Transcendentalism

The original hippies.

When I say that the transcendentalists were the original hippies, that's probably the best description I could give of them. Because they were basically romantics on drugs. They were primarily centered in the New-England area, and they believed that it was possible to transcend the limits of your senses to find the truth. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me that drugs aren't somehow involved in that statement. They thought that people were born with the potential to be great, but along the way the world besmirched them and they were corrupted. How? Like the romantics, they blamed society. To be fair, they approved of progress and technology, just as long as it was necessary. They hated frivolous and unnecessary things, and were very against materialism.

A transcendentalist just threw up.

They did, however, offer a solution to the problem of society. Nature. They believed that nature would act as a sort of panacea, and wipe away all of the sin and corruption. They were staunch supporters of individualism, and were prone to taking off to live in the woods by themselves. They searched for God in nature.

Where's Waldo God?

They also deemed themselves too good for rational thought, and said that people should trust their senses more than anything. Really? They're literally telling us to follow our hearts. Like a Hallmark movie. As if that wasn't sixth grade girl enough of them, they also believed that there was no such thing as evil. There was only the absence of good. While it's true that I am a supporter of the banality of evil, I'm just. Like. Yeah. That's like saying "there's no dark, only the absence of light" or "there's no cold, only the absence of heat." That doesn't mean that evil isn't a thing. That means that evil is characterized by a lack of good. Like, if you looked it up in a dictionary, that's what you'd find. It still exists transcendentalists. Oh, but here's the kicker: The oversoul.

Now available at a library used book sale near you.

They believed that everything, by which I mean everything natural, had a "spark of creation" inside of it. And while that makes for a kick-butt song, it does not make for a coherent life philosophy. They had the best of intentions by coming up with it. They believed that everybody had a spark of the oversoul inside of them, so they were all connected, so they were all evil. Sweetie, if the only way that you can rationalize someone else being equal to you is that a magical force of God is forcing you to be equal, you're probably still a racist.

Honestly, I wasn't even going to talk about Transcendentalism since it just falls under the umbrella of romanticism, but I felt it distinct enough to merit a mention. But they didn't really present any new ideas. The idea of the oversoul is interesting, but not enough to make me transfer over from any other philosophy. Really the only thing they had going for them was their intense fascination with nature and how it made them super introspective. And if you want to go ahead and live in the woods, more power to you. Just don't try and tell me that I suck for not doing it. Honestly, if transcendentalists are so in love with nature, then maybe pollution is on to something.

1 star, but technically it's connected to every other star.