Transcendentalism and You
 

Anyone here a transcendentalist? Anyone know what a transcendentalist is? Anyone like the ideas of the transcendentalist? If you do know, I hope you to read the bolded. If you don't know you can read some of what it means to be a Transcendentalist, to me atleast.

I figured out that my beliefs are closely to that of the old English Romantic and American Transcendentalist. We all are connected to the divine and that Holy Spirit, and that it is part of everything we do; Nature is the key teacher to all questions a man should ask; and simplicity is innocence and internal strength.

The idea of the “Over Soul,” a connection we all share, has alway fascinated me. This Soul that we all tap into allows us not to worry about a creator above us—for we are part of that creation.

Discovery has always been my goal even as a child and even today I yearn to discover some new land, new language, new people. I always have this insurmountable feeling of… joy when I help someone understand and even looking out across the lake near my house. I feel that by sitting there I am learning something. I think that any problem in the world could be solved if we sat the troubled down and had them stare out across this serene lake. At night I look out and know that the answers are there, somewhere waiting for us to find them.

I believe that a modern transcendentalist can keep the innocence of a simply life even with complicated forces in this world, like that of technology. The tools of gaining knowledge and understanding should not be discarded--the means to set off on new frontiers should not be abandoned. If a person can take complexity, and harness it for simplicity, that, in my opinion, is purity.

Things I feel hinder that purity, as did the transcendentalists, would be material possession, for that implies separation. Other things would be that of desire for power, or control. These things are not needed if one just goes to learn.

Whatever answers we find, not only will they come from each other and within ourselves, but from out there in the heavens. Many religions and philosophers place some great guiding force to exist within that sky above us, and I wouldn’t doubt that there is something out there, begging us to find it. Thoreau said that knowledge does not end at that which we can see with our eyes, but ends at that which we can imagine in our minds.

What is everyone else’s take on the transcendentalism? I personally love the ideals and teachings through it. How can this not be a noble view of life? Again, just shoot the breeze with anyone.

Well i dont know a whole lot about transcendentalism, in fact this is the second time ive even heard about it and im looking into it now. from what youve mentioned here about the "over soul," i definitely beleive something along those lines. im not sure if my philosophies are at all congruent to transcendentalism, but here they are.

What i think is that everything, every process, everything that reacts or acts or lives or is has a "spirit" behind it. we humans have always talked about our spirit, the processing thing behind what we do and how we live, which, when simplified, is an infinitely complex series of binary descisions. Generally, we associate our spirit with our emotions and conciousness and all that.

Now think of a simpiler series of decisions, for example, a toy which when pressed, activates a light bulb. However great the difference in complexity, how is this different in essence from the spirit behind a human or another living creature?

This idea can be applied to anything: there is a spirit, or process of binary decisions, behind the activity of an atom, and a spirit behind the cell the atom is part of and its functions, the heart the cell is part of, the fox that holds the heart, the physics behind the rock the fox kicks, the wind that blows the fox's hair, the habitat as a whole, the earth (anyone heard of "mother earth" or "gaia?"), the solar system, and (here is the "over spirit") the universe as a whole. All spirits are made up of smaller spirits, and all spirits boil down to a multitude of binary processes.

when i learn more about transcendentalism ill know if ive enlightened anyone on the topic or if ive just spewed an unrelated idea that i should move somewhere else. anyway let me know what you think

Transcendentalism is hard to describe. If you can describe it in lamen's terms, that's a bravo to you though. I know the concept of it, but.. I can't explain it because I don't fully understand it.

Yes it was hard to explain it. I remember reading about it in classes and it was never truly explained but there were examples of the feelings that are associated with it.

My experience is like this. Let me share.
Have you ever looked out across a vast field and seen the morning mists slowly rising? Or stared out across the ocean from shore, or across a lake to a forest opposite of you? When you see these scenes, do you feel that you have a greater potential to accomplish anything, no matter the task? That is my meaning of transcendentalism. I feel that I am more connected to people and things, and that this connection gives me the power to greatness. Greatness that can be recognized.

Also, an addition that I feel I must put--success is not what you have taken from the world to gain noteriaty, but how have you bettered the world around you. What have you done that changed the world? Only then in these actions can one believe that there is a divine--even in the simplest of actions, like helping a neighbor, to solving the world's energy--for one will be forever immortalized, and if not their memory, then their actions in the past will never be lost for the bettered furture.

Though I always hesitate to apply labels, I would say I'm a transcendentalist. However, there will always be parts of me that emphasis empiricism over my intuition. I tend to seperate the two into spheres where they are most useful. So far I've been quite successful and havn't had any major conflicts, though to others it may sometime seem as if my opinion or outlook changes they are really just two sides of my coin.

You mentioned looking out over a lake...the night sky has always done it for me. Instead of making me feel insignificant, it makes me feel limitless and connected to a whole and all my petty little problems go away (for a time anyway!).

"I believe that a modern transcendentalist can keep the innocence of a simply life even with complicated forces in this world, like that of technology. The tools of gaining knowledge and understanding should not be discarded--the means to set off on new frontiers should not be abandoned. If a person can take complexity, and harness it for simplicity, that, in my opinion, is purity."

I agree with the first part. The last sentence, that is what we do, learn complex things which make them simple once theyre understood, but I don't follow on the purity thing. That just doesnt seem to fit/apply here to me. What do you mean?

Purity means that actions are not really right or wrong, what you do is not going to be bad, but it may not only be good. But what you do is true to yourself, and yourself only. My meaning of life, is mine, and what I understand to shape it is also in my mind, and maybe what you see as "wrong" is not really wrong.

It's more of a thing I added from an essay I wrote about the Grapes of Wrath, something Jim Casy had said sparked this idea of human actions reaching a point where they are not virtuous or sinful, but that they're all part of this divine.

And as to what you said where aspects of your life fit this and others don't, look at me. I cannot tolerate those that have little regard for human life. It sickens me that these people pride themselves on the suffering of others. I have met my share of people that I know are not good, and what they do IS WRONG. Certain actions that remove the free will of another is what this belief is against. Sure those that originally felt this way were pacifists... I lack that patience with those would shake my hand to only slit my wrist.

And the stars... yes. Out there is... home. And whilst I still live on this blue world, that lake and the reflections cast from the sky, night or day, will always be something to behold.

Truckin
 

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Brother Augi,

Transndjgwbg is a neat subject. I always thought of it as a guide to finding yourself. I can't really say much more. I can't explain things like you. "You gotta just keep truckin" would be my only explaination.

Your pal scrolly Holdem
oh yeah i'm starting to catch on in HTML class
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Transcendalism explained on dictionary.com:
A literary and philosophical movement, associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller, asserting the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition.

I'm don't fully agree. As most philosophies I feel that it has good point, but that it tries to apply it's ideas to all situations based on one single concept. I wouldn't want to label myself, as I don't know enough about the different philisophical directions. I'm a fan of phenomenologism, but at the same time drawn to certain aspects of logical postivism.

There is some intersting research that can be used to support the idea of transcendalism. Such as that it's been recently been reseached on and found that the first guess on a solution is more often correct than a second guessing. In other words: intuition is often a better solution than reason. Can't be arsed finding the link to the research, though :)

Augi, do you have any quick links or Book suggestions on this? :)

___________________
To those who wander but who are not lost...

^^ I don't have books describing the subject, however I know some authors, poets, artists and such that can give you the general feel of it.

Percy Shelley, William Wordsworth, Ralph Waldo Emmerson, Walt Whitman, William Blake, and John Keats were some that I have studied. My personal favorites are Wordsworth and his Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey and Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Blake was also an artist, and yes that was his Dragon in Red Dragon.

My favorite artist of the period was Casper David Frederick. My avatar comes from his "Wanderer above the Sea of Mists." Many of his works have this style.

Just from Google I can find many articles about the transcendentalist movement and what it meant then and now, however, I cannot find and general books on it. Sorry.

EDIT: Frederick's name can also be spelled Friedrich. I have all my notes spelled like this, sites have it spelled both ways. And the avatar hasn't been Casper's Wander for a while now.

Thanks Augi, I'll add these to my research list! Time to Google ;)

it's a big word. nuff said by me.

Hey, Ranger, you made in the Philosophy boards. And you reminded me of some movies that belong in here.

Two amazing movies that I recommend for any modern day transcendentalist are Phenomenon starring John Travolta and Forest Whitaker and Powder starring Sean Patrick Flannery, Jeff Goldblum, and Lance Henrikson. These were some of my childhood favorites, however I did not appreciate the message that was underlying the movies. Now, older and hopefully wiser, these movies really have some powerful, moving messages.

As far as I can percieve it seems to be an immersion of a deity-type figure which is on a level with man and makes all equal while giving each their own independent abilities. It seems like it would mesh with todays society and Ockam would probably agree with you in the idea of complex simplicity. Most advances wer found by making advances in many different areas of a field and thusly making it seem complex, while simplifying the answer to individual ideas. Later often someone will come to a realization of a unifying theory which will bring them together and creat a more accurate and universal ideal which is far more simplistic.

Yeah Zenir, you can say that. However it is more of a journey to reach that god-like understanding, which can never occur since you are but one person. However, I wouldn't bring up the Theory of Everything since now you are bringing in the dynamics of human essence into the physical, quantifiable world. Welcome to the Philosophy boards.

But something that can be added, taken straight from my journal.