Arthur Versluis

Transcendentalism emerged in the 1830s in New England, representing an early significant current in American philosophy. This movement championed the inherent goodness of individuals and the natural world, positing that societal structures often corrupt this purity. Adherents believed that true fulfillment and insight come from self-reliance and independent thought, valuing subjective intuition over empirical observation. They saw the divine not as separate but as an inherent part of everyday existence and natural processes. The movement arose partly as a protest against the prevailing intellectual and spiritual climate, with close ties to Unitarianism, particularly its emphasis on free conscience and reason, though Transcendentalists sought a more intense spiritual experience.

Influences on Transcendentalism included English and German Romanticism, biblical criticism from figures like Herder and Schleiermacher, David Hume's skepticism, and Immanuel Kant's philosophy. Mystics like Emanuel Swedenborg and Jakob Böhme are also considered significant influences. Key figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central to its development, with groups like the Transcendental Club forming to discuss and disseminate their ideas, often through publications like The Dial. The movement explored themes of individualism, the divine 'Over-Soul' connecting all beings, and drew inspiration from Eastern religions, particularly Indian philosophies.

Transcendentalism began to take shape in New England in the 1830s, closely connected to the Unitarian movement originating at Harvard. While not a rejection of Unitarianism, it grew from its emphasis on free conscience and rationalism, pushing towards a more fervent spiritual experience. Early Transcendentalists were influenced by a confluence of Western thought, including English and German Romanticism, the critical biblical scholarship of Johann Gottfried Herder and Friedrich Schleiermacher, the skepticism of David Hume, and the transcendental philosophy of Immanuel Kant and German idealism. Additionally, scholars like Perry Miller and Arthur Versluis note the pervasive influence of mystics Emanuel Swedenborg and Jakob Böhme on the movement's spiritual underpinnings.

At its heart, Transcendentalism is a philosophy of radical individualism and personal freedom. Believers held that society and its institutions, especially organized religion and political parties, tend to corrupt the individual's inherent purity. They asserted that people are at their best when independent and self-reliant, capable of generating original insights. This belief in the individual's capacity is linked to the concept of the 'Over-Soul,' a divine presence inherent in all beings, thus uniting humanity. While prioritizing the individual, there's a nuanced debate about whether Transcendentalists advocated for strict anti-government individualism or a broader individuality that accepts societal structures as necessary for personal development.

Transcendentalists sought to integrate spiritual and philosophical principles, drawing from diverse sources. They found spiritual resonance in nature, viewing physical and spiritual phenomena as interconnected processes rather than isolated elements. This perspective led them to seek divine experience within the everyday. The movement also incorporated insights from Indian religions, as evidenced by Thoreau's reflections on the Bhagavad Gita and the inclusion of translations from Eastern texts in their publications like The Dial. While some adherents, like Orestes Brownson, linked Transcendentalist ideals to social change, others, notably Emerson, viewed the movement primarily as an individualistic and idealistic pursuit, acknowledging the practical difficulty of achieving a purely spiritual existence.

““[I]t is pure, single Nature, alone in her power & loveliness, that touches subdues and exalts the soul—We do not remember the godlike here—but we think of GOD here.””

““In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavat Geeta, since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed, and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial; and I doubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous state of existence, so remote is its sublimity from our conceptions. I lay down the book and go to my well for water, and lo! there I meet the servant of the Brahmin, priest of Brahma, and Vishnu and Indra, who still sits in his temple on the Ganges reading the Vedas, or dwells at the root of a tree with his crust and water-jug. I meet his servant come to draw water for his master, and our buckets as it were grate together in the same well. The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges.””

““that there is One Man, – present to all particular men only partially, or through one faculty; and that you must take the whole society to find the whole man””

““You will see by this sketch that there is no such thing as a transcendental party; that there is no pure transcendentalist; that we know of no one but prophets and heralds of such a philosophy; that all who by strong bias of nature have leaned to the spiritual side in doctrine, have stopped short of their goal. We have had many harbingers and forerunners; but of a purely spiritual life, history has afforded no example. I mean, we have yet no man who has leaned entirely on his character,”