Ralph Waldo Emerson's Transcendentalism: A Shift Of Beliefs

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Paige Dispalatro
Ms. McCauley
CP English III
24 January 2017
A Shift of Beliefs
People today look up to characters who display definite attributes of good and evil. Characters such as Captain America, Ironman, and Thor clearly depict the good of an individual whereas characters like Ultron, Loki, and Thanos depict the evil side. As well as in comic books, there is a shift in view during different time periods. In Puritanism, Puritans hold others to conform to the universal view of their uniform beliefs. Deists held logic and reasoning higher above individual views. In Transcendentalism, Transcendentalists believed people were at their best when they were independent and self-reliant. And so, the canonical literature created by some …show more content…

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his book Nature that when “[his] head [was] bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space - all mean egotism vanishes,” (242). This statement reflects the views of many Transcendentalists where they believe that nature is innately good, therefore humans are innately good. Transcendentalists believe that nature is a key factor in the behavior of an individual and that when present in nature, individuals could be children again, who are innately good. In his book Self-Reliance, Emerson also writes that “he who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness,” (247). To Transcendentalists, this means that he who wins fame should not be delayed, but, if he is delayed by goodness, he should explore it instead of victory. This means that if there is a choice between fame or innate goodness, one should choose innate goodness. This is because Transcendentalists thought that if one chooses innate goodness, then they are non-conformists. While Puritans thought that everyone had sin and Deists believed that although people could have sin, they are innately good, Transcendentalists believed that everyone is innately good with no thought of ever being

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