Henry David Thoreau's View Of Transcendentalism

With the topic of transcendentalism, it’s very easy to sound pretentious and stuck up. The ideations of anti-society and self-reliance could easily be taken to an extreme, and thus lose their meaning. Many should consider taking their teachings with a grain of salt as they come from a time when it was easy for white men to go and experience life, but it was harder for those from less privileged groups. Thoreau once said, “Shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous.” Many are inclined to agree given the state of the world around us. What with corruption weaving it’s way into our government, schools, and even places of worship, we’re starting to open our eyes to the harsh reality that everyone lies, even
the people we’re supposed to trust. It’s quickly become human nature to assume that the good truth is nothing more than an urban legend. Many are starting to believe that the golden rule is nothing more than a way for us to be further manipulated by a higher power. We, as humans, seem to have adapted to these false truths and power imbalances by building up false personas to compensate for the traits we lack. Iit can easily be argued that this is an incorrect viewpoint however, especially from a transcendental point of view..
Transcendentalist believe that people are inherently good, and that it’s society that corrupts us, so wouldn’t a generalized statement such as this contradict what Thoreau believes? While the above could be considered pretentious, it is still fairly thought provoking, it really allows a person to look at themselves and question whether or not they believe the “shams and delusions” they put on for themselves. While it may not do the same for everyone, it certainly did so for me. This quote has inspired me to look within myself and see that I’m not as independent and self-reliant as I had convinced myself I am. Self reliance and independence are the two ideals that I value the most, and yet here I am, not fully accepting that I’m not as confident as I had originally thought. I’m taking grand delusions and pushing away the truth as fictional, invasive thoughts. This insight has helped me to realize that I need to work on my weak personality traits for myself rather than pretty them up for others. To grow as a person, I need to realize that pushing things down to avoid conflict can only harm me, and that I need to accept that not everyone will like
you. To become the person I pretend to be, I need to figure out how to actually better my mental state rather than tie a bow around it. As a general rule, mankind needs to learn to embrace the truth no matter how difficult, and use it has a sturdy base for building the character that’s needed to not only stop the corruption in our society, but also to stop a vicious cycle of intrusive thoughts that drag down the progression of our society.