lunes, 28 de enero de 2013

TRANSCENDENTALISM FOR TIMES OF CRISIS


I am kind of ashamed to say that when I was a student of Filología Inglesa years ago now, I never had a chance to read the American Transcendentalists.
 It was later during a stay abroad in the US that I started to become acquainted with 19th century American Literature. But I really got to enjoy them as I had to teach a course about this subject in the new Modern Languages and Literatures Degree.
My colleagues had warned me that it was a impossible to make students read these texts, yet I discovered that they -and I- enjoted them immensely!. But this year , as I face a new position as Head of Department, they even make more sense to me. Obviously, Transcendentalism makes more sense for people who are believers -of whatever faith-´who think that everything does not end in this world and that there is "a Beyond," but they appeal to everybody at these times of crisis when we need to believe that there is a sense in doing what we have to do in life. Anyway, I here are some of my favourite sentences:

From "Self-Reliance" by R.W. Emerson: 

"What I must do is all that concerns me, not what people think."

"Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself."

"Whoso would be a man, must be a non-comformist."

"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself."

"A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster of the firmament of bards and sages."

"Live ever in a new day. Trust your emotion."

"Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life."

From "The American Scholar":

"The one thing in the world of value is the active soul"

...genius looks forward: the eyes of man are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead: man hopes: genius creates. Whatever talents may be, if the man create not, the pure efflux of Dei


And so on... and also see how much in current American culture and politics comes from the thought of these philosophers, writers, lovers of Nature who dreamed about creating a new Nation and a new Man. See for example, Steve Job's Stanford University Address and you will see abundant connections with The American Scholars.

Read  Emerson's  essays on the Gutenberg Project Site:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16643/16643-h/16643-h.htm#SELF-RELIANCE

14 comentarios:

  1. I think both essays are excellent and express perfectly the trascendentalist ideas. However, I identify myself more with 'Self-reliance', as he encourages non-conformity and independence. He also talks about rejecting society in order to be self-reliant, but here appears the controversy: how can individuals be independet if the main aim of the country is to be formed as a unity, as a nation? We should follow Emerson's advice and find an answer for ourselves.

    My favourite sentences of the 'Self-reliance' are:
    "What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think."
    "What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think."
    “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself."

    Of 'The American Scholar', I have really liked:
    "Fear always springs from ignorance."
    "Character is higher than intellect...A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think."
    "This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it."
    "Books are the best of things, well used; abused among the worst."

    Eva Marín Caballero.

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  3. Although I must say that at first I did not think trascendalism was very interesting, i found Self-Reliance brilliant!! I really enjoyed reading it and I found many interesting ideas about how we should believe more in ourselves and have our own thoughts and ideas. I loved "live ever in a new day. Trust your emotion".

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  4. When I first saw the texts, I thought that they would be another boring readings but as I started reading I got very interested in them. " Self - reliance" is the one that I liked the most. The sentences with which I identify myself are:
    "Trust thyself"
    "What I mus do is all that concerns me, not what people think"
    "The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude"

    María Echeverria

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  5. After reading the both Emerson´s Essays I realized that, in my opinion he was a very clever person. It is because I am totally agree with his idea of a really usefull and real man. Thus, in the Essay " The American Scholar" he said: " man is not a farmer, or a professor, or an enginner, but he is all".

    In relation to his thoughts about books, knowledge, nature in "The American Scholar" I would like to stand out the next citation:

    1." When the mind is braced by labor and invention, the page of whatever book we read becomes luminous with manifold allusion. Every sentence is doubly significant, and the sense of our author is as broad as the world".
    2. " Thought and knowledge are natures in which apparatus and pretencion avail nothing".
    3." Man are become of no account. Men in history, men in the world of to-day, are bugs, are spawn, and are called" the mass" and " the herd".


    On the other hand, the theme of the self-reliance in his another essay, in my opinion it is very relevant to a possitive function of humanity. And us said Emerson: " Sociaety is in conspirancy against the manhood of every one of its members". Besides, I found this essay a good guide to our personal development : " Absolve you to yoursellf, and youu shall have the suffrage of the world", " Our valors are our best gods", " Insist on yourself, never imitate".

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  6. Rocío Martínez Moreno13 de febrero de 2013, 18:43

    After reading both essays, I cannot deny that “Self-reliance” was the one that I enjoyed the most. Even though Emerson talks about such deep and inner feelings, that sometimes may result a bit difficult to understand, he does it in a clear way, letting the reader enjoy his own sensations. There are lots of sentences that I have marked not just because of this activity, but for myself, in order to remember and put them into practice.

    -Self-reliance:
    "Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string"
    "No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature"
    "the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude"
    "To be great is to be misunderstood"
    "Life only avails, not the having lived"
    "Our midns travel when our bodies are force to stay at home"
    "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself"
    -The American Scholar:
    "Its beauty is the beauty of his own mind"
    "Only so much do I know, as I have lived"

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  7. Patricia Rabadán Medina

    In my opinion, the essays we have read about Emerson are more interesting that they seemed at first. In fact, they have helped me illustrate the Transcendentalists' theory and have helped me understand it better. I also think that these essays can reflect some aspects of our current lives.

    While reading both poems, I have underlined several sentences that have attracted my attention. Some of them are the following:

    -From "The American Scholar":
    "The world's attractions are the keys which unlock my thoughts and make me acquainted with myself"
    "I do not see how any man can afford, for the sake of his nerves and his nap, to spare any action in which he can partake"

    -From "Self-Reliance":
    "I must be myself"
    "If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier"
    "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself"

    So as I have said before, in both cases the sense of these sentences can be related to my own desires. On the one hand, I think we should take advantage of every moment and enjoy our life. On the other hand, we should do that but giving ourselves the value they deserve.

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  8. Carmen Camacho Patricio13 de febrero de 2013, 23:56

    I found both essays inspiring. They both encourage men to act, to not content with the things they do not agree with, to believe in themselves and to fight for their own ideas. Although they are texts from the 19th century, I think they can reflect nowadays society and they can still have an impact in any reader of this current century. I found myself pretty impressed in the ideas the essays claim. I have chosen some quotations I liked from the essays.

    The American Scholar.
    "The one thing in the world of value is the active soul, - the soul free, sovereign and active."
    "Genius always looks forward."
    "Thinking is the function. Living is the functionary."
    "It is for you to know all; it is for you to dare all."
    Self-reliance
    "A man is relieved and gay when ha has put his heart into his workd and done his best."
    "Live ever in a new day"
    "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles."

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  9. Emerson's essays are an absolutely interesting reading and it's so true that they “help” to understand the current American society, its history, its culture, its tradition, its people. I intend reading all the Emmerson essays, because in my opinion their content is a great and useful contribution to our personal things … and highly recommended for repeated reading.

    My favourite sentences are:
    Self-Reliance:
    “the great is who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”
    “My life is not an apology, but a life. It is for itself and not for a spectacle.”
    “A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best.”

    American Scholar:
    “Books are the best of things, well used; abused among the worst.”
    “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”
    “The eyes of a man are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead. Man hopes. Genius creates.”

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  10. Vanessa Díaz Miralles

    At the beginnig I didn't understand very well the Transcendentalism, but after reading Emerson's poems I didn't only understnad this literary and social movement, but also I started to like it.What Emerson says is more thatn interesnting, because it seems to me that everybody is, and even need to be, a little transcendentalist.
    My favourite sentence are:
    The American scholar:
    - "A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best.
    - "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind".
    - "To create, to create is the proof of a divine presence".
    Self- reliance:
    - "A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think".
    - "The boy is a Greek; the youth a Romantic; the adult, reflective".
    - "Whoso would be a man, must be a non-conformist".

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  11. Rocío Merino Gómez18 de febrero de 2013, 14:47

    I liked both essays, but I find Self-reliance more interesting, although both have good and inspiring ideas. Emerson has a good writing, because in spite of being long, thick and full of ideas, when you start to read it is easier that it seemed. I found Self-reliance totally excellent.
    Here are some sentences that really liked me and I think that we can apply them right now:
    "Envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide"
    "Trust thyself: every hearts vibrates to that iron string"
    "But the man is as it were clapped into jail by his consciousness"
    "What I must do is all concerns me, not what the people think"
    "But why should you keep your head over your shoulder?Why drag about this corpse of your memory, lest you contradict somewhat you have stated in this or that public place?"
    "With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do"
    "Honor is venerable to us because it is no ephemera"
    "But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that sorround him stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong ultil he too lives with nature in the present, above time"
    "If we live truly, we shall se truly"
    "The sinew and heart of man seem to be drawn out, and we are become timorous, desponding whimperers. We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death and afraid of each other. Our age yields no great and perfect persons"
    "Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession"
    "Society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other. It undergoes continual changes, it is barbarous, it is civilized, it is christianized, it is rich, it is scientific; but this change is not amelioration. For every thing that is given something is taken. Society acquires new arts and loses old instincts"
    "Thy lot or portion of life, said the Califa Ali, is seeking afer thee; therefore be at rest from seeking after it"
    "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles"


    Rocío Merino Gómez

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  12. Sonia Abdelhamid.

    I did not like these essays I loved them!! Specially "Self-reliance"
    Why? Well, I think that the best thing of these essays is that they reflect typical characteristics that are still present in these days. The importance of beleiving in yourself,doing what you thinks is correct...

    We live in a world where we tend to allow to be influenced by another people that sometimes we even don´t know. We feel sometimes bad because people think that what we are doing or thinking is bad, only because it´s different. Emerson in "Self-reliance" reflects the importance of doing what we feel comfortable with and not doing what society expect us to do.

    Here are some sentences that really liked me:

    "Self-reliance"

    "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,-that is genius."

    "The power which resides in him is new in nature, and more but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried."

    "A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace."

    "Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members."

    "If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier"

    "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself"

    "The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them."

    "If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier."

    "If you are noble, I will love you; if you are not, I will not hurt you and myself by hypocritical attentions."

    "I will not hide my tastes or aversions."

    "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles."

    "The American scholar"

    "The boy is a Greek; the youth a Romantic; the adult, reflective".

    "The one thing in the world of value is the active soul, - the soul free, sovereign and active."

    "The world's attractions are the keys which unlock my thoughts and make me acquainted with myself."

    "Fear always springs from ignorance."


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  13. My favorite text is "self-reliance". Here, we can appreciate a new way to behave. You have to find your own personality faraway the mass. I think this text could support our society at this moment that everybody need positive ideas to follow. It makes you feel stronger because as say Emerson "trust thyself". This text could be a perfect speech in any public meeting or said by any politicians to make the society feel better and ready to overcome this negative period. To sum up, it does not matter how many centuries go past, these texts could be really useful nowadays.


    My favorite sentences are

    Self-Reliance:

    - Trust thyself
    - envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide
    - the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
    - but do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself.
    - I appeal from your customs. I must be myself.

    The American Scholar:

    - To create, to create is the proof of a divine presence
    - Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst.
    - The mind now thinks, now acts, and each fit reproduces the other.
    - He and he only knows the world
    - The world is nothing, the man is all

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  14. I have read both of them. I like many of the quotes already said by my classmates, but I have read as well the transcendentalist of Emerson. I like his way of thinking that we all perceive the world in our own way as we cannot see how it really is. He uses that sentence to show it :
    "Mind is the only reality, of which men and all other natures are better or worse reflectors".
    I do agree with him when he says that we have to be self dependent, we do not need anyone else to make our own happiness, however I believe it is impossible to be happy if you are completely alone. In a movie called Into The Wild, the main character says that "Happiness only real when shared".
    Finally, this is the one that I have liked the most.
    “You think me the child of my circumstances: I make my circumstance.”
    I read this in a bad period of my life, and it gave me strengh. I felt it like completely true and that if I wanted to change what is surrounding me, I have to change my own attitude. You are the only one responsible of yourself: In your life, 10% are coincidences, the other 90% is your attitude facing these coincidences.

    Teresa Casanova Urquijo

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