“ Transcendentalism is a philosophical and literary movement that emphasized living a simple life and also celebrates the truth found in nature and in personal emotion and personal imagination.”(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 468) Transcendentalists are individuals who write about nature. Transcendentalists are also individuals who live simple lives, they make the most out of life, they see the good in people, and they are also non-conformists. Transcendentalists three main points are nature, God, and human. Non-conformists are people who do not allow or accept beliefs, customs, or practices.
Civ il Disobedience is written by Henry David Thoreau. Henry David Thoreau wrote Civil
Disobedience because he believed that there should be no government
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Civil Disobedience is about the refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands that the government . Civil Disobedience was influenced by many activists including Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout this essay it shows many examples of transcendentalism.
Henry David Thoreau says, “That government is best which governs not at all” (Thoreau 565) which means life was easier and simpler when there was no government involved. One example of transcenden talism in Civil Disobedience is individualism. Henry David Thoreau says throughout the essay that everyone should have right to vote including women. Having the right to vote shows individualism by giving the freedom to vote for an individual. Society might peer pressure an individual to vote for a person that they might not want to vote for. Having the right to vote expresses one’s individuality.
“Your money or your life, why should I be in haste to give it my money? ”
(Thoreau 572) Transcendentalists main focus was to live a simple life. The quote above means you don't have to have money, fancy things, or material things to make you happy.
Transcendentalists are authors or individuals who don't need material things to make them
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A nation does not rise that way, it only falls further. ” (Gandhi 577) This quote is from On Civil Disobedience and it means as a nation we will not be happy as a whole if we solve our problems by turning to violence, but as a nation we can try to be happy by living simple lives and try not to focus on the material things. As a nation if we turn to violence or war we will fall apart and we will not be happy as a whole.
Transcendentalism traits consist of nature, simple lives, individualism, self-reliant and many more. These traits can teach us lessons as a citizen of the United States. They can teach us to embrace nature and the world around us. Individualism can teach citizens of the United States a lesson by telling them to stay true to who you are and embrace who you are. Individualism is a habit of being independent and self-reliant. Citizens of the United States need to be more self-reliant ,in my opinion, by begin reliant to their own powers and resources rather than others.
Transcendentalists live their lives by not focusing on material things. Living a simple life can teach United States citizens that people can be happy without material things such as
The American Dream of the Transcendentalists centers on being all that one is meant to be. First of all, the ideas of the Transcendentalists did not revolve around society and materialistic possessions. Transcendentalists felt that “society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of everyone of its members”(from Self-Reliance 194). Also, Transcendentalists believed that “The nation itself, with all its so-called internal improvements, which, by the way, are all external and superficial, is just such an unwieldy and overgrown establishment, cluttered with furniture and tripped up by its own traps, ruined by luxury and heedless expense” (from Where I Lived and What I Lived For 212) and for which the only cure is simplicity. In addition, Transcendentalists believed that man should live life to the fullest by seeking to reach their potential. Thoreau “did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I [Thoreau] could best see the moonlight amid the mountains” (from Conclusion 217). Seeking to reach one’s potential means that one must “Absolve you to yourself, and you should have the suffrage of the world” (from Self-Reliance 194). Furthermore, the Transcendentalists sought self-knowledge through the study of nature. “Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood” (from Nature 191). “The life in us is like the water in the river” (from Conclusion 217) because some days one rises like the river and drowns out all of ones problems. Most importantly, the ideas of nonconformity and individualism illustrate the Transcendentalist beliefs. “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist” (from Self-Reliance 194) shows that every man should have a unique quality that separates him from other men.
What is transcendentalism? Webster says transcendentalism is a philosophy that says that thought and spiritual things are more real than ordinary human experience and material things. The more simplified definition of it is the idea that our spirits have deep connection with. We are more "in tune" with nature and our mood is depicted by nature. So people can come to the conclusion that the “going green” movement and being “eco-friendly” is all a part of transcendentalism, and people who support these movements are transcendentalists. Leonardo DiCaprio, a multi millionaire, lives his life eco-friendly, and donates millions of dollars to protect our environment. By doing this, he is showing that he values the environment and nature more than he values material items, which is part of being a transcendentalist. DiCaprio is also an advocate for the gay rights movement. The other part of being a transcendentalist is the independence of the individual; and in today’s society the gay rights movement has become a great deal and the supporters of gay rights can be considered transcendentalists because homosexuality is interlinked with independence of the individual, which is stressed by transcendentalism.
When I was about six or seven I was diagnosed with Aspergers which is a type of Autism. Over the years I have had a bunch of help in my life thanks to my mother and father. Now I bet you really can’t tell because of all the help I have gotten over the years. The trait of transcendentalism is shown here is human potential. In the movie Dead Poets Society, it is about having teenagers form a club, as the same name as the movie. With help from their teacher, they figure out who they are as people and who they want to end up being as life moves on. Transcendentalism is not conforming from society. This movie demonstrates non-conformity, respect for nature, and human potential, which are all traits of Transcendentalism.
Transcendentalism was a powerful movement which inspired many to make drastic changes in their lives, one of the most important of which was individual simplicity. Individual simplicity, while important, was also the simplest of the cornerstones to achieve in order to live as a Transcendentalist. This cornerstone is defined literally as to enjoy life’s bare necessities, fend for oneself, and separate from society. This cornerstone was demonstrated by Ralph Waldo Emerson when he described how he felt in nature, “I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the universal being circulate through; I am part or parcel of God (389). Emerson is often referred to as the founder of Transcendentalism, and as a founding father his references to the cornerstones of the movement he helped start are some of the most clear and illustrative. Emerson described himself in nature as “A transparent eyeball” and “I am nothing” these descriptions of his personal feelings in nature show individual simplicity. Using the odd analogy of a transparent eyeball helps show that he felt powerful and i...
First off, one of the defining differences between the transcendentalist life and the life lived today are feelings towards self-reliance. Transcendentalists strongly believed that all people are unique and have the power to accomplish anything. Walden by Thoreau is a great example of this value. According to Walden, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived’ (Thoreau #). Self-reliance as a trait is defined by confidence in oneself and ability. That excerpt exemplifies
Transcendentalism to some is may just be a long, lengthy word coined two hundred years ago that is not used today, but to other people, people like Chris McCandless, it is a way of life. They use these qualities to shape their life and strive hard to follow them. Chris McCandless was so focused on embodying the qualities of transcendentalism that he failed to see how much danger he was putting himself in. He had little to no common sense as shown by Westerberg. “But there were gaps in his thinking. I remember once I went over to the house, walked into the kitchen, and noticed a god-awful stink. I mean it smelled nasty in there. I opened the microwave, and the bottom of it was filled with rancid grease. Alex had been using it to cook chicken, and it never occurred to him that the grease had to drain somewhere. It wasn’t that he was too lazy to clean it up- Alex always kept things real neat and orderly- it was just that he hadn’t noticed the grease” (Krakauer 45). McCandless embodied the values of transcendentalism by believing in living closer to nature, believing in the dignity of manual labor, and being self reliant.
Transcendentalism, a philosophy that began in the 19th century, advocates that humans are naturally good and all individuals have potential. In high school, developing into a unique and self-assured person can be a difficult task. Students feel the need to be accepted by their peers and standing out against the crowd can be difficult. Students should be exposed to transcendentalist ideas would be able to fight this battle and leave high school unscathed. Many argue that transcendentalist beliefs cause problems as students cannot think for themselves at a young age. However, students who do not think for themselves while in high school will never develop the ability to think for themselves. The morals and beliefs of a student should not be handed to them on a silver platter the way there are in realist teachings. Instead, they must discover and test their beliefs. Although some argue transcendentalism would cause students to rebel, students in high school should embrace transcendentalist ideas as students would be more likely to believe in their capabilities, rely less on the opinion of others, and find their own way of thinking.
Civil Disobedience makes governments more accountable for their actions and has been an important catalyst for overcoming unpopular government policies. To voice his disgust with slavery, in 1849 Henry David Thoreau published his essay, Civil Disobedience, arguing that citizens must not allow their government to override their principles and have a civic duty to prevent their government from using unjust means to ends. The basis for Thoreau’s monumental essay was his refusal to pay a poll tax, which subsequently landed him a night in county jail. In his passage: “If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go; perchance it will wear smooth—certainly 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, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine...
Another example of America's self-reliance was in1776, when Americans liberated themselves from Britain. After the French and Indian War the British needed to recoup some of the cost of the war from the colonists. They decided to tax the Americans which then resulted into the Boston Tea Party and then the Revolutionary War. Americans felt the taxes were outrageous and they didn't want to be 2nd class Englishmen anymore. They had came to America for freedom and the British were not giving it to them. The Americans wanted their independence and on July 4th 1776 we declared it!
“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. Through modern science, scientists have linked increases in health among individuals through the use of transcendental meditation.
Thoreau espouses that the democratic party listens to and answers the majority, which are the desires of the most powerful group. The problem with this is that the most virtuous or thoughtful group is left aside because the government only pays attention to what the strongest group says. A government functioning on this principle cannot be based on justice, because the ideas of what is right and wrong is decided by the majority, not by conscience. Thoreau writes, "Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think we should be men first, and subjects afterward. (p.178 para. 4)" He claims that it is more important for people to develop a respect for the right, instead of having a respect for the law, for it is people’s duty to do what is right.
Thoreau wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” The words transformed people’s lives to think more of the why in life and live with a purpose not just do what they are told, which was a driving idea within the Transcendentalist movements. Transcendentalist were hard to define, but perhaps one of the fathers of transcendentalism Ralph Waldo Emerson defines it most gracefully in a speech he gave, “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”. As Emerson’s key student and self-proclaimed Transcendentalist Thoreau fulfilled these requirements to help further this movement of higher
Ralph Waldo Emerson is considered the Father of Transcendentalism because he first introduced the idea of a simplistic and intuitive way of life. He claims, “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist . . . Nothing is at least sacred but the integrity of your own mind” (“Self-Reliance” 392). Nonconformity is an essential part of Emerson’s definition of a transcendentalist. To be able to live a truly boundless and accomplished life, one must not fall into the daily, busy life of society. He or she must stand out and follow their intuition, even it is not considered the norm. The only way to be content is to trust one’s instinct, not be jaded by the pressures society.
"The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis."
...ects our education, government, and America as a whole. To solve this problem we can teach children moral values. Moral values are something they can always keep with them. We need to teach them to be themselves but to always remember to work hard and that the world owes you nothing. However your life turns out, you did that to yourself and no one else is responsible for getting you out of a problem.