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Transcendentalism into the wild
Transcendentalism into the wild
Transcendentalism in the 21st century
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Modern day transcendentalists are not easily found anymore in society. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what a transcendentalist is. By being your own self, following your own standards and being yourself, you become transcendental. By looking at the Robertsons’ way of life, they would make a tremendous example of modern day transcendentalists. Their religion, love of nature, and individualism create a transcendental lifestyle.
While comparing some of the ways of life by Phil Robertson and his family versus Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, who were the heart of transcendentalism, there are multiple similarities found. In Emerson’s earlier years, he took over as director of his brothers school for girls. Phil Robertson had attended college and received his Master’s degree in Education. Both had later realized that they would like to go on to do something else. Ralph went on to become a minister while Phil thought his talents would best be used out in the woods. Phil ended up an inventor and CEO of the Duck Commander duck calls. The Robertson family as well as Ralph Wal...
In the film Into the Wild directed by Sean Penn, viewers may have gathered enough evidence to back up their thoughts on Christopher McCandless being a transcendentalist or a non-transcendentalist. Chris portrayed the effort of being a transcendentalist just as Ralph Waldo Emerson and David Thoreau did. He abandoned his nice life to hitchhike all over North America and he was happy about it. McCandless unfortunately died in the wilderness of Alaska after he had eaten moldy seeds. Sooner or later, that mistake was enough to end his life. He shows behavior of being a Transcendentalist by the ways that he despised society, burned his money after he abandoned his car, and went out to Alaska on his own.
Thoreau wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” The words transformed people’s lives to think more of the why in life and live with a purpose not just do what they are told, which was a driving idea within the Transcendentalist movements. Transcendentalist were hard to define, but perhaps one of the fathers of transcendentalism Ralph Waldo Emerson defines it most gracefully in a speech he gave, “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”. As Emerson’s key student and self-proclaimed Transcendentalist Thoreau fulfilled these requirements to help further this movement of higher
In all, Chris McCandless should be considered a transcendentalist. He chose to live a life of simplicity, with a spartan apartment and living in woods, lived a simply life in an off campus apartment until he left to live of the land in the Alaskan wilderness and rely on himself and his skills and talents to make it. Although, he was unfortunate and did not live to tell his story, his beliefs and ideas will be remembered as those of a transcendentalist. Someone who believes in living and communicating simply and in nature to find
Transcendentalism plays a key role in all of our lives. Many commonly shared values are rooted from the transcendental keys. Some devote their entire lives to try and live as transcendental as possible. For example, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson were huge undertakers in these ideas and virtues. Chris McCandless looked up to these great thinkers and many others to find an outline for his life. McCandless dedicated his entire life to following many transcendental keys such as non-conformity, reducing dependence on property, and self-reliance.
Is a person that leaves everything behind to find individualism in the wilderness a genius or another insane person? Christopher McCandless is the main character in the novel Into The Wild. He is an idealist, extremist, and a bright person when it comes to academics. He read books by Henry David Thoreau, Tolstoy, Jack London, and even Ralph Waldo Emerson. This is significant because each author have stories about transcendentalism or even about how society wants people to conform. Thoreau, founder of transcendentalism, wrote the book called “Walden” that talks about Henry David Thoreau building a cabin from nature and living there away from society in solitude. Emerson wrote “Self Reliance” that talks about not conforming to society that which has ideas that are hypocritical to the ideas of self-reliance.
There have been many minor transcendentalists in today’s society. Martin Luther King Jr. is a prime example. He was a non-conformist.Individuals around the world still continue to look up to Martin Luther King Jr. and really admire him for this. Another transcendentalist is a man named Christopher McCandless. Chris McCandless is admirable like other transcendentalists because he was a non-conformist, fought to overcome the hardships of life, and accepted his fate which proves that he was a modern day transcendentalist.
Transcendentalists Thoreau and Emerson conveyed strong, specific viewpoints on the world through their writing. The transcendentalist ideals differ vastly with the lives lived by most of the modern world today. Firstly, the two differ on views of self-reliance. Secondly, they have different outlooks on the government and organized groups. Lastly, transcendentalist and modern American views vary by the way they view nature. These differences between transcendentalism and life today are essential in understanding life then, as well as life now.
In this essay, I will compare the philosophies of transcendentalism and anti-transcendentalism through the writings of Thoreau and Emerson vs. Melville. In Thoreau’s excerpt of “Walden”, he tested the transcendentalist philosophy through experience. Emerson’s transcendental writing style is displayed in “Nature”. In Melville’s excerpt of Moby Dick, he exhibits anti-transcendentalism in his work.
In the 1830s the Transcendental movement sprouted. Through the movement founded by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the idea emerged that there is an inherent goodness in all of us. We learned that just because everyone else has a certain philosophy, it does not mean you are required to think that way. Transcendentalism revolved around the themes of religion, politics, the environment and intuition. Even though the transcendental movement ended more than a century and a half ago, its ideals thrive within modern day society. A fantastic example of a modern day transcendentalist would be Bono, the lead vocalist for the world renowned band, U2. Throughout the years, Bono has carried on the legacy that Emerson and his fellow transcendentalists left behind. Bono and U2 demonstrate transcendentalism through the band’s religious beliefs, political beliefs/actions, environmental movements, song lyrics, and the passion through which they express themselves.
Transcendentalism is based on the belief that institutions in the society corrupt an individual’s purity. Transcendentalists believe that people are at their best when they are truly independent and self-reliant. They also believe that from independence and self-reliance, a true community is formed. Even though Transcendentalism is not recognized, it still exists in the modern society. Though not clearly outspoken as in Emerson and Thoreau’s times, many people in today’s society still have transcendental beliefs. Transcendental ideals are found in songs, films, books and other works such as media and advertisements. One example is the song “Get up, Stand up,” by Bob Marley, it is found to be influenced and has inspiration of transcendental elements such as Solitude (individuality), self-reliance, non-conformism (anti-institution), anti-materialism, nature and spirituality.
Before I started cheering, both of my parents never knew how much goes into being a cheerleader. Though soccer was the sport I grew up playing, I ended up quitting to try out for cheerleading in seventh grade. I made the squad that year and I immediately became attached to cheerleading, though my parents did not know how to react exactly. Of course they were happy for me since it was something that I wanted to do, but it was not soccer. My dad did not consider cheerleading to be a sport in the beginning, claiming that “there is no team quality to cheering.” It was safe to say that he did not necessarily like that I quit soccer to take up cheering since he did not consider cheerleading to be a real sport. I have learned that going against tradition and conformity is difficult, but is worth it in the end.
...ed to an optimistic emphasis on individualism, self-reliance, and rejection of traditional authority” (American 1). The major players in the transcendentalist movement are Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. They shared ideas such as self-reliance, and ideas about how there is a divine being that controls every person. They influenced many other writers and they even had an effect on the American society, then and now. Transcendentalism was a philosophy and a way of life. It will continue to be this as long as we have access to the great minds of the transcendental movement.
Throughout America in the 1830's, the religious and literary philosophy of Transcendentalism flourished. This period of time is difficult to describe in a simple definition, but the general ideas are expressed through poetry, essays and books of these three talented Transcendental authors; Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Henry Thoreau. From Emerson's dramatic expressions of thinking for one’s self and not conforming, to Whitman's belief of living stress free and experiencing life, to Thoreau's explanation of the purpose of sucking the marrow out of life and constant reminder of simplicity; the writing of these free thinking authors with these ideas show the overall meaning of Transcendentalism. The lessons of the Transcendental era are expressed in the modern day movie Dead Poet's Society directed by Peter Wier. As a literature professor at Welton Academy, a preparatory school for boys, Mr. Keating has rather unorthodox methods of teaching which include interactive lessons to inspire his students to learn. Rather than a normal class of reading from books and writing essays, Mr. Keating taught life lessons which are different from your average lecture. The storyline of the film focuses on one class composed of boys who are on their 4th and final year of education at this academy. Mr. Keating is successful in teaching all the boys the ideas of Emerson, Whitman and Thoreau during his period of time as their literature teacher. This teachers class changed the boys perspective on life forever, which is more than what most high school students can say from their ed...
You are sitting on the grass. The sun is so bright and you can feel the brisk breeze surrounding. You feel as if you could take flight with just a hop to fly with the sparrows and watch everything without a worry or care. You know you are right because even with the world saying it is not true, you believe it is real. You think the world is so loud, and everyone so busy, that no one even notices the trees, the birds, the breeze. Today, it is hard to find peace. The world is busy, and most do not even stop to see it. If you have thought that, then you are a transcendentalist. Transcendentalists go to nature for peace, to hear the over soul that is in all of us. They believe conformity is wrong, they believe nature is a place to learn and connect, and they tend to be well known with the extent of their nonconformity. There are many famous transcendentalists, Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman, and Eustace Conway. You may think, “Why do you say he is a transcendentalist? I have never heard him referred to as one.” Or maybe even, “I do not believe you.” And that is fine, because either way, he is. Eustace Conway is a transcendentalist, for he does not care about social norms, is well known, and has a strong spiritual connection to nature.
Since Emerson High School is a private school, students have to be accepted. In order to be accepted, the students have to tell the administrator why they wish to go to Emerson High School. Each student also has to spend at least twenty-five hours preserving nature. Throughout high school, students are expected to continue spending time preserving nature. Emerson High School looks for students who demonstrate the major ideas of transcendentalism, especially the quality of being yourself and resisting the influences of society.