# data[].attributes.body
this article is talking about the history of transcendentalism and where it came from to make such an impact in this generation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In the 1830s, the philosophy of Transcendentalism arose in New England. Some of its most famous adherents, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, are still regarded as leading American thinkers today.

The philosophy of transcendentalism arose in the 1830s in the eastern United States as a reaction to intellectualism. Its adherents yearned for intense spiritual experiences and sought to transcend the purely material world of reason and rationality.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were two of the most famous and influential transcendentalists.

Some influential transcendentalists, such as Margaret Fuller, were early pioneers of feminism.

The philosophy of transcendentalism

The philosophy of transcendentalism originated in Unitarianism, the predominant religious movement in Boston in the early 19th century. Unitarianism was a liberal Christian sect that emphasized rationality, reason, and intellectualism; it was especially popular at Harvard.

The transcendentalists who established the Transcendental Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1836-mostly Unitarian clergy and Boston-area intellectuals-did not reject Unitarianism but yearned for a more spiritual experience to balance out the emphasis on pure reason. The very word transcendentalism refers to a spirituality that transcends the realm of rationality and the material world. Transcendentalists believed that humans were fundamentally good but corrupted by society and that they should therefore strive for independence and self-reliance.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were two of the most famous transcendentalists. In 1845, Thoreau moved to a cabin that he built on Walden Pond in Massachusetts and lived there for two years, two months, and two days. He chronicled the experience in his book Walden, published in 1854, which explored the themes of nature, spirituality, self-reliance, and the simple life. Thoreau acknowledged the debt transcendentalism owed to Indian religious beliefs by paying homage to the Bhagavad Gita, a Sanskrit epic that is one of the foundational texts of Hinduism: "In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagvat 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."

Emerson gained fame as an essayist and public lecturer; his 1836 essay "Nature" laid out many of the tenets of the transcendentalist philosophy. He suggested that God could be found in nature and that spending time in nature was the closest man could come to the divine. Another of Emerson's most famous works was the 1841 essay "Self-Reliance," a defense of individualism, which emphasized nonconformity and personal responsibility. One of Emerson's most famous quotes, a denunciation of mindless conformity, comes from this essay: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."

Women and transcendentalism

Other influential transcendentalists were feminist pioneers. Margaret Fuller, a journalist and women's rights advocate, edited The Dial, which was first published in 1840 and served as the primary journal of the transcendentalists until 1844. She was a frequent contributor to the journal and in 1845 published Woman in the Nineteenth Century, an early feminist manifesto that may have inspired the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention -the first conference in America devoted to the issue of women's rights.

Other prominent female transcendentalists include Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, who served as the business manager of The Dial and in 1860 established the first English-language kindergarten in the United States, and Louisa May Alcott, author of the classic novel Little Women.

Transcendentalism and reform

By the 1850s, many transcendentalists had become subsumed in the struggle to abolish slavery. As the incorporation of new territories into the Union exacerbated sectional tensions, the slavery issue dominated New England intellectual circles. Ralph Waldo Emerson, in keeping with his reverence for individual freedom, became a vocal abolitionist and spoke out against the Fugitive Slave Law-which provided for the return of runaway slaves-and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 -which held that settlers in Kansas and Nebraska would be the ones to decide whether those states would become slave states or free.

Because the leading transcendentalists began to focus their efforts on eliminating chattel slavery, transcendentalism faded from the scene by the 1850s. The ideas and writings of the transcendentalists, however, continued to inspire later reform movements, including the movement for women's suffrage, and the labor movement.

What do you think?

In your opinion, what were the most important components of the transcendentalist philosophy and worldview?

Why was the philosophy of transcendentalism influential in later reform movements, particularly the movement to abolish slavery?

Why do you think transcendentalism and feminism were linked?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Transcendentalism (article) | Khan Academy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the 1830s, the philosophy of Transcendentalism arose in New England. Some of its most famous adherents, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, are still regarded as leading American thinkers today. The philosophy of transcendentalism arose in the 1830s in the eastern United States as a reaction to intellectualism.

# data[].attributes.body
GREAT God, I ask thee for no meaner pelf Than that I may not disappoint myself; That in my action I may soar as high As I can now discern with this clear eye. And next in value, which thy kindness lends, That I may greatly disappoint my friends, Howe’er they think or hope that it may be, They may not dream how thou ’st distinguished me. That my weak hand may equal my firm faith,  And my life practise more than my tongue saith; That my low conduct may not show,  Nor my relenting lines,That I thy purpose did not know, Or overrated thy designs.

This prayer is revealing thoreaus beliefs and his desire to live them out and to live up to his own standards, to not be intimidated or held back by his friends, and to live humbly so as to be aware that he could be mistaken in areas of belief.

# data[].attributes.body
Dulal Chandra was talking about how knowledge is decending through an unbroken chain of self realized spiritual mastwea directly from the supreme personality godhead.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Bhagavat Sandarbha, Anuccheda 96, part 2

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Lecture given by Dulal Chandra dasa on February 27th, 2018 at Gaura Radha-Madhava's Ashrama, Saragrahi; Bhagavat Sandarbha, Anucchedas 96, part 2 Anuccheda 96 - The Conclusion of the Catuḥ-sloki of Bhagavatam is Bhagavan

# data[].attributes.body
"i give you my phone number when you worried call me, i make you happy"
he is trying to help a girl out with her feelings and how not to be huert about it.

# data[].attributes.body
"so sailed on to the sun till we found the sea of green. and we lived beneath the waves in our yellow submarine"
they are trying to hide the feelings of girls they are in live with.

# data[].attributes.body
this picture represents transcendentalism because its showing how you have to find yourself first and figure out who you are and what you are here for before you move on

# data[].attributes.body
this image is saying that to gain your knowledge you have to believe that nature is your slef-knowledge first.

# data[].attributes.body
"i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life" -  Henry David Thoreau

In this quote he is explaining that being one with nature is a good thing because in society many people rush through there lives without ever stopping to look at there surroundings and savoring it.

# data[].attributes.body
Ben Affleck who is a famous actor believes the way the government and society treats muslims is wrong and he also speaks out about Islamophobia in light of recent events for example ISIS.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ben Affleck, Sam Harris and Bill Maher Debate Radical Islam | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

# data[].attributes.body
"As hard as it is and as tired as i am, i force myself to get dinner atleast once a week with my girlfriends, or have a sleepover. Otherwise my life is just work" -jennifer lawrence

this is explaining that although she is always working and always doing something, she still finds the time to spend with her friends. this relates to trancendentalist beliefs because she still focuses on the little, simple things no matter what .

# data[].attributes.body
This piece of artwork relates to transcendentalism because it shows how individualism is with nature. Every individual is unique in their own way especially with nature, because with nature you can express yourself with no one else around you.

# data[].attributes.body
“For every minute you are angry you You lose sixty seconds of happiness “

This quote basically says evrything. Everytime  you feel a different emotion/feeling you los your happiness

# data[].attributes.body
In this article it is talking about where transcendentalism originated from and how people use it in society today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Transcendentalism is a 19th-century school of American theological and philosophical thought that combined respect for nature and self-sufficiency with elements of Unitarianism and German Romanticism. Writer Ralph Waldo Emerson was the primary practitioner of the movement, which existed loosely in Massachusetts in the early 1800s before becoming an organized group in the 1830s.

The Origins of Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism has its origins in New England of the early 1800s and the birth of Unitarianism. It was born from a debate between "New Light" theologians, who believed that religion should focus on an emotional experience, and "Old Light" opponents, who valued reason in their religious approach.

These "Old Lights" became known first as "liberal Christians" and then as Unitarians, and were defined by the belief that there was no trinity of father, son and holy ghost as in traditional Christian belief, and that Jesus Christ was a mortal.

Various philosophies began to swirl around this crowd, and the ideas that would become Transcendentalism split from Unitarianism over its perceived rationality and instead embraced German Romanticism in a quest for a more spiritual experience.

Thinkers in the movement embraced ideas brought forth by philosophers Immanuel Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ancient Indian scripture known as the Vedas and religious founder Emanuel Swedenborg.

Transcendentalists advocated the idea of a personal knowledge of God, believing that no intermediary was needed for spiritual insight. They embraced idealism, focusing on nature and opposing materialism.

By the 1830s, literature began to appear that bound the Transcendentalist ideas together in a cohesive way and marked the beginnings of a more organized movement.

The Transcendental Club

On September 12, 1836, four Harvard University alumni-writer and Bangor, Maine, minister Frederic Henry Hodge, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Unitarian ministers George Ripley and George Putnam-left a celebration of the bicentennial of Harvard to meet at Willard's Hotel in Cambridge.

The purpose was to follow up on correspondence between Hodge and Emerson and to talk about the state of Unitarianism and what they could do about it.

One week later, the four met again at Ripley's house in Boston. This was a meeting of a much larger group that included many Unitarian ministers, intellectuals, writers and reformers. There would be 30 more meetings of what was called "the Transcendental Club" over the next four years, featuring a shifting membership that always included Emerson, Ripley, and Hodge.

The only rule the meetings followed was that no one would be allowed to attend if their presence prevented the group from discussing a topic. Emerson's essay "Nature," published in 1836, presented Transcendentalist philosophy as it had formed in the club meetings.

This group ceased to meet in 1840, but were involved in the publication The Dial, at first helmed by member and pioneering feminist Margaret Fuller, and later by Emerson, with the mission of addressing Transcendentalist thought and concerns.

Henry David Thoreau got his start in The Dial, reporting on wildlife in Massachusetts. After its demise in 1844, Thoreau moved to Walden Pond where he wrote his most famous work, Walden; or, Life in the Woods.

Brook Farm

Inspired by different utopian groups like the Shakers, members of the Transcendental Club were interested in forming a commune to put their ideas to the test. In 1841, a small group of them, including author Nathaniel Hawthorne, moved to a property named Brook Farm in West Roxbury, Massachusetts.

The venture, helmed by George Ripley, was covered in the pages of The Dial as an idyllic one that involved farm work by day and creative work by candlelight at night.

Emerson never joined the farm. He approved of the commune but didn't want to give up his privacy, preferring to be a frequent visitor. Thoreau refused to join as well, finding the entire idea unappealing. Margaret Fuller visited but felt the farm was destined for failure.

The farm was run by members buying shares for life-long membership, guaranteeing an annual return on their investment, and allowing members who could not afford a share to compensate with work. As farmers, they were fledglings, but Hawthorne, in particular, was thrilled by the physicality of farming life.

There was also a boarding school onsite that was the farm's primary income source. The farm proved successful enough that in its first year, members had to build new homes on the property to house everyone. There were over 100 residents.

In 1844, following a restructuring that brought further growth, the commune began to fall into a slow decline, with members becoming disillusioned by its mission, as well as financial challenges and other problems, and squabbling amongst themselves. By 1847, this particular Transcendentalist experiment was finished.

Transcendentalism Fades Out

As the 1850s arrived, Transcendentalism is considered to have lost some of its influence, particularly following the untimely death of Margaret Fuller in an 1850 shipwreck.

Though its members remained active in the public eye-notably Emerson, Thoreau and others in their public opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850-following the failure of Brook Farm, it never again materialized as a cohesive group.

Sources

American Transcendentalism. Philip F. Gura.
Paradise Now: The Story of American Utopianism. Chris Jennings.
Transcendentalism. Arizona State University.
Transcendentalism. Stanford University.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Transcendentalism is a 19th-century school of American theological and philosophical thought that combined respect for nature and self-sufficiency with elements of Unitarianism and German Romanticism. Writer Ralph Waldo Emerson was the primary practitioner of the movement, which existed loosely in Massachusetts in the early 1800s before becoming an organized group in the 1830s.

# data[].attributes.body
"i learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." - Henry David Thoreau

this quote is explaining that there will always be individuals who tell you that youre not good enough, but keep working hard because the end result will pay off.

# data[].attributes.body
Blackbird singing in the dead of night,
Take these broken wings and learn to fly,
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

This particular Beatles song conveys something so chilling yet hopeful with such lyrics as take these broken wings and learn to fly. On one hand it is a melancholic song about a blackbird experiencing some dark night of soul, yet chirping on through it; making the best of its suffering by shining a light on it with its song.