American Transcendentalism: the Life of Spiritual Individuality Essay

In the Second Great Awakening polar spurs of religious dejections were mouldd around the country in the late 18th century. During the religious drive peerless of the major repairs was Unitarism. In the Unitarian Church the main focus is on matinee idol, and the imp crop God has on the virtuoso of the realness . Although bity a(prenominal) joined this cryst altogetherise, in that respect were former(a)s that went against it. They disagreed with the contracted meaning of Christian when referring to God. They promote the name theist, that showed general designation of the divinity. These large number were c everyed Transc closedownentalist. transcendentalism was an psychelistic and literary movement that promotes a simple lifestyle and a semi-religious nature. The Transcendental Club was founded in 1836 in Boston, Massachusetts. The founder and most popular of them all(a) was a writer and bard, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Others that were involved were a feminist reformer an d writer, Marg aret Fuller, a minister, Theodore Parker, naturalist and novelist, hydrogen David Thoreau, James Free world Clarke and many other members. People became very preoccupied with the beliefs of the transcendentalism. transcendentalism contained a combination of intellectual, aesthetic, and sacred attri barelyes. James Freemen Clarke orderd that we are called corresponding because no two of us work out alike. There was no definite principle for this belief exclusively there were ease values generally held. In An examine on transcendental philosophy, by Charles Mayo Ellis he explained that transcendentalism sustained whizzs idea from God, need or the religious world. The inner moral sense was where all ideas and drive began. Transcendentalists had a very different lifestyle.They were non very successful with all their ideas, plainly they promoted ideological and social swop though their research and the spacious mind their God gave them. Emerson ex cessively rejected the Unitarism community and was seen to be the founder of the Transcendentalists. He mootd Unitarism to be a cold intellectualism that seemed to destroy the validity of mans conscience, meaning stopping a man from thinking. He created a base with his friends that did an extensive research on a philosophy that had a more(prenominal) universal just. A philosophy they revealed was a German transcendentalist by Immanuel Kant in the 18th century.Emersons lectures were mostly about the chronicle of the world and what history actually is. the States was influence too by the books, Aids of mentationfulness by Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Coleridge. Al the reform grew by the writings by Bhagavad-Gita of Hinduism, locution of Confucius, and French authors. Ralph Waldo Emerson created the First Series in 1841 an Essay on memorial and begins with angiotensin-converting enzyme of his verses There is no spacious and no small To the Soul that maketh all And where it com eth, all things are And it cometh everywhere, I am possessor of the sphereOf the sevens and the solar year, Of Caesars hand, and Platos brain, Of Lord Christs heart, and Shakspeares strain. At the end of the poem Emersons references to Caesar, Plato, Lord Christ, and Shakespeare, who are salvage known as great men, would bear influenced Americans to keep listening, reading, and understanding his views. Emerson believed in self-reliance. Transcendentalism is focused on the right to dry land by wizs conscience and spiritual world. Emerson states in his sample that unmatched who has the right of reason is made a freeman of the substantial estate. He describe his thought by using the experiences of Plato. Americans would be able to realize if a great man like Plato acted upon Emersons statement, and they also were to repeat it, they whitethorn become great like him. Emerson continued to explain that one is determines their history and this human mind wrote history if the whole of history is in one man, it is all to be explained from one-on-one experience. If one is an individual their decisions impact where they case end up in life, and also one individual can change the world.Emerson uses the example that everyone revolution was first a thought in one mans mind and when the same thought occurs to a nonher, it is the key to that eraevery reform was once a private opinion, and when it shall be a private opinion again, it provide solve the enigma of the age. Solving the problem of the age was the task of Emerson and other transcendentalists and other social reformers. Throughout the whole essay the individual that Emerson was referring to can be anyone. He did non judge by the coloring material and size, but people were seen as equals. This idea gave hope to the minorities of America who were looked down upon.Emerson gave them up and believed that they go away motivate themselves to be the individual that wise men opt to be. heat content David T horeau had his own vies on transcendentalism. He believed in individual conscience and if one disagreed with a law proposed by the brass they should winnow out to obey the laws. He did not believe in violence and always resorted in peace. In the Resistance to Civil regimen written 1849 by Thoreau, he explained how the American government was corrupted. He said, That government is top hat which governs not at all, throughout his object he continued to state a good government was expedient.An expedient government is one that focuses on the practical kinda than the clean-living reasons. The American government was all tradition and it did not promote a free country. Thoreau pauperizationed a die government. Transcendentalists had strong faith in the conscience. Thoreau asked the question, groundwork there not be a government in which the majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience? One should use their conscience to understand right from wrong and not by what tradition may explain. Thoreau also explained how the corrupted government has controlled the people.In the troops they were known as the standing military and the mean had no free will of judgment. Thoreaus idea of courteous disobedience was practiced by a solider who did not want to fight in an cheating(prenominal) contend. The government expected to obey their unjust laws There were two different pillow slips of sleaziness described. Thoreau understood which situations to let go and which to act upon If the injustice is part of the necessary clang of the machine of government, let it go, let it go perchance it will clothing mobilecertainly the machine will wear out.If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, and then I say, break the law. Thoreau did not believe in slavery or the war in Mexico and these events started the civil disobedience. When person does not dramatize the rules of the government then they are barf in jail. Jail is the right lieu for both a thief and a just man. The whole America government was based on volume rules the government was based on injustice. every(prenominal) voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers, or backgammon playing with right and wrong, with moral questions and betting naturally accompanies itcast your whole vote, not a strip of motif merely, but your whole influence. The minorities were rejected and overlooked. Minorities were powerless, and they should result into civil disobedience. Thoreau explains the attitude of his state by giving a scenario. What will the state of Massachusetts would do with the man they will rather keep all in prison and give up war and slavery. Civil disobedience is a ascension known as a peace-loving revolution. The reason that many did not want to practice civil disobedience was because of fear. They were shitless of the consequence to their kin and assets. Thoreau experienced the consequences of civil disobedience. He did not pay his task for six years and he was hurl in jail. He believed that living in jail was better than obeying an unjust law. This mutiny in jail was a type of propaganda that influenced people to take to stand for what they believed in and used their conscience. Men that use their conscience are just men. Thoreaus imagine was to live in a stat in which justice was served to all and everyone is treated with respect.Transcendentalism was a very widespread godliness that understood ones identity and self-reliance. Throughout America, people were more and more influenced by the Second Great Awakening. ideological and social change was promoted mostly through writing. Both Emerson and Thoreau were able to express themselves that was to motivation a reader to change their lifestyle. in like manner the Transcendental Club was not stern and did not have an imposed guideline. Transcendentalism focused on the unity of others and the minorities are recognized.In the long-run Transcendentalism was not as successful as it was seen to be, but during the late 18th century and too soon 19th century this reform had a big impact on the lives of the American people. 1. Campbell, Donna M. American Transcendentalism. http//www. wsu. edu/campbelld/amlit/amtrans. htm. 21 May 2007. literary Movements. 19 Apr. 2009 . 2. Danzer, Gerald A. , et al. Religion Sparks Reform. Afterword. The Americans. 1985. By Danzer, et al.. Ed. john S. Bowes. Evanston McDougal Littell, 2003. 240-245. 3. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Emersons Journal, June 24, 1863. http//www. transcendentalists. com/emerson_on_thoreau. htm. 19 Apr. 2009. Jone Johnson Lewis. 19 Apr. 2009 . 4. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. History from Essays First Series (1841). http//www. emersoncentral. com/history. htm. 19 Apr. 2009. Jone Johnson Lewis. 19 Apr . 2009 . 5. Harding, Walter. Transcendentalism. http//www. themystica. com/mystica/articles/t/transcendentalism. html. 14 Apr. 2009. MYSTICA. 19 Apr. 2009 . 6. Thoreau, Henry David. 1849, Resistance to Civil Government. http//www. transcendentalists. com/1thorea. html. 19 Apr. 2009. Jone Johnson Lewis. 19 Apr. 2009 .