Essay About Emersons Essay And Main Ideas

Transcendentalism
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Transcendentalism is the philosophy that reality cannot be known and the
divine is the guiding principle in man. Transcendentalism says that the way
to god is through yourself; your inner thoughts lead you to a spiritual
reality. Transcendentalism is made up of four main ideas: idealism,
optimism, religion, and individualism. In Emersons essay “Self Reliance,”
he expresses his optimistic faith in the power of individual achievement and
originality. He also considered the overarching need to discover and develop
a relationship with nature and with god. I agree with Emersons ideas that
“envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide,” “that whoso would be a man must be
a nonconformist,” and “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.”
I agree with Emersons idea that “envy is ignorance; imitation is
suicide.” This means that you should be yourself and not try to be like
someone who you are not. Envying someone else for what they are wearing is
just plain out being ignorant; imitating someone is killing your
individualism. You need to do things for yourself and not for anyone else.
For example, one time I was talking to this kid who had those big raver pants
on, he said he hated wearing them, so I asked him why he was wearing them and
he said that he was going to a rave that night and he just wanted to fit in
with all the people there. He was imitating other people who go to raves
just to be cool and conform to their style of dressing. You need to act
yourself and not try to be someone you are not.
I agree with Emersons idea that “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.” This means that when a man has tried as
hard as he can and has put every last effort into his work, he is relieved
and satisfied with what he has accomplished. For an example, I had a history
project to do and I have been working on it diligently on it for the last
week. The day I finished it and turned it in I felt proud of myself and
relieved that it was finally done it. When a man has done his best, he
should be proud of what he has done.