Transcendentalism and the American Concept of Self

One of the most prolific movements in American literature, religion and philosophy had its roots in the Congregational Church's reform within the New England region just after the start of the nineteenth century. American Transcendentalism started transforming the American concept of self through a small group of acquaintances who had held previous engagements in Unitarian ministries. This groups desire was to see a reformed church, which, in their perception, was a social religion that had failed to make the individual conscious as far as spirituality was concerned (Versluis 290). The transcendentalists used the worlds philosophies and religions as the foundation of advocacy for how the self was an important element of spiritual life.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau spearheaded the transcendentalism movement. Emerson had previously worked as a Unitarian minister, and there is consensus on the fact that he was the highest profile member of the movement that spearheaded a rethink of the American concept of self. Emerson considered self-reliance as a necessary condition for upholding the significance of the individual in his development, both morally and intellectually; his essay argued for the philosophical pillar of the Transcendental movement, which held that the individual is no different from the world, and there is unity between the world's existence and God. The logic of the philosophy of Emerson's movement implies that an individuals soul is one with God, which makes an external institution unnecessary. We cannot appreciate how American transcendentalism transformed the individual concept of self without considering the origins and evolution of the movement.

The foundations of American Transcendentalism can be traced into the eighteenth century. The Calvinist ideologies, which Puritan settlers had pioneered, were dominant aspect of New England's religion. According to the Calvinist doctrine, the human nature was inherently corrupted, and salvation only came by God's discretion. Thus, the Calvinist belief held that the individual - through life actions - could not exercise absolute control over his/her spiritual fate. This belief asserted that the men selected to be saved or condemned were elected by the Holy Trinity, and the fate was decided before God created the universe. After the first half of the eighteenth century, a desire to reform the Calvinist beliefs emerged; it sought to create a perspective of human nature that had more positive and liberal aspects.

It was the wish of some Boston ministers to bring up a fresh theology in New England. The fresh theology placed emphasis on the idea that the individual, in determining his/her own salvation, behaved ethically and piously. The Boston group of ministers comprised a group of liberals who started criticizing the Congregational Church and the Calvinist ideals on which it was founded, arguing that they impeded the moral growth of the individual. The spokespersons of the liberal group gave sermons and speeches that encouraged people to find truth on their own in the scripture, which could enable them to articulate their newfound ideals through poetry and other artistic forms of expression.

The message articulated by the adherents of the liberal group reflected the basic belief of God as an innate part of human nature, and that the fact that humans were inseparable from God would lay the foundation for interpreting Biblical scriptures rationally and reasonably. The efforts to obtain a new definition for Unitarianism and launch the self-culture simultaneously built the foundation of the Transcendentalism movement. The message of moral and intellectual growth as a pathway to self-development reached a new generation of adherents, who included Emerson and Thoreau. Most people perceived Transcendentalism as a religious movement during its early days. It was deemed radical to institute further reforms in the church- the reforms included reading the scripture with an open mind, and questioning the Biblical miracles.

Earlier on, the movement pushed for a religious experience bordering on informality and with fewer rituals as well. As the Transcendentalism movement got interested in a broader range of target subjects, Emerson wrote on self-reliance. In particular, Emerson's second collection of essays stressed how it was important for individuals to develop, morally and intellectually. The work also argued in defense of statements that supported individualism. In Emersons words, men had to learn the art of detecting and watching the gleam of light that flashes across their minds from within, more than they did the luster of the firmament of bards and sages (Emerson 684). He argues that man's attention should be appropriated to the inner self in order to get guidance instead of reliance on external religion.

By relying on, and accepting, the self, an individual can achieve the oneness that is at the heart of the Transcendentalist ideology. Emerson's description of the mind of a child, which lacks the self-doubt that exemplifies the adult mind, depicts self-acceptance on a subconscious level. For individuals to progress under the Transcendentalist paradigm, they had to have total trust in their intuition while warding off external influences from religion, tradition and government. Self-acceptance has a strong connection to non-conformity. Before an individual can have full trust in the self, they must do away with reliance on external elements. Emerson considered the society as a joint-stock corporation, where security concerns motivate members to sacrifice their liberty and culture. Self-reliant persons will ultimately refuse to conform to society, whereas conformity contradicts self-reliance.

According to Emerson, intuition engenders the essences of virtue, life and genius; this constitutes the fundamental aspect of a man's wisdom, and later instruction will constitute tuition. Emerson asserts that man's true development comes from his removal out of the influences of the external world, which is the hallmark of following natural intuition. Accordingly, Transcendentalism engendered individualism and self-trust as fundamental aspects of the American concept of self. Thoreau's works also fuelled the Transcendentalism movement that resulted in a radical transformation of the America concept of self. At the beginning of Waldens chapter on Higher Laws, Thoreau makes a confession of the desire to eat a raw woodchuck, just for its sake.

While Thoreau places a premium on fishing and hunting because of the wild taste, it occurs to him that he no longer fancies eating meat. This wildness is not confined to the woods, but it is prevalent in several forms of society as well. He posits that the savages wildness is a defining hallmark of the ferity that reflects the meeting of good men and lovers. Thoreaus dissatisfaction with the societal dysfunction became focused on the policies that the United States government was pursuing: how the natives were treated, the attack on Mexico, and the continuation and expansion of the institution of slavery. This focus resulted in a shift in public opinion and the transformation of Americans' political consciousness. For instance, Emerson's formal protest to the state over the ethnic cleansing in Mississippi shifted public opinion against President Martin Van Buren.

President Jackson's policies did not take cognizance of the Supreme Court's finding that certain policy decrees were illegal and unconstitutional. The ordering of the U.S Marines into east Mississippi, where people of the Cherokee tribe were rounded up and forcibly moved to the west of the state, led Emerson to protest at what he termed a crime that deprived everyone of a country. He passing of the Fugitive Slave Law had profound effects in the all the states, regardless of whether they allowed slavery. The law placed an obligation on all American citizens to help slave owners find fugitive slaves. In effect, the law extended slavery to territories that were initially free. Thoreau wrote on the absurdity of the law when a Massachusetts court of law ordered Marines and the local militia to return a fugitive slave to his master.

Thoreau issued a strong condemnation of how ridiculous it was for a court to try someone in order to establish if he was a slave, when that matter had been determined from eternity. Thoreau resisted civil government because of the thin line between morality and the law. His arrest for failing to remit the poll tax provided him with an opportunity to think about the states authority. Thoreau argued that the government is nothing more than an expedient mechanism that allows people to avoid others affairs. He went on to posit that it was not a citizen's duty to forfeit his conscience to the state, and he/she may have the responsibility of opposing immoral laws such as those that legitimize the institution of slavery, and accord credibility to bad government policies.

He suggested that it was possible to abolish slavery if everyone failed to fund the government through taxes, which would prompt the authorities to embark on mass arrests. Mass arrests would inevitably clog the system, making it hard for the state to sustain immoral institutions such as slavery. Thoreau's advocacy for the use of nonviolent means in resisting the civil government contradicts his support for violent actions targeted at people who supported slavery. The killing of some settlers in Kansas, and the assault on the federal arsenal in northern Virginia, were acts of violence that should have attracted Thoreaus condemnation.

We also see Thoreau's affirmation for Transcendentalism when he declares his own independence from a society he considers cheap- this occurred after he went to attend ceremonies commemorating the anniversary of the declaration of America's independence from Britain. He held people who spoke thoughtfully in high regard, and went on to contemplate the connection between the tradeoffs people make in life and the real necessities that they seek to satisfy.

When he looked at his contemporaries, Thoreau concluded that their lives were full of desperation. His later experiments showed that there was no problem in living in simplicity and independence. Counseling simple frugality inevitably coincided with examining what extravagance entailed, which logically leads to the conclusion that true economy entails consistent efforts in self-improvement. Overall, Transcendentalism resulted in significant transformation of the American concept of self; individuals became more conscious of the possibility of abandoning societal restrictions than they had been before.

Works Cited

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Self-Reliance. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature, Volume One: Beginnings to 1865. Eds. Belasco, Susan and Linck Johnson. Boston: Bedford / St. Martins, 2008. 684-701.

Versluis, Arthur. Transcendentalism. Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century. Vol. 3. Ed. Paul Finkelman. New York: Charles Scribeners Sons, 2001. 290-93.