Thinking Activity : Transcendentalism

Hello Beautiful People,

            I am Riddhi Bhatt. And  today I am coming with something interesting .You know...what is  our today's blog ? This thinking activity task is about Thinking Activity : Transcendentalism and assigned by Miss Vaidehi Hariyani professor of English Department of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavsinhji Bhavnagar University (MKBU). As a part of the syllabus, students of English department are learning the paper called The American Literature (paper-108). So, let’s start friends.But before we start I want to give short information about what kind of things we see here…

        Whenever I am writing this blog and also these things , I have one question in my mind that why this Sunday's reading task and thinking activity are all given by our professor. Answer is that this is not compulsory for every student but necessary for all literature students who studied in masters. This all task gives us a new sense to see how the world is actually. Ok friends now we talk about our today’s topic….

Transcendentalism :

TRANSCENDENTALISM,19th-century movement of writers and philosophers in New England who were loosely bound together by adherence to an idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of humanity, and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of the deepest truths. 

TRANSCENDENTALISM is a very formal word that describes a very simple idea. People, men and women equally, have knowledge about themselves and the world around them that "transcends" or goes beyond what they can see, hear, taste, touch or feel.This knowledge comes through intuition and imagination not through logic or the senses. People can trust themselves to be their own authority on what is right. A TRANSCENDENTALIST is a person who accepts these ideas not as religious beliefs but as a way of understanding life relationships.

Intuition :

The Transcendentalists believed that folks can understand truth through intuition. That is, we don't arrive at truth by donning a lab coat, putting on goggles, and conducting an experiment in a lab. Well OK, maybe we can arrive at some (scientific) truths that way, but that's not what the Transcendentalists were out for. They believed that there's a whole realm of experience that is beyond logical or rational deduction.

Correspondence :

Everything, according to the Transcendentalists, is connected. The universe contains all of us, and each of us contains the universe in our soul. Isn't that like The Force? Or just some hippy New Age idea? Either way (or, um, neither), it's central to Transcendentalist thought.The fact of the matter is, the Transcendentalists believed that what's inside us mirrors what's outside us, and vice versa.

Individualism :

Individualism is a really important idea, and a way of life, for the Transcendentalists. They believed that a big reason people feel unhappy or dissatisfied is that they try too hard to conform. And hey, we can't help it: we live in society, and when we see everyone around us buying trendy T-shirts and big glasses and iPhones, we feel that we have to do it too, even if we think the Android might have better features. So the Transcendentalists insisted that we needed to ditch all of those social pressures that make us want to conform. We need to follow our own path. If we want to drop our jobs as bankers and spend the rest of our lives fly-fishing, then why not? As long as it makes us happy.

Nature :

Those Transcendentalists sure loved taking long walks, hugging trees, and sniffing flowers. Like, they really loved nature. They felt that industrialization—which was sweeping through the country at the time that they started writing, with Mac products close behind—was taking people away from nature. And that was a bad thing. Even if your 6 has a really sweet camera.For the Transcendentalists, nature is the place where we not only find ourselves,

Social Reform :

The Transcendentalists weren't just out for religion: they were social and political rebels. They believed that society, as it stood, needed some serious retooling. Treatment of women? Appalling. Slavery? Get rid of it. Conformism? Yep, that's part of the problem too.Let's get specific: some of the most famous Transcendentalists, like Henry David Thoreau, were committed abolitionists who wrote, lectured, and campaigned against slavery. Way to go, bros.

Idealism :

Transcendentalists differ in their interpretations of the practical aims of will. Some adherents link it with utopian social change; Brownson, for example, connected it with early socialism, but others consider it an exclusively individualist and idealist project. Emerson believed the latter. In his 1842 lecture "The Transcendentalist"

Transcendental’s Most Important Authors :

Ralph Waldo Emerson :

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882),[7] who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society,

Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of transcendentalism in his 1836 essay "Nature". Following this work, he gave a speech entitled "The American Scholar" in 1837.

Henry David Thoreau :

Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist,[4] he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.

His literary style interweaves close observation of nature, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and attention to practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs.

Walt Whitman :

Walter Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse.His work was controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sensuality. Whitman's own life came under scrutiny for his presumed homosexuality.

Whitman's influence on poetry remains strong. Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe argued: "You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass ... He has expressed that civilization, 'up to date,' as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him."Modernist poet Ezra Pound called Whitman "America's poet ... He is America."

Q.1)Transcendentalists talks about Individual’s relation with Nature. What is Nature for you? Share your views.

For me nature is the peace of mind.When we are child we think that nature is trees, sea, sky and each living being but when we are grow up and being mature than our definition of nature is changed.Yes also I thought this things bt after reading many of books, met many of different types people,know their thoughts, mindset also I think that for me nature is peace of my mind. And it means MUSIC. For me my nature is music.My individual relation with music. Also I want to add this without books and music i am not feel good. My peace of mind it’s being like danger zone.

Q.2)Transcendentalism is an American Philosophy that influenced American Literature at length. Can you find any Indian/Regional literature or Philosophy came up with such similar thought?

If I am trying to find any indian and religion literature or philosophy came up with such similar thought on transcendentalism, So I choose Shreemad Bhagwat Geeta and Lord Krishna's beliefs.

Bhagavad Gita presents a synthesis[9][10] of Hindu ideas about dharma,theistic bhakti and the yogic ideals of moksha.The text covers jñāna, bhakti, karma, and rāj yogas (spoken of in the 6th chapter)incorporating ideas from the Samkhya-Yoga philosophy.The Bhagavad Gita is the best known and most famous of Hindu texts with a unique pan-Hindu influence.

According to J. A. B. van Buitenen, an Indologist known for his translations and scholarship on Mahabharata, the Gita is so contextually and philosophically well knit with the Mahabharata that it was not an independent text that "somehow wandered into the epic".The Gita, states van Buitenen, was conceived and developed by the Mahabharata authors to "bring to a climax and solution the dharmic dilemma of a war".

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