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1、HIT Graduation Thesis for the M.A. Degree Chapter 2 Main Content of Emersons Thought Emersons transcendentalism consists of rich content, covering a wide range of scopes such as his nature outlook, social outlook, religious outlook, cultural outlook and so on. Critics once commented on his comprehen
2、sive thought: “Any serious discussions of such American traits as individualism, optimism, pietism, glorification of nature and wildness, egalitarianism, utopianism, and literary experimentalism must take account of Emersons pronouncements on these subjects.” (Bruccoli that behind nature, throughout
3、 nature, spirit present (Chapter VII: 852) The world proceeds from the same spirit as the body of man (Chapter VII: 853) Though the above idealistic sentences are put in different chapters of Nature, they apparently focus on one point that spirit is supreme and ennobling. This mentalist notion laid
4、fundamental basis for Emersons philosophy, which formed a striking contrast with the then Puritan philosophy that only accumulation and possession of mass materials marked a great success in ones life. Emerson also expressed this idea in his other works. In The Divinity School Address (Baym,1985: 87
5、6) he said, “The world is not the product of manifold power, but of one will, of one mind; and that one mind is everywhere active.” For Emerson “the one thing in the world, of value, is the active soul. The soul active sees absolute truth and utters truth, or creates.” (Baym, 1985: 862-863) Here Eme
6、rson emphasized on the word “active”, he thought, “The foundations of man are not in matter, but in spirit. But the element of spirit is -4- HIT Graduation Thesis for the M.A. Degree eternity.” (Baym, 1985: 855) Emerson believed there is only nature and spirit in the universe, “Spirit is the Creator
7、. Spirit hath life in itself”, (Baym, 1985: 835) while nature is merely the symbol of spirit, spirit is the reality. Nature only exists for the embodiment of God, while the “currents of the Universal Being circulate through man; man is part or parcel of God.” (Baym, 1985: 827) For many years in the
8、old tradition God is the sovereign, whereas Emerson thought the incarnation of God showed itself in human spirit, man is part of God, therefore man should rely on himself rather than on God. He used a simple statement to outline the main points, “The highest revelation is that God is in every man.”
9、(Richardson, 1995: 152) He further explained the central truth of relationship between man and religion in The Divinity School Address and The American Scholar. He said: If a man is at heart just, then in so far is he God; the safety of God, the immortality of God, the majesty of God do enter into t
10、hat man with justice. (Baym, 1985: 876) By the sense of morality a man is made the Providence to himself. (Baym, 1985: 876) He saw that God incarnates himself in man, and evermore goes forth anew to take possession of his world. (Baym, 1985: 878) The world is nothing, the man is all, in yourself is
11、the law of all nature. (Baym, 1985: 873) In the above statements Emerson push mans status to a higher position which has -5- HIT Graduation Thesis for the M.A. Degree never happened before and he narrowed down the gap between nature and man. In his opinion, everything in nature including man will ul
12、timately reach a harmonious point, which is “Over-Soul”. Emerson said in The Over-Soul (Baym, 1985: 910-923) “The soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth.” In his eyes, the soul is of supreme sovereignty and “circumscribes all things”, and “the soul is superior to its knowledge, wiser than any o
13、f its works”, so he uttered, “Great is the soul and plain. It is no flatter, it is no follower; it never appeals from itself. It believes in itself.” Emerson realized that God dwells within the individual soul and that individual is, in this sense, identical with god. Emerson concluded in The Over-S
14、oul: The union of man and God is in every act of the soulMan will come to see that the world is the perennial miracle which the soul workth, and be less astonished at particular wonders; he will learn that there is no profane history; that all history is sacred; that the universe is represented in a
15、n atom, in a moment of timer. (Baym, 1985: 923) In this way Emerson first set free the bondage of man in their mind and then put man to a sovereign position, which stands just opposite to Original Sin and Fatalism of Calvinism in his time. Between the two, Emersons thought is optimistic, active; he
16、placed such good virtues as goodliness and brightness on man, while the latter placed all hopes and destiny on God, leaving man only a passive recipient. Thereby, Calvinism formed pessimistic and passive world view. In short, praise on man from Emerson replaced the worship of God from Calvinism and that is the advancement of Emersons philosophy and the reason why his ideas are popular in America. -6- HIT Graduation Thesis for the M.A. D
