Transcendentalism was an American philosophical movement that valued many of the same principles as Romanticism: self-reliance, inner knowledge, and the spiritual understanding gained by a simple contemplation of nature. In a previous lesson, you may have encountered one of the first transcendentalists, Henry David Thoreau. Now, you will read the words of the leader of the transcendentalist movement, Thoreau's friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Emerson launched transcendentalism as a movement with the publication of his book Nature. He and other like-minded thinkers and writers formed the Transcendental Club and met often to discuss and publish their ideas. Central to their beliefs was a deep faith in the power of individuals to discover truth for themselves.
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So shall we come to look at the world with new eyes. It shall answer the endless inquiry of the intellect, — What is truth? and of the affections, — What is good? by yielding itself passive to the educated Will. ... Build, therefore, your own world. As fast as you conform your life to the pure idea in your mind, that will unfold its great proportions. A correspondent revolution in things will attend the influx of the spirit. |
Question
What do you think Emerson meant by "build ... your own world"?
