Transcendentalist Reputation

The Transcendentalists were not, and still are not often taken very seriously. During their time this was because of their disaffiliation with the church, today it is because of their alignment with the “hippie” stereotype. Today, the view of Transcendentalism has become so muddled by time that is has been even been thought to be a branch of atheism. This misconception is a result of a misunderstanding wherein the Transcendentalists were publically against the church and its corruption; most specifically pertaining to the views of the Unitarian Church. They advocated instead for a view of religion that saw God as a sentience that was primarily within, as well as around and above every living thing. What is widely taken as the primary doctrine of transcendentalism is the concept of a universal Over-Soul. This Over-Soul, from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1841 essay of the same name, is God, and is viewed as the connection between all things. God and the Over-Soul display this connection through nature, the second most important pillar of Transcendentalism. The importance of Nature to humanity is again articulated in Emerson’s essay of the same name, but the theme is revisited in the vast majority of Transcendentalist works. Henry David Thoreau, regarded as the second father of the movement after Emerson, wrote Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Walden is a memoir that’s central idea revolved around the Transcendentalist view and appreciation of nature, and has become an infamous literary piece of its time and beyond. Its impact and the impact of similar natural works have become influential to the modern environmental movement. Though the movement has gained recognition and legitimacy in the 21st century, the Transcendentalist ideas that were drawn on in the early stages of environmentalism stuck. The bad reputation and stereotype acquired by the Woodstock-era environmentalists therefore rubbed off onto the concept of Transcendentalism.