General Information
The Transcendentalist movement began in 1836 and continued until about 1860. This movement had started as a reform for the Church, expanding views on intuitive thought. However, it grew into an entirely new philosophical movement, as more and more people elaborated on the ideas.
The views for reform were presented by the liberal New England Congregationalists, a group that had broken off from the Calvinists and their ideas that man could not change their fate through their actions. The Congregationalists, aka. Unitarians, wanted to emphasize more on the life that one lived and the actions one took rather than a fate one could not change. The major points of the Congregationalists included:
The ideas present in this movement came from a variety of sources, including: Ideal of American Democracy, Romantic Movement, and European philosophy. Transcendentalism centered around importance of the individual in one's spiritual life. This philosophy is also a form of idealism that only shows one side of an issue. For example, one of the central points, nature, is characterized as beautiful, peaceful, and an amazing gift. None of these characteristics describes the dangerous aspects of nature, the wild animals, bugs, diseases, etc. The central views of this movement include:
The views for reform were presented by the liberal New England Congregationalists, a group that had broken off from the Calvinists and their ideas that man could not change their fate through their actions. The Congregationalists, aka. Unitarians, wanted to emphasize more on the life that one lived and the actions one took rather than a fate one could not change. The major points of the Congregationalists included:
- Humans should take value in their present life instead of waiting for the afterlife
- Jesus saved humans from sin and punishment
- Orthodox Congregationalism was a religion of fear
The ideas present in this movement came from a variety of sources, including: Ideal of American Democracy, Romantic Movement, and European philosophy. Transcendentalism centered around importance of the individual in one's spiritual life. This philosophy is also a form of idealism that only shows one side of an issue. For example, one of the central points, nature, is characterized as beautiful, peaceful, and an amazing gift. None of these characteristics describes the dangerous aspects of nature, the wild animals, bugs, diseases, etc. The central views of this movement include:
- Individual is one with God
- Oversoul
- Intuition over sensical
- Everything is connected
- Rise above this realm to the spiritual realm using mediation or nature
- Present life over the afterlife
- God is like a watchmaker
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