Emerson’s “transcendentalism” is essentially a romantic individualism,a philosophy of life for a new people who had overthrown their colonialgovernors and set about conquering a new continent by their own lights. ThoughEmerson is not a technical philosopher, the tendency of his thought is towardidealist metaphysics in which soul and intuition, or inspiration, are central. The new American experiment needed every idea within its reach. Taking apractical and democratic, yet poetic interest in all of nature and inindividuals of every walk of life, Emerson stresses the potential for genius andcreativity in all people.
It is a source of creative insight within whichEmerson identifies as divine. His praise for Plato can easily be found in hiswork. He says that “Mind is the only reality of which men and all othernatures are better or worse reflectors. ” For Emerson, “intuition” isa poetic faculty of seeing things creatively. Nothing is possible within ourdistinctively human world without such creative insight and interpretation. Therefore, Emerson calls for us to always be prepared to listen to this voicewithin instead of conforming to societal pressures.
The theme of Self-Relianceis an elaboration of this idealist theme — we are to follow our own lights. TheOver-soul, “the only prophet of that which must be, is that great nature inwhich we rest. ” It is both “the act of seeing and the thing seen,”and it creates our world in depth by means of our insight and interpretations. Emerson’s great emphasis upon nonconformity and integrity shows that thisOver-soul creates a world through individuals rather than through the commerceof groups.
“Where we find beauty in a flower or a forest or a poem, meaningand direction, or deep understanding, the voice of “this deity” isspeaking through us and creating the world around us by such means. This deitydoes not speak to groups but, in radical protestant style, to each person aloneto the degree he or she attends to the message. ” The value Emerson attributesto the messages depends upon the Over-soul being “self-sufficing andperfect in every hour. ” In spite of his individualism, Emerson’s thought issimilar to the romantic nationalism of 19th century Europe, but where thisnationalism focused upon collective entities such as a people, their languageand culture, or their state, Emerson’s focus is upon the individual.
InSelf-Reliance he says, “it is easy, in the world to live after the world’sopinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is hewho in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence ofsolitude. ” Where romantic nationalism stresses the development of an authenticnational culture free from foreign influences and takes a collective perspectivemore or less for granted, Emerson applies a similar approach to each individual. He complains that all men hear the inner voice in solitude but that they losethemselves when they enter into the world of men. “Society everywhere is aconspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. ” Emerson feels manmust work on his own and be diligent and truthful in that work to produce abetter society.
Man must be willing to take risks instead of conforming to therules of society in order to prosper. Man should control society instead ofallowing society to control him. The two major barriers to self-reliance areconformity and relying on the past. The Trustee is man, himself, when he trustshis own intuition. This modifies the egotism of self-reliance because it makesit common to all men and it creates the view that self-reliance is not based onintellect but on common sense. Self-reliance allows one to progress in anysituation.
It implies that there would be no king or higher government; allwould be equal. Self-reliance does not allow men to claim that they know God anduse archaic terminology because in this way men revert to the past forauthority. Emerson feels man should realize that his life is built on fate andchance and he has no power to control the outcome. Society wants to imposegovernment, rules, and law on its people so they can be puppet-like. Emersonproposes that men live based on their own individual instincts thereby creatingtheir own internal law.
Emerson believes that men fail to prosper because theyallow society to think for them. “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblinsof little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. Withconsistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. ” Emerson believes inliving in the present and not in the past. Society is likened to a”joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securingof his bread.
. . to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. ” This ishis explanation of how people are seduced into ignoring their own insights andconvictions, their own “culture,” in order to better profit by theirintercourse with society. Emerson warns of the seductions of society andsupplies a moral counter-weight: “Nothing is at last sacred but theintegrity of your own mind. ” It is better to make your own mistakes and sufferfrom them than to make the mistakes dictated by another and surrender oneself todissolution in outside forces.
Creative interpretation is not to be discouraged,and each person’s genius should be developed as far as possible. This is thecentral meaning of American liberalism, and the critique of mere conformity isan important part of this. Yet an empirical and scientific emphasis is needed tocounter balance the stress upon creativity. For while facts and perception donot dictate our interpretations of the world, they are often capable of decidingbetween them. Emerson, the man and Emerson, the thinker never completely leftthe world of common human experience, never sought to dwell, with the Over-soulalone, among the clouds of Plato’s heaven. His writing also suggests a criticalattitude toward the apparent excesses of Emerson’s individualism.
For itsuggests that romantic individualism arises from uncritical use of creativeinsight. The alternative involves a greater stress upon cooperation andcollaboration. Though Emerson’s individualism is less extreme than Thoreau’s,involving as it does a deep-felt mission to help others help themselves, helpingothers does not amount to collaboration with them. Even the best aimed, mostneeded charity does not engage and challenge self and others as do cooperativeundertakings. Emerson’s point is that we need to rely upon the creativeindividual, freed of the felt need to conformity, to supply interpretations ofexperience.
However, since interpretations and insights are not self-certifying,it follows that great importance attaches to understanding alternativeinterpretations or theories. Otherwise, there will be no possibility of testsbetween such alternatives. This requires tolerance of alternative perspectives. It requires, as well, the attempt at sympathetic understanding of alternativepoints of view.
Communications between alternative viewpoints is crucial if weare to put ourselves in a position for deciding between alternatives in anintelligent manner. Besides listening to the internal voice, we must also do ourbest to listen to voices from without. The opposite of conformity is not simpleself-assertion, or uncritical persistence in one or another prejudice, not evenone’s own; these are merely two sides of the same bogus coin. The alternativeis conclusions based upon well-informed, intelligent communications.
The factsof social and intellectual complexity in the modern world, no less thanhumanity’s power over nature, make it imperative to think, deploy the fullpowers of human intelligence. Emerson provides a framework, or basic valueorientation, for flexible relations to the world around us including the socialworld of joint projects and purposes. Yet this framework leaves us as isolatedindividuals where it is not supplemented by emphasis upon empirical inquiry andtests of our insights and intuitions. Our actions in the world, and even thefull development of the self, depend upon cooperation with others in everycrucial sphere. But considerable inquiry, however informal, is required merelyto find those most suited to such joint undertakings.
For example, one does noteffectively distinguish a momentary wish or feeling from a formative andenduring desire on the basis of 5 minutes’ conversation. Yet momentary wishesare near useless as a basis of long-term cooperation. In order to avoid beingatomized and isolated, to avoid a mere phenomenal existence, Emersonianintuition requires the addition of a tough-minded empiricism, oriented to thelush growth of human expression and suited to intelligent cultivation of thebest in others. Though “the sensual man conforms thoughts to things, thepoet conforms things to his thoughts.
” Emerson succeeded in conforminggenerations of Americans to his thought. Now, in an age where conformity is usedin commercials as an advertising gimmick, Emerson would probably offer thefollowing: “Your conformity explains nothing. Act singly, and what you havealready done singly will justify you now.”
