Ralph Waldo Emerson's Transcendentalism Essay

“Society is a wave. The wave moves onward, but the water of which it is composed does not.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson. During the movement of transcendentalism, new philosophical and spiritual ideas were shared. For the most part, transcendentalists believed that knowledge could be arrived not just through senses, but through intuition and contemplation of the internal spirit. To be more precise, transcendentalism represented a new way of understanding truth and knowledge. One of the most famous writers during this movement was Ralph Waldo Emerson, recognized for his opinion about society and nature written in his essays. One of his most memorable essays, Self- Reliance states many different points about life and people's actions in relation to it. After analyzing Emerson's essay, it is clear that his overall purpose is to share the transcendentalist belief that humanity could be perfected by comparing different ideas and explaining the relationship between humans and society.
In his essay, Self- Reliance, Emerson expressed his thoughts and feelings about people's welfare and how society should be seen. Most importantly, he stated his opinion about humanity and the way self-reliance helps to improve it. According to Emerson, "It is easy to see that a greater self-reliance must work a revolution in all the offices and relations of men; in their religion; in their education; in their pursuits; their modes of living; their association; in their property; in their speculative views." Meaning that, man is only responsible for his own life and he shouldn’t be too enveloped in society and that when it comes to improving humanity, self-reliance has an important role and instead of relying on what society tells people to, they should rely on themselves and nature. Therefore, Emerson's self reliance essay demonstrates how transcendentalists beliefs lead to the idea of a perfect