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The Over-Soul
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
48 pages, Paperback
Published December 8, 2005
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About the author
Ralph Waldo Emerson
3,414 books5,361 followersRalph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston in 1803. Educated at Harvard and the Cambridge Divinity School, he became a Unitarian minister in 1826 at the Second Church Unitarian. The congregation, with Christian overtones, issued communion, something Emerson refused to do. "Really, it is beyond my comprehension," Emerson once said, when asked by a seminary professor whether he believed in God. (Quoted in 2,000 Years of Freethought edited by Jim Haught.) By 1832, after the untimely death of his first wife, Emerson cut loose from Unitarianism. During a year-long trip to Europe, Emerson became acquainted with such intelligentsia as British writer Thomas Carlyle, and poets Wordsworth and Coleridge. He returned to the United States in 1833, to a life as poet, writer and lecturer. Emerson inspired Transcendentalism, although never adopting the label himself. He rejected traditional ideas of deity in favor of an "Over-Soul" or "Form of Good," ideas which were considered highly heretical. His books include Nature (1836), The American Scholar (1837), Divinity School Address (1838), Essays, 2 vol. (1841, 1844), Nature, Addresses and Lectures (1849), and three volumes of poetry. Margaret Fuller became one of his "disciples," as did Henry David Thoreau.
The best of Emerson's rather wordy writing survives as epigrams, such as the famous: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." Other one- (and two-) liners include: "As men's prayers are a disease of the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intellect" (Self-Reliance, 1841). "The most tedious of all discourses are on the subject of the Supreme Being" (Journal, 1836). "The word miracle, as pronounced by Christian churches, gives a false impression; it is a monster. It is not one with the blowing clover and the falling rain" (Address to Harvard Divinity College, July 15, 1838). He demolished the right wing hypocrites of his era in his essay "Worship": ". . . the louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons" (Conduct of Life, 1860). "I hate this shallow Americanism which hopes to get rich by credit, to get knowledge by raps on midnight tables, to learn the economy of the mind by phrenology, or skill without study, or mastery without apprenticeship" (Self-Reliance). "The first and last lesson of religion is, 'The things that are seen are temporal; the things that are not seen are eternal.' It puts an affront upon nature" (English Traits , 1856). "The god of the cannibals will be a cannibal, of the crusaders a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant." (Civilization, 1862). He influenced generations of Americans, from his friend Henry David Thoreau to John Dewey, and in Europe, Friedrich Nietzsche, who takes up such Emersonian themes as power, fate, the uses of poetry and history, and the critique of Christianity. D. 1882.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was his son and Waldo Emerson Forbes, his grandson.
The best of Emerson's rather wordy writing survives as epigrams, such as the famous: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." Other one- (and two-) liners include: "As men's prayers are a disease of the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intellect" (Self-Reliance, 1841). "The most tedious of all discourses are on the subject of the Supreme Being" (Journal, 1836). "The word miracle, as pronounced by Christian churches, gives a false impression; it is a monster. It is not one with the blowing clover and the falling rain" (Address to Harvard Divinity College, July 15, 1838). He demolished the right wing hypocrites of his era in his essay "Worship": ". . . the louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons" (Conduct of Life, 1860). "I hate this shallow Americanism which hopes to get rich by credit, to get knowledge by raps on midnight tables, to learn the economy of the mind by phrenology, or skill without study, or mastery without apprenticeship" (Self-Reliance). "The first and last lesson of religion is, 'The things that are seen are temporal; the things that are not seen are eternal.' It puts an affront upon nature" (English Traits , 1856). "The god of the cannibals will be a cannibal, of the crusaders a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant." (Civilization, 1862). He influenced generations of Americans, from his friend Henry David Thoreau to John Dewey, and in Europe, Friedrich Nietzsche, who takes up such Emersonian themes as power, fate, the uses of poetry and history, and the critique of Christianity. D. 1882.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was his son and Waldo Emerson Forbes, his grandson.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
January 24, 2016
Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays are well worth reading. Emerson is insightful, makes comparisons others wouldn't think about making and uses language in interesting ways. I hadn't read The Over-Soul for some time. There were good parts near the end about the way to know something (by avoiding its description and just living it), but, for me, this essay fell short of Experience (my favorite) and others such as Self-Reliance, The Poet, History, Fate and numerous others.
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December 30, 2020O, believe, as thou livest, that every sound that is spoken over the round world, which thou oughtest to hear, will vibrate on thine ear! Every proverb, every book, every byword that belongs to thee for aid or comfort, shall surely come home through open or winding passages. Every friend whom not thy fantastic will, but the great and tender heart in thee craveth, shall lock thee in his embrace. And this, because the heart in thee is the heart of all; not a valve, not a wall, not an intersection is there anywhere in nature, but one blood rolls uninterruptedly an endless circulation through all men, as the water of the globe is all one sea, and, truly seen, its tide is one.
June 10, 2025
This essay kinda encapsulates a lot of what I love about Emersonian philosophy. It's a weird mixture of intensive introspection and intuition. H doesn't consider whether or not souls are materially real, and so the argument, by modern standards, is a bit shaky because any claims to empiricism are inherently and immediately thwarted. But Emerson feels it deeply, and since I'm of a similar spirituality to him, I'm not too bothered by these hangups.
So, having acknowledged that the philosophizing in this essay is merely speculative (though presented with ample confidence), what does it say?
If I understood correctly, Emerson argues that the human experience is a process of refinement. We are trying to get our souls to resonate with the broader world around us, which we must ultimately intuit, because it cannot be learned or measured in a manner that is easily replicated or formulated. Or, as Emerson writes:
"Character teaches over our head. The infallible index of true progress is found in the tone the man takes. Neither his age, nor his breeding, nor company, nor books, nor actions, nor talents, nor all together, can hinder him from being deferential to a higher spirit than his own. If he have not found his home in God, his manners, his forms of speech, the turn of his sentences, the build, shall I say, of all his opinions, will involuntarily confess it, let him brave it out how he will. If he have found his centre, the Deity will shine through him, through all the disguises of ignorance, of ungenial temperament, of unfavorable circumstance. The tone of seeking is one, and the tone of having is another."
Not everyone will be persuaded by this sort of argument. I'll concede that aspects of the essay are dated, as it does lean somewhat into a sort of essentialism, meaning either you'll naturally figure out how to be "centered" or you wont, and if not, then there's probably something wrong with you. Yeah, that part sucks and is super problematic.
I don't think we can actually apply Emerson totally, because Reality is too cruel to let us have our way. But I do think Emerson gives us a framework for how we experience and understand ourselves in reaction to life, and it's absolutely beautiful in that manner.
Also, just one more of the many, many excellent quotes to be found in this essay:
“The great distinction between teachers sacred or literary,--between poets like Herbert, and poets like Pope,--between philosophers like Spinoza, Kant, and Coleridge, and philosophers like Locke, Paley, Mackintosh, and Stewart,--between men of the world, who are reckoned accomplished talkers, and here and there a fervent mystic, prophesying, half insane under the infinitude of his thought,--is, that one class speak from within, or from experience, as parties and possessors of the fact; and the other class, from without, as spectators merely, or perhaps as acquainted with the fact on the evidence of third persons. It is of no use to preach to me from without. I can do that too easily myself. Jesus speaks always from within, and in a degree that transcends all others. In that is the miracle. I believe beforehand that it ought so to be. All men stand continually in the expectation of the appearance of such a teacher.”
So, having acknowledged that the philosophizing in this essay is merely speculative (though presented with ample confidence), what does it say?
If I understood correctly, Emerson argues that the human experience is a process of refinement. We are trying to get our souls to resonate with the broader world around us, which we must ultimately intuit, because it cannot be learned or measured in a manner that is easily replicated or formulated. Or, as Emerson writes:
"Character teaches over our head. The infallible index of true progress is found in the tone the man takes. Neither his age, nor his breeding, nor company, nor books, nor actions, nor talents, nor all together, can hinder him from being deferential to a higher spirit than his own. If he have not found his home in God, his manners, his forms of speech, the turn of his sentences, the build, shall I say, of all his opinions, will involuntarily confess it, let him brave it out how he will. If he have found his centre, the Deity will shine through him, through all the disguises of ignorance, of ungenial temperament, of unfavorable circumstance. The tone of seeking is one, and the tone of having is another."
Not everyone will be persuaded by this sort of argument. I'll concede that aspects of the essay are dated, as it does lean somewhat into a sort of essentialism, meaning either you'll naturally figure out how to be "centered" or you wont, and if not, then there's probably something wrong with you. Yeah, that part sucks and is super problematic.
I don't think we can actually apply Emerson totally, because Reality is too cruel to let us have our way. But I do think Emerson gives us a framework for how we experience and understand ourselves in reaction to life, and it's absolutely beautiful in that manner.
Also, just one more of the many, many excellent quotes to be found in this essay:
“The great distinction between teachers sacred or literary,--between poets like Herbert, and poets like Pope,--between philosophers like Spinoza, Kant, and Coleridge, and philosophers like Locke, Paley, Mackintosh, and Stewart,--between men of the world, who are reckoned accomplished talkers, and here and there a fervent mystic, prophesying, half insane under the infinitude of his thought,--is, that one class speak from within, or from experience, as parties and possessors of the fact; and the other class, from without, as spectators merely, or perhaps as acquainted with the fact on the evidence of third persons. It is of no use to preach to me from without. I can do that too easily myself. Jesus speaks always from within, and in a degree that transcends all others. In that is the miracle. I believe beforehand that it ought so to be. All men stand continually in the expectation of the appearance of such a teacher.”
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August 25, 2023read for english class
May 26, 2020
“Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual. Yet there is a depth in those brief moments which constrains us to ascribe more reality to them than to all other experiences.”
I love Emerson. He is definitely one of my very favorites from the great awakening period. While I don’t agree with every single belief he had, I totally see where he was coming from, and I honestly agree with most of his thoughts. He has the gift of putting what I’ve never been able to say into words. He explains God, and the soul in a way that is still truly fresh, and speaks of overwhelming truth today.
“Ineffable is the union of man and God in every act of the soul. The simplest person who in his integrity worships God, becomes God; yet for ever and ever the influx of this better and universal self is new and unsearchable. It inspires awe and astonishment. How dear, how soothing to man, arises the idea of God, peopling the lonely place, effacing the scars of our mistakes and disappointments! When we have broken our god of tradition and ceased from our god of rhetoric, then may God fire the heart with his presence. It is the doubling of the heart itself, nay, the infinite enlargement of the heart with a power of growth to a new infinity on every side. It inspires in man an infallible trust. He has not the conviction, but the sight, that the best is the true, and may in that thought easily dismiss all particular uncertainties and fears, and adjourn to the sure revelation of time the solution of his private riddles. He is sure that his welfare is dear to the heart of being. In the presence of law to his mind he is overflowed with a reliance so universal that it sweeps away all cherished hopes and the most stable projects of mortal condition in its flood. He believes that he cannot escape from his good. The things that are really for thee gravitate to thee. You are running to seek your friend. Let your feet run, but your mind need not. If you do not find him, will you not acquiesce that it is best you should not find him? for there is a power, which, as it is in you, is in him also, and could therefore very well bring you together, if it were for the best. You are preparing with eagerness to go and render a service to which your talent and your taste invite you, the love of men and the hope of fame. Has it not occurred to you that you have no right to go, unless you are equally willing to be prevented from going? O, believe, as thou livest, that every sound that is spoken over the round world, which thou oughtest to hear, will vibrate on thine ear! Every proverb, every book, every byword that belongs to thee for aid or comfort, shall surely come home through open or winding passages. Every friend whom not thy fantastic will but the great and tender heart in thee craveth, shall lock thee in his embrace. And this because the heart in thee is the heart of all; not a valve, not a wall, not an intersection is there anywhere in nature, but one blood rolls uninterruptedly an endless circulation through all men, as the water of the globe is all one sea, and, truly seen, its tide is one.”
I love Emerson. He is definitely one of my very favorites from the great awakening period. While I don’t agree with every single belief he had, I totally see where he was coming from, and I honestly agree with most of his thoughts. He has the gift of putting what I’ve never been able to say into words. He explains God, and the soul in a way that is still truly fresh, and speaks of overwhelming truth today.
“Ineffable is the union of man and God in every act of the soul. The simplest person who in his integrity worships God, becomes God; yet for ever and ever the influx of this better and universal self is new and unsearchable. It inspires awe and astonishment. How dear, how soothing to man, arises the idea of God, peopling the lonely place, effacing the scars of our mistakes and disappointments! When we have broken our god of tradition and ceased from our god of rhetoric, then may God fire the heart with his presence. It is the doubling of the heart itself, nay, the infinite enlargement of the heart with a power of growth to a new infinity on every side. It inspires in man an infallible trust. He has not the conviction, but the sight, that the best is the true, and may in that thought easily dismiss all particular uncertainties and fears, and adjourn to the sure revelation of time the solution of his private riddles. He is sure that his welfare is dear to the heart of being. In the presence of law to his mind he is overflowed with a reliance so universal that it sweeps away all cherished hopes and the most stable projects of mortal condition in its flood. He believes that he cannot escape from his good. The things that are really for thee gravitate to thee. You are running to seek your friend. Let your feet run, but your mind need not. If you do not find him, will you not acquiesce that it is best you should not find him? for there is a power, which, as it is in you, is in him also, and could therefore very well bring you together, if it were for the best. You are preparing with eagerness to go and render a service to which your talent and your taste invite you, the love of men and the hope of fame. Has it not occurred to you that you have no right to go, unless you are equally willing to be prevented from going? O, believe, as thou livest, that every sound that is spoken over the round world, which thou oughtest to hear, will vibrate on thine ear! Every proverb, every book, every byword that belongs to thee for aid or comfort, shall surely come home through open or winding passages. Every friend whom not thy fantastic will but the great and tender heart in thee craveth, shall lock thee in his embrace. And this because the heart in thee is the heart of all; not a valve, not a wall, not an intersection is there anywhere in nature, but one blood rolls uninterruptedly an endless circulation through all men, as the water of the globe is all one sea, and, truly seen, its tide is one.”
July 30, 2024
This is not just one of the great essays of Emerson, but one of the finest in the history of essay-writing. The essay centres round the doctrine of ‘self-trust’.
History and biography tell us, what we can achieve. The great classics do inspire u … but we should not be allowed to restrict our activity since our real values lie in enabling us to know ourself.
As the Upanishads declare, by knowing the self, man knows all; and Emerson asserted that by knowing himself man knows all men.
This led Emerson to assert that the soul of God is within the soul of everyone. When one looks inward, he finds the Universal Soul.
आत्मानं रथिनं विद्धि शरीरं रथमेव तु ।
बुद्धिं तु सारथिं विद्धि मनः प्रग्रहमेव च ।।
This means when one comprehends obviously that the lone way is to make the mind still or to allow the mind to settle down or to become still and not get caught up in the confusion of this or that or this against that. Also, when the mind is calm–beyond the tempest of its passions and desires–in that utter stillness the ‘truth’ comes into being. One understands one’s true reality. It is as if all the impurities, all the agitations, all the modifications of the mind have been wiped out and the essence remains in its absolute purity. This essence is the ‘self’; the ‘true-self’. Well, anything other than that is considered by the Upanishad to be a ‘non-self’, which means ‘that which is not true’!
Patanjali, discussing this in his ‘Yoga Sutras’, defines yoga as ‘yogas chitta vritti nirodhah’ which means ‘yoga is the stilling of the mind’. Yoga is the stopping of all the modifications of the mind. Yoga is freeing the mind from all its distractions, and when it becomes absolutely quiet, that state is called ‘Kaivalya’.
Emerson wrote in his journal: "Then I discovered the secret of the world; that all things subsist, and do not die, but only retire a little from sight and afterwards return again."
He did not reject the idea of eternal flux. He accepted the indestructibility of energy, the transmigration of the soul, the reality of the one Deity, and the oneness of the Over-soul.
He said: "The raptures of prayer and ecstasy of devotion lose all beings in one Being." This tendency finds its highest expression in the religious writings of the East, and chiefly in the Indian Scriptures, in the Vedas, the Bhagavada Geeta and the Vishnu Purana.
Hence the essay on the "Over-soul" is the most an Indian essay, he wrote. Like the Hindu Vedantee, he said: 'The simplest person, who in his integrity worships God, becomes God; yet for ever and ever the influx of this better and Universal
Self is new and unsearchable. It inspires awe and astonishment." This principle has been emphasized by Emerson in essay after essay.
The Over-soul is beauty, love, wisdom, and power. It is immanent throughout Nature. Emerson appears to have arrived at an awareness of this through his own experiences of spiritual conflict and illumination. In this essay Emerson deresomist intelligence" in which we all have our being and from which we have our intuitions of truth and justice. This "intelligence" is identified with Platonic unity".
Quaker's "light," the metaphysical "divine light," mystic's "fire," and the psychological "energy". It is a vast, spiritual existence. It is omnipresent, immanent, and benevolent. The human mind has an intuitive apprehension of this Over-soul.
Once we accept the idea of the Over-soul and reality of intuition, we are bound to accept self-reliance. The divine is present in the human, and it is intuition which apprehends it. Then reliance on one's self becomes the reliance on the world-soul.
This approach would make experience both sensuous and mystical. There are different kinds of experience and each one has its own value. Some of these experiences are more valuable than others. This is a qualitative empiricism. It is stated thus: "There is a difference between one and another hour of life in their authority and subsequent effect. Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual. Yet there is a depth in those brief moments which constrains us to ascribe more reality to them than to all other experiences" The depth comes from the awareness of the spiritual value.
Emerson's son pointed out that the first series of the essays follows a plan set down in the Journals. It runs thus:
"Their is one soul.
It is related to the world.
Art is its action thereon.
Science finds its methods.
Literature is its record.
Religion is the emotion of reverence that it inspires.
Ethics is the soul illustrated in human life.
Society is the finding of this soul by individuals in each
other.
Trades are the learning of the soul in nature by labour.
Politics is the activity of the soul illustrated in power.
Manners are silent and mediate expressions of soul."
This arrangement shows that almost all the Essays of Emerson have their origin in the concept of the Over-soul. The essay on the Over- soul is derived from many of his other essays.
At the outset Emerson explains the beneficent usages of the soul in normal life: "We grant that human life is mean, but how did we find out that it was mean?"
An intuitive standard is established to distinguish the good from the bad This intuition comes from the soul.
So he proceeds to offer a portrayal of the Over- soul: "Within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal one...... We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are the shining parts, is the soul."
Once this is established, Emerson can go forward to designate the fruits of the soul: "When it breathes through (man's) intellect, it is genius; when it breathes through his will, it is virtue; when it ploughs through his affection, it is love."
Everything of value in human life is an embodiment of the Over-soul.
Faith in the Over-soul gives man the widest scope, and it makes every moment noteworthy: "Man will come to see that the world is the perennial miracle which the soul worked, and be less astonished at particular wonders; he will learn that there is no profane history; that all history is sacred, that the universe is represented in an atom, in a moment of time."
Man, know thyself!
Socrates said: “Know thyself”. The Upanishads also say the same. To know the person is to know ‘that’. Whatever you call ‘that’–be it God or brahman or paramatma or even shunya.
To know oneself is the most significant thing. In the investigation into spiritual matters, to find the truth, we have to first know the one who is probing for the truth and that is certainly one’s self.
A most intense rendition. Give it a go!!
History and biography tell us, what we can achieve. The great classics do inspire u … but we should not be allowed to restrict our activity since our real values lie in enabling us to know ourself.
As the Upanishads declare, by knowing the self, man knows all; and Emerson asserted that by knowing himself man knows all men.
This led Emerson to assert that the soul of God is within the soul of everyone. When one looks inward, he finds the Universal Soul.
आत्मानं रथिनं विद्धि शरीरं रथमेव तु ।
बुद्धिं तु सारथिं विद्धि मनः प्रग्रहमेव च ।।
This means when one comprehends obviously that the lone way is to make the mind still or to allow the mind to settle down or to become still and not get caught up in the confusion of this or that or this against that. Also, when the mind is calm–beyond the tempest of its passions and desires–in that utter stillness the ‘truth’ comes into being. One understands one’s true reality. It is as if all the impurities, all the agitations, all the modifications of the mind have been wiped out and the essence remains in its absolute purity. This essence is the ‘self’; the ‘true-self’. Well, anything other than that is considered by the Upanishad to be a ‘non-self’, which means ‘that which is not true’!
Patanjali, discussing this in his ‘Yoga Sutras’, defines yoga as ‘yogas chitta vritti nirodhah’ which means ‘yoga is the stilling of the mind’. Yoga is the stopping of all the modifications of the mind. Yoga is freeing the mind from all its distractions, and when it becomes absolutely quiet, that state is called ‘Kaivalya’.
Emerson wrote in his journal: "Then I discovered the secret of the world; that all things subsist, and do not die, but only retire a little from sight and afterwards return again."
He did not reject the idea of eternal flux. He accepted the indestructibility of energy, the transmigration of the soul, the reality of the one Deity, and the oneness of the Over-soul.
He said: "The raptures of prayer and ecstasy of devotion lose all beings in one Being." This tendency finds its highest expression in the religious writings of the East, and chiefly in the Indian Scriptures, in the Vedas, the Bhagavada Geeta and the Vishnu Purana.
Hence the essay on the "Over-soul" is the most an Indian essay, he wrote. Like the Hindu Vedantee, he said: 'The simplest person, who in his integrity worships God, becomes God; yet for ever and ever the influx of this better and Universal
Self is new and unsearchable. It inspires awe and astonishment." This principle has been emphasized by Emerson in essay after essay.
The Over-soul is beauty, love, wisdom, and power. It is immanent throughout Nature. Emerson appears to have arrived at an awareness of this through his own experiences of spiritual conflict and illumination. In this essay Emerson deresomist intelligence" in which we all have our being and from which we have our intuitions of truth and justice. This "intelligence" is identified with Platonic unity".
Quaker's "light," the metaphysical "divine light," mystic's "fire," and the psychological "energy". It is a vast, spiritual existence. It is omnipresent, immanent, and benevolent. The human mind has an intuitive apprehension of this Over-soul.
Once we accept the idea of the Over-soul and reality of intuition, we are bound to accept self-reliance. The divine is present in the human, and it is intuition which apprehends it. Then reliance on one's self becomes the reliance on the world-soul.
This approach would make experience both sensuous and mystical. There are different kinds of experience and each one has its own value. Some of these experiences are more valuable than others. This is a qualitative empiricism. It is stated thus: "There is a difference between one and another hour of life in their authority and subsequent effect. Our faith comes in moments; our vice is habitual. Yet there is a depth in those brief moments which constrains us to ascribe more reality to them than to all other experiences" The depth comes from the awareness of the spiritual value.
Emerson's son pointed out that the first series of the essays follows a plan set down in the Journals. It runs thus:
"Their is one soul.
It is related to the world.
Art is its action thereon.
Science finds its methods.
Literature is its record.
Religion is the emotion of reverence that it inspires.
Ethics is the soul illustrated in human life.
Society is the finding of this soul by individuals in each
other.
Trades are the learning of the soul in nature by labour.
Politics is the activity of the soul illustrated in power.
Manners are silent and mediate expressions of soul."
This arrangement shows that almost all the Essays of Emerson have their origin in the concept of the Over-soul. The essay on the Over- soul is derived from many of his other essays.
At the outset Emerson explains the beneficent usages of the soul in normal life: "We grant that human life is mean, but how did we find out that it was mean?"
An intuitive standard is established to distinguish the good from the bad This intuition comes from the soul.
So he proceeds to offer a portrayal of the Over- soul: "Within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal one...... We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are the shining parts, is the soul."
Once this is established, Emerson can go forward to designate the fruits of the soul: "When it breathes through (man's) intellect, it is genius; when it breathes through his will, it is virtue; when it ploughs through his affection, it is love."
Everything of value in human life is an embodiment of the Over-soul.
Faith in the Over-soul gives man the widest scope, and it makes every moment noteworthy: "Man will come to see that the world is the perennial miracle which the soul worked, and be less astonished at particular wonders; he will learn that there is no profane history; that all history is sacred, that the universe is represented in an atom, in a moment of time."
Man, know thyself!
Socrates said: “Know thyself”. The Upanishads also say the same. To know the person is to know ‘that’. Whatever you call ‘that’–be it God or brahman or paramatma or even shunya.
To know oneself is the most significant thing. In the investigation into spiritual matters, to find the truth, we have to first know the one who is probing for the truth and that is certainly one’s self.
A most intense rendition. Give it a go!!
April 29, 2020
Emerson describes the indescribable with the sweetest and most gentle words.
Man is a stream whose source is hidden.
Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal ONE.
From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all.
Ineffable is the union of man and God in every act of the soul. The simplest person who in his integrity worships God, becomes God; yet for ever and ever the influx of this better and universal self is new and unsearchable. It inspires awe and astonishment
God will not make himself manifest to cowards. He must greatly listen to himself, withdrawing himself from all the accents of other men’s devotion. Even their prayers are hurtful to him, until he have made his own. Our religion vulgarly stands on numbers of believers.
Man is a stream whose source is hidden.
Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal ONE.
From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all.
Ineffable is the union of man and God in every act of the soul. The simplest person who in his integrity worships God, becomes God; yet for ever and ever the influx of this better and universal self is new and unsearchable. It inspires awe and astonishment
God will not make himself manifest to cowards. He must greatly listen to himself, withdrawing himself from all the accents of other men’s devotion. Even their prayers are hurtful to him, until he have made his own. Our religion vulgarly stands on numbers of believers.
July 10, 2024
[...]Ο ματαιόδοξος ταξιδιώτης προσπαθεί να εξωραΐσει τη ζωή του, αναφέροντας τον άρχοντα, τον πρίγκιπα και την κόμισσα που του είπαν ή του έκαναν κάτι. Οι φιλόδοξοι κοινοί άνθρωποι σας δείχνουν τα κουτάλια, τις καρφίτσες και τα δαχτυλίδια τους και κρατούν αρχείο με τις κάρτες και τις φιλοφρονήσεις που εισέπραξαν. Οι πιο καλλιεργημένοι, στον απολογισμό της δικής τους εμπειρίας, ξεχωρίζουν την ευχάριστη, ποιητική περίσταση την επίσκεψη στη Ρώμη, τον ιδιοφυή άνθρωπο που είδαν, τον λαμπρό φίλο που γνωρίζουν ακόμα πιο πέρα, ίσως, το υπέροχο τοπίο, το φως του βουνού, τις σκέψεις του βουνού, που απόλαυσαν χθες- και έτσι προσπαθούν να δώσουν ένα ρομαντικό χρώμα στη ζωή τους. Αλλά η ψυχή που ανεβαίνει για να λατρέψει τον μεγάλο Θεό είναι απλή και αληθινή δεν έχει τριανταφυλλί χρώμα, δεν έχει ωραίους φίλους, δεν έχει ιπποτισμό, δεν έχει περιπέτειες, δεν θέλει θαυμασμό, μένει στο τώρα, στην ειλικρινή εμπειρία της κοινής ημέρας - λόγω του ότι κάθε παρούσα στιγμή και κάθε απλή, ασήμαντη δραστηριότητα έχει γίνει διαπερατή από τη σκέψη
και απορροφά τη θάλασσα του φωτός.[... ]
και απορροφά τη θάλασσα του φωτός.[... ]
November 7, 2024
It was meh to me. Maybe its because I'm on a all nighter and im extremely tired but I found this very boring and not insightful. Like he tries to be so deep and philosophical it just is boring. Its like when an ela teacher says "what did the author mean when he said the curtain is blue" like bruh idgaf. Like overall i didn't enjoy this much. I found that everything just blurred together. I didn't enjoy the use of words either. I feel like if he worded it differently, it could've been more interesting. It reminds me of the Steppenwolf but at least that was like more interesting because it had a story. This is just idk not it. Usually i like philosophy and shit but def not this.
December 20, 2025
This essay was first published in 1841 and it is one of the earliest contemporary works (yes, I consider it modern despite being almost 200 years old) to discuss non-dualism among other profound themes.
“The Over-Soul” tackles difficult questions, and if you are new to these ideas, you will likely struggle to fully grasp it. I strongly suggest reading about the author, his life and other works, before even opening this essay.
“The Over-Soul” is definitely among the most influential essays ever written, but to fully enjoy this work, most people may need to do some additional research regarding it.
“The Over-Soul” tackles difficult questions, and if you are new to these ideas, you will likely struggle to fully grasp it. I strongly suggest reading about the author, his life and other works, before even opening this essay.
“The Over-Soul” is definitely among the most influential essays ever written, but to fully enjoy this work, most people may need to do some additional research regarding it.
November 29, 2020
"I the imperfect, adore my own Perfect."
"He will learn that the universe is presented on a atom, on a moment of time."
I was recommended to read this book before "That spoke Zarathustra" as it discusses how man have made the meaning of life something external. And even do I don't agree with all the ideas, it is definitely a worth while to read short essay as it questions ourselves on what are those things that makes us fill alive and why our own souls is the thing to hold up to live a peaceful and happy life regardless of external circumstances.
"He will learn that the universe is presented on a atom, on a moment of time."
I was recommended to read this book before "That spoke Zarathustra" as it discusses how man have made the meaning of life something external. And even do I don't agree with all the ideas, it is definitely a worth while to read short essay as it questions ourselves on what are those things that makes us fill alive and why our own souls is the thing to hold up to live a peaceful and happy life regardless of external circumstances.
August 20, 2022
A wonderful meditation on the nature of reality and the Soul. It seems Emerson has read his Plato, or, perhaps more accurately, his Plotinus. It's also a highly lyrical work - Nietzsche was reportedly a big fan of Emerson and you can certainly see his style prefigured here. I'm giving it four out of five stars because its lyricism does come at the cost of some somewhat imprecise language. But its still a highly accessible and uplifting work.
America's first philosopher - possible cryptopagan?
America's first philosopher - possible cryptopagan?
August 24, 2023
The final ideas of this essay are very reminiscent of Buddhism and East Asian religious philosophy. Interesting commentary on the relation between Christianity and a continuing history of power dynamics in organized religion, but in a way that criticizes the institutions themselves, not the restorative or spiritual potential of religion. Very good read, but make sure to go on a walkie while u do :) it's what Emerson would have wanted
February 27, 2020
Do I understand the Oversoul? I hope to. I hope to.
March 10, 2021
Some positive sparks and interesting philosphy, but too self-inflated, too far from a faithful rendering of Christian tradition and extremely individualistic.
March 31, 2021
don't like emerson <3
June 22, 2021
Deep, deep insight. Can be difficult to understand, even more difficult to live up to. But the parts I understood were inspirational.
June 26, 2023
The Tree is one and the same whole
January 26, 2024
Just not for me i found it boring and repetitive.
April 5, 2025
Heretical
September 11, 2025
probably a 2.5 but 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
January 28, 2013
"He that finds God a sweet, enveloping thought to him, never counts his company. When I sit in that presence, who shall dare to come in? When I rest in perfect humility, when I burn with pure love,-- what can Calvin or Swedenborg say?"
August 23, 2011
"Man is a stream whose source is hidden."
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