This part was from the third chapter of findings and analysis where I begin to examine the three spiritual principles that underline Emerson's teachings:
Emerson encourages his readers to cultivate self-awareness, and he accomplishes this by conveying instilling self-confidence in his audience. He did not encourage blind faith, however, but hoped to indoctrinate a critical self-awareness and self-confidence underpinned by humility. Emerson’s stirring, though intellectually complex, poetic lectures and essays found a home amongst a willing American audience hungry for spiritual sustenance, and continue to do so today.
Intensely observant of his surroundings, Emerson recognized an urgency for each individual to reassess his/her personal economy to self-construct an authentic consciousness. That construction depends upon knowledge and interaction to continuously reproduce itself, and the knowledge Emerson perceived as truth was different from the acquired knowledge many took from secondary sources. For Emerson, knowledge was reason experienced authentically through one’s intuition. Knowledge is organic and reproduces within a single human being, so in a sense, authentic knowledge construction is a progressive birthing of newer consciousness driven by feedback. Emerson distinguished the seemingly separate means of constructing individual knowledge in his society that was fatigued and spiritually disoriented... (went on to discuss purpose of findings and analysis within the scope of the thesis).
Emersonian principle states that each individual has the innate potential for spiritual awareness, which mobilizes right action. The principal aim of life is to cultivate the soul’s growth, and while this process may bring about struggle, hesitation, and self-doubt, the yielding result of reflexivity permits the understanding of unity. Once inwardness and unity are achieved, engagement in right action is dynamic, progressive, and automatic. He sensed that people could be infinitely more than they presently were, and this perpetual idealism was born in part by his confidence in the present moment and the ever-evolving new.
Emerson encourages his readers to cultivate self-awareness, and he accomplishes this by conveying instilling self-confidence in his audience. He did not encourage blind faith, however, but hoped to indoctrinate a critical self-awareness and self-confidence underpinned by humility. Emerson’s stirring, though intellectually complex, poetic lectures and essays found a home amongst a willing American audience hungry for spiritual sustenance, and continue to do so today.
Intensely observant of his surroundings, Emerson recognized an urgency for each individual to reassess his/her personal economy to self-construct an authentic consciousness. That construction depends upon knowledge and interaction to continuously reproduce itself, and the knowledge Emerson perceived as truth was different from the acquired knowledge many took from secondary sources. For Emerson, knowledge was reason experienced authentically through one’s intuition. Knowledge is organic and reproduces within a single human being, so in a sense, authentic knowledge construction is a progressive birthing of newer consciousness driven by feedback. Emerson distinguished the seemingly separate means of constructing individual knowledge in his society that was fatigued and spiritually disoriented... (went on to discuss purpose of findings and analysis within the scope of the thesis).
Emersonian principle states that each individual has the innate potential for spiritual awareness, which mobilizes right action. The principal aim of life is to cultivate the soul’s growth, and while this process may bring about struggle, hesitation, and self-doubt, the yielding result of reflexivity permits the understanding of unity. Once inwardness and unity are achieved, engagement in right action is dynamic, progressive, and automatic. He sensed that people could be infinitely more than they presently were, and this perpetual idealism was born in part by his confidence in the present moment and the ever-evolving new.
As I read this with new eyes, I, of course, see places where I could tighten, rephrase, clarify the structure and presentation. Boy am I tempted. But I will leave it alone- there are so many ways we evolve as individuals and writing style and strength is just one of them. One thing I know will always be a constant, however, is returning to the stream of American Transcendentalist thought, to take renewing drinks of inspiration and confidence, knowing that while we can be inspired from those things outside our selves, the most meaningful inspiration comes from taking the path toward inwardness.
