutions, that …show more content…
mind is inscribed.” What this means is that the mistakes and victories recorded from our past can be a learning experience for our present selves. Instead of outright rejecting forms of physical knowledge, why don’t we gather that knowledge and then go into the mind of the scholar that is in us. We should use the means we have here on Earth to find the truth of ourselves and, through that, the world. It is said in Thoreau’s Walden “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to find the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Thoreau takes soul searching a bit further by excluding the help of education. Yes, education could aid one, but Thoreau takes the belief that by using methods of isolation one could be left alone to think, to wonder, to ponder that of which is inside of them and when they find the answer they are able to find the knowledge of the universe and knowing about themselves and the universe, maybe they can meet deaths door peacefully. Soul searching is a process that could be done with the help already given to you (education) or by strong will, but either way you will need to look at and listen to what’s inside of you.
Listening to what’s inside, while also helps one understanding with the knowledge of the world, also helps one understand themselves.
In Self-Reliance Emerson says, “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” This small quote alone could summarize the process of looking inside to find yourself. The iron string is the voice that lies in the back of your mind, it’s the conscious that tells you when something is wrong, it is that tug that takes you to the place where you feel you are destined to be. Trusting yourself is just the first step to being one with yourself and the universe. Though in Thoreau’s Walden it is stated that looking may not be all that needs to be done, “Still we live meanly, like ants; thought the fable tells us that we were long ago changed into men.” Yes, we look into ourselves and believe we have found an answer, but finding yourself isn’t enough. This type of thinking is what causes us, the human race, to work/follow like ants do their queen. Yes, like ants, we find out special niches in the colony, but we have no will to do what we feel we should because we’ve stopped at finding ourselves, we look into the textbooks given to us and assume we now know everything. Yet, because our standards, our society tells us that we are now grown men and women because we have our roles in society and we’ve learned what’s in the textbooks we believe we understand
everything.
In Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience it is said to, “Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.” Once you’ve gone on the spiritual journey, or even if you’re just tired of taking the same old same old, get the strength to do what it is that you need to do. Don’t be compelled to be held back by the majority, speak out for what you think is right and maybe your words can change something and make the situation you felt was miserable better, more likely than not for more than yourself. In Self-Reliance Emerson says, “To be great is to be misunderstood.” There will be consequences to finding the truth of yourself and the world, to taking a stand for what you believe in and sticking to your arguments for change. You will be misunderstood, asked to stop, asked to change, but not changing and staying strong is a practice/belief passed down even after the time of transcendentalism. World known leaders like Newton, Jesus, Ghandi, MLK, even Pythagoras who people still question today stood for what they thought was right, what should be changed, what should be added, what should be done. These leaders followed, in some way shape or form, the transcendentalist way.
The works of the Romantic era are about soul searching in order to find ‘infinite knowledge’/truth about the universe and yourself, understanding the influences of education while on the journey, and doing what you believe is right despite what those around you may think and it reveals that although these ideals may seem far fetched, they could work with the transcendentalist mindset and a strong will.
In his The American Scholar Emerson says, “The next great influence into the spirit of the scholar, is, the mind of the Past,- in whatever form, whether of literature, of art, of institutions, that …show more content…
mind is inscribed.” What this means is that the mistakes and victories recorded from our past can be a learning experience for our present selves. Instead of outright rejecting forms of physical knowledge, why don’t we gather that knowledge and then go into the mind of the scholar that is in us. We should use the means we have here on Earth to find the truth of ourselves and, through that, the world. It is said in Thoreau’s Walden “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to find the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Thoreau takes soul searching a bit further by excluding the help of education. Yes, education could aid one, but Thoreau takes the belief that by using methods of isolation one could be left alone to think, to wonder, to ponder that of which is inside of them and when they find the answer they are able to find the knowledge of the universe and knowing about themselves and the universe, maybe they can meet deaths door peacefully. Soul searching is a process that could be done with the help already given to you (education) or by strong will, but either way you will need to look at and listen to what’s inside of you.
Listening to what’s inside, while also helps one understanding with the knowledge of the world, also helps one understand themselves.
In Self-Reliance Emerson says, “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” This small quote alone could summarize the process of looking inside to find yourself. The iron string is the voice that lies in the back of your mind, it’s the conscious that tells you when something is wrong, it is that tug that takes you to the place where you feel you are destined to be. Trusting yourself is just the first step to being one with yourself and the universe. Though in Thoreau’s Walden it is stated that looking may not be all that needs to be done, “Still we live meanly, like ants; thought the fable tells us that we were long ago changed into men.” Yes, we look into ourselves and believe we have found an answer, but finding yourself isn’t enough. This type of thinking is what causes us, the human race, to work/follow like ants do their queen. Yes, like ants, we find out special niches in the colony, but we have no will to do what we feel we should because we’ve stopped at finding ourselves, we look into the textbooks given to us and assume we now know everything. Yet, because our standards, our society tells us that we are now grown men and women because we have our roles in society and we’ve learned what’s in the textbooks we believe we understand
everything.
In Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience it is said to, “Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.” Once you’ve gone on the spiritual journey, or even if you’re just tired of taking the same old same old, get the strength to do what it is that you need to do. Don’t be compelled to be held back by the majority, speak out for what you think is right and maybe your words can change something and make the situation you felt was miserable better, more likely than not for more than yourself. In Self-Reliance Emerson says, “To be great is to be misunderstood.” There will be consequences to finding the truth of yourself and the world, to taking a stand for what you believe in and sticking to your arguments for change. You will be misunderstood, asked to stop, asked to change, but not changing and staying strong is a practice/belief passed down even after the time of transcendentalism. World known leaders like Newton, Jesus, Ghandi, MLK, even Pythagoras who people still question today stood for what they thought was right, what should be changed, what should be added, what should be done. These leaders followed, in some way shape or form, the transcendentalist way.
The works of the Romantic era are about soul searching in order to find ‘infinite knowledge’/truth about the universe and yourself, understanding the influences of education while on the journey, and doing what you believe is right despite what those around you may think and it reveals that although these ideals may seem far fetched, they could work with the transcendentalist mindset and a strong will.