Gandhi And Transcendentalism

Ralph Waldo Emerson is an author who came up with the idea of transcendentalism. He also was a mentor to another famous Transcendentalist named Henry David Thoreau. Nut what is transcendentalism? Transcendentalism itself is the idea of living simply, living in nature, individualism over group, and self-reliance. Transcendentalism has affected the lives of many people, such as Gandhi, a major freedom fighter from India who helped defeat the British army without so much as picking up a weapon. There were many instances in Gandhi’s life that depicted Transcendentalism. Gandhi used to live in a house without his family and without electricity of any kind, which shows individualism and simplicity. Also, he used to make his own clothes and even lead
One example of Chris living in nature is when he lives in the bus in Alaska. Chris is trying to be independent from his parents, and does not want to depend on anybody for anything. He thus decides to live in the wild in Alaska. When he gets up into Alaska, he hikes around until he comes upon a bus. It wasn't a big bus, or a comfortable bus, “just a defense against the rain” (Thoreau 113). Using this bus as shelter, Chris hunts for food and gathers water from a river. He lives off nature, and he see’s nature truly, as only a “few adult persons see nature” (Emerson 109). This is transcendentalism because Chris is living in the nature and off it, and even experiencing it like Thoreau did at Walden. Soon, as it is becoming difficult for Chris to live off of nature, he soon realizes that “however mean your life is, meet it and live it (Thoreau 115). Thus, Chris continues to live off of nature, and unfortunately, it's becomes increasingly hard for him, as he loses his supplies in a river. He now has to literally live off of nature by eating plants, which he does. Chris lives in nature, and also dies in it, thus being
One example in which Chris demonstrates individualism is when he leaves his parents. Chris has amazing grades and he is so intelligent that he even gets into Harvard. Since his parents are rich, he does not need to worry about anything, and he leaves for Harvard. However, after a few months when his parents don’t hear anything from him, they become worried. They soon learn that Chris left Harvard a long time ago. They try to track him, but Chris does not want to be tracked. This is because Chris believes that “he does not want to pursue [his goal’s] sitting upon another man’s shoulders” (Thoreau 118). His parents become extremely agitated and it gets to the point when his father collapses onto the street, crying in depression. The Individualism demonstrates that Chris is only thinking about himself because he believes that “society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members” (Emerson 110). This belief causes Chris to “absolve [him] to [himself]” and harm his parents mentally (Emerson 110). As a result, when Chris needs his parents most when he is about to die, they are not there for him. Chris is alone in the world, just as he wants. He leaves the world an individualist, without anyone at his