Transcendentalism

TOPIC OF THE BLOG:-

This blog is a part of a thinking activity given by Megha ma'am from The English Department, MKBU, Bhavnagar. Check out Megha Trivedi's Blog (Click here) for more information and knowledge about Transcendentalism and other works and writers. In this blog I am going to explain my point of view about Transcendentalism, and how it also has connections with other Literature.

TRANSCENDENTALISM:-

Transcendentalism is a word made from two words. The first one is 'Transcendental' which means something beyond and second is 'ism' which gives meaning to a word in a form of movement. 

American Transcendentalism as both a philosophical and literary movement, centered in Concord and Boston. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Brosnon Alcott, Frederick Henry Hedge, W. E. Channing, W. H. Channing, Theodore Parker, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Peabody, George Ripley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Thoreau and Jones Very consider themselves members of Transcendental club according to Abrams and Harpham. 

As Emerson explained in his lecture "The Transcendentalist" (1842), the term 'Transcendental' was derived from the German philosopher Immanuel Kant's writings. However, the Transcendentalists were opposed to Kant's view that only external objects, events, experience of space, time and causality etc. can lead to knowledge. They emphasized the need for individualism and self-reliance, an embrace of Nature and the natural world, and a belief in a divine 'principle', 'spirit', 'soul' or 'over-soul' as opposed to formal religion.

In 'self-reliance', Emmerson stresses the need to trust one's intuition:

To believe your own thoughts, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in you time becomes the outmost... 

If we see in simple words 

Transcendentalism is an approach to philosophy, art, literature, spirituality, and a way of living that began in the 19th century and Emerson and Thoreau are founders of this philosophy. 

Here is a short video on what is Transcendentalism available on YouTube by PHILO-notes.

🌼Transcendentalism is an American Philosophy that influenced American literature at length. Can you find any Indian/Regional Literature or Philosophy that come up with such similar thoughts?

Here is an interesting answer by Chat GPT when I ask this question.

👉Yes, there are several Indian philosophical and literary traditions that have similar thoughts to Transcendentalism.

One example is Advaita Vedanta, a non-dualistic tradition that originated in ancient India. Advaita Vedanta emphasizes the unity of all things and the idea that the ultimate reality is one unchanging consciousness. This philosophy shares many similarities with Transcendentalism's focus on individual intuition, spiritual experience, and the search for a higher truth beyond the physical world.

Another example is the Bhakti movement in medieval India, which emphasized devotion and love as a means of realizing one's connection with the divine. This movement also had a focus on individual experience and spiritual realization, similar to the Transcendentalist idea of an "oversoul" that connects all individuals.

In terms of literature, Indian poets and mystics such as Kabir, Rumi, and Mirabai wrote poems and songs that expressed their deep spiritual experiences and connections with the divine, which can be seen as parallel to the Transcendentalist emphasis on individual experience and the search for truth.

These are just a few examples, but there are many other philosophical and literary traditions in India and other regions that have similar ideas to Transcendentalism.

CHARACTERISTICS OF TRANSCENDENTALISM:- 

• SIMPLICITY:-

According to Henry David Thoreau, "To be Philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust."

• SOMETHING BEYOND:-

As the meaning of transcendental means that  something goes beyond what they can see, hear, taste, touch or feel. They mean it can be Transcendentalists and we people too. This beyondness came from imagination. 

"This whole earth in which we inhabit is but a point is space."

- Thoreau 

• SPIRITUALITY AND NATURE:- 

Transcendentalists do not believe in religion but they believe in spirituality and power and Importance of nature. In this Spirituality the Hindu technique to find ourselves by meditation and go through our soul is a very considered way of spirituality. The term oversoul is a transcendentalist term, which explains that everything is connected and thus happens for a reason. And for transcendentalist nature is divine. They don't interfere in the decisions of nature.

“The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship."

-Emerson

• INDIVIDUALISM AND SELF RELIANCE:-

Individualism is as it its name relies on one's own self not on others. This quote by Henry David Thoreau describes Individualism:-

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

Spending time with your self helps us to know ourselves more. Knowing our own abilities can be helpful to make our lives easier. And most importantly one can do without anyone's permission by themselves. 

“But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things."

- Emerson 

To know more about this characteristic visit this site (Click here).

Here are some Songs, Poems, Movies and Novels connected with Transcendentalism. 

1) Hakuna Matata (song) From 'The Lion King'

2) Fix You (song) by Coldplay

3) Drops of Jupiter (song) by Train

4) Walden (Memoir and Autobiography) by Henry David Thoreau

5) Leaves of Grass (Poetry Collection) by Walt Whitman 

6) Little Women (novel) by Louisa May Alcott 

NOTE:- If you find any problem or question or suggestions please let me know☺️. Material used in this blog is collected from various sources and some are from my mind.