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The Transcendalist
An interesting essay by Transcendentalist and early American iconoclast Ralph Waldo Emerson. Worth reading for both it's historical and current value.
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First published January 1, 2000
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About the author
Ralph Waldo Emerson
3,415 books5,365 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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October 15, 2012
Ralph Waldo Emerson never claimed to be a simple person. His philosophies were riddled with genius thought and explorations into the minds of the individual and society. During the rise of Transcendentalism in the mid-nineteenth century, his essays and poems became known as an unintentional catalyst for the pacifistic propaganda of the ideology, and soon enough he was noted “The Father of the Transcendentalist Movement.” In the essay “The Transcendentalist,” which was originally a lecture read at the Masonic Temple in Boston in January 1843, Emerson outlined his views on the new concept of a really old way of thinking.
In his essay, Emerson seemed to want to halt all confusion and question as to just what a Transcendentalist thinks and is. He opens with the thought provoking idea that there are only two types of people in the world: materialists and Idealists. Materialists deal with the “finality of the senses”; they only think in data and experiences, and believe only in “the animal wants of man,” which gives the sect a very gruff and Neanderthal tone. But Emerson argues that, on the other hand, the Idealists think in consciousness and except that the things they simply observe are more than themselves. At first, I found regretfully that I identified more with the former sect--I had secretly wanted to comprehend Emerson on a more intimate level. But as I read on, I realized that it isn’t hard to both admire his cleverness and correlate his thoughts with those of your own.
It didn’t take me long to realize that our friend Ralph was an atheist. The transparency must have had something to do with the bereavement of many of his family, including his wife and mother, before the modern drinking age. His quoting and admiring of Condillac when he said, “Though we should soar into the heavens, though we should sink into the abyss, we never go out of ourselves; it is always our own thought that we perceive,” is when I got a sour taste in my mouth. I had hoped Emerson would have taken a more secular approach to his philosophy, but it is unreasonable to ask for such. Transcendentalism and religion were always bound to contradict.
Besides emphasizing the need for self-reliance and self-propagation, Emerson seems to be arguing against critiques of Transcendentalism, as if the Transcendentalists were being criticized. This is when he gets to be a little arrogant. If the complex and sometimes disorienting diction wasn’t enough of a hint, his generalization of society and implications of imbecility are a sure bet. He goes so far as to claim that non-Transcendentalists are basically incapable of intuitive thought. Emerson also goes in depth to defend the natural unsociability and reticent lifestyle of such thinkers. He condescendingly treats society as a single prejudice individual, saying of his kind’s introverted tendencies: “Society, to be sure, does not like this very well...it is very uncivil, nay, insulting; Society will retaliate.”
It is admittedly hard to look past such deplorable opinion and see the motive behind his madness, so to speak. Though on one’s own behalf, of course--Emerson is astonishingly good at weaving delicately formed allusions and parables to create a wholesome suggestion about life. I even found influences from existentialist philosophy: “Yet, what is my faith? What am I? What but a thought of serenity and independence, an abode in the deep blue sky?” It seems that he was channeling the views of his posterity--Camus, Sartre, Voltaire--before their time, once again pioneering in the field of individualistic doctrine. Furthermore, Emerson elaborates on the Transcendentalist belief of the futility of labor (Well of course, they’re waiting for the Universe to call to them to work!) and the necessity of “real men” and the return of the “old Idealists” of a generation ago, because apparently they all left, only to be melancholically reincarnated into Emerson himself. The great literary work--a term used non-sarcastically--concludes with the declaration of immortality for Transcendentalist thought. A tall order for one man’s assumption of a whole generation’s philosophy, but it’s held up pretty well so far.
My opinion of Emerson’s work is perennially mixed. For one, it was not light reading. I tend to prefer books that are good both with a shallow eye and through literary scrutiny, but “The Transcendentalist” needs solely the latter. I enjoyed the overall intelligence of the essay; Emerson was no doubt a strong orator. But after reading, I couldn’t shake the unsettling nature of his pompous and belittling attacks on the “Materialists” of the world, a group I happen to be a part of. The one thing holding me back from simply writing this book off as a flop was that it made me think. Even if I am the Democrat to Emerson’s Republican, I still identified with the innate urgency to find structure and understanding in one’s life. There are worse things to believe in besides the sole dependency of one’s own consciousness, right? Nevertheless, I feel that a work by Ralph Waldo Emerson is absolutely critical for the repertoire of any literary junkie, aspiring philosopher, or classicist. But as for leisure reading? I’d rather pick up a Fitzgerald or a John Green novel any day of the week.
In his essay, Emerson seemed to want to halt all confusion and question as to just what a Transcendentalist thinks and is. He opens with the thought provoking idea that there are only two types of people in the world: materialists and Idealists. Materialists deal with the “finality of the senses”; they only think in data and experiences, and believe only in “the animal wants of man,” which gives the sect a very gruff and Neanderthal tone. But Emerson argues that, on the other hand, the Idealists think in consciousness and except that the things they simply observe are more than themselves. At first, I found regretfully that I identified more with the former sect--I had secretly wanted to comprehend Emerson on a more intimate level. But as I read on, I realized that it isn’t hard to both admire his cleverness and correlate his thoughts with those of your own.
It didn’t take me long to realize that our friend Ralph was an atheist. The transparency must have had something to do with the bereavement of many of his family, including his wife and mother, before the modern drinking age. His quoting and admiring of Condillac when he said, “Though we should soar into the heavens, though we should sink into the abyss, we never go out of ourselves; it is always our own thought that we perceive,” is when I got a sour taste in my mouth. I had hoped Emerson would have taken a more secular approach to his philosophy, but it is unreasonable to ask for such. Transcendentalism and religion were always bound to contradict.
Besides emphasizing the need for self-reliance and self-propagation, Emerson seems to be arguing against critiques of Transcendentalism, as if the Transcendentalists were being criticized. This is when he gets to be a little arrogant. If the complex and sometimes disorienting diction wasn’t enough of a hint, his generalization of society and implications of imbecility are a sure bet. He goes so far as to claim that non-Transcendentalists are basically incapable of intuitive thought. Emerson also goes in depth to defend the natural unsociability and reticent lifestyle of such thinkers. He condescendingly treats society as a single prejudice individual, saying of his kind’s introverted tendencies: “Society, to be sure, does not like this very well...it is very uncivil, nay, insulting; Society will retaliate.”
It is admittedly hard to look past such deplorable opinion and see the motive behind his madness, so to speak. Though on one’s own behalf, of course--Emerson is astonishingly good at weaving delicately formed allusions and parables to create a wholesome suggestion about life. I even found influences from existentialist philosophy: “Yet, what is my faith? What am I? What but a thought of serenity and independence, an abode in the deep blue sky?” It seems that he was channeling the views of his posterity--Camus, Sartre, Voltaire--before their time, once again pioneering in the field of individualistic doctrine. Furthermore, Emerson elaborates on the Transcendentalist belief of the futility of labor (Well of course, they’re waiting for the Universe to call to them to work!) and the necessity of “real men” and the return of the “old Idealists” of a generation ago, because apparently they all left, only to be melancholically reincarnated into Emerson himself. The great literary work--a term used non-sarcastically--concludes with the declaration of immortality for Transcendentalist thought. A tall order for one man’s assumption of a whole generation’s philosophy, but it’s held up pretty well so far.
My opinion of Emerson’s work is perennially mixed. For one, it was not light reading. I tend to prefer books that are good both with a shallow eye and through literary scrutiny, but “The Transcendentalist” needs solely the latter. I enjoyed the overall intelligence of the essay; Emerson was no doubt a strong orator. But after reading, I couldn’t shake the unsettling nature of his pompous and belittling attacks on the “Materialists” of the world, a group I happen to be a part of. The one thing holding me back from simply writing this book off as a flop was that it made me think. Even if I am the Democrat to Emerson’s Republican, I still identified with the innate urgency to find structure and understanding in one’s life. There are worse things to believe in besides the sole dependency of one’s own consciousness, right? Nevertheless, I feel that a work by Ralph Waldo Emerson is absolutely critical for the repertoire of any literary junkie, aspiring philosopher, or classicist. But as for leisure reading? I’d rather pick up a Fitzgerald or a John Green novel any day of the week.
November 21, 2015
Dear Yann Martel,
Your simultaneously inspiring and confounding The High Mountains of Portugal: A Novel made me want to read this simultaneously inspiring and confounding 10 page essay. I almost understood some of it and I'm almost on to understanding some of your own literary motives now. Not quite, but almost.
Peace,
Doug
"Amidst the downward tendency and proneness of things, when every voice is raised for a new road or another statute, or a subscription of stock, for an improvement in dress, or in dentistry, for a new house or a larger business, for a political party, or the division of an estate, — will you not tolerate one or two solitary voices in the land, speaking for thoughts and principles not marketable or perishable? Soon these improvements and mechanical inventions will be superseded; these modes of living lost out of memory; these cities rotted, ruined by war, by new inventions, by new seats of trade, or the geologic changes: — all gone, like the shells which sprinkle the seabeach with a white colony to-day, forever renewed to be forever destroyed. But the thoughts which these few hermits strove to proclaim by silence, as well as by speech, not only by what they did, but by what they forbore to do, shall abide in beauty and strength, to reorganize themselves in nature, to invest themselves anew in other, perhaps higher endowed and happier mixed clay than ours, in fuller union with the surrounding system."
- Emerson
Your simultaneously inspiring and confounding The High Mountains of Portugal: A Novel made me want to read this simultaneously inspiring and confounding 10 page essay. I almost understood some of it and I'm almost on to understanding some of your own literary motives now. Not quite, but almost.
Peace,
Doug
"Amidst the downward tendency and proneness of things, when every voice is raised for a new road or another statute, or a subscription of stock, for an improvement in dress, or in dentistry, for a new house or a larger business, for a political party, or the division of an estate, — will you not tolerate one or two solitary voices in the land, speaking for thoughts and principles not marketable or perishable? Soon these improvements and mechanical inventions will be superseded; these modes of living lost out of memory; these cities rotted, ruined by war, by new inventions, by new seats of trade, or the geologic changes: — all gone, like the shells which sprinkle the seabeach with a white colony to-day, forever renewed to be forever destroyed. But the thoughts which these few hermits strove to proclaim by silence, as well as by speech, not only by what they did, but by what they forbore to do, shall abide in beauty and strength, to reorganize themselves in nature, to invest themselves anew in other, perhaps higher endowed and happier mixed clay than ours, in fuller union with the surrounding system."
- Emerson
April 17, 2020
One of the most compelling defenses of transcendental thought. Emerson claims that all materialists see the world through their senses, and what their senses see is what matters to them. But the idealists, see no physical matter, and the world matters less to those who only see ideas. But what happens to those who had transcendent both matters and ideas? Where will these Transcendentalists live?
Will they live in society, or on the outskirts? Will they live in the world, or outside of it?
Every materialist will be an idealist; but an idealist can never go backward to be a materialist.
Thus the spiritual measure of inspiration is the depth of the thought, and never, who said it
It is a sign of our times, conspicuous to the coarsest observer, that many intelligent and religious persons withdraw themselves from the common labors and competitions of the market and the caucus, and betake themselves to a certain solitary and critical way of living, from which no solid fruit has yet appeared to justify their separation
Will they live in society, or on the outskirts? Will they live in the world, or outside of it?
Every materialist will be an idealist; but an idealist can never go backward to be a materialist.
Thus the spiritual measure of inspiration is the depth of the thought, and never, who said it
It is a sign of our times, conspicuous to the coarsest observer, that many intelligent and religious persons withdraw themselves from the common labors and competitions of the market and the caucus, and betake themselves to a certain solitary and critical way of living, from which no solid fruit has yet appeared to justify their separation
June 16, 2024
Very impactful book, widely cited. An anthology of his best thought, and a useful insight into the movement to which he was attached, and led, transcendentalism.
February 22, 2022
In this short essay (about ten pages,) Emerson lays out an argument for Idealism over Materialism, and then contends that it’s reasonable to excuse oneself from the economic and civic aspects of society in favor of a simple life of introspection. [e.g. As Thoreau did in his years at Walden Pond.]
Emerson opens by suggesting that Transcendentalism is just Idealism by a different name. Idealism being a philosophical stance which puts consciousness at the fore while proposing that there is something beyond [that transcends] our experience of sensory information. The arguments put forth in favor of Idealism include the fact that sensory illusions exist and the Kantian critique of Locke’s view that there’s no more to the intellect than that which is or was sensory experience; Kant argues that there’s intuition. Kant’s influence is considerable, and Emerson explains that even the term “Transcendentalism” is derived from Kant’s use of the term “transcendental.”
The latter part of the essay echoes Emerson’s masterwork, the essay “Self-Reliance.” It proposes that it’s perfectly laudable to take advantage of the greatest gift one has, one’s consciousness, to introspect and indulge one’s need to better understand.
I may have mixed views on Emerson’s ideas, but one can’t say he doesn’t use language and reason and passion to make compelling claims. I found this brief essay to be both thought-provoking and inspirational, and I’d highly recommend it.
Emerson opens by suggesting that Transcendentalism is just Idealism by a different name. Idealism being a philosophical stance which puts consciousness at the fore while proposing that there is something beyond [that transcends] our experience of sensory information. The arguments put forth in favor of Idealism include the fact that sensory illusions exist and the Kantian critique of Locke’s view that there’s no more to the intellect than that which is or was sensory experience; Kant argues that there’s intuition. Kant’s influence is considerable, and Emerson explains that even the term “Transcendentalism” is derived from Kant’s use of the term “transcendental.”
The latter part of the essay echoes Emerson’s masterwork, the essay “Self-Reliance.” It proposes that it’s perfectly laudable to take advantage of the greatest gift one has, one’s consciousness, to introspect and indulge one’s need to better understand.
I may have mixed views on Emerson’s ideas, but one can’t say he doesn’t use language and reason and passion to make compelling claims. I found this brief essay to be both thought-provoking and inspirational, and I’d highly recommend it.
October 22, 2019
What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
January 21, 2024
"The Transcendentalist" is a call to look beyond the material world and to find deeper meaning and connection with the universe through intuition, nature, and the power of the individual spirit. It's a short, dense read containing some beautiful and relevant thoughts on how to live and think about our parallel existence of the material/physical and the transcendent/ideal/spiritual. I believe he demonstrates that it requires BOTH aspects of our existence to have a meaningful, full, relevant life.
Short and worth the effort.
Short and worth the effort.
March 23, 2019
This essay is from a lecture presented by Emerson in 1842 specific to the doctrine of transcendentalism. He begins with a comparison between materialists and idealists then goes on to outline transcendentalists characteristics expounding on the likes of epistemology and the benefits of solitude... You can read the essay here: https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engwe...
August 11, 2020
Bad. I don’t like this man.
(Another one I read from a different edition but I want cred so I’m logging it separately.)
(Another one I read from a different edition but I want cred so I’m logging it separately.)
March 31, 2023
Ralph just says stuff😭
November 2, 2019
Definitely an essay that requires at lot of attention, and yet makes good arguments.
September 23, 2009
What is popularly called Transcendentalism among us, is Idealism; Idealism as it appears in 1842. Idealists; ... founding... on consciousness; perceive that the senses are not final, and say, the senses give us representations of things, but what are the things themselves, they cannot tell...the idealist on the power of Thought and of Will, on inspiration, on miracle, on individual culture...the idealist contends that his way of thinking is in higher nature.
...
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. He wishes that the spiritual principle should be suffered to demonstrate itself to the end, in all possible applications to the state of man, without the admission of anything unspiritual; that is, anything positive, dogmatic, personal. Thus, the spiritual measure of inspiration is the depth of the thought, and never, who said it? And so he resists all attempts to palm other rules and measures on the spirit than its own.
---The Transcendentalist from Lectures, published as part of Nature; Addresses and Lectures Ralph Waldo Emerson A Lecture read at the Masonic Temple, Boston, January, 1842
...
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. He wishes that the spiritual principle should be suffered to demonstrate itself to the end, in all possible applications to the state of man, without the admission of anything unspiritual; that is, anything positive, dogmatic, personal. Thus, the spiritual measure of inspiration is the depth of the thought, and never, who said it? And so he resists all attempts to palm other rules and measures on the spirit than its own.
---The Transcendentalist from Lectures, published as part of Nature; Addresses and Lectures Ralph Waldo Emerson A Lecture read at the Masonic Temple, Boston, January, 1842
February 19, 2015
This is a great read, but it is also a very difficult read. It is something that should be broken down into small bits and studied, rather than simply read as though it were a story, if one wishes to fully grasp its concepts.
June 28, 2008
A quick read from Raymond Soulard Jr.'s Burning Man Books. It's kind of cool as a period piece and it holds some value today. I don't know, I was glad to read it.
Currently reading
May 22, 2012Must read in shifts
October 23, 2015
I could follow the beginning, then I lost it.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews