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Transcendentalism

 

            Henry David Thoreau tests Ralph Waldo Emerson's ideas about nature while living at Walden Pond. He discovers that simplicity in physical aspects brings deepness to our mind, our soul to its fullest potential, and our imagination to be uplifted to change our lives. These two men believe that nature is the key to knowing life and it is what forces us not to depend on others" ideas but to develop our own. Nature is ever changing so we must keep searching for explanations about human life through Simplicity, the Value and Potential of Our Soul, and Our Imagination.
             Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson both came to the conclusion that nature is the key to knowing life and it is what forces us not to depend on other's ideas, but to develop our own. Thoreau tests Emerson's ideas by living at Walden Pond where he finds like Emerson that, simplicity in physical aspects brings deepness to our mind, our soul to its fullest potential, and our imagination to be uplifted to change our lives. Nature is ever changing so we must keep searching for explanations about human life through Simplicity, the Value and Potential of Our Soul, and Our Imagination.
             Thoreau begins his quest staying at Walden Pond to find the true meaning of life. He wants to experience things for himself when he says, "I wanted.to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion" (Thoreau). He takes Emerson's advice who says, "Let us demand our own works and laws and worship" (Emerson). Emerson tells how modern generations live life vicariously through the stories and traditions foretold. We do not experience things for ourselves. We take what our ancestors and others before us have said and do not think twice about whether we should try things for ourselves. Emerson decides not to conform to modern ways, but to be an individual.
             Furthermore, in Nature, Emerson says, "Standing on the bare ground - my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space - all mean egotism vanishes.


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