Transcendentalism is a
philosophical, spiritual, and literary movement of the Nineteenth Century. The major writers in American
Transcendentalism include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and
Margaret Fuller.
The
transcendentalists, in keeping with the individualistic nature of this philosophy,
disagreed readily with each other.
Here are four points of general
agreement: […] 1. An individual is
the spiritual center of the universe
– and in an individual can be found the clue to nature, history and, ultimately,
the cosmos itself. It is not a
rejection of the existence of God, but
a preference to explain an individual and the world in terms of an individual.
2. The structure of the universe literally duplicates the structure
of the individual self – all knowledge, therefore, begins with self-knowledge. This is similar to Aristotle’s dictum
“know thyself.” 3.Transcendentalists
accepted the neo-Platonic conception of nature as a living
mystery, full of signs – nature is symbolic. 4. The belief
that individual
virtue and happiness depend upon self-realization – this depends
upon the reconciliation of two universal psychological tendencies: a.
the expansive or self-asserting tendency – a desire to embrace the whole world
– to know and become one with the world. b. the contracting or self-asserting
tendency – the desire to withdraw, remain unique and separate – an
egotistical existence. (Reuben)
The Transcendental Movement strived
for people to go beyond scientific or rational thought into a more spiritual
and intuitive look at reality. The
writers of the movement believed that a look at everything around them can
bring them to a better understanding of themselves and their purpose. Industrialism in America inspired
transcendentalists who saw the degradation of the landscape and of human rights
brought on by mercantilism. The
organized religious structures were attacked by this movement because
transcendentalists believed that divinity can be obtained through their own intuition
and the understanding of nature.
Emerson wrote "Nature" which talks about the knowledge one can
gain from the natural world.
Ralph
Waldo Emerson thought that the only way to achieve transcendentalism was to
look to nature for revelation. He
spent a good part of his life away from society trying to find man's purpose. He stayed in the woods for a part of
his life to be closer to nature which he deemed as a pathway to divinity.
Emerson wrote in "Nature" that "All science has one aim, namely
to find a theory of nature" (Emerson 1107). He argues that nature is the only thing "unchanged by
man," and that everything else is simply "Art" (1107). Man will spoil the purity or divinity
of any nature it touches. If
nature is "unchanged by man," then it must be a part of the
divine. Since man is a part of
nature, he and everything natural is a part of the divine. Emerson believes that we can attain
this higher awakening through nature. "I become the transparent eye-ball. I am nothing. I see all. The currents of the Universal Being
circulate through me; I am part or particle of God" (1109). He professes that he is no one thing,
he is all. He is not a thing because he is above being something. He is a man
doing something and is not defined by one thing. If one is defined by a thing he or she does (like a writer
being one who writes), then how can he or she do other things that do not comply
with being one thing. This also
shows the duplicity involved with Transcendentalism because man is always
trying to define his existence while being pulled toward different
identities.
Emerson
attacks the religious structures of the time by saying,
We
are now so far from the road to truth, that religious teachers dispute and
hate each other, and speculative men are esteemed unsound and frivolous.
(1107) He means that their view of
salvation and man's purpose is too narrow. "The aim of the Transcendentalist is high. They profess to look not only beyond
facts, but without the aid of facts, to principles" (Konvitz 4). Religious people are too concerned with
the afterlife, but the Transcendentalist is concerned more with one's life here
on Earth. Transcendentalists
believe that people must rise above the texts of religious works because God
must reveal Himself to people now just as He did to those people who wrote
religious texts in the past.
Nothing
divine dies. All good is eternally
reproductive. The beauty of nature
reforms itself in the mind [...] for new creation. (Emerson 1113) Emerson believes God reveals himself
through nature continually. He
refuses to believe that God only exposed himself to a select few for a select
time. People can see God in the
order and magnificence of nature.
Nature,
in its ministry to man, is not only the material, but is also the process
and the result. All the parts
incessantly work into each other's hands
for the profit of man. (1110) Man needs nature for everything. Nature provides food, water and air in
order for man to survive. Nature
also "satisfies the soul" of a man, so "In their eternal calm,
he finds himself" (1111).
Nature has a source of power that one can draw from its beauty and
order. Transcendentalists thrive
on gaining their inspiration, direction and salvation from God through the
vehicle of nature. "The
beauty of nature reforms itself in the mind, and not for barren contemplation,
but for new creation" (1113).
Artists, architects, philosophers, astronomers, chemists, physicists,
writers and mathematicians all gain their inspiration and revelation from
nature because "Nature is a discipline of the understanding in
intellectual truths" (1119).
Nature
is the source of thought and religion.
From a Transcendentalist perspective, people are given knowledge of
everything through natural causes.
"That which, intellectually considered, we call Reason, considered
in relation to nature, we call Spirit. Spirit is the Creator." (Emerson
1115). Religions are primarily
based on faith with reason as a polar opposite, but the Transcendentalists see
faith in a higher power because the reasoning of nature revealed it to
them. People can look at the
elaborate design of the universe and know that there is a higher power. "And no man touches these divine
natures, without becoming, in some degree, himself divine" (1127). Man's association with nature gives man
the power to influence nature and even change it, just like the creator. Nature is also a pathway to which man
can find the creator, and "we learn that man has access to the entire mind
of the Creator, is himself the creator in the finite" (1129). Man's actions while on Earth changes
the face of the Earth to create man's own world filled with things that were
not present before like buildings and pollution. Man can also control the population or the extinction of
species like a creator or a divine entity.
Ralph
Waldo Emerson wrote a "manifesto" for Transcendentalism when he wrote
"Nature" because it became an important guidebook for people to
understand the philosophy of Transcendentalism (Bloom 48). "The Emersonian or American
Sublime is a wildness or holistic freedom in which the spirit, transparent to
itself, knows its own splendor, and by knowing that knows again all
things" (48-9). Emerson and
other Transcendentalists believed in their power to gain knowledge of
everything from the world, body, and mind they are given. Emerson wrote "Nature" with
an impatient tone that calls for the reader to grasp hold of this philosophy of
"The kingdom of man over nature" (Emerson 1134). He ends the essay by telling the reader
that:
As
fast as you can conform your life to the pure idea in your mind, that will
unfold its great proportions. A correspondent revolution in things will
attend the influx of the spirit. (1134) Transcendentalism is a
philosophical, literary, and spiritual movement that brought a new
understanding and a new way of thinking into the lives of many people. Emerson's case that he makes in
"Nature" makes it hard for anyone to argue his point. It is an effective argument that shapes
the mind of the reader as he or she reads. Everyone who reads "Nature" must question there
own beliefs about life and religion as they pass over the pages. Emerson forces the reader to
spiritually redefine where he or she stands. Transcendentalist literature influences readers and writers
today because people are always searching for man's purpose and place in this
world. The concept also lets one
decide his or her purpose in life.
Transcendentalism points toward a stream of consciousness that is the
vehicle through which an individual can find answers to eternal questions.
Works
Cited
Bloom, Harold. Figures of Capable Imagination. New York: Seabury Press, 1976.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Nature". The Norton Anthology of American
Literature. Vol. B.
Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003.
Konvitz, Milton R. The Recognition of Ralph Waldo
Emerson. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan, 1972.
Rueben, Paul P. "Chapter 4: Early Nineteenth
Century - American Transcendentalism: A Brief
Introduction." PAL:
Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide.
12/07/03.
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