Changes

[[Image:lighterstill.jpg]]

[[Image:lighterstill.jpg]][[Image:Transcendentalist_sm.jpg|right|frame]]

'''Transcendentalism''' was a group of new ideas in [[literature]], [[religion]], [[culture]], and [[philosophy]] that emerged in [[New England]] in the early to middle 19th century. It is sometimes called ''American Transcendentalism'' to distinguish it from other uses of the word ''[[transcendental]]''.

'''Transcendentalism''' was a group of new ideas in [[literature]], [[religion]], [[culture]], and [[philosophy]] that emerged in [[New England]] in the early to middle 19th century. It is sometimes called '''American Transcendentalism''' to distinguish it from other uses of the word ''[[transcendental]]''.

Transcendentalism began as a protest against the general state of culture and [[society]] at the time, and in particular, the state of [[intellectualism]] at [[Harvard]] and the doctrine of the [[Unitarian]] church which was taught at [[Harvard Divinity School]].  Among Transcendentalists' core beliefs was an ideal [[spirituality|spiritual]] state that 'transcends' the physical and empirical and is only realized through the individual's intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religions.

Transcendentalism began as a protest against the general state of culture and [[society]] at the time, and in particular, the state of [[intellectualism]] at [[Harvard]] and the doctrine of the [[Unitarian]] church which was taught at [[Harvard Divinity School]].  Among Transcendentalists' core beliefs was an ideal [[spirituality|spiritual]] state that 'transcends' the physical and empirical and is only realized through the individual's intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religions.

Prominent Transcendentalists included [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], [[Henry David Thoreau]], [[Margaret Fuller]], as well as [[Bronson Alcott]], [[Orestes Brownson]], [[William Ellery Channing (1818-1901)|William Ellery Channing]], [[Frederick Henry Hedge]], [[Theodore Parker]], [[George Putnam]], [[Elizabeth Peabody]], and [[Sophia Peabody]], the wife of [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]. For a time, Peabody and Hawthorne lived at the [[Brook Farm]] Transcendentalist [[utopia]]n [[intentional community|commune]].

Prominent Transcendentalists included [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], [[Henry David Thoreau]], [[Margaret Fuller]], as well as [[Bronson Alcott]], [[Orestes Brownson]], [[William Ellery Channing (1818-1901)|William Ellery Channing]], [[Frederick Henry Hedge]], [[Theodore Parker]], [[George Putnam]], [[Elizabeth Peabody]], and [[Sophia Peabody]], the wife of [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]. For a time, Peabody and Hawthorne lived at the [[Brook Farm]] Transcendentalist [[utopia]]n [[intentional community|commune]].

:"So shall we come to look at the world with new eyes. It shall answer the endless inquiry of the intellect, — What is truth? and of the affections, — What is good? by yielding itself passive to the educated Will. ... Build, therefore, your own world. As fast as you conform your life to the pure idea in your mind, that will unfold its great proportions. A correspondent revolution in things will attend the influx of the spirit."

:"So shall we come to look at the world with new eyes. It shall answer the endless inquiry of the intellect, — What is truth? and of the affections, — What is good? by yielding itself passive to the educated Will. ... Build, therefore, your own world. As fast as you conform your life to the pure idea in your mind, that will unfold its great proportions. A correspondent revolution in things will attend the influx of the spirit."

In the same year, Transcendentalism became a coherent movement with the founding of the [[Transcendental Club]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], on [[September 8]], [[1836]], by prominent New England intellectuals including [[George Putnam]], [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], and [[Frederick Henry Hedge]]. From 1840, the group published frequently in their journal ''[[The Dial]]'', along with other venues. The movement was originally termed "Transcendentalists" as a [[wikt:pejorative|pejorative]] term, suggesting their position was beyond sanity and reason.<ref>Loving, Jerome. ''Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself''. University of California Press, 1999. ISBN 0520226879. p. 185</ref>

In the same year, Transcendentalism became a coherent movement with the founding of the [[Transcendental Club]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], on [[September 8]], [[1836]], by prominent New England intellectuals including [[George Putnam]], [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], and [[Frederick Henry Hedge]]. From 1840, the group published frequently in their journal ''[[The Dial]]'', along with other venues. The movement was originally termed "Transcendentalists" as a [[wikt:pejorative|pejorative]] term, suggesting their position was beyond sanity and reason. (Loving, Jerome. ''Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself''. University of California Press, 1999. ISBN 0520226879. p. 185)

The practical aims of the Transcendentalists were varied; some among the group linked it with utopian social change (and, in the case of [[Orestes Brownson|Brownson]], it joined explicitly with early [[socialism]]), while others found it an exclusively individual and idealist project. Emerson believed the latter. In his 1842 lecture "[[The Transcendentalist]]", Emerson suggested that the goal of a purely Transcendental outlook on life was impossible to attain in practice:

The practical aims of the Transcendentalists were varied; some among the group linked it with utopian social change (and, in the case of [[Orestes Brownson|Brownson]], it joined explicitly with early [[socialism]]), while others found it an exclusively individual and idealist project. Emerson believed the latter. In his 1842 lecture "[[The Transcendentalist]]", Emerson suggested that the goal of a purely Transcendental outlook on life was impossible to attain in practice:

{{Quotation|You will see by this sketch that there is no such thing as a Transcendental ''party''; that there is no pure Transcendentalist; that we know of no one but prophets and heralds of such a philosophy; that all who by strong bias of nature have leaned to the spiritual side in doctrine, have stopped short of their goal. We have had many harbingers and forerunners; but of a purely spiritual life, history has afforded no example. I mean, we have yet no man who has leaned entirely on his character, and eaten angels' food; who, trusting to his sentiments, found life made of miracles; who, working for universal aims, found himself fed, he knew not how; clothed, sheltered, and weaponed, he knew not how, and yet it was done by his own hands. ... Shall we say, then, that Transcendentalism is the [[Saturnalia]] or excess of Faith; the presentiment of a faith proper to man in his integrity, excessive only when his imperfect obedience hinders the satisfaction of his wish.}}

:"You will see by this sketch that there is no such thing as a Transcendental ''party''; that there is no pure Transcendentalist; that we know of no one but prophets and heralds of such a philosophy; that all who by strong bias of nature have leaned to the spiritual side in doctrine, have stopped short of their goal. We have had many harbingers and forerunners; but of a purely spiritual life, history has afforded no example. I mean, we have yet no man who has leaned entirely on his character, and eaten angels' food; who, trusting to his sentiments, found life made of miracles; who, working for universal aims, found himself fed, he knew not how; clothed, sheltered, and weaponed, he knew not how, and yet it was done by his own hands. ... Shall we say, then, that Transcendentalism is the [[Saturnalia]] or excess of Faith; the presentiment of a faith proper to man in his integrity, excessive only when his imperfect obedience hinders the satisfaction of his wish."

Transcendentalists were strong believers in the power of the individual and divine messages. Their beliefs are closely linked with those of the Romantics.

Transcendentalists were strong believers in the power of the individual and divine messages. Their beliefs are closely linked with those of the Romantics.

Thoreau in ''Walden'' spoke of the debt to the Vedic thought directly, as did other members of the movement:

Thoreau in ''Walden'' spoke of the debt to the Vedic thought directly, as did other members of the movement:

{{Quotation|In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the [[Bhagavat Geeta]], since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed, and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial; and I doubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous state of existence, so remote is its sublimity from our conceptions. I lay down the book and go to my well for water, and lo! there I meet the servant of the [[Brahmin]], priest of [[Brahma]], and [[Vishnu]] and [[Indra]], who still sits in his temple on the Ganges reading the Vedas, or dwells at the root of a tree with his crust and water-jug. I meet his servant come to draw water for his master, and our buckets as it were grate together in the same well. The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges.}}

:"In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the [[Bhagavat Geeta]], since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed, and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial; and I doubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous state of existence, so remote is its sublimity from our conceptions. I lay down the book and go to my well for water, and lo! there I meet the servant of the [[Brahmin]], priest of [[Brahma]], and [[Vishnu]] and [[Indra]], who still sits in his temple on the Ganges reading the Vedas, or dwells at the root of a tree with his crust and water-jug. I meet his servant come to draw water for his master, and our buckets as it were grate together in the same well. The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges."

==Criticism==

==Criticism==

[[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] wrote a novel, ''[[The Blithedale Romance]]'' (1852), satirizing the movement, and based it on his experiences at [[Brook Farm]], a short-lived utopian community founded on Transcendental principles.<ref>McFarland, Philip. ''Hawthorne in Concord''. New York: Grove Press, 2004. p. 149. ISBN 0802117767</ref> [[Edgar Allan Poe]] had a deep dislike for Transcendentalism, calling its followers "Frogpondians" after the pond on [[Boston Common (park)|Boston Common]].<ref>Royot, Daniel. "Poe's humor," as collected in ''The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe'', Kevin J. Hayes, ed. Cambridge University Press, 2002. pp. 61-2. ISBN 0521797276</ref> He ridiculed their writings in particular by calling them "[[metaphor]]-run," lapsing into "obscurity for obscurity's sake" or "mysticism for mysticism's sake."<ref>Ljunquist, Kent. "The poet as critic" collected in ''The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe'', Kevin J. Hayes, ed. Cambridge University Press, 2002. p. 15. ISBN 0521797276</ref> One of his short stories, "[[Never Bet the Devil Your Head]]", is a clear attack on Transcendentalism, which the narrator calls a "[[disease]]". The story specifically mentions the movement and its flagship journal ''The Dial'', though Poe denied that he had any specific targets.<ref>Sova, Dawn B. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z''. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001. p. 170. ISBN 081604161X</ref>

[[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] wrote a novel, ''[[The Blithedale Romance]]'' (1852), satirizing the movement, and based it on his experiences at [[Brook Farm]], a short-lived utopian community founded on Transcendental principles.<ref>McFarland, Philip. ''Hawthorne in Concord''. New York: Grove Press, 2004. p. 149. ISBN 0802117767</ref> [[Edgar Allan Poe]] had a deep dislike for Transcendentalism, calling its followers "Frogpondians" after the pond on [[Boston Common (park)|Boston Common]].<ref>Royot, Daniel. "Poe's humor," as collected in ''The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe'', Kevin J. Hayes, ed. Cambridge University Press, 2002. pp. 61-2. ISBN 0521797276</ref> He ridiculed their writings in particular by calling them "[[metaphor]]-run," lapsing into "obscurity for obscurity's sake" or "mysticism for mysticism's sake."<ref>Ljunquist, Kent. "The poet as critic" collected in ''The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe'', Kevin J. Hayes, ed. Cambridge University Press, 2002. p. 15. ISBN 0521797276</ref> One of his short stories, "[[Never Bet the Devil Your Head]]", is a clear attack on Transcendentalism, which the narrator calls a "[[disease]]". The story specifically mentions the movement and its flagship journal ''The Dial'', though Poe denied that he had any specific targets. (Sova, Dawn B. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z''. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001. p. 170. ISBN 081604161X)

==Other meanings of ''transcendentalism''==

==Other meanings of ''transcendentalism''==

====Transcendental theology====

====Transcendental theology====

Another alternative meaning for '''''transcendentalism''''' is the classical philosophy that God transcends the manifest world. As [[Johannes Scotus Eriugena|John Scotus Erigena]] put it to [[Franks|Frankish]] king [[Charles the Bald]] in the year 840 A.D., "We do not know what God is. God himself doesn't know what He is because He is not anything. Literally God is not, because He transcends being."

Another alternative meaning for '''''transcendentalism''''' is the classical philosophy that God transcends the manifest world. As [[Johannes Scotus Eriugena|John Scotus Erigena]] put it to [[Franks|Frankish]] king [[Charles the Bald]] in the year 840 A.D., "We do not know what God is. God himself doesn't know what He is because He is not anything. Literally God is not, because He transcends being."

==External links==

==External links==

* [http://www.emersoncentral.com/transcendentalist.htm The Transcendentalist], by Ralph Waldo Emerson, A Lecture read at the Masonic Temple, Boston, January, 1842.

* [https://www.emersoncentral.com/transcendentalist.htm The Transcendentalist], by Ralph Waldo Emerson, A Lecture read at the Masonic Temple, Boston, January, 1842.

* [http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/ The web of American transcendentalism]

* [https://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/ The web of American transcendentalism]

* [http://www.transcendentalists.com/ The Transcendentalists]

* [https://www.transcendentalists.com/ The Transcendentalists]

* [http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/icon/transcend.html The American Renaissance and Transcendentalism] - from a PBS series

* [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/icon/transcend.html The American Renaissance and Transcendentalism] - from a PBS series

* [http://womenshistory.about.com/bltranscend.htm What Is Transcendentalism?]

* [https://womenshistory.about.com/bltranscend.htm What Is Transcendentalism?]

* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentalism/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry]

* [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentalism/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry]

* [http://online.elcamino.edu/amhist1b/transcend.pdf Religious overview and comparisons to other religions] (use Google html cache)

* [https://online.elcamino.edu/amhist1b/transcend.pdf Religious overview and comparisons to other religions] (use Google html cache)

[[Category: General Reference]]

[[Category: General Reference]]

[[Category:Religion]]

[[Category:Religion]]

[[Category: Languages and Literature]]

[[Category: Languages and Literature]]