Five Tenets Of Transcendentalism

An American businessman and technology visionary, Steve Jobs, has a huge influence on the idea of never giving up. In his early days, he had ideas and wanted to make a change in technology and the world itself. However, his ideas upon inventing the iPhone were all rejected; moreover, big companies like Windows disagreed with his inventions and refused to work with him. Consequently, he was self-motivated; he wanted to revolutionize the world of technological. In fact, he dropped out of collage after six month due to financial problems; nevertheless, he still followed his dreams. Furthermore, though he went through lots of struggles, he still succeeded. He reached his goal, and became the CEO of Apple, and the co-founder of Pixar for Disney
movies. As a matter of a fact, after being so successful, Windows asked him to work with them again. Finally, he is a great role model for our next generations, and a huge example of transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is an American literary movement that believes truth exists beyond reason and experience; Ralph Waldo Emerson started it.
The Transcendentalists were an exclusive collection of writers who rebelled against the writers of the “Age of Reason” who felt like everything had to have physical evidence to be true. However, the Transcendentalists believed that truth could exist without hard evidence. Also, they believed that it was time for literary independence. Therefore, they deliberately went about creating literature, essays, novels, philosophy, poetry, and other writings. Five major tenets of Transcendentalism are: Non-Conformity, Self-Reliance, Free Thought, Confidence, and Importance of Nature. The thoughts and philosophy of transcendentalism is clearly evident in songs, movies, and media
today. People, to begin with, need to believe in themselves and always try their best at everything. In the movie Hunger Games, Katniss needs to be self-reliant in order to survive and win the games. She had no help and had to rely on herself in order to stay alive. She said, “It was slow-going at first, but I was determined to feed us. I stole eggs from nests, caught fish in nets, sometimes managed to shoot a squirrel or rabbit for stew, and gathered the various plants that sprung up beneath my feet. Plants are tricky. I checked and double-checked the plants I harvested with my father’s picture. I kept us alive,” (Hunger games). This relates to Emerson’s “Self-reliance” aphorisms, he stated, “Trust thy self; every heart vibrates to that iron string,” (Emerson 1). Which basically means one needs to have trust in him self and follow his heart. In other words, don’t rely on others. Katniss was going through the same thing she had to fight everything alone, and she did not have anyone with her. Therefore, she had to step up and provide for herself. In order to be the winner she needed faith in her self and a strong heart. Though being alone is hard for some people, we got to have trust and faith that we are able to survive by only relying on ourselves. Life is important, moreover, in order to enjoy it, never give up and have confidence. The song “Eyes Open,” by Taylor Swift, speaks of confidence. The song says, “keep your feet ready, Heartbeat steady, Keep your eyes open keep your aim locked, The night goes dark, keep your eyes open” (Eyes Open). This line uses imagery and parallel structure to create the image of focus and confidence. It relates to Henry Longfellow’s work, “Psalm of Life”. He states, “Let us, then, be up and doing, with a heart for any fate; still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labor and to wait” (Longfellow 1). This means an individual needs to stay positive about life, keep working hard and have confidence. In addition, this connects to the song that is mentioned above, by telling the readers to have self-confidence and never give up. Living life to the fullest with a high self-esteem is a way to pursuit happiness. Life is simple; therefore, don’t complicate it.
The song “Lorde,” by Royals, has great lyrics that stress the importance of simplicity. It says, “We don’t care, we are driving Cadillacs in our dreams,” (Lorde). This shows their lack of interest in material possessions and as long as they dream they are living. This relates to Henry Thoreau’s work, “Walden.” In his poem he says, “simplify, simplify. Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat one; instead of 100 dishes, five; and reduce other things in proportion,” (Thoreau 1). This indicates that a person has to live life simply and make it easy. “Walden” and the song both express simplicity. They say that if one wants to have a good life, he should only pay attention to his matters and not get into others business. Moreover, live it simply, with no complications to reduce stress and to have fun. When one has little to know expensive material goods surrounding them, they tend to start to think and really come in touch with themselves and the world around
them. Transcendentalism, on the whole, is one of the best movements that occurred in our history. It made our world seem better and happier. It gives the readers a positive vibe about life. It also makes them think that life is worth it and so is everything else. It shows that people need to be optimistic and have the idea of never giving up. Also, it tells us to believe in our selves and have faith that we can get through the hardest times alone with confidence and high self-esteem. Moreover, it has a strong message that express happiness and living for today, which makes the readers see life in a different perspective. Finally, according to the transcendentalism movement, life is more than what we think it is; in other words, we should always see the cup half full.