People like McCandless, Emerson, and Thoreau have really inspired me to look deeper into transcendentalism.
Definition of transcendentalism - Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the New England region of the United States as a protest to the general state of culture and society, and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian church taught at Harvard Divinity School. Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both man and nature. Transcendentalists believed that society and its institutions - particularly organized religion and political parties - ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual. They had faith that man is at his best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed.
When I think of transcendentalism, I think of the word 'Wanderlust'. I've wanted that tattooed on my foot for some time now. Okay, so when I say that word a lot of people immediately just hear the 'lust' part and think I'm some creep to have that word tattooed on me. but wanderlust just means a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about. In this sense Lust means to desire. Those words do not always have to have a sexual connotation on them.
So I've been reading books and other writings buy Emerson and Thoreau. I started this blog to further analyze all of their great works.
Great people like the now famous Pat Tillman and Chris McCandless were inspired by this movement like I now am. And I'll show you why.
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So - to be clear - transcendentalism isn't some kind of voodoo religion...
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