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Transcendentalism Okay, this particular page is totally based on what I learned in Mr. Booth's English class this year...it was an amazing class.  I had always loved poetry but that class made me notice all the symbolism in books, too.  (The rest of this stuff is from notes I took in class, so if they're from some book or something I'm not intentionally plagiarizing or anything.) So what is Transcendentalism?  Well, breaking up the word would show that it literally means "the processes of climbing across/over."  I guess that doesn't help you much yet... How does it work?  Well there seem to be three notes that I took in class: 1.) We must use the physical (natural) world in order to transcend (climb) to that which is real.  (In other words, you've gotta become close to nature and try to understand it before you can even call yourself real.) 2.) The highest form of that which is real is when the object is formed in the mind.  (I believe this means that thought is good...don't be ashamed of anything you think because that is way closer to reality than anything you are told to think because it came from a mind.) 3.) Then, as the object is withdrawn, sight loses its tactile (touching) power and becomes pure vision.  (If I remember correctly, when you can see something in your mind and don't have to hold it for it to be real to you, then that's transcendentalism.) So, have I confused you yet?  Lol.  It made more sense at the time...Mr. Booth definitely explains stuff better, but I guess that's why he has the teaching degree, huh? But, anyway, there are four "basic precepts"–as my notes state–to transcendentalism: 1.) There is a knowledge of reality (truth) that man understands through the intuition of his intellect and not though logic or laws of science.  (Basically, what is being said is that someone can feel what is right–just...know.  You don't have to go by what the books say.) 2.) Each person should follow the sway of his or her own beliefs and ideas no matter how divergent (different) from the social norm.  (This adds on to the first, saying that you should follow that gut feeling no matter what anyone says.  It's kind of like faith–you believe something you can't prove to be right but you follow it anyway, just because you believe it, and you don't let anyone stand in your way.) 3.) The transcendent believes that each individual's intuitive response to any given situation would be the right thing for that individual to do.  (In other words, don't make fun of someone for following their heart.  Why should they live a lie?) 4.) Finally, this philosophy believes that all individuals are inherently good and that all individuals are worthy of the respect of every other human being simply because they are human.  (This is rather self-explanatory, stating that everyone has good in them and deserve respect regardless of how they dress, talk, act, etc.  If a person is behaving immorally, this is due to the fact that they don't respect life themselves and may have been driven to this by an evil force.) Next, there are seven elements of transcendentalism, and since my explanations are sounding more and more like what they are explaining, I figure I can go without explaining these.   1.) Stress is placed on intuition, not logic. 2.) Nature is an important part of goodness and inspiration. 3.) Emphasis is placed on individualism; in other words, self-reliance. 4.) There is a strong belief in true democracy. 5.) There is also a strong moral belief that criticizes society's material concerns. 6.) A strong desire to reform society and create a utopia is evident. 7.) Optimistic view of the capabilities of human beings is professed. Finally, these are some notes that I took with the others...I don't know where they are from but I find them interesting and clarifying: Our perceptions of reality differ. Our ability to communicate our perceptions differ because our talents differ in how we communicate (i.e. artist, speaker, writer, dramatist, etc.). Our perceptions, however, can be bound together with others through our humanity–we are one with the universe because we are the universe. So, all in all, transcendentalism is pretty cool–everyone is considered good, cares about one another, work with nature rather than work to destroy it, and everyone looks for a perfect world. Now if only everyone could see how well this would work… Some links to websites about transcendentalism and it's writers (i.e. Emerson and Thoreau): (Check Yahoo:Arts&Humanities:Literature:Authors:American Transcendentalism) <- back to "Fudge" <- crazynornbub@yahoo.com