American Transcendentalists Essay

Ameri merchant ship transcendentalists sought the per bitent eldritch reality behind physical appearances. They were optimistic and believed in serviceman perfectibility they engaged in projects that tried to create the ideal reality. They believed that the universe is one great entity. transcendental philosophy centres on the divinity of each individual. But this divinity could be self-importance-discovered only if the person had the independence of mind. They believed in democracy, equality, the un exceptional power of the individual and the beauty of the human spirit and the inborn world. They focused on the peremptory scenes of smell, while working to improve the injustices of the world.Transcendentalists view on Nature is unique and interesting. They believe that there is an intragroup spark contained by and connecting all facets of constitution, including mankind, which can be discovered not through logical cerebrate but only through intuition and the creative insigh t. They stressed the importance of harmony with nature. Transcendentalism is an noble-mindedness that encompasses a diverse and roughlytimes confusing set of beliefs regarding mans role in nature and the universe.As for the human nature, transcendentalists saw no need for any intercession between immortal and man and therefore called for an independence from organized religion. They stated that God is energy, a force, not a particular recognize being God breathes through nature and man attempts to open himself up to this influx. Their claim was that the divinity is self-possessed in every being. They believed in the unlimited potential of human ability to connect with both the inseparable and spiritual world. People should, through their intuition, the external symbols of nature and translate them into spiritual facts. Transcendentalists were idealistic and optimistic because they believed they could keep an eye on answers to whatever they were seeking.Transcendentalist decla red there was meaning in everything and that meaning was good and connected by and split of a augur plan. This philosophy led to an optimistic emphasis on individualism one aspect of individualism is the value of the individual over inn. One must follow his instincts and not conform to what society dictates. Although society will influence an individual towards conformity, it is important to remain true to ones self and to ones identity. Transcendentalism believes the spiritual reflection of each person as they move from the wise to the spiritual is the very essence of life, and this is an individual accomplishment.Thoreau stated that the world around us as a miracle in itself. It is in this living we move toward the conscience of the reality we cannot see, and this is part of Thoreaus point. Thoreau argued in Walden that the divine exists not just in all citizenry but can be perceived in all of nature.The idea of immanence served to strengthen Thoreaus belief in the equality of all tidy sum Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads, cited Thoreau in Walden. Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only, is another valuable quotation from his book. Transcendentalists believed in individual creative spirit and empathized natural itinerary of life. Thus, transcendentalists were extolling the spiritual benefits of living in nature. Thoreau believed that most men live lives of quiet desperation, and he wanted to envision the humanity a way out.Anti-transcendentalists rejected the optimistic outlook on humanity and life declaring that the optimism of their predecessors was nave and unrealistic. The anti-transcendentalists reflected a more pessimistic attitude and focused on mans uncertainty and limited potential in the universe. The writing of anti-transcendentalists focuses on imagination, intuition, the power of nature and individual emotion, but they deal with the darker face of human nature.The anti-transcendentalists viewed nature as vast and incomprehensible, a reflection of the struggle between good and evil.The anti-transcendentalist entangle humans were depraved and had to struggle for goodness.Although they thought goodness was attainable for some, they believed in evil as its hold entity. They believed sin was an active force it was not just the absence of good they really did think, on some level, that the devil existed.The anti-transcendentalists believed in a higher authority and that nature is ultimately the creation and possession of God and can not be understood by humans. The anti-transcendentalists feared that people who desired complete individualism would appoint into the worse angles of mans nature. They were concerned that without external constraints, such as societal mores, people would be motivated only by their immediate need and desire for sensory gratification. They believed that both nature and human nature had a dark side that could not be ignored.Anti-transcendentalist writer would hold rea ders attention through dread of a series of terrible possibilities and feature landscapes of dark forests, extreme vegetation, concealed ruins with horrific rooms, get down characters.Melvilles perspective on life is that God created the universe with an infinite number of meanings and man is continuously trying to de borderine one specific meaning. The writer believed the single-minded idealist could draw society into danger. Melville illustrated this disgrace through his main character, Ahab, who embarked on a journey to avenge the whale that dismasted him. Ahab had excessive pride, which blinded his parking area sense and endangered his crew as he set out on a egotistic mission of revenge.When Ahab said, I would strike out at the sun if it insulted me. Whos over me? it showed his transformation into a single-minded idealist. In this story the whale, Moby Dick, serves to symbolize any force that we allow to hold us back. Melville, through symbolism in the story, taught the m oral that when human beings have few external constraints, their inner needs and drives serve as their motivation. He also warned of the inherent dangers in a person such as passe-partout Ahab.On the contrary, Ishmaels character allows the reader to relate to a love for nature and the earth, as well as a feeling of inner peace and serenity.The man vs Nature is one of the key in the book. This conflict contradicts totally the notion about the integrity of humankind and natural world. Still, Melville gives credit to natural world, while referring to it as to the, Gods great, unflattering laureate, Nature. But in his writing the integrity and spiritual fullness of Nature is questioned, his approach is more scientific than philosophical.Hawthorne was another representative of anti-transcendentalist trend in American literature. In Dr. Heideggers Experiment an invitation to taste from the fountain of youth is offered. Four Heideggers friends agree to do so and they proceed young again , but they are soon devastated by the transience of the experience. Again, the motif of the undisciplined power of the science is central in the story.Another contradiction between transcendentalists and their opponents concentrated around the image of self-reliability. For instance, Hawthorne saw the self-reliant person as selfish, insecure, and desperate for attention. The need for a person to depend on society is as great as the need for society to depend on the individual. But the term society in the story has more specific application. Society is the familiar circle, the system of social dealings of each individual. By becoming suddenly young, people endanger themselves of loosing their familiar circle of friends and acquaintances. Hawthorne depicted people who had no regard for societal values at all he was among the first to introduce the riddle of ethic of science.As for the human nature, Dr. Heidegger advices his friends that they should, think what a sin and shame it w ould be, if, with your peculiar advantages, you should not become patterns of virtue and wisdom to all the young people of the age. The issue of sin has attracted many anti-transcendentalist writers.So we mak3e a conclusion that transcendentalist authors had optimistic view of life and believed in the spiritual nature if the world and integrity of troops and Nature, they put on emphasis over individualism and self-reliance. Anti-transcendentalists had more pessimistic view on life and concentrated on the darkest side of human nature.SourcesHerman Melville, Moby Dick or the Whale, Modern Library, Reprint edition, 1992, ISBN 0679600108Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tales and Sketches, Library of America, 1982, ISBN 0940450038 atomic number 1 David Thoreau, Walden An Annotated Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995, ISBN 0395720427