How do you view your evidence of life? Are you all about the natural side of things, or are you a strict believer in science? Transcendentalism was a philosophy started in the early 19th century that promotes intuitive, spiritual thinking instead of scientific thinking based on material things. In other words, the transcendentalist movement supported living life through all natural truth. This movement was put into play by several people, but more specifically speaking with the head of this philosophy, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson was an American Transcendentalist poet, philosopher and essayist during the 19th century. One of his best-known essays is "Self-Reliance.” Living life through nature, individuality, and simplicity are all reasons
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Having individuality is important because it makes everyone uniquely different. For example, if we were all the same life would be boring. Everything would be the same nothing would be out of place and there is no excitement nor diversity in that. Ralph Emerson also speaks on this subject on being yourself and separating away from society in his essay Self-Reliance. Emerson states in his essay, “Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession. That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him,” (Good Reads, web). This quote is explaining that one should never live to imitate. Everyone is born with a natural gift that should be expressed through your own acceptance and creation, not by following and mimicking others, because when you follow others you are only given credit for the way you preformed it and not the originality. However, those who believe in the monkey see monkey do tale, everything should be structured and everyone needs to follow it. Regardless of what they may argue, when following others there will be a conflict when it comes to originality. With that being said, individuality can sometimes be complex but in life there will be a time when …show more content…
Another trait that is very important when dealing with transcendentalism. Simplicity is when something is plain, natural, and easy to understand. When dealing with this philosophy, transcendentalism can be seen as a synonym for simplicity. Emerson’s main role was to separate away from the complexities of science and making life easier to understand. When transcendentalist are present with the word simplicity it is viewed as honest beauty. For example, the Elements of Transcendentalism website states, “There is nothing complex about a blade of grass,” which is a very direct example of nature and its simplicity (Elements of Transcendentalism, web). When you see grass it is just grass, when you see the sky it’s just air, or at least that’s the way some may look at it. There are no twist and turns into simplicity that transcendentalist have to offer about life. On the contrary, there are some people who do not like to view life as black and white and prefer more complex living style. However, those people will be living in a world of stress when they are trying to see colors in a black and white
Having individuality is important because it makes everyone uniquely different. For example, if we were all the same life would be boring. Everything would be the same nothing would be out of place and there is no excitement nor diversity in that. Ralph Emerson also speaks on this subject on being yourself and separating away from society in his essay Self-Reliance. Emerson states in his essay, “Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession. That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him,” (Good Reads, web). This quote is explaining that one should never live to imitate. Everyone is born with a natural gift that should be expressed through your own acceptance and creation, not by following and mimicking others, because when you follow others you are only given credit for the way you preformed it and not the originality. However, those who believe in the monkey see monkey do tale, everything should be structured and everyone needs to follow it. Regardless of what they may argue, when following others there will be a conflict when it comes to originality. With that being said, individuality can sometimes be complex but in life there will be a time when …show more content…
Another trait that is very important when dealing with transcendentalism. Simplicity is when something is plain, natural, and easy to understand. When dealing with this philosophy, transcendentalism can be seen as a synonym for simplicity. Emerson’s main role was to separate away from the complexities of science and making life easier to understand. When transcendentalist are present with the word simplicity it is viewed as honest beauty. For example, the Elements of Transcendentalism website states, “There is nothing complex about a blade of grass,” which is a very direct example of nature and its simplicity (Elements of Transcendentalism, web). When you see grass it is just grass, when you see the sky it’s just air, or at least that’s the way some may look at it. There are no twist and turns into simplicity that transcendentalist have to offer about life. On the contrary, there are some people who do not like to view life as black and white and prefer more complex living style. However, those people will be living in a world of stress when they are trying to see colors in a black and white