A System in Transition

A System in Transition

“Nature is always consistent, though she feigns to violate her own laws.” She keeps her laws, and yet she seems to transcend them and violate them.” For example, she arms and equips an animal to find its place and living on earth and at the same she arms and equips another animal to destroy it. “Space exists to divide creatures,” but by giving wings to a bird she enables it to fly to any place and in this way to become omnipresent. Emerson insisted more vigorously than enter before on the importance of action, A thinker, a scholar, must be a doer also. Practical men mock at speculative men as  if speculative men are incapable of action. Action is essential for the scholar though action is to be subordinate to speculation. Without action, the scholar is not yet man. Without action, thought can never ripen, the scholar is not yet man. Without action, thought can never ripen into truth. Only action can complete thought. Reading should be creative. It must make him see into the heart of thing and understand the truth. He advises the scholar, a great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think Does he lack organ or medium to impart his truth? He can still fall back on this elemental force of living. This is a total act. Thinking is a partial act. He must learn the dignity and necessity of labor, only then would he be a whole man, a man thinking. He must be free from dependence on the books of other country, as well as from the slavery to all books, to the mind of the past. He must be culturally independent.

Duties of Scholar (a) A question of self-trust

Self-trust and self-realization must be acquired by the scholar. It is his most important duty. It is the most important. Duty. It is the scholar’s duty not to submit to popular opinion enen if respectable leaders of society support it. At the back of the single self-reliant man is the one soul which animates all men. Emerson’s doctrine of American cultural independence appealed greatly to his listeners. He succeeded in driving home the poinl that self-trus of the individual was most important, no matter what his nationality may be. Working with self-confidence he must chee, raise nd guide men by. Showing them the truth which is often hidden under appearances often false and deceptive. The scholar must free himself from such deception

Rational analyses and judgment

Emerson rises to the peaks of eloquence when he exhorts the American scholar to realize his duties by telling in glowing words, he is the world’s eye. He is the world’s heart. He is to resist the vulgar prosperity that retrogrades ever to barbarism, by preserving and communicating heroic sentiments, noble biographies, melodious verse and the conclusions of history. Whatsoever oracles (judgments) the human heart, in all emergencies, in all solemn hours, has uttered as its commentary on all emergencies, in all solemn hours, has uttered  as its commentary on the world of actions-these he shall receive and impart. And whatsoever now events of today-this he shall hear and promulgate. It is his duty to bring Reason to judge the actins of men and thus guide them and inspires them to do what is right and proper, if he is free and brave success would be his in the long run. This is the way to cultural independence and the scholar must himself follow is and teach others too to taka to it. In short it would in cultural matters.

Emerson tromssindenta limp

Transcendentalism is a word which has been variously interpreted. `Transcendent’ means beyond and above hence a transce ndentalist is one who believes in the existence of a divine world, beyond and above the world of the senses. The divine cannot be known by reason or rational analysis, but it can be felt and experienced by the spirit through intuition. The divine is referred to as the over-soul by Emerson and it was referred to as the soul of the entire world by Wordsworth. The external world is but the raiment or outer covering of the divine. Men can know the divine and ultimately become one with it through the agony of Nature which speaks to the soul and not to the reasoning faculty. It man comes to enter into his soul, he can see into the heart of thing Thus there is oneness of God, Man and Nature. Emerson stressed the worth of the individual, the dignity of the human soul. He taught Man to rely on himself, on any authority outside himself or on tradition, however sacred or old. Thur his transcendent talism is closely linked with his individualism.

His teachings harmonized with the rise of democracy, the rise of romanticism, and the revolt against Puritan Orthodoxy which was begun by the Unitarians and carried by the transcendentalist to its natural conclusion. The Unitarians asserted the doctrine of the freedom of the will. In so doing, they laid the foundations for Emerson’s central doctrines of self-reliance, the moral sense, and the exact corresponddectrines between natural and moral law. An intense faith in the individual is at the root of his faith in religious liberalism, in political democracy, and in literary romanticism. In this way, he produced works of art from the substance of American experience. Emerson’s Transcendentalism is an amalgam of various philosophies or ways of thought, both of the east and the west, both ancient and modem.

The transcendentalists believed in the unity of man, Nature and God, and the immanence of God in the world. Because of this indwelling of divinity, everything in the world is a microcosm contain in within itself all the laws and meaning of existence. Likewise, the soul of each individualist identical with the soul of the world (or over soul) which contains all the world contains. Man may fulfill his divine potentiality either through a mystical state, in which the divine is infused into the human, or through coming into contact with the truth, beauty and goodness embodied in mature and origination in over

Emerson’s nature-the Bible of Transcendentalism’’ states his basic concept of the unity of man, Nature and God. Him subsequent lectures and essays are primarily or elaborations of those concepts with the help of new insights he gained. In Nature, Emerson has tried to locate man in relation to nature, on the one hand, and God on the other. He has also made an attempt to see how man fufils his destiny and realizes his end. He places man at the centre of nature. Nature is helpful to him in the realization of his higher ends atd in the fulfillment of his destiny. At the physical level, it caters to his bodily needs and the meds of the senses. He considers body as a part of nature and, therefore, like it, an inferior incarnation of God in the unconscious. Man is God’s superior incarnation in the conscious. Nature is the she shadow that we, our essential elves, cast. It is even the creation of our own mind. When we perceive the underlying principle in Nature, we come to know our essential self. Through the perception of the exterior beauty of Nature man becomes conscious of the spiritual beauty of the Universe. This is not automatic, but only when our senses are properly sharpened and harmonized with our inner self that we begin to see more than mere outward beauty. This is the moment when we are awakened to our essential being. Through Nature’s beauty we begum to see our own selves. This is the way in which Nature is made “to conspire with spirit to emancipate us”. The ground of our being is this beauty, this underlying principle and once we apprehend this truth we begin really to exist.

To Emerson, beauty and truth are one and the same things. When he says, “our life is embosomed in beauty” he means by beauty the over-soul, within which every man’s particular being is contained. Once we realize this we do not see surface facts alone, but the Soul that is immanent. Through the triangular relationship of man and Nature and of man and God, the position of man is explained and ascertained. How-ever, Emerson knows it is not possible for him to explain why and how the universal soul incarnates in man and thus the major part of this mystery cannot be unraveled. But there is no uncertainty in Emerson’s thought as to the over-soul being the ground of man’s existence. The foundation of man is not in matter, but in Spirit. Spirit. “Because of the

Soul’s participation in the Divine substance, there is no limit to the possibilities in man’s life. Emerson called it the” infinitude of the private man,” and this he preached all his life. This means that man’s essential self is capable of transcending the finitude of existence and of becoming one with the infinite. Ineffable bliss is the union of man and God/ One great miracle is the daily rebirth of God in the individual soul. “The purpose of man’s life, therefore, is to recognize his own essential self and the comic unity. It is in the very constitution of man to speak and strive in order to realize this unity in the very constitution of man to speak and strive in order to realize this unity in his own essential self and the cosmic unity. It is in the very constitution of ma to speak and strive in order to realize this nutty in his life.”

Freedom of the individual is dear to Emerson; it is man’s most precious inheritance. Man has various faculties; they must be given free scope to develop to the fullest extent. The soul must have a free play. “When it (man’s soul) breathes through his intellect, it is genius; when it breathes through his will, it is virtue; when it flows through his affection, it is love,’’ No doubt great men are representatives of the essential humanity and, therefore, their “thought and feeling cannot be impounded by any fence or personality.” But great men are also those who have their special faculty developed to the highest pitch, and who On the other hand, every individual is left free to grow independently. “Nature wishes everything to remain itself” and it “steadily aims to protect each against every others”. Each is self-defended. Nothing is more marked than the power by which individuals are safeguarded from other individuals. The integrity of the individual’s personality must remanin unencroached upon by systems, institutions or society.

All through his career he focused on the Infinitude of man, when this Infinitude is fully developed, Man becomes one with the Divine or the over-soul.

Such is Emerson’s Transcendentalism. It is there in Nature, and it is developed and elaborated all through his caret in his Journals, lectures, numerous essays, poems and other works. There might be con-eradications here and there, but there, but then it must be remembered that he was essentially a man of literature and not a philosopher. “his philosophy is a way of living, not system of thought. His writing is the record of his own, man thinking.”

Detailed Critical Summary

Emerson begins his epoch making essay on Nature by pointing out that there are certaing days in every season when the weather is absolutely lovely, on such days it seems that Nature has reached its perfection. Everything that has life gives a sigh of feeling satisfied; and the cattle which life on the ground seem to be having deep and peaceful thoughts. A day of this kind seems to be very long and it seems to sleep over the fields and hills. To live through its sunny hours seems that one has lived for a long time. The solitary places on such a day do not seem to be so very lonely. When a man enters a forest on such a day, he leaves the life of the city and the thoughts of the city far behind. There in the forest he finds Nature in all her glory and grandeur and everything else seems petty and insignificant in comparison. Nature here seems to judge all men who come to her. The moderate light of the woods is like a perpetual morning which stimulates a man. The eye is excited at the sight of the pines and the oaks. The trees which cannot talk begin to persuade him to live with them and to quit his life which is made up of such trifles, as history, church or state- affairs. Everything looks trivial in comparison. All human affairs are forgotten for the time being

It’s Healing Effects:

These enchantments of Nature have a healing effect on us. They have a medicinal property and they sober us. These are simple pleasures, kindly and natural to us. Nature is our real home, and once we have returned to it, we can never forget it or go back. Says Emerson, “Indeed it is the magical lights of the horizon and the blue sky for the background which save all our works of art, which were otherwise baubles. Cities do not give enough scope to the human senses to develop and flourish. But in the woods there are all degrees of natural influences, from the medicinal powers of Nature to her gravest ministrations to the soul “ There is the bucket of cold water from the spring and the wood-fire to which the traveler feeling cold rushes for warmth; and there is the sublime moral of autumn and of noon. We take rest in Nature and feed upon her and we receive glances from the heavenly bodies which call us to solitude and foretell the most distant future. Nature provides us with nourishment of all kinds. It nourishes both the body and the soul. Body is nourished by her “roots and grains’’, and the soul by the azure sky above. When we look at it we dream of heaven

Ralph weld Emerson war born at Burton Mariachis TTS at 1803 in 1837 the greatest writing of tire very man the American Scholar. As Emerson reputation grew Harbored in voted him to deliver am im portent oration in toe summer of 1837. And Emerson responded with her the Americium Scholar It war an eloquent appeal for courage am action among American the in Kris for final freedom from the tyranny of Euro peens ides for the beginning of a new era He urged the graduating class to find a new revolution appropriable to a new era.

The Amery can School lord is the phi Beta Kappa (the name of a literary society) address delivered at Harvard University rear cam bribe I.S.A, on Augur 31, 1837. The address War in 1837 and again in 1839 Emerson begins his address by panting out that the time har now come when the Amery can people row greater index pentane So for they had been dependent On the nations of Europe, but now their long apprenticeship to the learning of other lands draw to a close. Al the very beginning of the Essay the American scholar we find the concept of Scholar According to Emerson

Distribution of functions, Division of man into men and a man thinking

According to an ancient fable the god in Nome ancient time divided man in to  men so that he might be more helpful to hires jut or the hand war divided into singers in order to perform its fume tine more effectively According to the fable there is ore man who appears to all particular men only partially or through one faculty. Emerson is  telling that once upon a time one men labor is a part of united labor But in a present time borty full ness come in a human mind man is divided into men He is tell ling that man is transform into a thing into many thing . It is there fore necessary to Trudy the whole society in Order to send the whole man Man is not only a farmer or a preferred or am engineer but he is all and he or she is a human being. He acts in many capacities. So the recolor must act ohm the whole man.

2 Natures: Her Influence

Emerson, next, proceeds to consider the various influences which operate upon him and through which he is educated. The first influence is that of nature. Every day the sun shines; and when the sun has set, the stars appear in the sky. Ever the winds blow and ever the grass grows. The scholar is he of all men who is attracted most of all by the scenes and sights and the phenomena of Nature. What is Nature to him There is neither a beginning nor an end to the mysterious continuity of this web of God, it is always circular power returning into itself. Slowly the mind finds how to join tow things and see in them one Nature: then three: the a thousand;  and so the mind goes on tying things together and discovering that contrary and remote things cohere and issue from one stem. The scholar soon learns that since the dawn of history there has been a constant accumulation and classification of facts. But classification only means that the objects of nature are not chaotic but have a law which binds them together and is also  a law of the human mind thus he becomes conscious of unity in diversity which is Nature: s law.

3 Influence of the past i.e. Books and freedom from slavery to Books

The second great educative influence on the spirit of the scholar is the mind of the past. The mind of the past is expressed in literature. In art, in institutions est. Books are the best type of the influence of the past and it is necessary that this particular influence is considered in some detail. The theory of book is noble. In the beginning, ,an looked at the world around him and thought upon it, then he gave it a new arrangement in his own mind and expressed his conclusions in his books. Books are true record of the immortal truths discovered by scholars of the past . But nobody is perfect.  No artist can entirely exclude the conventional, the local or the temporary from his book. Nobody can write a book of pure thought which will be as useful in all respects for the comings it is for his own generation. The nooks of an earlier period of history are not of much use to the future. It is necessary, therefore, to realize that books do not have a value and validity for all times to come.

It is wrongly supposed that books have an authority for all times and so men begin to worship nooks. But each generation must write its own books which can be of value at the most for the next generation. Submissive young men grow up in colleges and libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, Locks, and Bacon were themselves only young men in libraries when they wrote those books. The result of this worship of books is that we get “the book-worm instead of Man thinking; that we get the book-learned class who value books as such and not as related to Nature and to the human consti8tution.” Books thus come to be regarded as a kind of Third Estate with the world and the soul, being the. Other two. That is how we get the bibliomaniacs of all kinds.

4 Creative Reading and Creative Writing

Books are the best of things well used; but they are among the worst of things if misused. The right use of books is to derive inspiration from them; that will be their right use. The one valuable thing in the world is the active soul. This active soul should not be allowed to become the slave of the ideas contained in books. The active soul sees truth, speaks truth and also creates truth. Books are meant for the scholar’s idle time. In his busy time, when he can directly read God, he should not waste his precious time in reading what others have written. Books are certainly a source of great pleasure. The poetry of men like Chaucer, Marvell, and Dryden affords much pleasure. Books should not be underestimated. But it is wrong to confine one’s attention to books only. Books should be read in a creative, discriminating manner. One should for instance, read only the authentic portions of the books of Plato or Shakespeare; what is not authentic in those authors must be rejected. The active soul, the genius, but the active soul or genius is forward looking. However, it should be remembered that a genius can cause much harm also by over-influence. This is seen in the fact that, “the English dramatic poets have Shakespearised now for two hundred years,” with the result the growth of English drama has been hampered and retarded. Freedom from servile imitation of such men of genius is also essential. Human mind can be fed by the knowledge contained in books, but the reading of book must be creative one. One must be an inventor to read well. AS the proverb says “He that would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry out the wealth of the Indies. ” There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. “However, the basic principles or elementary facts can be acquired only by careful and precise study of books. History and science must be read laboriously and elements of the subjects must thus ne acquired. Bit such a study, too, can be useful only when it develops the creative power of the scholars, when it enables him to think for himself.

5 The Need and value of Action

Emerson then points out that it is wrong to suppose that the scholar should be a recluse, a kind of invalid unfit for any handwork or public lab our. The so-called practical men mock at a scholar, as if a scholar can only speculate or see, but can do nothing practical. This view needs to be corrected A scholar must also be a man of action Action may have secondary importance for him, but it is essential Without action the scholar is not yet a man. Without action, his thoughts can never ripen into truth. Inaction or inactivity is a sign of cowardice, but there can no true scholar without a heroic mind. The true scholar never misses an opportunity for action. To him every opportunity of action that i8s lost means a loss of power. Action is the raw material out of which the intellect moulds its splendid products. He who devotes his total strength to action obtains the richest return of wisdom The scholar must be eager to perform actions, for actions are the sources of vocabulary he needs. Action is a kind of diction. Action and events of childhood are the raw materials for future creation. His time is well spent, if it is spent in village labors, in a study of trades and manufactures, in frank conversations with many men and women, in science and in art. The object in all these cases is to master a language through which to express his perceptions. “Academic institutions and books only copy the language which the field and the work-yard have made.”

Duties of the American Scholar

Emerson next proceeds to consider the duties of the American scholar. These duties are such as are worthy of man Thinking All those duties may be summed up in the expression self-trust The first duty of the scholar is, to cheer, to raise and to guide men by showing them facts amidst appearances. He does the show, unhonoured and unpaid task of observation. He must observe and study men and their psychology, and must not mind if fame does not come to him at once. He must be prepared to accept not only poverty and scorn of the people, but also solitude. His chief considerations, and lives nonpublic and illustrious thoughts, He is the world’s eye, and also the world’s heart In other words, he sees and feels for others. He must preserve verse and, communicate heroic sentiments noble biographies, melodious verse and, communicate heroic sentiments, noble biographies, melodious verse and the conclusions of history. Whatever new judgments are pronounced by Reason on the passing men and events of the present, he will hear them and propagate them so the they are also cared for by others.

7 Self-trust or Self-confidence and freedom from fear

Such being his duties, it will be necessary for him to have full confidence in himself and never to heed popular opinions. He sho9uld have the confidence to think that not only does he know the world properly, but also that he will not be carried away from he own convictions by mere appearances or popular propaganda. This self-trust includes all the other virtues. He should go on observing men and life around him. He should add patiently observation to observation without caring for the view of the view of the multitudes and success is sure to come to him in the long run. In understanding his own mind, he would understand all minds and thus would be the lord and master of those with whom he has to deal with. People will then listen to him with pleasure, and find that he has expressed their innermost thoughts and sentiments. This would give him power over the hearts and minds of men, and they would listen to him and be guided by him. This is the secret of the success of great poets and orators: “ Self-confidence and conviction are the keys to success in every sphere of life.

The scholar should be free and brave. He should not tolerate any hindrances except those which arise from within himself. He should be brave because fear is a scholar by his definition puts behind him. “Fear always arises from ignorance.” He should face the world boldly, because the world belongs to him who can see through its pretences. He must not lead a sheltered life, but must face boldly the vexed problems like a man. It is for those who are lacking in self-confidence to feel afraid of this world. The scholar must have so much confidence in himself as to be able to influence the world with his ideas, and free others from fear. It is not the man who can alter matter who is great, the great man is he who can alter the state of mind of others. “They are the kings of the world who give to all Nature and all art the cooler of their own thinking.” Such scholar will find that the world is as plastic in his hands as it was in the hands of God. The great man makes the great thing. “The day is always his who works in it with serenity and great aims.”

The common people gladly bow to the great man. It is only in the world. The common people worship the great man because they see in him the ripening of human potentialities. They bask in the warmth of a great man and feel that warmth to be a part of their own being. They are willing to give their own blood to make the heart of the great man beat. He lives for them and they live in him. The scholar should try to be such a heroic man, and then all will bow down to him.

8 Spread the Idea of Culture, and the Basic Unity of All

Men, such as they are, naturally seek money or power. They seek power because it is as good as money or because money comes though power. That is why we have the phrase, “the spoils of office.” People think this to be the highest good but, if they were to realize that this is a false aim, they would not hander after power or office and would leave the govement to be run by clerks and petty officials. It is the duty of the scholar to bring about such an awakening. Such a revolution in the minds of people can be brought about by the gradual spreading of the idea of culture. “The main enterprise of the world should be the up building of a man,” because a man, “rightly viewed includes the particular natures of all man.” Each philosopher, each poet, each actor has only done for us what one day we can do for ourselves. “It is one soul which animates all men.” It is light which shines from a thousand stars. He must concentrate on the divine that permeates all Nature and all men.

9 Focus on Indici8dual worth and the Basic Unity of All.

Another sign of our times is the new importance given to the single person. Everything  that tends to surround the individual with barriers of natural  respect so that be feels the world to be his, every such thing tends to true union between man and man as well as to greatness. No man in this world is either willing or able to help an other man who, Help must come from one’s own bosom alone. The scholar is that man who, “must take up into himself all the ability of the time, all the contribution of the past, all the hopes of the future. He must be a university of knowledge,” He is a man who has understood that the world is nothing and that the man is all important. In man himself is the law of all Nature. He must know that Reason slumbers within him; he must awaken it and apply his reasoning faculty to understand the truth about man and his life. Through his efforts and courage he must bring about the union of man with man and with Nature and God.

A question of self-trust

Self-trust and self-realization must be acquired by the scholar. It is his most important duty. It is the most important. Duty. It is the scholar’s duty not to submit to popular opinion enen if respectable leaders of society support it. At the back of the single self-reliant man is the one soul which animates all men. Emerson’s doctrine of American cultural independence appealed greatly to his listeners. He succeeded in driving home the poinl that self-trus of the individual was most important, no matter what his nationality may be. Working with self-confidence he must chee, raise nd guide men by. Showing them the truth which is often hidden under appearances often false and deceptive. The scholar must free himself from such deception.

Rational analyses and judgment

Emerson rises to the peaks of eloquence when he exhorts the American scholar to realize his duties by telling in glowing words, he is the world’s eye. He is the world’s heart. He is to resist the vulgar prosperity that retrogrades ever to barbarism, by preserving and communicating heroic sentiments, noble biographies, melodious verse and the conclusions of history. Whatsoever oracles (judgments) the human heart, in all emergencies, in all solemn hours, has uttered as its commentary on all emergencies, in all solemn hours, has uttered  as its commentary on the world of actions-these he shall receive and impart. And whatsoever now events of today-this he shall hear and promulgate. It is his duty to bring Reason to judge the actins of men and thus guide them and inspires them to do what is right and proper, if he is free and brave success would be his in the long run. This is the way to cultural independence and the scholar must himself follow is and teach others too to taka to it. In short it would in cultural matters.

Emerson begins his epoch making essay on Nature by pointing out that there are certaing days in every season when the weather is absolutely lovely, on such days it seems that Nature has reached its perfection. Everything that has life gives a sigh of feeling satisfied; and the cattle which life on the ground seem to be having deep and peaceful thoughts. A day of this kind seems to be very long and it seems to sleep over the fields and hills. To live through its sunny hours seems that one has lived for a long time. The solitary places on such a day do not seem to be so very lonely. When a man enters a forest on such a day, he leaves the life of the city and the thoughts of the city far behind. There in the forest he finds Nature in all her glory and grandeur and everything else seems petty and insignificant in comparison. Nature here seems to judge all men who come to her. The moderate light of the woods is like a perpetual morning which stimulates a man. The eye is excited at the sight of the pines and the oaks. The trees which cannot talk begin to persuade him to live with them and to quit his life which is made up of such trifles, as history, church or state- affairs. Everything looks trivial in comparison. All human affairs are forgotten for the time being

It’s Healing Effects:

These enchantments of Nature have a healing effect on us. They have a medicinal property and they sober us. These are simple pleasures, kindly and natural to us. Nature is our real home, and once we have returned to it, we can never forget it or go back. Says Emerson, “Indeed it is the magical lights of the horizon and the blue sky for the background which save all our works of art, which were otherwise baubles. Cities do not give enough scope to the human senses to develop and flourish. But in the woods there are all degrees of natural influences, from the medicinal powers of Nature to her gravest ministrations to the soul “ There is the bucket of cold water from the spring and the wood-fire to which the traveler feeling cold rushes for warmth; and there is the sublime moral of autumn and of noon. We take rest in Nature and feed upon her and we receive glances from the heavenly bodies which call us to solitude and foretell the most distant future. Nature provides us with nourishment of all kinds. It nourishes both the body and the soul. Body is nourished by her “roots and grains’’, and the soul by the azure sky above. When we look at it we dream of heaven and its angels like Gabriel and Urial. Man needs no other nourishment, physical or spiritual.

2 Nature : Source of Artistic Activity

Nature is the source of all artistic activity. It is nature which inspires the artist to create beautiful works of art. They reflect the beauty of nature. The man who appreciates the beauty of Nature is really rich. Only as tar as the rich people have called in Nature to their aid, can they reach the height of magnificence, islands, This is the reason why, :the have their hanging-gardens, imitations of nature in order to strengthen their faulty personalities with these aids and adjuncts. Indeed, it is the magical lights of the horizon and the blue sky for the background which save all our works of art, which are otherwise baubles. The so-called rich are not really rich; the really rich are those whose minds and hearts are fired by some beauty of nature, whose imagination is thus stirred to create forms of beauty. This is how great works of art are nom, the artist is much richer spiritually and aesthetically then the man with his paltery baubles which his wealth purchases. The moral sensibility may not be always found but the material landscape is never far off. We can find the enchantments of  Nature without visiting such distant places as the Come Lake and Maderia Islands. The beauty of Nature is always hand. In every landscape the most astonishing sight is the meeting of the sky and the earth, and this meeting point is visible to us from the smallest hill as well as from the most distant and the  tallest mountain. The stars at night appear over the poorest and most ordinary field with all the spiritual magnificence which they shed on such famous open fields as the Campagan or on the deserts of Egypt. The difference between one landscape and another is very small, but the difference between one beholder”. Every landscape is wonderful and has its beauties but only he can appreciate this beauty who pays due heed to it and look at it imaginatively. “Nature cannot be surprised in undress. Beauty breaks in everywhere.” One must penetrate the outward shows to the beauty that lies undemeath.

The Need of Imaginative Understanding

One should not treate Nature casually or indifferently, but try to understand her ways imaginatively. A casual interest in Nature is barren and unworthy. A man who merely wants to make a display of his interest in Nature is no better than a dandy who wants to make a display of his fine  clothes in the fashionable streets of a big city Frivolity is a most unsuitable tribute to Pan the god of the woods. Literature, poetry and science are the homage of man to the mysterious secret of Nature regarding which on sensible man should have an indifferent attitude,” Nature is loved by what is best in us. It is loves as the city of God”, a city in which on man lives but which all find beautiful. The sunset is unlike anything that is to be seen on the earth, but it wants man to appreciate her beauty. The beauty of Nature must always seem unreal and mocking until the landscape has human figures that are as good as itself. If there were good man in nature there would never be this rapture in Nature. Man is a fallen being, but presence or absence of the divine sentiment in man.

Nature, Nit Passive, But n Active Principle

If our life flowed with right energy even the brook would feel ashamed by comparison with the swiftness of our own energy. To the selfish people astronomy becomes astrology, psychology becomes mesmerism becomes mesmerism and physiokogy becomes palmistry. This selfishness comes in the way of a proper understanding of Nature. To such people nature seems passive, while in reality it is a most active source of pleasure and inspiration. Emerson does not agree with the medieval philosophers who called nature “Natura Naturata” or passive nature. Nature is in fact “Nature is in fact “Natura Natu ars’’ an active principle which gives life and movement to all objects and phenomena.

Nature, Not Passive, But an Active Principle

If our life flowed with the right energy even the brook would feel ashamed by comparison with the swiftness of  our own energy. People sometimes study Nature as selfishly as they study trade. To the selfish people astronomy

Nature: A System in Transition

“Nature is always consistent, though she feigns to violate her own laws.” She keeps her laws, and yet she seems to transcend them and violate them.” For example, she arms and equips an animal to find its place and living on earth and at the same she arms and equips another animal to destroy it. “Space exists to divide creatures,” but by giving wings to a bird she enables it to fly to any place and in this way to become omnipresent.

Nature al ways moves onwards, but in its forward march it makes full use of past forms as its raw material. Her forward movement is based on her past achievements, which are carried forward step. If we look at the working of Nature we find a system in transition. “plants  may be regarded as the young of the world; they are vessels of  health and vigor. ``But they grope ever upward towards consciousness. The trees are imperfect min and seen to bemcan their imprisonment, “being rooted and fixed in the earth.’’

The animals may be regarded as apprentices leaming to rise to a more advanced order. The men though young, having tasted the first, i.e. the objects’ of nature are still uncorrupt even though they are much older. But there is no doubt when they come to consciousness they, too will curse and swear. Thus there is close similarity between man and nature, but there are differences also.

“Oneness of All’’ Unity in Diversity

Things are so strictly related that if we see carefully, we can notice the parts and properties of one object after having observed another object. If we had required powers of perception, we would realize by looking at a stone that it was as necessary for the existence of man as a city, for cities are made from stones. There is close identity between man and nature and between the different forms and phenomena of nature. The past and the present are really one, for the present has its roots in the distant past.

“Oneness of all is the basic law of nature ’’ We talk of deviations from natural. Life but we should understand that the so-called artificial is also natural. The mist polished courtier in a palace has an animal nature, and is rude and aboriginal as a white bear. This basic identity runs through all surprises and contrasts of the works of the works of nature and characterizes every one of hir lawa. “Man carries the world in his head, the whole astronomy and chemistry suspended in a thought.” the history of Nature is inscrideb in his brain and it is only because of this reason that he becomes the prophet and the discoverer of  Nature’ s secrets. Every known fact in natural science is understood and verified only by those who are thus alive to the past of nature and the way in which she has worked and evolved to higher and higher forms of life,

Every act gas a bit of exaggeration in it. There is profusion in nature which is also a kind of exaggeration and which is to be seen everywhere.

The vegetable life is not content with casting with innumerable seeds so that, if  thousands perish, thousands of others may plant themselves, so that hundreds may replace the original parent” All things show the same calculated profusion. The excess of fear with which the animal frame is hedged round, shrinking from cold, feeling startled at the sight of a snake or at a sudden noise, protects us, through a multitude of groundless alarms, from some one real danger at last. The aim of Nature is to re-produce and carry forward its own progeny and everything in nature is designed to achieve this end. This is the sole aim of love and marriage.

The All-pervasive Law in nature

Thus there are deceptions in human life and such deceptions find their analogy in Nature. Appearances are everywhere deceptive. The is in the woods and the waters a certain allurement and flattery, but there is also a failure to yield satisfaction in the immediate present. This disappointment we feel in every landscape however beautiful. The poet finds himself no nearer to his dream of beauty even when he is in contact with the most beautiful objects of nature. The pine-tree, the river, the bank of flowers, before him do not seem to him to be Nature. True Nature is still elsewhere. Nature is perhaps in the neighboring fields, or, if we stand in the field, then it seems to be in the adjacent woods, when we sunset is ? It is the same in the company of men and women as it is among the scenes of Nature: always a hope, but never the beauty that can be grasped. Both in persons and in landscape beauty is equally is equally out of reach. The lover finds that the charms of his beloved leave her as soon as she accepts his proposal and agrees to marry him. She was heaven wilts he pursued her as a distant star, but as soon as she accepts him ceases to be heaven for him.

Mystery of Nature

All this is most disappointing; we feel that Nature is treacherous, that she befools us by her false appearances. But to the intelligent Nature holds out large promises, but her mystery is not to be hastily examined. He realizes that her secret remains untold. Mysterious are the ways of Nature. We cannot bandy words with Nature, or deal with her as we deal with her as we deal with persons. “if we measure our individual faces against her, we may easily feel as if we were the sport of an insuperable destiny. But if, instead of identifying ourselves with the work we feel that the soul of the Workman streams through us, we shall find the peace of the miming dwelling first in our hearts and the immeasurable powers of gravity and chemistry and, above all, of life, pre-existing within us in their highest form.” Nature is always on the move, moving on to higher and higher ends.

Checks and Balances

The uneasiness which the thought, that we are merely helpless links in the chain of cause and effect, causes to rise in us is the  result of our looking  too much at one condition of Nature, namely motion. But the movement of  the wheels of nature is constantly checked and retarded. Wherever the impulse to move exeeds. The opposite of  it i.. e. Rest or Identity comes in to hold the balance. Nature is organized round a carefully devised system of checks and balance. All over the wide fields of earth grows the plant which can heal our injuries. After every foolish day of hectic activity we sleep off the fumes and furies of such activity and thouh we are always engaged with the particulars and often enslaved to them, bring with us to every  activity the innate universal laws of pause, rest or harmony. Motion and rest go together.

The Doctrine of Immortality Its Value

The knowledge that we traverse the whole scale of being from the centre to the poles of Nature and have some stake in every possibility, lends a sublime luster to death. This sublime iustre is expressed in philosophy and religion in the well – know doctrine of the immortality of the soul. We learn that he reality of human life is more excellent than what it is considered to be. Here is no ruin and discontinuity. The divine circulations never rest nor linger. There is a perpetual transformation and greater and greater approximation to the perfect. Nature is the incarnation of a thought and turns to a thought again as ice becomes water and gas. The world is mind precipitated and the volatile essence is forever escaping again into ghe state of free thought. This accounts for the intense influence on the mind of  natural objects, whether inorganic or organized. Man imprisoned speaks to man impersonated. Every moment instructs and every object however minute, has some lesson for us, for wisdom is infused into every form. And the knowledge that we traverse the whole scale of being, from. The centre to the poles of nature and have some stake in every possibility, lends that sublime luster to death, which philosophy and religion have too outwardly and literally striven to express in the popular doctrine of the immortality of the soul.

Concise Statement of Emerson’s philosophy

The author opens this book with the current distinction between the Me and the Not Me, the Soul and Nature, thereby establishing the first of his provisional dualities. The Me is consciousness ( or the external world ) that with which the Me is in relation. But Nature or the Not Me also partakes of divinity in that outward circumstance is a dream and a shade its reality lies in its being a projection of God in the unconscious. A second duality is thus established between Nature and God and a third, between God and Man. Here is a triangle of Man, God, or Nature, but in the common relationship between any two of the factors; Man may learn to worship God through the consciousness, then as that which shares with his consciousness a vision of original and eternal beauty an awareness of a divine principle. The ability to view experience in this two fold manner is the essential feature of Emerson”s First philosophy. Emerso:s position, in so far as it apprehends the statement of his final position, in so far as it apprehends the statement of his final position, is monistic; his method invariably dualistic. He declares in the opening paragraph of this prose poem that he will use the word. Nature in two senses; the common sense in which it refers to essences unchanged by man and the ideal sense in which it is the pgenomenal expression of the soul. Emerson considers it

An understanding of the basic doctrines as enunciated in this early work is essential for an understanding  of the present essay which is also called Nature, and though it appeared much later in the Essays, Series, 1844, is closely based on the earlional Nature of 1936. It has the rapture and intensity of a lyric. It gives an account of the unchanging laws of Nature which cannot be violated and changed of her wastefulness of  the individual seed to achieve perpetuity of the species, of the sex- urge as Nature”s device for continuing the spcies, of the two polarities of identity and rest, and motion and change, which are constantly at  work in Nature, of her glory as well as of her mystery, and of the essential oneness of all ­– of Man, God and Nature. The essay, in short, is a complex work of art, and a number of themes and ideas stand out of it.

His Own Action

Emerson insisted more vigorously than enter before on the importance of action, A thinker, a scholar, must be a doer also. Practical men mock at speculative men as  if speculative men are incapable of action. Action is essential for the scholar though action is to be subordinate to speculation. Without action, the scholar is not yet man. Without action, thought can never ripen, the scholar is not yet man. Without action, thought can never ripen into truth. Only action can complete thought. Reading should be creative. It must make him see into the heart of thing and understand the truth. He advises the scholar, a great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think Does he lack organ or medium to impart his truth? He can still fall back on this elemental force of living. This is a total act. Thinking is a partial act. He must learn the dignity and necessity of labor, only then would he be a whole man, a man thinking. He must be free from dependence on the books of other country, as well as from the slavery to all books, to the mind of the past. He must be culturally independent.

Duties of Scholar (a) A question of self-trust

Self-trust and self-realization must be acquired by the scholar. It is his most important duty. It is the most important. Duty. It is the scholar’s duty not to submit to popular opinion enen if respectable leaders of society support it. At the back of the single self-reliant man is the one soul which animates all men. Emerson’s doctrine of American cultural independence appealed greatly to his listeners. He succeeded in driving home the poinl that self-trus of the individual was most important, no matter what his nationality may be. Working with self-confidence he must chee, raise nd guide men by. Showing them the truth which is often hidden under appearances often false and deceptive. The scholar must free himself from such deception.

The difference be teen Emerson nature and wordsworthian Account of Nature : Retry to Nature and with other poet.

Worrywart is one of the fanon poet of roman tic literature And Emerson is a very much marinate by tetra but in a different way Emerson begins the essayed kith a glowing lyrical account of the beanies of knower which at every atop reminds we of word worth. According to Emerson man should follow the law of nature which is systematic in nature there is no chaotic in Nurture man is all alone, the no human company and or there is no diversion and distraction. Man is thru free to enjoy the marigold   beasties of na true in  all their grandeur and glory thus contem plated benign influence flow from nature in to the human soul, nature  thus soothes, consoles and delights the sights and sounds of nature make us forget all the politics and  personalities of our village or town and we  feel os if we have bodily pene trated the in credible beauty of nature.

Word worth from other poets is him belief that Nature is not merely a physical phenomeron, buta living entity to him Nature has not only life but feeling also words worth goes even beyond that Nature is endowed not only with life  and feeling but also with will and purpose He ascribes to it all the at tributes of humanity life feeling think ing and willing He writes in lines written in Early spring:

And t is my faith that every flower enjoys the air if breathes Another poet ted Hughegs in his various poems like wind river he high lights the devastating  power compare and contrst between the devastating power of nature

Compare and contrast between The treatment of Enron nature and other romantic poets nature

Emerson treatment mate we send in hen Essay newer Emerson rasi that na rhonld follow the ryntenatie rules of mature newt is the best mother. Guardian, omd  nwre of man.

Shelley showed a pre ferrous for the delay showed a pre ferrous for the dynamic aspects of newt synch a west wind cod the cloud  Byron had a preference soar the huge and gigantic aspects of Nature such as  moundbird lakes and oceans Keats dwelt readily upon the tranquil and peaceful aspects of Nature such as the landscape in calm weather In Victorian Age Terminus showed an interne love of Nature.

The Basic difference between Emerson transcendental lime and Thoreau transcendentalism

Emerson Transcendentalism is only related to the Nature According to Emerson the Nature has systematic law and man should follow the systematic law of nature It has no chaotic. But Threads Transcendentalism is related to the government According to Thoreau memo should against the law which law is misusing unjust Try to established or idea logy which is acceptable to everybody.

In Easer son Essays thy  American scholar we  find that Emerson did not deport popular judgment duchy a dowry Emerson said that people should not support popular judgment rather them people should against the law which law is missing so here also we find Emerson Transcendentalism.

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