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My mother is a Transcendentalist herself because, like Thoreau, she rouses herself awake early every morning and immediately goes outside. 

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The tranquil, mysterious cycles of nature fill its observers with awe and assurance so that they may freely tinker with the workings of their intellects. Only souls that are spiritually fulfilled can answer society's humanitarian needs and contribute to its intellectual enrichment.

-"Every soul echoes its own unique purpose, culminating in an ethereal symphony that captures the intangible yet clear essence of the universe. However, time has adulterated this universal harmony." (1)
-"A moral breeze tempers their contemplations. It carries the legacies of the greats, and a perennial scent that propels humanity towards a single great future." (5)

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Oil Painting by Victoria Semenets, Spain, 2020

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8. Challenges to Living Transcendentally

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8. Challenges to Living Transcendentally

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The modern Sisyphus is the average 9-5 worker, whose professional obligations stunt their intellectual and creative potential in the same way the working class of the Transcendental era was held back by their careers.

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It is a common misconception that experienced surfers are elitists, as the meaningful conversations I have had with fellow surfers at Old Man's validate the Transcendental tenet of the inherent goodness of mankind.

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I like to listen to music while playing lacrosse alone because it is a muscle-memory activity that allows me time to reflect upon and diffuse my frustrations, similar to how the Transcendentalists went on walks to think and reflect.

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Like Thoreau, I am selective about my company when I explore nature, which is why I tend to only go on walks with my parents (my father took this picture).

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Parents, dog-parents, and observers are all real people; Transcendentalism defines nature as the great intersection where all people can be their true selves.

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5. Modern Example: "To Make Use of Water" by Safia Elhillo

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5. Modern Example: "To Make Use of Water" by Safia Elhillo

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Safia Elhillo is a Sudanese-American poet whose fluid lyricism and allusions to Arab culture (as represented above) in her poem "To Make Use of Water" demonstrates the Transcendental tenets of rejecting tradition, seeking the truth, and returning to nature.

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Transcendentalists like Frost illustrated beautiful golden scenes when describing nature, but my image is blue and unsightly, like the somber mood of my poem. 

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And so I came to the famous divergence,

it was not yellow or tall

all just gray and trampled

divided by mere tufts that escaped the bald.

Two roads diverged on a blueish abyss

and sorry I couldn't travel both.

I am not even an explorer

just a rube foreign to growth.

Two raindrops fight for the first land–

that is how the sky speaks to me,

how it echos my whispered wonder

marcato, hugging harshly.

I peek forward and groan

because the two are mostly the same.

And by the time the sun sets,

I’ll forget from which I came.

Two roads taunt me with a blank ultimatum

when for most of the journey I could only float.

So arbitrary is every choice

when only Fate knows the next note.

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One night at dinner, I told my father that I missed him especially that day. And as I watched him choke down his rice between stuffy nasally inhales and pretend to blow his nose twice (failing to inconspicuously wipe his tears), I realized that emotional vulnerability is a rarity in my family. Throughout my teenage years, I have watched the vestiges of macho, chauvinist China evaporate from my father’s spirit. I vowed that night to consistently express my love to those dear to me through words and actions. I will be the first person in my family to call things what they are.

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Each boy "yawps" a line of poetry and kicks a soccer ball to represent his transcendence beyond the traditional solemnity of his educational system.

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"We're not talking artists, George, we're talking free-thinkers."

-Mr. Keating

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Whitman's piece was overwhelmingly pessimistic at the beginning but made me feel triumphant and hopeful with its last two lines. I immediately thought of my freshman year of high school, when I was fresh out of a year of living as a Zoom hermit. That year, I landed my first solo, the Vivaldi Cello Concerto in C Major. The powerful play truly goes on, and I am thankful for the opportunity to contribute my verse.

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"This love of beauty is Taste . . . [t]he creation of beauty is Art."

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Justin Vernon secluded himself, transcendentalist-style, in his Wisconsin cabin for months to record a heartbreakingly beautiful piece of art (the album, "For Emma, Forever Ago") to commemorate a beauty whom he loved.

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"The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child."

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The Transcendentalists believed that as one engulfs themselves in the dark realism and responsibilities of adulthood, they become inextricably adhered to the "traditional establishment" and lose their playful appreciation of life, a playfulness which the child in the image happily demonstrates.

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"Our expeditions are but tours, and come round again at evening to the old hearthside from which we set out. Half the walk is but retracing our steps."

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Salvador Dali strolling around Paris with his anteater despite the gawking public is a powerful example of the Transcendental values of individualism and savoring the journey, even if he is walking through a concrete jungle instead of a natural one.

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"Each one is a man, an Irishman, or a Yankee man."

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1A. Walden - "Where I lived and What I lived for"

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1A. Walden - "Where I lived and What I lived for"

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In Walden, Thoreau censured the American public for its dehumanizing attitude toward railroad workers, whose size and identities are diminished relative to the imposing train in the image.

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"Envy is ignorance . . . imitation is suicide." 

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The Transcendentalists believed in the importance of individualism, which is why the sign that reads "imitate" leads to a literal dead end; imitation is suicide.