Thinking Activity

Thinking Activity:Transcendentalism

This blog is reaponse of Thinking Activity given by Professor Veidehi ma'am. Here I discuss about the topic Transcendentalism.

Transcendentalism:

Transcendentalism is an American literary, philosophical, religious, and political movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson. Other important transcendentalists were Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Lydia Maria Child, Amos Bronson Alcott, Frederic Henry Hedge, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, and Theodore Parker. Stimulated by English and German Romanticism, the Biblical criticism of Herder and Schleiermacher, and the skepticism of Hume, the transcendentalists operated with the sense that a new era was at hand. They were critics of their contemporary society for its unthinking conformity, and urged that each person find, in Emerson’s words, “an original relation to the universe." Emerson and Thoreau sought this relation in solitude amidst nature, and in their writing. By the 1840s they, along with other transcendentalists, were engaged in the social experiments of Brook Farm, Fruitlands, and Walden; and, by the 1850s in an increasingly urgent critique of American slavery.

Transcendentalism has its origins in New England of the early 1800s and the birth of Unitarianism. It was born from a debate between “New Light” theologians, who believed that religion should focus on an emotional experience, and “Old Light” opponents, who valued reason in their religious approach.Emerson’s essay “Nature,” published in 1836, presented Transcendentalist philosophy as it had formed in the club meetings. 

1, Transcendentalists talks about individual's relation with nature. What is nature for you? Share your views. 

Ans, Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic.

The term "nature" may refer to living plants and animals, geological processes, weather, and physics, such as matter and energy. The term is often refers to the "natural environment" or wilderness—wild animals, rocks, forest, beaches, and in general areas that have not been substantially altered by humans, or which persist despite human intervention. For, example, manufactured objects and human interaction are generally not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature".

According to me, nature is everything. Nature means a happyness, enjoyment, sadness and best feeling of the world. Nature give us this whole life and we all are enjoying this life Nature and humen connecting to the heart and both are related to each other. I spend lots of time with nature and that time is best of my life. So my opinion fo nature is, 'nature means happyness'. And 'nature is everything for me'.

Last  I say that, "Nature is like therapy, treatment, medicine everything. You can recharge your self without any changes trew the nature."

"When any medicine can not work that time one medicine work, it's called Nature".  

2, Transcendentalism is an American Philosophy that influenced American Literature at length. Can you find any Indian/Regional literature or Philosophy came up with such similar thought?

 

Ans, Transcendentalism emphasizes subjective intuition over objective empiricism. Adherents believe that individuals are capable of generating completely original insights with little attention and deference to past masters. It arose as a reaction, to protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality at the time.The doctrine of the Unitarian church as taught at Harvard Divinity School was closely related.

🔅Spirituality

Yea, Indian literature also use Transendentalism thoughts.The meaning of spirituality has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other.Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape of man",oriented at "the image of God"as exemplified by the founders and sacred texts of the religions of the world. The term was used within early Christianity to refer to a life oriented toward the Holy Spiritand broadened during the Late Middle Ages to include mental aspects of life.

In modern times, the term both spread to other religious traditions and broadened to refer to a wider range of experience, including a range of esoteric traditions and religious traditions. Modern usages tend to refer to a subjective experience of a sacred dimensionand the "deepest values and meanings by which people live" often in a context separate from organized religious institutions. This may involve belief in a supernatural realm beyond the ordinarily observable world,personal growth, a quest for an ultimate or sacred meaning, religious experience, or an encounter with one's own "inner dimension".

🔅Judaism

Spirituality in Judaism may involve practices of Jewish ethics, Jewish prayer, Jewish meditation, Shabbat and holiday observance, Torah study, dietary laws, teshuvah, and other practices.It may involve practices ordained by halakhah or other practices.

🔅Christianity

Progressive Christianity is a contemporary movement which seeks to remove the supernatural claims of the faith and replace them with a post-critical understanding of biblical spirituality based on historical and scientific research. It focuses on the lived experience of spirituality over historical dogmatic claims, and accepts that the faith is both true and a human construction, and that spiritual experiences are psychologically and neurally real and useful.

🔅Hinduism

Traditionally, Hinduism identifies three mārga (ways)of spiritual practice,namely Jñāna(ज्ञान), the way of knowledge; Bhakti, the way of devotion; and Karma yoga, the way of selfless action. In the 19th century Vivekananda, in his neo-Vedanta synthesis of Hinduism, added Rāja yoga, the way of contemplation and meditation, as a fourth way, calling all of them "yoga".In the practice of Hinduism, suggest modern era scholars such as Vivekananda, the choice between the paths is up to the individual and a person's proclivities. Other scholars, suggest that these Hindu spiritual practices are not mutually exclusive, but overlapping. These four paths of spirituality are also known in Hinduism outside India, such as in Balinese Hinduism, where it is called Catur Marga (literally: four paths). This all the Indian philosophy are similar to the American transendentalism philosophy.

Thank you