AS DIFFICULT AS it is to learn to trust a mentor, it is even more arduous to break down our self suspicion. Do we have what it takes to break free of the entanglements of the Dark Wood - to melt with feeling-intellect the icy encrustations of Hell that keep us paralyzed in our self defeating patterns? We stare eyeball to eyeball at the antagonist within, sizing up our character and our chances of restoration.
Our study of Emerson's transcendentalism has led me to wonder about how the son of a theologically liberal but socially conservative Unitarian minister, and nephew of a fanatic Calvinist (Aunt Mary Moody Emerson), could have developed a spirituality that foreshadows most of what I have read in Carl Jung and many sophisticated religious writings of today. While sauntering through the library, I discovered an article which helped to answer my questions. (Perry Miller's "From Edwards to Emerson", p.63-81, found in Barbour, Brian M. American Transcendentalism: An Anthology of Criticism. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame
The average temperature in Boston during the summer of 1838 was a stifling 90 degrees Fahrenheit - hot enough to cause the six graduates and a select group of esteemed guests to loosen their starched collars as they crowded into the tiny side chapel at Harvard Divinity School for the graduation address. Neither diminutive numbers nor heat would dampen the refreshing gust of thought and inspiration that Ralph Waldo Emerson brought that day. No matter how claustrophobic the physical space or the minds of his listeners, Emerson's reflections opened onto vistas of spirit that
My approach to Emerson has always been to take him seriously, to ask myself, "What if he is actually serious? What if he actually means what he says?" Too often, Emerson is read as metaphor and not as reality. In this case, he is asking why it is that we who are alive today must depend upon the past for our revelations [read spiritual truth]? The "past" in this case is embodied in institutionalized religion. Why do we have to assume that God spoke to human beings once (the burning bush, etc.) but then became silent? Why don't we
THE USE OF biography needs to be seen in light of our lenses. For instance, if I put on the lens which admires genius and passionate yearning, I can be quite encouraged when I see the ambiguity of the person I am striving to understand. Right now I am listening to Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. While I am listening I can easily forgive his human foibles (even though my forgiveness is not necessarily important to Ludgy). This type of lens I compare with being longsighted. The stuff up close, the personal stuff, is blurred
The title I have chosen for a discussion of Emerson's essay, The Transcendentalist, comes from a similar title by Bob Larsen: Hippies, Hindus and Rock and Roll. In his book, Larsen tries to set up nefarious connections between the occultic and pagan world of deepest darkest Africa and India. His thesis is that because rock and roll has a connection to these cultures of paganism it participates in their demonic underpinnings. The reason I chose to parody his title is not only to get some secret revenge on Larsen, who is so obviously racist and simplistic, but also because