Moral Values
"If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice"
Freewill, Rush
All Transcendentalist's beliefs are steeped in connectivity in nature. This belief reflects itself perfectly with their views on moral values. Nature promotes, through example, both vigorous attempts at personal success and a love for those around you. A giant pine tree may tower over everything in the forest, yet he also provides the biggest home for birds and squirrels. The tenet here is through the pine tree's quest to be the greatest he has been beneficial to all those around him. The key to success for people lies in their ability to improve themselves not physically, but mentally. A person improving himself physically is like a tree improving itself mentally; there exists no true point. One must find his place in the world, and from this he will be able to be happy and satisfy those around him. Also, a strong set of morals will be born from this realization. Although Transcendentalist's do not believe a man is ever done growing mentally, they do believe that success in the mental field is necessary to a well-lived life. Independence, they believe, is probably the best thing people have in their favor. An exert from Thoreau's Walden proves this point exactly:
"Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. It is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple-tree or an oak. Shall he turn spring into summer? If the condition of things which we were made for is not yet, what were ant reality which we can substitute? We will not be shipwrecked with a vain reality." (305)
The Transcendentalist's believed the best thing anyone could do for themselves was to explore their mental selves. From this exploration, itself the single best Transcendentalist value, spirituality would permeate into all aspects of one's life. This spirituality would deal with helping your mental self and avoiding superficial items, like houses and money, as taking the primary force of your efforts. The Transcendentalist's also believed that people were inherently good, and therefore, exploration would inevitably lead to success. They also believed in independence. One of the most prominent quotes in Walden reads "Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made of" (305). This also connects to an individual's inherent goodness, and the fact that we are naturally predisposed towards being pleased with ourselves. Whatever the case, any moral value that is worthwhile to the Transcendentalists, whether it be contentment or euphoria with the world around you, can be found from within one's mind.
Freewill, Rush
All Transcendentalist's beliefs are steeped in connectivity in nature. This belief reflects itself perfectly with their views on moral values. Nature promotes, through example, both vigorous attempts at personal success and a love for those around you. A giant pine tree may tower over everything in the forest, yet he also provides the biggest home for birds and squirrels. The tenet here is through the pine tree's quest to be the greatest he has been beneficial to all those around him. The key to success for people lies in their ability to improve themselves not physically, but mentally. A person improving himself physically is like a tree improving itself mentally; there exists no true point. One must find his place in the world, and from this he will be able to be happy and satisfy those around him. Also, a strong set of morals will be born from this realization. Although Transcendentalist's do not believe a man is ever done growing mentally, they do believe that success in the mental field is necessary to a well-lived life. Independence, they believe, is probably the best thing people have in their favor. An exert from Thoreau's Walden proves this point exactly:
"Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. It is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple-tree or an oak. Shall he turn spring into summer? If the condition of things which we were made for is not yet, what were ant reality which we can substitute? We will not be shipwrecked with a vain reality." (305)
The Transcendentalist's believed the best thing anyone could do for themselves was to explore their mental selves. From this exploration, itself the single best Transcendentalist value, spirituality would permeate into all aspects of one's life. This spirituality would deal with helping your mental self and avoiding superficial items, like houses and money, as taking the primary force of your efforts. The Transcendentalist's also believed that people were inherently good, and therefore, exploration would inevitably lead to success. They also believed in independence. One of the most prominent quotes in Walden reads "Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made of" (305). This also connects to an individual's inherent goodness, and the fact that we are naturally predisposed towards being pleased with ourselves. Whatever the case, any moral value that is worthwhile to the Transcendentalists, whether it be contentment or euphoria with the world around you, can be found from within one's mind.
