However, throughout the entire essay Emerson mentions God, a spirit, or various religious aspects.
Clearly, a belief in the traditional God would contradict Emerson's goal of self-reliance. So what is the meaning of the religious references throughout the essay?
Trace and analyze the usage of the words "God", "Spirit", or "Religious" throughout the entire essay. What religion is Emerson talking about?
Emerson's goal of self reliance was a gradual development. From the introduction we know that he himself was a junior pastor of Boston's Second Church and preached for several years. Granted, Emerson's "dedication to the ministry...was to a life of public service through eloquence, not to a life of preserving...religious dogma," (380). Still, I don't think his realizations came to form until later on, when he developed a "faith greater in individual moral sentiment than in revealed religion," (380).
ReplyDeleteWhile Emerson was skeptical of Christianity, he was 'a very religious man, in his own way,' and I doubt he would have called himself an atheist. The God he so frequently refers to, not at all traditional, is the spirit of each living entity. "God is here within," (447) and is the force that drives individuals to reach self-reliance.
Emerson also seems to believe that organized religion exists simply to satisfy society's guilt and to act as a reminder of some bigger picture. "...when the unintelligent brute force that lies at the bottom of society is made to growl and mow, it needs the habit of magnanimity and religion to treat it godlike as a trifle of no concernment," (441). Everyone WANTS to believe that there is some higher power that loves him unconditionally and invites him to live happily ever after by following a few simple moral guidelines. Emerson, though, understands that that morality comes solely from within. His consistent spiritual references attempt to show that one can be his own higher power, and live for and by himself.
On page 455 Emerson fights the traditional, organized religion that so often gets in the way of his message--the image of "God" that is force-fed to children and preached with fear. "If, therefore, a man claims to know and speak of God, and carries you backward to the phraseology of some old mouldered nation in another country, in another world, believe him not… Whence, then, this worship of the past? The centuries are conspirators against the sanity and authority of the soul." Emerson's interpretation of inner spiritual entities is clear here.
If one cannot disregard the religious forms of the past, he will never embrace his own "divine idea which each of us represents," (438).
I especially liked your statement that "morality comes solely from within". If man must follow "not what men [thought] but what [he] thought", than the idea of a personal morality fits the title of self-reliance and the overarching theme of individualism.
ReplyDeleteSpecifically, look at the second paragraph on page 447. What does Emerson imply his form of religion is?
Isolation? He likes "the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching," which implies that his prayers are not inspired by the "faults of our friend, or wife, or father, or child" but rather by his personal inclinations.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking more along the lines of a personal spirituality; but isolated works too. He says, "isolation must not be mechanical, but spiritual, that is, must be elevated". When I read this I got the sense that the act of truly being an individual and not being tainted by the masses was the religion Emerson was talking about.
ReplyDeleteThis was the quote that convinced me: "Do not spill thy soul; do not descend; keep they state; stay at home in thine own heaven; come not not for a moment into their facts, into a hubbub of conflicting appearances, but let in the light of thy law on their confusion."
Don't you like that?
What do you think about page 449? "The divinity in man"?
Based on Emerson's essay, I would not say that he is entirely opposed to any existence of a God. In fact, most of Emerson's religious references acknowledge God, but what he says about it explains his ideas on individualism. On page 445, Emerson says "that when God speaketh, he should communicate not one thing, but all things; should fill the world with his voicel should scarrot forth light, nature, time, souls from the center of the present thought" (445). God provides material, material in which the mind makes meaningful. He also states just prior that "perception is not whimsical, but fatal" (445). Emerson's religious affiliation sides with ignoring the thoughts of other people-like the Biblical authors of the Book of Psalms "David, or Jeremiah, Paul" for "we shall not always set so great a price on a few texts, on a few lines" (445). The reference made of "the silent church before the service begins" are, despite religious connotation, in agreement with Emerson. Being in the presence of God is acceptable for the individual in society, however, it is the retelling and commanding of other people to the individual that Emerson does not agree with. He encourages people to think for themselves, without the bias view from the Bible or other people. For that reason, isolation is a plausible remedy for the parroting and dulling of the individual mind.
ReplyDeleteBy tracing "God" and "religion" specifically through the text it seems as though to me that religion (Christianity mainly) is a philosophy in Emerson's eyes. It's a philosophy that neither completely contradicts his ideas nor supports him. On page 439 references a "godlike independence", someone who is unaffected by all things outside themselves, which is an idea with tremendous similarity to Emerson's own thinking. Here Emerson is implying that a person who is a true individual would be their own god but when dealing with the God associated with religion he is not as positive. "... God will not have his work made manifest by cowards. It needs a divine man to exhibit any thing divine" (438), and then on page 445, "Man is timid and apologetic" (445). What I believe he is trying to display in these quotes is that man spends his life trying to fit into the definition of what God wants to please the almighty being and they forget to define and direct themselves. While I do see Emerson taking away something positive from the idea of god, it is mostly a negative feeling he has for this philosophy, seeing it as a way to trick people into a life of voicelessness, "When a man lives with God, his voice shall be as sweet as the murmur of the brook and the rustle of the corn" (446).
ReplyDeleteIn his essay, Emerson poses contradicting ideas about religion. He first discusses how humans cannot be held back from individuality by the fear of contradicting religious ideals. He says, "Man is timid and apologetic. He is not longer upright. He dares not say 'I think,' 'I am,' but quotes some saint or sage" (445). Man seems to be intimidated by religion, thwarted from thinking independently because he feels inferior to the elite members of religious times. Instead of thinking for himself, he agrees with the ideas of a "saint or sage", because he knows he cannot be wrong if he follows the thoughts of such a respected figure. Emerson discourages this, saying, "We shall not always set so great a price on a few texts, on a few lines" (445). Emerson believes in individual thought and encourages people to stop allowing themselves to be controlled by the Bible and other figures. Man should have and act upon his own thoughts, not the thoughts created by others around him.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I found Emerson's views of science on page 444 very interesting. He asks, "What is the aboriginal Self on which a universal reliance may be grounded? What is the nature and power of that science-baffling star, without parallax, without calculable elements, which shoots a ray of beauty even into trivial and impure actions, if the least mark of independence appear?" (444). In this passage, Emerson seems to mock science, and the fact that creation is not something that can be explained through "calculable elements"; it is God's creation. We as humans "share the life by which things exist, and afterwards see them as appearances in nature" (444). We begin to see God's work melding in with our surroundings and embrace the inexplainable, all in the comfort that a higher power exists above us. Emerson argues people to think for themselves, but also finds comfort in this higher power; perhaps that is why he still holds true to his belief in religion. He tells his audience not to be confined by religion, but that does not mean they have to let go of a spiritual belief of a higher power that has some sort of direction in out world.
One thing that I found interesting in Emerson's life was that he chose to go into the Church at all. Emerson was consumed with "individual moral sentiment" rather than with "revealed religion" (380). As Connor said, Emerson seemed to approach religion as philosophy rather than inescapable ruling. Upon closer observation, some biographers have pointed out that "Emerson's dedication to the ministry at the age of twenty-one was to a life of public service through eloquence, not to a life of preserving and dissemination religious dogma" (380). Emerson went into religion to help others, not necessarily to live by the rule he interprets God to set down for him.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it is interesting to note that his creativity truly blossoms after leaving the Church, on a "European tour which consisted of a postgraduate education in art and natural science" (380). Emerson truly finds himself as an artist only after he leaves the church, suggesting that it was stifling to him. At the same time, however, Emerson constantly speaks reverently of God, of "the divine spirit" (445). Perhaps what Emerson is against is the institution of the church; he is unable to serve the holy bread and wine and later he asserts that "the relations of the soul to the divine spirit are so pure that it is profane to seek to interpose helps" (445). By this, Emerson means that religion and the individual can coexist; however the institution and the individual cannot. More specifically, and individual achieves self reliance in religion not by leaning against the pillars of the church, but by interpreting God and the divine spirit's messages for themselves.
I think the "Godlike independence" that Connor mentioned is what Emerson believes religion is. It is the idea that God is within each man as an individual. It is more of a spiritual religion as opposed to the idea that there is an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient being.
ReplyDeleteI would say this because of page 449. He criticizes religion for looking "abroad and asking for some foreign addition to come through some foreign virtue". Prayer should be the "soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant soul... as a means to effect a private end." This is a very individualistic religion.
I definitely agree that Emerson disapproves of religion's "retelling and commanding of other people" (Meagan). This clearly violates Emerson's entire theme of self-reliance.
It is interesting, as many people are discussing, that Emerson chose to immerse himself in religion when in fact "Emerson [held great] skepticism toward Christianity" (380). Emerson seemed to begin this path of faith to ultimately achieve something great. He knew that faith could guide him to becoming a relatively moral person and once this basis of morality was achieved, he could "gradually develop a faith greater in individual and moral sentiment than in revealed religion" (380).
ReplyDeleteEmerson seemingly exploited religion; used the path to morality to achieve something contradictory to what most religions (such as Christianity as he said he was a skeptic of it) are based upon-a communion with God, a communion with a higher power. Emerson achieved "an intense religious experience" to then have a life continually contradicting religion.
These contradictions can be seen in the fact that Emerson's wife, Ellen Tucker, died quite shortly after their union of marriage. Instead of discussing the instantaneous religious action, funeral/burial, he talks about the "installments from his wife's legacy he would recieve" (381). Now, I seem to be suggesting that his decision to go against the religious life he dedicated himself was bad--I am simply trying to highlight how Emerson lived a life of contradiction. He gave his life to God, to then publish a book titled "Nature"-the sheer title of it suggesting the contradiction of science and religion.
Looking at Self Reliance, it seems that Emerson answers my question of why did he live this life of contradiction? He began his life devoted to the faith, but came to a concrete solution that "a man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best" not when he has achieved in the spiritual sense (438).
I would disagree with Rosie's comment in which she says that Emerson truly finds himself as an artist only after he leaves the church. I do not think that this has much to do with the fact that he did indeed leave the church itself, but more so with the fact that he leaves in general. I think that Rosie takes this quote out of context. He was not trying to escape the literary boundaries that the church kept him in, but instead, he left the church solely to find a better way to deal with the grief he felt for his lost wife, which in turn led him to a greater "postgraduate education in art and natural science"(380).
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Megan's statement, however, in saying that most of Emerson's references to religion acknowledge God. Despite the fact that this reference to God is unconventional in that it emphasizes a more "Godlike independence," like Mike and Connor were discussing, Emerson says, "The relations of the soul to the divine spirit are so pure that it is profane to seek to interpose helps. It must be that when God speaketh, he should communicate not one thing, but all things; should fill the world with his voice; should scatter forth light, nature, time, souls from the center of the present thought"(445). In this passage, Emerson evidently displays his belief and trust in this almighty God, however, it is also important to note how he never references religion as a whole without a negative tone in his writing. I think that in doing this, Emerson displays to the reader his individualistic type of religion and how it contrasts with the religion that, as Megan said, is a "retelling and commanding of other people."
Emerson believes that "a new respect for the divinty of man" is the same thing as "a greater self-reliance"(449) This supports his ideas of individualism and applys to earlier Ameircan history. Puritans in the Massachusets Bay Colony based their belifs on the community and a system of checking the piousness of others. However, the role of the indivdual was seriously diminished in this society and dissenters were banished. In turn, they banished the progressive thinking the transcendentalists many years later glorified. The "holy office" they undertook was "not so much as brave and manly" (449). It represented the multi-generational problem of fear of the new and unknown as well as fear of the power of the indivdual.
ReplyDeleteThe individual in society is viewed as a paradox. But, the content and spiritual individul who is content and "at home in thine own heaven" will be secure enough in their beliefs to contribute to society. The unity of man comes from the bond of spirtuality, but ones specific beliefs and ideals can differ. The transcendental writers may have felt "profound alienation" but they all supported each others dedication to higher thinking and thinking beyond mundane daily life (342)
Emerson talks of religion, but not the one commonly associated with the word religion; it is one of self individuality. He was a part of this greater Religion, or Christianity but, “Early in 1832 Emerson notified his church that he had become so skeptical of the validity of the Lord’s Supper that he could no longer administer it” (380). The Lord’s Supper is a biblical reference of the church. Christians believe that it did happen, but like Adam and Eve it is only a metaphor for what happened. Because Emerson became “skeptical of the validity” of his religion, does not necessarily mean he does not still believe in it. He still has spirituality which is like having a religion, but without the stories to explain it. Emerson was able to believe what he wanted as an individual. "Believe in your own though, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men" (437). Religion plays a role in society. Some people believe that it has a good influence on society and others say it had a bad influence on society. That is not what Emerson wants to focus on. He believes in his own spirituality, no matter what Religion or God it involves. "Man is his own star, and the soul that can render an honest and a perfect man" (437). If society, or people in society believe in their own individual spirituality, or themselves they are able to create a much stronger society; one that does not exist. As Emerson says “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members” (343). Emerson’s whole point is that individuality is very important, society isn’t. There shouldn’t be an emphasis on society considering it is in “conspiracy” against mankind. This proves that religion, or personal spirituality has an effect on society, it helps to get rid of it.
ReplyDeleteEmerson uses religion as a point of contrast from self-individualism to make it all the more appealing. In a certain way, religion could be considered a major form of relying on God and society. Christians rely on God by doing good deeds, offering pray, and attempting to be a "good christian" in hopes that God will grant a miracle, or allow them into heaven. Emerson himself warns about false prayers by saying "prayer that craves a particular commodity-anything less than all good, is vicious" (449). Here, these false prayers only serve as a "means to effect a private end" to which Emerson then describes as "theft and meanness" (449). This emphasize on a false prayer suggests the Emerson believes that the system of Religion is flawed because it is based on reliance.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the concept of God and spirituality is perfectly viable. Emerson is trying to convey that being self-reliance and God do not clash if people do not rely on God. Rather, they might think of themselves as being equal with God. As Emerson says, "when a man lives with God, his voice shall be as sweet as the murmur of the brook and the rustle of the corn" (446). Here Emerson brings up the idea of living with God, and not living for God. Likewise, a proper prayer is "the contemplation of life", and not a request (449). Thus, by working in this concept of "living with God", Emerson is able to explain how religion can still be a part of self reliance.
sorry im posting this kinda late-
ReplyDeleteI really find chelsea's comment interesting. It seems to ask if Emerson romantisizes individualism throughout his whole essay.. He seems to use God as a symbol for individualism itself. Not the God "preached" in sermon- but his own interpretation of God. I think this goes along w/ Molly's quote when she says "Believe in your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men" (437). God is not indicative of one society, but there are many Gods, all who change their identity to fit the individual. Is that not the truth with modern day? Perhaps this is what Emerson means when he says "I like the silent church before the sermon begins, better than any preaching" (447).