transcendentalism

Transcendentalism
NATURE

I think that “Nature” is trying to say that if you’re intone with the earth than it’s basically like be close enough to hear and communicate with god. To me Emerson was just trying to get people to pay closer attention to the earth without taking granted or overlooking the sings of god. Just like in the book when it said “If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore”. I think that meant like if the Stars didn’t come but every thousand years or so that when it actually did men would be astonished and amazed to see such a thing so make sure you cherish the times that you have with nature. He also said “the illuminates in the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child”. What that meant to me was that when you’re intoning with nature you must look at it from a child’s perspective.
This was a good example if transcendentalism because it shows that you have to use your mind sometimes in different ways to seek the greatness of life. Just like how the transcendentalist thought of the human mind as being the most powerful tool you have.

SELF-RELIANCE

With Self-Reliance I think the point here was to rely on your self for greatness. Right off the back I noticed when he said “envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion;. I got from this just be yourself that’s all you need. I also got that God only works through a man who is divine and can think for himself. Just trust your self and be happy and gay with what you do nobody knows what you can do but you.
This is also a great example because once again it has something to do with the betterment of a human as an individual with individual thoughts. They believed that the individual mind was connected to the oversoul.

RESISTANCE TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT

The Transcendentalists didn't believe in having a government. They believed that if a person was actually in touch and could become intone with their surroundings, they could uplift physical and man-made things to connect with God. Therefore if you were a person who could listen to and understand nature then you were more like or closer to god and you wouldn’t need a government because you would already have total order yourself hence Self-Reliance. Just like from the Henry David Thoreau’s text “There will never really be a free and enlighten State, until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly”. From this text I realized that he was saying that the government should realize that we our at our greatest power as individuals who can think and coup with our own powerful human minds.

In the wilderness video dick was in a one man wilderness all alone just with nature. He was intoning with nature for 35years. And that’s what made this video such a great example of transcendentalism because he could do good in nature while relying on his own brain and thoughts to get him through long lonely harsh cold winters.