NAT Transcendentalism: Key terms, beliefs and goals

Free Write: What is the role of nature in your life? How much time do you spend in nature? How are you affected by nature? Does it affect your mood? Does nature have moods? What is meant by an individual's spiritual side? How to you define it? Is there a connection between the individual's spirit and nature? If so, what is that connection? Stream- of- consciousness style – if you’d like.

Home Inventory How many pairs of shoes do you have? How many shirts? How many pairs of socks? How many books? How many items of food are in your fridge? How many appliances are in your kitchen? How many electronics are in your home? (computers, tvs, cell phones, etc) What percentage could you easily discard?

Home Inventory Discussion Share your home inventory with your group. Who has most of each item? The least? How many shoes in total does your group have? How many electronics? What percentage could you easily discard?

Time Period The Transcendentalist movement (which began in New England) took place between 1830 and 1860. It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, ‘Always do what you are afraid to do.’” – Ralph Waldo Emerson “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” --- Henry David Thoreau

Definitions 1. From the word “transcend,” which means to go beyond – i.e., to go beyond logic/reason/the five senses to find something deeper in the human spirit/soul An extreme form of Romanticism, transcendentalism celebrates: individualism the beauty of nature the virtue of humankind

Definitions, cont. 2. A philosophy that implies that the basic truths of the universe lie beyond the knowledge we obtain from our senses, reason, logic, or laws of science – we learn these truths through our intuition, called the “Divine Intellect” A belief in a higher reality or in a higher kind of knowledge Suggests that every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth on his or her own, through intuition

Born Bad or Good? Enlightenment Sinful Blank Slate Good Puritans Sinful Enlightenment Blank Slate Transcendentalists Good 3. Transcendentalists saw humans and nature as possessing an innate goodness.

Definitions, cont. 4. Intuition: an innate understanding of what is right and good; a direct line of communication between God and man “In the faces of men and women I see God.” – Walt Whitman

Famous Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson Famous works: Nature, Self-Reliance, “The Snowstorm,” “Concord Hymn” Henry David Thoreau Famous works: Walden, Civil Disobedience Note: Both Emerson and Thoreau began their Transcendentalist thinking and subsequent writing in New England.

Beliefs The human senses can know only physical reality. 2. Fundamental truths of being and the universe lie outside the reach of the senses and can be grasped only through intuition. 3. The human spirit is reflected in nature. 4. Man and Nature are inherently good. 5. Individualism should be valued.

Beliefs, cont. 6. The natural world is symbolic of the spiritual world. 7. Society is a source of distracting, corruptive materialism. (Reject materialism!) 8. Simplicity is the path to spiritual greatness. "Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. " --Henry David Thoreau

Goal To explore nature thoroughly to come to know oneself and universal truths more clearly

And finally… THE HEART OF TRANSCENDENTALIST BELIEF: All forms of being—God, nature, humanity— are spiritually united through a shared, universal soul, or Over-Soul. EVERYTHING in nature and in the world shares a universal soul.

The Top 6 Signs that you may be a Transcendentalist You believe that Nature-with-a-capital-‘N’ demands the most serious reverence. 5. You believe that everything in Nature strives to realize its inner potential—from the smallest weed to the tallest mountain. You believe that intuition is more important than logic. 3 You believe that ALL knowledge comes from inside—one does not need the past, the family, or society to act as guides to behavior—and that each of us knows how to behave if only we TRUST our inner light You believe strongly in a philosophy of individualism and self- reliance 1. You insist that we should follow our instincts WHEREVER they may lead NO MATTER what rules or convention might demand; TO BE FULLY HUMAN is to do whatever one wants (and believes in fully) to do, whatever the cost. So…are YOU a Transcendentalist?