Life with More Meaning Give up conformity and the idea of life, everyone can live without it. Transcendentalism is just that. Transcendentalism is believing that God, ourselves, and the universe are in a relation with nature. Two authors that represent transcendentalism are Ralph Emerson and Henry Thoreau. Ralph Emerson is known as the father of transcendentalism, and is a graduate of Harvard. His first real work is the essay titled Nature. He became a teacher but was kicked out of the school and unable to come back for thirty years. After being a teacher he became a minister. The essay Self-Reliance written by Emerson tells about one 's growth in society and how a person can lose their morals and spirit of nonconformity. Emerson is trying
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Emerson is showing who we are is something that we all are able to do, but not everyone is always able to show because people are scared of the society that they have been born into. “We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of the divine idea which each of us represent” (Emerson 225). Emerson is going against nonconformity by stating that we are able to be and act how we want but we give into conformity so often that we forget we are a single person with our own body and minds. Emerson is telling his readers that the way one acts defines oneself. When everyone is thinking and acting in the same lifestyles, then who are we to say different for any of them. The only one who can change their actions for is oneself. Thoreau is showing all the same things. That’s what people should be doing is acting how they feel, if one feels the need for change they should show their individuality and change. “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and spartan-like” (Thoreau 237). With the statement from Thoreau his readers and followers, are able see how he thinks of transcendentalism, nonconformity and individualism. The way he presents himself in his essay, as nothing less than his true-self, shows he is not afraid to be different and be a nonconformists, and show everyone that he can being stand and act as he pleases and has little to no regards to anyone else 's judgemental, and socially conformed thoughts. Acting about and around during one 's lifetime is a free feeling that everyone should experience. Everyone is an individual, sometimes people just forget that and need someone to come and remind
Emerson is showing who we are is something that we all are able to do, but not everyone is always able to show because people are scared of the society that they have been born into. “We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of the divine idea which each of us represent” (Emerson 225). Emerson is going against nonconformity by stating that we are able to be and act how we want but we give into conformity so often that we forget we are a single person with our own body and minds. Emerson is telling his readers that the way one acts defines oneself. When everyone is thinking and acting in the same lifestyles, then who are we to say different for any of them. The only one who can change their actions for is oneself. Thoreau is showing all the same things. That’s what people should be doing is acting how they feel, if one feels the need for change they should show their individuality and change. “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and spartan-like” (Thoreau 237). With the statement from Thoreau his readers and followers, are able see how he thinks of transcendentalism, nonconformity and individualism. The way he presents himself in his essay, as nothing less than his true-self, shows he is not afraid to be different and be a nonconformists, and show everyone that he can being stand and act as he pleases and has little to no regards to anyone else 's judgemental, and socially conformed thoughts. Acting about and around during one 's lifetime is a free feeling that everyone should experience. Everyone is an individual, sometimes people just forget that and need someone to come and remind