Ralph Waldo Emerson - Historical and Philosophical Influences

The Historical and Philosophical Influences
Behind His Thought and Worldview

by William J. Tsamis
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As the cold autumn rain pounded the sidewalk outside the Upstart Crow & Co., a local coffee-house and bookstore, the Aquarian crown inside settled down for the weekly Wednesday night meeting of the Nirvana Forum, a clique of counterculture intellectuals who gather and discuss a variety of new age related topics. According to ritual, the meeting would commence with a selected reading, usually a poem or perhaps a passage from one of the Eastern philosophical writings. On this night, the reader was a young lady, probably a college student; she was a shadowy figure dressed in black, with a silver ankh pendant pressed against the lapel of her leather jacket. Sipping her espresso and then setting it aside, she stood somewhat nervously before the group and began her recitation:

"Who shall define to me an Individual?
I behold with awe and delight
many illustrations of the One Universal Mind.
I see my being imbedded in it.
As a plant in the earth, so I grow with God.
I am only a form of Him. He is the soul of me.
I can even with a mountainous aspiring say, 'I am God.'" 1

Breathing a sigh of relief and betraying a half-smile, the young lady sat down and reached for her demitasse, the assembly nodding in assent to the words which she had just spoken.

Contrary to what many might suppose, the edifying passage had not been drawn from the sea of contemporary new age literature, nor was it gleaned from one of the Eastern philosophical writings such as those of Krishnamurti or the Upanishads (the Hindu scriptures which are considered the wellspring of such monistic thought); but rather, the selected writing came from the pen of the nineteenth century American literary sage and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Indeed, Emerson's writings have, in recent years, experienced a renaissance of sorts, especially within the realm of counterculture intellectualism and new age pluralism. Perhaps it was his expressed distaste for traditional paradigms or his emphasis on the subjective pursuit of truth, or possibly both; nevertheless, the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson has found a home in the pluralistic mindset of the Aquarian generation. But although many of his sentimental devotees regard him as a great philosophical thinker, it must be pointed out that, aside from his literary brilliance, the Emersonian worldview is not a system of great originality. Rather, it is a pluralistic expression of many diverse philosophies, predominantly those of the monistic school (e.g. Neo-Platonism, Vedantic Hinduism), and it is a worldview conceived in the womb of eighteenth century biblical skepticism. Thus, without diminishing the brilliance of his literary genius, let us proceed to explore, not only the various influences present in his thought, but also the historical setting in which he lived, specifically the backdrop of the post-Enlightenment/Romantic era.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston in the year 1803, the son of a Unitarian minister.2 Indeed, the Age of Reason was slowly disappearing over the horizon and the Romantic era was gradually rising to the fore. Furthermore, it was a time of momentous social change and powerful human expression. The Napoleonic procession was under way in Europe, the American frontier had been redefined with the Jerffersonian purchase of the Louisiana Territory, and great artists such as Beethoven and Goethe were hammering out their timeless masterpieces. It was an age of revolution (political, industrial, and philosophical) and human ascent; thus it was posited for the first time that the "theoretical possibility of uninterrupted human progress might be concretely realized."3

In New England, the shockwaves of this new humanism reverberated throughout many spheres of life, from the social to the political, from the academic to the religious. Slowly, it became evident that the old Calvinist doctrine, with its pessimistic emphasis on the depravity of man, could not survive in this new atmosphere of optimism and reason.4 Thus, many congregations and academic institutions fell to the forces of Unitarianism, a liberal and more rationalistic form of Christianity, and consequently the foundation of biblical authority in the thought and life of America was further eroded. This was the America of the early 1800s, the America of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

As the son of a minister, it was determined that the young Emerson would continue in the clerical tradition of his father; so after studying theology at Harvard Divinity School, he entered the Unitarian pastorate in 1829 and proceeded to fulfill the ministerial role. However, it was not long before he became disillusioned with the sober rationalism of Unitarianism, and that great inner conflict ensued which led to his resignation from the pulpit.5 The depth of his spiritual pursuit was indicated by his own pen, as he related in his journal in the summer of 1832:

"I have sometimes thought that in order to be a good minister, it was necessary to leave the ministry. The profession is antiquated . . . we worship the dead forms of our forefathers. Were not a Socratic paganism better than an effete, superannuated Christianity?"6

Indeed, Emerson's departure from Unitarianism would mark the beginning of a quest that would lead him further and further away from Christianity. A critical analysis of his writings, progressively hostile toward the traditional faith; an enmity which would reach its crescendo in his Divinity School Address in 1838, in which he assailed such principle doctrines as the inspiration of Scripture, miracles, and the preeminence of Christ.7

In this sense, however, Emerson was simply a product of his times - the spirit of the age. his confident assertions, for instance, that the "mythical character of Christianity" had been discovered 8, or that the Church had been preoccupied with a "noxious exaggeration about the person of Christ,"9 were not original insights, but rather, old remnants of critical thought firmly rooted in the intellectual movements of the Renaissance and Enlightenment. For since Copernicus and Galileo overthrew the Prolemaic cosmology (ca. 1600), thus demolishing the idea of a geocentric universe, the "theological scheme of redemption" with man at the center seemed "absolutely incredible."10 Consequently, a new paradigm was formed in human thought upon which a more critical and skeptical philosophy might be constructed; and the period of time which spans the Renaissance through the age of Enlightenment represents an epoch during which man would propose new cosmologies, philosophies, and ideologies, each of which would present a serious challenge to the historic Christian faith.

In particular, the skepticism of David Hume would have a profound impact on the age of Emerson. Hume (1711-76), the Scottish philosopher, argued powerfully that "uniformity" and "consistency" in nature is based on fixed natural laws which are inviolable,11 a conclusion he deduced from the scientific theories of Isaac Newton (1687). The fixity of these physical laws, Hume concluded, renders the possibility of miracles extremely improbable.12 Therefore, it is more likely that the biblical miracles were either fictitious inventions, exaggerations of real events, or simply part of the mythos of a barbaric and superstitious people.13

That the logical skepticism of Hume played a critical role in the development of Emerson's worldview is indicated by a statement that he made in one of his earlier letters after reading Hume's Philosophical Essays. Emerson writes, "I ramble among doubts to which my reason offers no solution."14 To Emerson, the young divinity student, Hume was a "reasoning machine"15 whose logic was impregnable, whose formidable arguments had seriously undermined the historicity of the Bible. Thus, Emerson was submerged in a sea of uncertainty.

Emerson's doubts, however, would be further reinforced by the conclusions of the German "higher critics" who, at the time, were revolutionizing the entire field of biblical studies. Following along the path paved by Hume, this circle of academicians, led by J. G. Eichhorn (1780), subjected the Scriptures to intense textual analysis and concluded in accord with their naturalistic presuppositions, that the biblical accounts of miracles, prophecies, and oter interventions of God were nothing more than apocryphal myths. The degree of influence that the German critics had on Emerson is best indicated by the fact that his own brother, William, studied directly under Eichhorn at Gottingen in 1824,16 during which time Waldo was pursuing divinity studies at Harvard. As the elder William confessed to his brother in one of his many correspondences, "My mind seems to have undergone a rovolution which surprises me."17

Indeed, this "revolution" of mind was one that many intellectuals experienced during the Enlightenment and Romantic eras. The Holy Bible, which once reigned supreme, had now been overthrown and cast from the throne of European thought; Reason and the sophistication of man had uncovered its primitive and mythical nature. Thus, both William and Waldo Emerson, like many of their intellectual contemporaries, concluded that Christianity, at least in a historical sense, could no longer remain a tenable option for the rational mind. Another paradigm would have to be sought out.

During these years of uncertainty, Emerson began to carve out a new spiritual paradigm which increasingly minimized the importance of biblical historicity. Instead of objective religion, he sought to recapture the mystical element in theistic belief. In his view, a true experiential knowledge of God which transcended mere intellect and dogma could only be realized through an intuitional relationship with the Creator.18 Spiritual authority, then, must not be rooted in some external source (e.g. the Bible, the Church, etc.); but rather, one should seek the truth of God within the depths of his own soul. As he would later write in his monumental work Self-Reliance (1841), "It seems as if, when the Spirit of God speaks so plainly to each soul, it were an impiety to be listening to one or another saint."19

Essentially, this radical subjectivism, which would later be termed Transcendentalism, was rooted in certain monistic presuppositions which asserted that the universe was grounded in one mind, the "Oversoul,"20 and that this Cosmic Mind permeated all of nature, including the soul of man.21 In Emerson's words:

"The Oversoul is that great nature in which we rest, as the earth lies in the soft arms of the atmosphere; that Unity . . . within which every man's particular being is contained and made one with all other . . . within man is the sould of the whole, the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal One."22

Curiously, this emersonian verse bears a striking resemblance to the Upanishadic teaching that Brahman (the Cosmic Soul) is the sole reality, and that Atman (the individual self) is identical to Brahman -- i.e. "Thou art that."23 But primary dependence on Vedantic Hinduism cannot be established since Emerson's study of the Hindu Scriptures probably did not commence until 1837, 24 well after he had embarked on the path to monism. Nevertheless, Vedantic thought played a profound role in his later years, confirming to him the sensibility of his worldview; his tribute to Hinduism is reflected in his later prose works, Hamatreya (1847) and Brahma (1856).

Now if Emerson's monistic concept of the "Oversoul" was not influenced primarily by Eastern thought, then from what philosophical well did the Western sage draw his inspiration? It is clear that Emerson was rather ecclectic in the formulation of his Transcendental philosophy, gathering ideas from a myriad of sources; nevertheless, it is evident from his own writings that the system of thought which made the greatest impression on his worldview was Neo-Platonism (the third century philosophy developed by Plotinus).25 At the time of Emerson, the ancient philosophy had experienced quite a resurgence in European intellectual circles, primarily through the work of the seventeenth century Cambridge Platonist, Ralph Cudworth, who rejected both the dogmatism of John Calvin and the materialism of Thomas Hobbes.26 For Emerson, Cudworth's expression of Neo-Platonism was a philosophical alternative that was, both, intellectually and spirtually preferable to the status quo ideologies of the day.27

In essence, Neo-Platonism taught that God is an impersonal transcendent being from which all reality flows, or emanates.28 The first emanation from God is Mind (nous), which provides a raitional foundation for reality, and out of which flows the World-Soul (or universal cosmic consciousness). The human soul proceeds from the World-Soul, while nature (or temporal reality) follows as an unconscious emanation from the One, i.e. God.29 In Neo-Platonic thought, man has "fallen" into the snesual world of matter, and thus exists in a state of separation from God.30 The human purpose, then, is to "shed passionate and appetitive impulses and cultivate rational and divine potentials."31 Only in this way can the human sould proceed (or return) to God and achieve union with Him.

Emerson's dependence on Neo-Platonism is indicated throughout his writings; for instance, his recurrent polemic against sensuality and materialism typically reflects the philosophy of dualism devised by Plato -- i.e. the distinction between matter and spirit. However, when we speak of Neo-Platonic influence upon the Emersonian worldview we are concerned primarily with the cosmological relationship between the two systems, a relationship which is more than evident in the major expressions of his Transcendental philosophy, Nature (1836), and the Oversoul (1841).

In the end, the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson consists of a complex fusion of numerous ideas, all wrought in the crucible of historic change which was occuring in the nineteenth century. As a system of synthesis rather than thesis, his worldview is not one which reflects great originality. Nevertheless, we should not infer from this that emerson was somehow an inferior thinker, or as some have dismissed him, "A poet who had mistakenly strayed into the realm of the philosophers."32 On the contrary, the "American Prophet" was a dynamic and reflective individual with a vigorous imagination and powerful intellect. Furthermore, he possessed an extraordinary literary gift which beautifully synthesized philosophic insight with artistic expression.

Paradoxically, however, the critical weakness of Emerson's thought lied in the fact that he contradicted the chief premise of his own philosophy -- i.e. the principle of "Self-Reliance." For while teaching others to arrive at truth subjectively, wholly apart from any external source, Emerson himself depended greatly on the insight of others for the formulation of his own system. Thus, if it were "an impiety to be listening to one or another saint,"33 then Emerson himself must be regarded as the first transgressor of his own canon.
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Endnotes

1. Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Journal Entries" Joel Porte, ed. "Emerson in his Journals" Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1982, p. 164.

2. John McAleer, Ralph Waldo Emerson: Days of Encounter.
Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1984, p. 11.

3. George Perkins, et al., eds. The American Tradition in Literature. 7th Ed.
New York: McGraw, 1990, p. 245.

4. Robert A. Divine, et al., eds. America: Past and Present. 2nd Ed.
Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresome, and Co., 1987, p. 300.

5. Perkins, p. 455.

6. Emerson, Journals, p. 83.

7. Emerson in Perkins, Divinity School Address, p. 497ff.

8. Gay Wilson Allen, Waldo Emerson. New York: Viking, 1981, p. 346.

9. Emerson in Perkins, Divinity School Address, p. 501

10. Allen, p. 184.

11. David Hume, "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding" in The Empiricists.
Ed. Richard Tarylor. Garden City: Dophin, 1961.

12. Ibid., p. 391.

13. Ibid., p. 395.

14. Allen, p. 73.

15. Emerson in Porte, Journal Entries, p. 45.

16. Allen, p. 77.

17. Ibid., p. 77.

18. McAleer, p. 161.

19. Edward Wagenknecht, Ralph Waldo Emerson: Portrait of a Balanced Soul.
New York: Oxford UP, 1974,p. 42.

20. Emerson in Perkins, The Oversoul, p. 526.

21. Nancy A. Hardesty. "Transcendentalism" The Dictionary of Bible and Religion.
Ed. William H. Gentz. Nashville: Abingdon, 1986, p. 1062.

22. Emerson in Perkins, The Oversoul, p. 526.

23. James W. Sire, The Universe Next Door. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1976, p. 132.

24. McAleer, p. 463.

25. Allen, p. 281.

26. Frederick Copleston. "Modern Philosophy: The British Philosophers from Hobbes to Hume" Vol. 5 of A History of Philosophy. 9 vols. New York: Image, 1959, p. 55.

27. McAleer, p. 160.

28. Frederick Copleston. "Greece and Rome: Pre-Socratics to Plotinus" Vol. 1 of
A History of Philosophy. 9 vols. New York: Image, 1946, p. 466.

29. Allen, p. 375.

30. Robert M. Berchman. "Neo-Platonism" Encyclopedia of Early Christianity.
Ed. Everett Ferguson. New York: Garland, 1990, p. 641.

31. Ibid., p. 641.

32. McAleer, p. 159.

33. Wagenknecht, p. 42.