They struggled to define spirituality and religion in light of the spread of deism Unitarianism and the reason and logic of the Enlightenment An argument against traditional religious views had come out of the religion largely based on the work of John Locke ID: 806874
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Slide1
Transcendentalism
Slide2Transcendentalism was a philosophical and literary movement that grew, primarily in New England, between the 1830s and the 1850s.
Slide3They struggled to define spirituality and religion in light of the spread of deism / Unitarianism, and the reason and logic of the Enlightenment.
Slide4An argument against traditional religious views had come out of the religion largely based on the work of John Locke.
Slide5Locke argued that people are born with a
tabula rasa, a clean slate. Humans enter the world with nothing in their brains, no memories, no thoughts, nothing.
Slide6Because of this, Locke argued, a who a person is, who they become, is totally based on their life experiences. The things they do, the things they see, the things that happen to them, all shape who that person is.
Slide7Some began to argue then, that a person’s spirituality must also be based upon their own life experiences.
Slide8This contradicted traditional Christian ideas of a soul.
Slide9Deists and Unitarians bought into the idea of
tabula rasa and continued to challenge traditional ideas of religion. They continued to look for ways to explain faith and the concept of a “god” based on reason and logic.
Slide10Transcendentalists tried to reconcile all of this, and came up with their own take on faith, spirituality, and religion.
Slide11They argued that the world was created by an “
oversoul” the source of all life.
Slide12Furthermore, they believed that each person had within them an “inner light” that could help them “transcend” this world of the senses and reach the “highest truth.”
Slide13The best way to get in touch with that “inner light,” they argued, was to go within yourself on a journey of self exploration.
Slide14The best way to allow for success on this journey of self discovery was to remove distractions.
Slide15With all distractions out of the way, one could concentrate and find the light within, thus reaching the highest truth.
Slide16In order to really remove distractions, a person needed to practice the key principles of transcendentalism:
Self-reliance
Self-culture
Self-discipline
Slide17While there were many transcendentalists, two are more important than all the rest.
Slide18Ralph
Waldo
Emerson
Slide19Emerson was at the heart of the entire movement. The rest of the transcendentalists looked to him as something of a leader.
Slide20Slide21Henry
David
Thoreau
Slide22Thoreau wrote eloquently of his own personal experiences in searching for his “inner light.”
Slide23His most famous work is
Walden in which he recounted his time spent isolated from the world living on the shores of Walden Pond in Massachusetts where he engaged in a journey of self discovery.
Slide24Fin.