Transcendentalism!
Transcendentalism
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Historical Perspective
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Sought to create literary independence….and spiritual independence
Westward Expansion prevalent
Social reforms prioritized (abolition of slavery, education, women’s rights)
Movement during the American Renaissance which included educated people.
Population movement from rural to urban areas
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Time of Social Reforms ( peaceful)
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Transcendentalism
Major Elements
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The Individual
 The structure of the universe literally duplicates the structure of the
individual’s self
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Know Thyself!!!!!!!!!!
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An individual’s virtue and happiness depends upon Self Realization.
Power is to be obtained by defying fate/predestination
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It is foolish to worry about consistency…
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Transcendentalism
Major Elements
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The Individual…..Self Reliance
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For completion of Self..must have full understanding of emotional, sexual
and psychological to achieve freedom/liberation.
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Mandala:
self is most accurately itself when all four parts in equal balance
Ego
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Anima
Ego-emerging self
Animas
Shadow
Anima=female
Animus=male
Shadow=darker side of self
Transcendentalism
Major Concepts
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Nature
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Nature is symbolic…..pantheistic
Oversoul
Chathonic: “of the earth” born of dust, return to dust
God can be found in nature and human nature
Transcendentalism is a form of Idealism
Evil is Negative…Light (goodness) is more powerful than
dark
Transcendentalism
Major Elements
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Spiritual
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The intuitive faculty(not rationality or sensory) becomes the means of
conscious union of the individual psyche ( Oversoul)
An individual is the spiritual center of the universe
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Individual may transcend lower animalistic impulses of life..moving from the
instinctual or rational to the spiritual realm
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The human soul is part of the oversoul/universal spirit
Oversoul/Life Force/God can be found everywhere
God can be found in nature and human nature
Focus on this life..not aferlife
Know God through intuition…nature
Death is a part of the cycle of life
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Transcendentalism
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Oversoul
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Source of all good
Atma: each individual soul is made of the same stuff…from the same
stuff..univeral, world soul.
“She did not go someplace…not away. She went out…everywhere.”
Interconnection of all humanity
Oversoul
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Jungian Collective Unconscious
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Experiences that all humans share
regardless of time, culture,
religion (archetypes).
Goes beyond human experience...
Transcend!!!!!!!!!!
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Freud (just to compare)
Transcendentalism
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Influences:
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Plato: idealism according to which reality subsists beyond the appearances of
the world..that the world is an expression of spirit or mind..and IS GOOD.
Immanual Kant: belief in the “native spontaneity of the mind”…rather than the
passivity of John Locke
Puritanism: ethical seriousness and (Edwards) suggestion that one can receive
divine light immediately and directly.
Eastern Philosophy (Hinduism):
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Impersonal, universal god who is omniscient, but not judgmental
no good or bad….just is ( no Original Sin)
Consciousness (not physicality) is focus
Use intuition
Cannot have spiritual experience through another..must obtain individually throught
the self
Transcendentalism
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Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Expressed the advantages of a young land with its freedom,
“innocence”, and access to laws directly through nature, not books.
Appealed to both intellectuals and the general public
Emphasized the connections between humans, nature and higher order
Emerson’s work is “plain” on surface, yet has depth and substance
Set up as collection of thoughts and memories, not organized essays
“I am a poet”
Born into cultured, but poor family who were religiously based.
Studied to be minister, but felt disbelief at central doctrines
Traveled to Europe…enlightened
Formed the Transcendental Club
After death of his son, Waldo, Emerson shrank from society
Emerson
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Transcendental beliefs
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Denied the importance of the past on present and future situations
Individual men and women were part of the “idea of man”
Since all things are connected to a larger whole, even the commonest
matters could open a door to the eternal
Rejection of institutional religion in favor of a personal relation with
God
God always close and reveals Self everywhere and at all times
Within each individual lies a divinity that allows human intuition to
behold God’s spirit in nature
Correspondence between natural law and moral law by use of intuition
allows humans to see God’s laws revealed ( in nature).
Transcendentalism
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Henry David Thoreau
Self “un-made” man
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Born in Concord, Mass. In 1817 to a successful family
Grew up hiking through the woods of Concord
Graduated from Harvard as an above average student with a rebellious streak.
Stayed at Walden Pond for nearly two years to reflect upon his life and live it simply and
close to nature.
Helped fugitive slaves make their way to Canada
Protested the Mexican War…refused to pay his taxes (which would support it)
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Moved back to family house to live the rest of his life.
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spent night in jail
Supported himself by doing odd jobs…masonry, carpentry, etc…
Died of Tuberculosis
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“Henry, have you made peace with God?” “Why, Aunt, I didn’t know we had quarreled.”
Thoreau
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Transcendental Beliefs
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Believed that the epic journey of his day was inward…to live close to nature
and live simply to rediscover integrity and greatness.
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Looked to nature for a model of life and writing because it contained spiritual
truth and reality
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Possessed by a vision of perfect freedom in which one is their own master
Life, as much of his writing, is Paradoxical.
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One needed conscience and the need for action to maintain it
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Disliked hyprocisy