Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, And Self-Reliance

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil” -Ralph Waldo Emerson in Self Reliance. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a transcendentalist. Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that originated in the 19th century and was primarily influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Transcendentalists’ main beliefs are: self-reliance is essential to one’s life, nature is divine, every person should have an optimistic outlook, and humanity needs to adhere to their personal morals and beliefs. In today’s world we still see a multitude of the beliefs of transcendentalism.

1. The main theme of the piece “Self-Reliance” is that one should never conform to the way that society views that they should because in doing that, a person loses their individuality. Emerson believed that a person should, “Speak [their] latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense,” meaning that if a person chooses to march to the beat of their own drum, then nobody can tell them their opinion is wrong because at least they are taking a chance and speaking their mind. Emerson’s definition of self-reliance is similar to the common use because both definitions discuss how one should take care of personal needs and be independent. Emerson himself stated that, “the great man is he who

People around the world and throughout time have always had an idea of spirituality. The spirit has been thought of as an essential part of human nature. The evidence is in the common culture of religions in the world. The soul is the essence of humanity and spirituality is the condition of one’s soul. Spirituality is the condition of a consciousness. One answer to creating this essential growth in spirituality is Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is the rebellion of one’s soul against the societal laws that humanity upholds. It is the integrity of a being and the healing of a scarred mind through nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a major figure in transcendentalist literature and wrote two separate essays, one being named “Self-Reliance”, and the other “Nature”. Spiritual growth of all kinds is motivated by these transcendentalist impulses, shown through literary impressions and comparisons, mainly through Emerson, around the themes of self-reliance, poetic nature, and the influence of that nature on the soul.

Transcendentalism was what Emerson and Thoreau touched most with their writings. They took their words, and created something new that many people would later follow. Transcendentalism is the nature of being one with yourself, and learning to better yourself through nature, and self knowledge. The quote from above is an example of what the two figures preached. Emerson believed that consistency of thought was foolished, and he highlighted the fact that having a consistent mind was mindless. He believed people should have an open mind, and be able to look at things in different perspectives.

Self-Reliance reflects Emerson’s beliefs on Transcendentalism by stating how Emerson believes in inspiration, happiness, and the spiritual measures of inspiration through the depth of the human mind itself. “The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried” (Pg. 774). Emerson in Self-Reliance puts majority of the focus on people trusting themselves, using good judgement, and their own knowledge because a new independent idea makes history not the idea that is copied. “Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string” (Pg. 774). Through this idea that Emerson created, the thought of people trusting themselves, using good judgement, and their own knowledge

American Transcendentalism was an important philosophical and literary movement which placed an emphasis on staying true to one’s beliefs and expressing oneself no matter the situation or consequence. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau fully embraced these beliefs as their influence has allowed these

"The Transcendentalist adopts the whole connection of spiritual doctrine. He believes in miracle, in the perpetual openness of the human mind to new influx of light and power; he believes in inspiration, and in ecstasy."(Emerson 196). These two lines written by Ralph Waldo Emerson exemplify the whole movement of transcendentalist writers and what they believed in. Though to the writers, transcendentalism was a fight for a belief, unknown to them they could have been fighting for the betterment of human health. The transcendentalist writings of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson have directly affected the health of modern society through the idea of transcendental meditation.

The time period of transcendentalism changed the views of many people through setting different principles otherwise known as tenets. These tenets I am going to focus on is: confidence, self-reliance, free thought, nonconformity, and the importance of nature. Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement in the 1800’s where people responded to the strict rules back then. They declared that they didn’t have to follow all of the rules and decided to go off of independent tenets. Many pieces of literature contain some or all of these tenets, the ones I’m going to discuss and analyze today are Still I Rise by Maya Angelou that focuses on self-reliance and stanza 1 and 52 from Song of Myself by Walt Whitman which focuses on all tenets of transcendentalism. All of the 5 tenets are very important, but the one that overcomes all the others in my life is confidence. Many pieces of literature contain at least all tenets, but reference them in different ways.

Emerson's "transcendentalism" is essentially a romantic individualism, a philosophy of life for a new people who had overthrown their colonial governors and set about conquering a new continent, in hopes of establishing new and unique views. Though Emerson is not a traditional philosopher, the tendency of his thought is toward inward reflection in which soul and intuition, or inspiration, are fundamental. The new American needed less criticism and a rejuvenated sense of personal inspiration. Taking a practical and democratic, yet philosophic interest in all of nature and in individuals of every walk of life. Emerson stresses the potential for genius and creativity in all

Transcendentalism was an early philosophical, intellectual, and literary movement that thrived in New England in the nineteenth century. Transcendentalism was a collection of new ideas about literature, religion, and philosophy. It began as a squabble in the Unitarian church when intellectuals began questioning and reacting against many of the church’s orthodoxy ways regarding all of the aforementioned subjects: religion, culture, literature, social reform, and philosophy. They in turn developed their own faith focusing on the divinity of humanity and the innate world. Many of the Transcendentalists ideas were expressed heavily by Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essays such as “Nature”, “Self Reliance”, and also in his poems such as “The

In the early mid-nineteenth century, a philosophical movement known as transcendentalism took root and flourished in America. It evolved into a predominantly literary expression which placed an emphasis on the corruptions of organized religion, political parties, and societal involvement; above all, the movement promoted the wonders of “nature” and its deep connection to the divine. The adherents through transcendentalism believed that knowledge could be arrived through intuition and contemplation of the internal spirit rather than by the means of the senses. As the two most prominent figures in the transcendentalist movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau whole-heartedly embrace the principles of nature

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” was written in 1841 in New England during the Transcendentalist Movement, which was a revolt against the “Age of Reason” and the beginning of Romanticism. Emerson’s essay is about Transcendentalism, the belief that every human has his own way of thinking and personal inborn knowledge to build his opinion, independent from the common beliefs of the community and he should believe in and express his opinion to be successful. Emerson supports the idea of Transcendentalism by urging his readers to trust their own ideas, beliefs and common sense, to listen to and to trust their inner voice and to hold the popular opinion back from influencing their way of thinking, if they want to be successful. He tells

     Ralph Emerson wrote many journals and essays dealing with the subject of transcendentalism. One of his most famous works is the essay “Self-Reliance.” In “Self-Reliance,” Emerson hit on the idea that the individual should be completely reliant on God, and that every person has been put into their certain life and position by God and that the person needs to trust themselves. He said that God has put the power to handle things, think, and act into each individual and that the individual needs to trust what God has put inside them to do things with their lives. The idea is almost that of predestination, except for the fact that we have the choice of which road to take. Predestination is the idea that a higher power, or God, has planned everything that will happen to a person in their life.

During the late 1820’s and 1830’s in the United States, transcendentalism came into light as a response to take a stand against the broad condition of spirituality and intellectualism. Many pieces of written work from that time period utilized the transcendentalist literary style. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self Reliance” contains a dense amount of characteristics related to the transcendentalism period. The transcendentalist elements exploited in the essay helped develop the ideas of individuality and nonconformity in society. Emerson uses transcendental core beliefs throughout the essay to project his thoughts and feelings and to inspire the readers to think and act more as individuals.

They also gave compelling insight when it came to one's own free-thought based on their own values rather than the values of others. The Transcendentalist were some of the first known non-conformist in America. They went about critiquing contemporary society for their thoughtless conformity. Transcendentalist were not religious but they were spiritual people and comprised their ideas from a variety of sources like Hindu text and various other religious text. As a hole transcendentalism was centered on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s writing and teaching “Self-Reliance” which is a collection of sermons pieced together by the Ex-utilitarian minister from Concord Massachusetts.