Transcendentalism Essay, Research Paper
I believe in the mystical idea of transcendentalism, but I do not consider myself a full transcendentalist because I also have faith in logic and reason. I feel that I have the characteristics of being a transcendentalist, such as being one with nature and being self-reliant. The only quality that I don t agree with is logic and reason because I view the world as a place of logic and reason. Without logic and reason, there would be no answers for us. To me, technology would be sub par in our nation without these two qualities because there would be no thought process on how to forward our technology in this nation today. For example, where would our lives be without the computer? I know that for me, life would be much harder. I use the computer everyday to help me with my homework. I can also research facts on the Internet that can be extremely valuable to my learning process. There are many things I can do on the computer that will help me learn more about life and the world around us, and I don t think any of this technology would be available to the people without a sufficient amount of logic and reason.The most important trait a person can have is the ability to think. Without this feature, people in the world would be absolutely clueless. They would have no state of mind and would rely on the memorization than of understanding. I feel that it would be hard to understand the world with the virtue of intuition because people would have no evidence to back up their views. Everything would be based on people s impression on things. I don t think having an impression on things is valid enough to know what people are talking about. I use thinking as a tool that will help me understand the material I am learning. Thinking helps me answer many issues that will be beneficial to the way I picture things in life.
However, I believe that being self-reliant is a way that justifies my independence from my peers and gives me reason to why I think of myself as a transcendentalist. Having self-reliance is a virtue that can be intensely instrumental to the way you live life. Self-reliance makes you a better person because it gives you confidence in yourself. Confidence is a big part on how people pursue life. Without a thorough amount of self-esteem, life becomes more challenging due to the fact that people feel low on theirselves. I know that for me, confidence is a major issue. For example, when I get a great test score, I feel like I m on top of the world. But once I m handed a poor test grade, I start to question my ability on whether or not I m smart enough to pass this class. The most important way to gain my confidence back is to believe in myself and to have faith in God. Doing activities on my own gives me self-assurance that I am an independent person. Nature, I feel plays a big part in my life because it gives a perception on how I see the world around me. I sense nature as an influential part of my life. Gazing upon the trees and flowers makes me feel at peace with myself. Nature makes me feel calm and comfortable. I can see why my aunt would want me to help her with the garden she grows in the front yard of our house. The garden makes her happy and relaxed. She wants me to be in the same state of mind. I think the aura nature brings is so positive and uplifting. Nature gives us a great outlook on how beautiful the world is and makes me lucky to be living in such a spectacular place.