TRANSCENDENTALISM

Emotion

Supernatural

Atmosphere

Nature

Individual

Subjectivity

Transcendentalism Gothic

Romanticism

American Transcendentalism began in the 1830’s and started to die down around 1860

Many of the Transcendentalists resided in Concord, Massachusetts

The Transcendental Club was formed in 1835 Members included Ralph Waldo Emerson and

Henry David Thoreau The Dial, a Transcendental magazine,

flourished from 1840-1844

Transcendentalists believed that through intuition the individual could go beyond everyday experiences and arrive at higher truths Placed emphasis on self-reliance Required deep faith in the individual

To Go Beyond

Transcendentalists wanted “to go beyond” the limitations of the senses and everyday experience

“I have never seen a man who was quite awake” (Thoreau). People do not see the roots of things or get to

the heart of the matter

How Do We Go Beyond Everyday Experience?

By depending on upon our intuition rather than reason and logic

What Happens When, by the Use of Intuition, We Go Beyond Everyday Human Experience?

People discover higher truths and insights

Emerson’s Ideas

Emerson was the leader of the Transcendentalists

He believed in intuition – the capacity to know things spontaneously and immediately rather than through our reasoning abilities

Emerson’s Ideas

God can be found in every aspect of nature God is good and

works through nature

Everyone is capable of understanding God through intuition

Nature is a reflection of the Divine Spirit

Emerson’s Ideas

Believed in an Over-Soul (Divine Soul) A large entity that

all individual humans were a part of

Everything in the physical world is a reflection of the Divine Soul

Emerson’s Ideas

His outlook was optimistic Everyone should

follow his own path Believed that God

is good

Characteristics of Transcendentalism

Everything in the world, including human beings, is a reflection of the Divine Soul

The physical facts of the natural world are a doorway to the spiritual or ideal world

People can use their intuition to behold God’s spirit revealed in nature or in their own souls

Self-reliance and individualism must outweigh external authority and blind conformity to custom and tradition

Spontaneous feelings and intuition are superior to deliberate intellectualism and rationality

Similarities between Puritanism and Transcendentalism

God could be experienced directly by each individual and did not need to be filtered through external authorities

Both valued self-reliance, industriousness, education, and simplicity

Differences between Puritanism and Transcendentalism

Puritans looked to the Bible for divine revelation; Transcendentalists looked to Nature

Puritans viewed mankind in two groups, the saved and the damned; Transcendentalists believed that all people were connected to a divine force

Born Bad or Good?

PuritansSinful Transcendentalis

ts

Good

Enlightenment

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