Transcendental Beliefs Essay

“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.

With the fact that remained in history, the primary conception of transcendentalism was led by the unitarianism, the reaction to the strict Calvinism, which supported that people should live the spiritual life in terms of a continuing effort to cultivate one’s own spiritual resources. David Robinson explicated it in his article “Transcendentalism”:

“Transcendentalism […] has primarily much the position of the sun […] We are conscious of it as of a kind of splendid confusion […] But the circle of the moon is as clear and unmistakable, as recurrent and inevitable, as the circle of Euclid on a blackboard” (Chesterton, 24). These words encapsulate the driving rationale of the anti-transcendentalist argument – that although individuals seek transcendentalism, they can never truly realize it, or, to compare with the sun, see it. Rather, they inevitably place attention on the “moon,” the perspicuous reflection of transcendentalism – that is, individualism – and neglect the responsibilities of society. Emerson institutes the philosophy of transcendentalism in his essay, Nature, teaching that divinity pervades all nature and humanity. Although transcendentalists would offer that man can only better his spiritual life by embracing individualism, pursuing the ideal, and being one with nature, the ability and appeal of transcendentalism to advance enlightenment upon the soul of the individual rests on the false suppositions that feckless man can achieve perfection and that nature embodies God, thus causing transcendentalism to conversely detriment the spiritual life of the individual, isolating him, prescribing his rebellion, and invigorating his selfish pursuits, simply because he confides his soul in creation instead of the Creator (Tocqueville, 482).

Transcendentalism is a literary movement in the 1830s that suggest that every individual is capable discovering higher truth through intuition. Transcendentalist live by 5 tenets which are the importance of nature, self-reliance, simplicity, self-trust/confidence, and nonconformity. The movie Dead Poets Society is about a teacher who teaches his group of students how to live transcendental. The movie shows great acts of transcendentalism through each of the characters using the different tenets. Mr. Keating and Knox Overstreet in dead poets society shows that living transcentally is worth the consequences.

Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement developed in the early-19 century. This literary movement based on the importance of God, man and nature, allowed numerous authors to become known. Nowadays, in a society full of innovations and in which nature is becoming less and less important, some people still feel the need to live far from the cities, in the wilderness, and still appreciate the simple things of life. Chris McCandless was one of them and decided to live a simple life by following the basic ideas of transcendentalism.

“Always do what you are afraid to do," Ralph Waldo Emerson once said this. This means that even though something is scary you should still attempt it even if it means that it is hard to do and this was an idea that transcendentalist agreed on. Transcendentalism was this philosophical an idea, that came from the 19th century, in New England. The people in this group thought that you could find a knowledgeable intuitive awareness that is conditional upon the individual if you had believed in transcendentalism and its beliefs. It was also, basically a protest against the state of culture and society in the 1800’s. These Transcendentalist had new forms of principles that they followed (like like the ideas of nature, individualism, and self reliance) and they based their live off of these ideas. The Beatles had connected to these same ideas through their many songs and albums for over a decade. This band formed in the 1960’s in Liverpool England, they built their fame by starting out playing at clubs and bars around Liverpool. There were four people in band which included: Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and John Lennon they had studied transcendental meditation in India for a whole summer, they listened to many lectures. Transcendentalist had believed in nature, religion, and self reliance which you can find in many Beatles songs like: “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Mother Nature's Son”, “Blackbird,” and “Tomorrow Never Knows”.

According to Dictionary.com Transcendentalism is, “any philosophy based upon the doctrine that the principles of reality are to be discovered by the study of the processes of thought, or a philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual above the empirical”, but that’s only part of what Transcendentalism is. Transcendentalism is standing for One of the first people to write about Transcendentalism were Henry David Thoreau writer of “Resistance to Civil Government” and Ralph Waldo Emerson writer of “Nature” and “Self-Reliance”. Those writers through their writing inspired people like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi.

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

(“Transcendentalism”

While the exploration or exploitation—take your pick—of the American west was just beginning to flourish, two more of our Past Environmental Heroes—Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau—were sitting, thinking, and writing in the newly-formed Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As the original transcendentalists, Emerson and Thoreau believed that there was much more to life than working feverishly and accruing wealth. Their thoughts and words were the first "cries in the wilderness" about living simply and compatibly with the natural world and their words are still inspiring millions of people around the planet who want to make peace

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

There have been numerous religious rebellions throughout history, but none quite like that of Transcendentalism. This movement embodies the idea that spiritual growth can be achieved through personal journey instead of conflicting with organized religion. By the time of the movement’s onset, newly gained religious freedom in the United States allowed for new ideas and beliefs to prosper freely. At the heart of this movement was Transcendentalism philosophy famous ambassadors, Ralph Waldo Emerson and apprentice Henry David Thoreau. These men believed nature is what forces us not to depend on other ideas but to develop our own.

The song “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted sister there are a lot of different transcendental elements that people don’t really know about hidden inside the song. In the song it shows confidence, self reliance, individuality, and nonconformity. Twisted Sister wrote the song to stand up for yourself and make sure you do something about it.

Transcendentalism was an American literature movement urging people to look past everyday material life, and reach into their souls to find inner peace with themselves. Transcendentalism originally came from Kantian idealism. This idealism was credited by Immanuel Kant.

The poem “Song of Myself” contains all the elements that defined “Transcendentalism”. The Transcendental movement is based on the principle that human knowledge could go beyond worlds. “Transcendentalism” originated as a sub-genre of “Romanticism”.