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McCarthy 1 Transcendentalism: A Needed Key For A Caged Present Transcendentalism was a movement in both literature and philosophy which thrived rom the early years until the middle years o the nineteenth century! The philosophy behind Transcendentalism was that nature is perect "ust the way it is and thus man is perect because he is a part o nature! This idea was propagated through the writings o #alph $aldo $aldo %merson& 'enry (avid Thoreau& and an d even some writings belonging to $alt $alt $hitman! 'owever& this paper will ocus primarily upon %merson)s essay Self-Reliance while Self-Reliance while briely touching upon $hitman)s Leaves of Grass& Grass& particularly the section *+ Me, + -ie,*! %merson is arguably the ather o Transcendentalism and $hitman)s Leaves $hitman)s Leaves of Grass is without a doubt his most transcendentalist themed writing! These writings seem necessary today because o the world we live in which is slowly becoming obsessed with hiding our true identities to have saety rom the opinions o society! This This paper will argue that %merson)s Self-Reliance and $hitman)s Leaves of Grass are Self-Reliance and $hitman)s Leaves Grass are the ideal o what we should strive or as a society i we have any a ny hope o correcting the path o sel.enslavement which humanity is currently on and to avoid the dystopian uture such as those depicted in many science iction ilms and writings! First it is necessary to discuss when Transcendentalism truly began! Transcendentalism origin)s are described in the ollowing statement& */t began as a reorm movement in the 0nitarian church& etending the views o $illiam %llery Channing on an indwelling 2od and the signiicance o intuitive thought* 3Campbell4! This idea would be adopted by secular men such as %merson& Thoreau& and& to an etent& $hitman! They believed that humanity must thin5 instead o blindly ollowing one institution or another! Thus they also believed that it is the individual)s choice on how to live their lives and eactly how to ma5e the world the world that the individual wishes to live in! This idea would beco me prominent among many o the members
McCarthy 6 o the transcendentalist movement& especially those such as %merson wh o avored a more individualistic approach to the lives which he euded that man should live! Net& it is also necessary to understand the ideas which %merson and $hitman $hitman present in their writings! %merson wrote a series o essays& and one o the more popular essays is Self Reliance which Reliance which comes rom his irst series! /n this particular writing& %merson presents ideas which state his belie that man should strive to be eactly what he eels he is meant to be! $hile the essay is not a long read by any means& it could cou ld be summed up in the ollowing ecerpt: $hat / must do is all that concerns me& not what the people thin5! This rule& e7ually arduous in actual and in intellectual lie& may serve or the whole distinction between greatness and meanness! /t is the harder because bec ause you will always ind those who thin5 they 5now what is your duty better than you 5now it! /t is easy in the world to live ater the world)s opinion8 it is easy in solitude to live ater our own8 but the great man is he who in the midst o the crowd 5eeps with perect sweetness the independence o solitude 3%merson4! /n this ecerpt& %merson states that man must not be concerned with the opinions o society& but rather with his own actions! $hile the ability to be onesel in a world which has epectations or how an individual may act& the diiculty o the tas5 o being onesel is the dierence between being great and being bitter! %merson %merson believes that it is harder to be onesel due to the act that there will always be others who eist merely to believe that they 5now the point o one)s o ne)s lie better than that individual! #ather& %merson %merson pronounces that while it is easier to go with the crowd when one is in the crowd and to be onesel when one is alone& to be great means to act as i one is alone when one is part o the crowd! /n star5 contrast to biology which states that a species must adapt and conorm in order to survive& %merson argues 7uite the opposite in that as
McCarthy 9 a species& humanity must be dierent and ace the persecution o nonconormity otherwise it is doomed to cultural stagnation! %merson believes that above all else& nonconormity is the way to live and the way in wh which ich society will prosper and evolve! This ideal& presented %merson& is one that should be strived or by all manner o men i the human race is to be able to transcend the limited thin5ing that comes along with conormity! $hitman& on the other hand& had some transcendentalist ideas in his writing but also some ideas which go against those o the transcendentalist movement! 'is writing which most embodies these ideas& which was praised by %merson himsel& is the collection entitled Leaves entitled Leaves of Grass! Grass! /n oo5 ;; o this writing& there is a section called *+ Me, + -ie,* which oers the ollowing lines& * That you are here
McCarthy > modern society& they could be adapted and assimilated into today)s culture to reverse the sel. enslavement humanity is acing! The irst and biggest problem which is seen among modern society is a moral decline! This is not in comparison to the morals the past& but rather the byproduct o a constantly growing apathy which has begun to ta5e hold amongst the younger members o society! This This apathetic attitude allows evil to persist and happen merely because it does not bother putting the eort necessary to ensure that good can triumph over evil! The transcendentalists saw this as a problem which can be seen in %merson)s writings and $hitman)s idea o the powerul play! ?ome transcendentalists believed in something more than the individual while some believed purely in transorming the individual& b ut it can be agreed that as a whole& *Transcendentalists called or the moral reorm o the individual* 3%arheart4! $hether to help the community and add to the powerul play or merely or sel.enrichment& transcendentalists believed that individuals must be moral to an etent! +ne would argue that apathy is in contrast to morality because its very na ture revolves around the decision not to act! Morality re7uires involvement at some level& whether that be direct action or spiritual involvement! call or moral reorm seems to be necessary today and is constantly being issued by many non.secular groups& but i the idea could come rom a secular area o society then it has a much higher chance o being successul as people today seem to want to go against any institution! The problem which causes this lac5 o o morality is that many people don)t thin5 beore they act anymore! Today)s society revolves more around eelings than actual thought which ha s bred a group o people who act based upon temporary emotions! This is in complete deiance o %merson and other transcendentalist thin5ers as they would oten practice something beore they preached it! According to the /nternet /nternet %ncyclopedia o Philosophy& which is a peer.reviewed
McCarthy @ academic resource& *The idealism o the American transcendentalists& li5e their morality and their love o beauty& too5 the orm o practices beore it became& as an aterthought& a sort o theory* 3rodric54! American transcendentalists truly put into practice the saying& *practice what you preach!* Thus they set an eample that many people should loo5 at today! They were an idealistic group o people which is based around the act that they believed the world to be perect instead o needing to leave their impression upon the world! ?ociety today is too concerned with being remembered long ater an individual is gone and thus will do anything to not be orgotten even i it means destroying nature! This has led to a pessimistic& oten cynical& mindset as people loo5 to the uture with blea5 eyes as they search or something to ma5e their legacy! /n this respect& society has become enslaved to thought o itsel and its legacy! legac y! This This creates an opportunity or the rise o saviors who leav e their mar5 on the world at the epense o others! The transcendentalist ideals promoted thin5ing and prompted people to act on how they thought rather than how they eel or how they thin5 they eel! This is almost completely necessary in today)s world as people constantly over.thin5 things which creates an environment o pessimism and deeatism which can con7uer even the most starry.eyed idealist! / society is to be set ree rom the constantly shrin5ing cage it has created or itsel itsel then it needs to thin5 about how it will contribute to the individuals and the powerul play instead o one)s own legacy! / people act as how they are supposed to act and be the individual they are supposed to be then verse will be written on its own! To conclude& %merson)s Self-Reliance and $hitman)s Leaves $hitman)s Leaves of Grass are Grass are both pieces o art which contain ideals that we must strive or as a society today! /n a world illed to brim with selishness& greed& and other evil things& it is necessary to ocus o n the act that we are individuals and our actions all contribute to this idea o the powerul play! No matter what we
McCarthy may try to do& the powerul play will continue to go on and on8 thus we must decided what our verse will say and how long our ou r verse will be! As the amous -atin 7uote goes& *Carpe diem& 7uam minimum credula postero&* or seiBe day& da y& putting putting little aith in the uture! The uture o the planet is ours and i we 5eep living on it as i we)ll live orever& orever& then the state o the world will only continue to spiral downwards!
