This is a continuation of our discussion of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the American Transcendentalists, the first part of which may be found here.
"I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God" - from Emerson's Nature
Fresh out of college, I became an English teacher at an urban high school. As I taught seniors, I was only four years older than they were. Hence, my social references, musical tastes, and enthusiasms were much more matched with theirs than with my cynical, dyspeptic senior colleagues.
I learned to stay out of the faculty lounge as that sourness was contagious.
Through that early experience, I discovered that if one is not careful, it is very easy to ignore the insights of the young, to dismiss their enthusiasm, to view their perspectives as incorrect and use the system to “correct” them.
Usually, students just appreciate being taken seriously. Then they tend to reward the teacher with their insight, participation, and willingness to learn.
On August 31, 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson [1803-1882] was invited to give the opening of term address to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College, mostly due to his provocative book, Nature, published the year before. The volume had proven to be one of those breakthrough works that is found inspiring by the young, if almost unknown by those older.
[Everything from Kerouac’s On The Road [1957] to Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man [1963] to the eclectic work that is R Crumb and Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor [1976], and many others, first became popular on college campuses before being discovered by mainstream audiences.]
"The scholar is that man who must take up into himself all the ability of the time, all the contributions of the past, all the hopes of the future."
The speech was given from the pulpit of First Church [Unitarian] of Cambridge on a Thursday evening. It was entitled “The American Scholar” and is regarded as the first expression of all that was new about the American character, its thoughts, vision, hope, and faith. It was a belief statement, a rallying cry, and a call for new ways to look at reality.
Heck, it was a sermon.
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Emerson certainly knew his audience and relished their response. Although only thirty-four at the time, he would have been considered “middle-aged” in the 19th century, so his respect for the young seated before him was appreciated by the students.
This moment propelled Emerson from talented and original public intellectual and speaker into the voice of what is robust and positive about our national identity. Before their eyes, he became the Sage of Concord, the shaper of America’s original philosophical vision.
The twin themes of the speech were independence and self-reliance, with nature serving as the rhythmic foundation of all endeavors.
"Nature is the vehicle of thought, and in a simple, double, and threefold degree."
Emerson called out of The Newness that which would be known as American Transcendentalism, a philosophy for a new country with a new vision. It would transcend what was before it, the ancient and European, and add to it a physical, naturally pragmatic sense of action.
In addition, the rote learning of the past would be secondary to the intuition and sense of the individual. It would be he or she who would determine what is workable and true, and not through tired works written from and for libraries.
“Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books.”
Materialism and commercialism were likewise to be resisted, as they limited the possibilities of the individual. The self-reliance necessary would thus transcend social expectations and social constraint.
"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist."
"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."
"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string."
While Emerson would never use the term “Transcendentalism” to describe his philosophy, that would later be promoted by his acolytes, his vision would be incorporated into American literature, philosophy, art, and even business.
Christianity would also reflect, even into this century, that which was proposed by The Rev. Emerson.
Transcendentalists would challenge orthodox Christian doctrines and practices and advocate for a personal and intuitive approach to spirituality. This contributed to the emphasis on conscience, reason, and experience over dogma that can still be found in liberal Protestant denominations.
This was coupled with ethical concerns about slavery and the rights of women. As Transcendentalism emphasized the inherent goodness of humanity, it created the foundation for work in what is now called “social justice.”
Intuitive spirituality also encouraged Christians to incorporate mysticism [that is, devotions and meditation] into their faith experience, viewing holy scripture as more symbolic than literal and filled with allegorical and metaphorical possibilities.
Naturally, all of this appealed strongly to his young audience and Emerson found himself with a cadre of devotees among the best educated in American society, those who sought to incorporate Transcendentalism into their actions.
Among the more prominent were:
Louisa May Alcott [1832-1888] - Although only five years old when Emerson gave his speech at First Church, Alcott’s father was an acquaintance of Emerson’s and a fellow Transcendentalist who built a school in Boston based on Emersonian principles and attempted a failed Utopian community based on the same. Her family rented a house from Emerson and that began a long association with the town of Concord and its sage.
Alcott was a Transcendentalist herself who was an early feminist and abolitionist. She is best known as the author of the perennially popular Little Women.
Margaret Fuller [1810-1850] - Perhaps the least known of the Transcendentalists, probably due to her early and tragic death in a shipwreck off Fire Island, NY. Although an occasional visitor to Concord, Fuller was a journalist and early feminist who was the first editor of The Dial, the literary magazine of Transcendentalism. Much of her career was spent on the continent where she educated the Europeans in American philosophy.
Henry David Thoreau [1817-1862] - The best-known of the Transcendentalists, even more than Emerson, as his work was made popular through college audiences in the 1960’s [rather than, like Emerson, in the 1830’s].
Concord-born and raised, Thoreau took Emerson’s call for action to heart and decided to “live deliberately” at the remote and now-famous cabin by Walden Pond. For two years, two months, and two days, he practiced self-reliance and independence from general society.
[Well, except when he walked the two miles to town every fortnight so that his mother could do his laundry. Self-reliance has its limits, apparently.]
Gandhi, MLK, Jr., Tolstoy, and JFK all claimed publicly to have been inspired by Thoreau’s essay, “Civil Disobedience” [1849]; John Muir and Rachel Carson by his book Walden [1851].
Despite that Emerson was one of the most famous men in America, and Thoreau merely Concord’s obscure local character, upon Thoreau’s death from tuberculosis, Emerson would once again symbolically don the black frock coat and write the homily for his protégé and friend.
It would include the following:
"The country knows not yet, or in the least part, how great a son it has lost."
“He chose to be rich by making his wants few, and supplying them himself.”
The latter is as likely a summation of Transcendentalism in action as anything found in the vast volumes of the members of Emerson’s school of thought.
Emerson felt that Transcendentalism began to subside with the death of Fuller, but its influence would continue through those well-known and those all-but-invisible to history, as the themes of self-reliance, individualism, and appreciation of nature would interpenetrate with our culture’s developing history.
Emerson would live a long life filled with purpose. His essays and lectures continued to inspire even through the American Civil War, when the massive social disruption encouraged many to seek wisdom and solace in Emersonian ideals. Certainly, much of what drove the settlement of the West was likewise fueled by the themes of Transcendentalism.
His regard in Concord would always remain strong, as even his return from a trip to Europe in the 1870’s caused the town to organize a parade and the schools to be closed for the day so that the children could cheer his arrival.
There is a slab of unfinished marble in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord. Like the one whom it honors, it stands out from the traditional headstones that surround it, many with names recognizable from English class, or a surname found in the names of streets, buildings, bridges, and foundations throughout the United States.
It reads, “The passive Master lent his hand/To the vast soul that o’er him planned.”
Although, I always find this from Walt Whitman’s meditation “By Emerson’s Grave” to be more purposeful:
A just man, poised on himself, all-loving, all-inclosing, and same and clear as the sun. Nor does it seem so much Emerson himself we are here to honor -- it is conscience, simplicity, culture, humanity's attributes at their best, yet applicable if need be to average affairs, and eligible to all.