Nice little series on C-Span now , on great writers and thinkers in America .
Just recently this week finished covering
Emerson and Thoreau together , in a lengthy
2 hr program.
Interesting to think of the underlying force of
the thought of Emerson , that unlike your idea of
"an infinite gap between Creator and Creature,
that can only be bridged through
the benevolent Creator.
Emerson was in direct juxtapositon to your "mystical"
belief in the " hopelessness of man " it seems.
If you are to believe that these two fine examples of
American thought still are very much alive
and running their course underneath the currents
of present day American
Culture and spirit...
That there is within the capacity of each soul to
find the tools neccessary to fathom for itself
the meanings and messages that life would convey.
If one approaches it with enthuisiasm , industry,
sacrifice , and approaches each day as one with
immeasurable promise.
Presenting much of Emerson's thoughts was the Author
of " Mind on Fire " ,
Robert D Richardson
2think.org
Richardson summarizes what he thinks Emerson's philosophy was as follows:
The days are gods.
Creation is continuous. There is no other world; this one is all there is.
Every day is the day of judgment.
The purpose of life is individual self-cultivation, self-expression, and fulfillment.
Poetry (Emerson's definition which isn't what you are probably thinking of) liberates. Thought is also free.
The powers of the soul are commensurate with its needs; each new day challenges us with its adequacy and our own.
Fundamental perceptions are intuitive and inarguable; all important truths, whether of physics or ethics, must at last be self-evident.
Nothing great is ever accomplished without enthusiasm.
Life is an ecstasy; Thoreau has it right when he says, "Surely joy is the condition of life."
Criticism and commentary, if they are not in the service of enthusiasm and ecstasy, are idle at best, destructive at worst. Your work, as Ruskin says, should be the praise of what you love.
He continues by saying that Emerson had
"an almost intolerable awareness that every morning began with infinite promise. Any book may be read, any idea thought, any action taken. Anything that has ever been possible to human beings is possible to most of us every time the clock says six in the morning. On a day no different from the one now breaking, Shakespeare sat down to begin Hamlet and Fuller began her history of the Roman revolution of 1848. Each of us has all the time there is; each accepts those invitations he can discern. By the same token, each evening brings a reckoning of infinite regret for the paths refused, openings not seen, and actions not taken."
I wonder if there is still power and force in these ideas to shape the minds and thoughts of our youth today ?
These were original thinkers , the first of a breed
this land produced , after the founding fathers.
Interesting they turned naturally to
transcendentalism of the East ...that stresses
a "life that is luminous",
if so realized.
as if they saw something much more in
accordance with Truth , than what hopeless
liturgies were still being taught...from
out of the "Old Book ".
What do you think Neo ? Just more false prophets ? |
