Transcendentalism and Unitarian Universalism

Transcendentalism and Unitarian Universalism Edison Ellenberger West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church July 12, 2015 Sermon Part I Historical Perspective on the Development of Transcendentalism About a month after I began attending services at West Shore in the fall of 2013, I participated in a PURL program called UU History. I was eager to learn more about the history of a tradition in which I had become very interested. Incidentally, that day was when I first met Wayne and Kathleen. In addition to other influences such as the Judeo-Christian tradition and humanism, transcendentalism was identified as an important influence on Unitarian Universalism. That reminded me of my 11 th grade English class on American Literature, which included Transcendentalism. I recalled that while that subject was somewhat intriguing, I was not particularly passionate about it and I found that Ralph Waldo Emerson was not a particularly easy read. It would be another two years before I developed a strong interest in religion and philosophy. Our teacher, Miss Denicola, required that the students organize three-ring binders a certain way and periodically turn them in for her review. That notebook managed to avoid the trash can over the past twenty five years, and I can say that the detailed handouts and notes in that notebook proved quite helpful to me in preparing for today. Outside of UU churches, I imagine that many people are introduced to Transcendentalism or the works of some of its proponents through the classroom. Counterculture is often associated with the radical movement in the 1960s in the U.S., but the word is also an appropriate way to describe the Transcendentalists of the 1830s in New England though it is fair to say that the attire worn by the two groups differed. That is Ralph Waldo Emerson on the left and an unidentified man of more recent times on the right. The revolution that occurred in 1830s New England was, first and foremost, a spiritual one. The Transcendentalists emphasized their independence from the past, but they were also the product of the past in various ways. While Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are commonly associated with Transcendentalism, the movement arose as an outgrowth of Unitarianism; most of the

people involved were Unitarians, and many were ministers. Other than Emerson and Thoreau, the more prominent members included Amos Bronson Alcott, Theodore Parker, Margaret Fuller, George Ripley, James Freeman Clarke, Frederic Henry Hedge, Elizabeth Peabody Palmer, and William Henry Channing. The Rev. William Ellery Channing was a Unitarian minister whose active years predated and in many ways anticipated the movement. He is considered an honorary Transcendentalist. Emerson referred to him as our Bishop. One of Alcott s daughters was Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women and other novels. Like his father, Ralph Waldo Emerson became a Unitarian minister, though not without reservations; in a letter he referred to his forthcoming ordination as his execution day, according to his biographer, Robert Richardson. Emerson also was terrified at the prospect of having to write a sermon each week for the rest of his life. Preaching sparked Emerson s interest, but he began to doubt his beliefs and disagree with the church on issues such as the administration of the Communion ritual. His first wife, Ellen Tucker Emerson, died of tuberculosis in 1831 and, as Wayne mentioned in the Being Mortal sermon, Emerson repeatedly visited her grave and even opened her coffin at least once. He resigned from the ministry in 1832 after three years. I wonder to what extent his wife s death may have influenced his thinking about religion. He married a second time to Lidian Jackson Emerson, and they lived in this house together for nearly 50 years. Emerson attended annual meetings of the American Unitarian Association for many years and continued preaching in Boston-area churches for a number of years. He remained a Unitarian in name, at least - and sometimes attended services later in his life. At the invitation of Harvard s graduating ministers, Emerson delivered his famous Divinity School Address in 1838. In it, he rejected the idea of a personal God and criticized the church for stifling the soul through adherence to traditional Biblical scriptures and uninspired preaching. He asserted that "the word Miracle, as pronounced by Christian churches, gives a false impression; it is Monster. It is not one with the blowing clover and the falling rain. Some of the younger ministers reacted positively, but the reaction of the Harvard faculty and more traditional Unitarian clergy was negative. In A Discourse on the Latest Form of Infidelity, the conservative Unitarian minister Andrews Norton wrote, The Religion of which they speak, therefore, exists merely, if it exists at all, in undefined and unintelligible feelings, having reference perhaps to certain imaginations, the result of impressions communicated in childhood, or produced by the visible signs of religious belief existing around us, or awakened by the beautiful and magnificent spectacles which nature presents. The fundamental dispute between the Transcendentalists and Unitarians centered on the relationship between God, nature, and humanity. Unitarian periodicals would not publish Transcendentalist ideas, which declared nature as the source of revelation and spiritual truth instead of the church. When the Harvard-Unitarian establishment proclaimed Transcendentalism the new heresy, public diatribes and spiteful accusations went back and forth between both sides. Harvard professor Cornelius Conway Felton declared Emerson s writings full of extravagance theories that would overturn society and resolve the world into chaos. Emerson s so-called pantheism was considered a profanation of scripture. Some Transcendentalists such as Emerson, Alcott, and Parker, considered the ministry of Jesus as simply representative of the best of humanity, but many other Transcendentalists did continue to believe in Jesus s divine nature. Believing in the importance of self-knowledge, the group discounted the significance of Biblical miracles. To religious conservatives, the heresy of the

Transcendentalists was to espouse a worldview consisting of mysticism and pantheism. In addition to Emerson, Theodore Parker also questioned the supernatural authority of the Bible. Unitarians proposed expelling Parker from the Boston Association of Congregational Ministers but reluctantly allowed him to remain. They considered Parker a greater problem than Emerson because Parker was still a practicing minister, whereas Emerson had resigned from the ministry. Parker protested that the Unitarians violated their own principle that no one should be excluded from Christian fellowship on the basis of theology. Rev. Noah Porter acknowledged that Parker s opinions were the legitimate and logical consequence of the liberal theology. Emerson is probably best known for his earlier writings, which contained a mystical perspective and a more energetic and affirmative message. According to Prof. David Robinson, who is also a practicing UU, after the death of Emerson s five-year old son, Waldo, he questioned some of his previous affirmations and his writing became more restrained. He counseled humility and patience in regard to spiritual growth; he was more concerned about ethical action and less so regarding mysticism and nature. According to Richard Higgins, by the 1870s and 1880s, Unitarians began to see Transcendentalism as part of their heritage, and by the 1890s, Emerson had been fully reclaimed. The Unitarian Universalist Historical Society indicates that Emerson is now the most recognized and revered figure in the Unitarian movement. We will continue now with a responsive reading that pieces together passages from Emerson s essay, The Oversoul. II. Sermon Part II Transcendentalism as a Source for Contemporary Spiritual Practice The lives and thought of the Transcendentalists of 19 th century America remain relevant today for Unitarian Universalists and others interested in spiritual practice. Broadly speaking, Transcendental spirituality was based on the ancient idea of correspondence. In this view, the human community is a microcosm or literally a small world, that reflects the macrocosm, or the great world. The macrocosm is considered the realm of the divine and spirit or the domain of nature and is associated with a natural or moral law or controlling providence worthy of reverence. Correspondence implied that the way to learn about human life was to study the cosmos. By viewing human life from a cosmic perspective, so-called ordinary life would gain greater significance. Another consequence of this view is that there is no separation between the sacred and profane, and therefore a spiritual or religious dimension pervades people s everyday lives. The publication of Nature in 1836 and The Over-Soul five years later reflect Emerson s version of correspondence, which he called idealism. Emerson put forth the idea that nature is the expression of the divine and all persons have access to a transcendent inner power, the source of which was first defined as the soul and then later as the Over-Soul. Self-culture is a term that the Transcendentalists used to convey a philosophy of the spirit and it was the chief activity of their daily lives. The word self was a religious word that meant soul. Compared to today, the word culture also had a different meaning, which grew out of the horticultural associations of germination and development, associations that connected nature with spirit. Thus self-culture referred to the cultivation of the soul in individuals. When Emerson was still a minister at Second Church in Boston, he gave a brief sermon on self-culture and said that the duty to which we are called is nothing less than an unceasing effort at selfculture. The Unitarian minister William Ellery Channing wrote in 1838 that He who does what he can to unfold all his powers of capacities, especially his nobler ones, so as to become a

well-proportioned, vigorous, excellent, happy being, practices self-culture. Margaret Fuller adapted Channing s formulation to feminist purposes and the expansion of women s rights. The experiments with communal living, such as those at Brook Farm and Fruitlands, should be seen as one way to implement the task of self-culture. Barry Andrews and Jane Rosecrans have each outlined a set of similar spiritual practices resulting from the Transcendentalists focus on selfculture. Many of you are likely already familiar with most or all of these practices, but they should be viewed as part of our UU heritage since Transcendentalism is part of UU history. In nature, the Transcendentalists saw the presence of the divine. Thoreau, Fuller, and Emerson were just a few for whom the natural world was central. This is a painting by William James Stillman titled The Philosophers Camp in the Adirondacks (1858), and it is based on a real camping trip to the Adirondacks. Emerson is depicted in the center, standing alone between two trees. Thoreau, who is well known for his two-year experiment living in a cabin near Walden Pond, wrote, My profession is always to be on the alert to find God in nature, to know his lurking places, to attend all the oratories, the operas in nature. The cabin in the image behind me is just a replica; it is not the actual cabin in which Thoreau lived. Thoreau s position regarding nature has been classified as nature religion and deep green religion by Catherine Albanese and Bron Taylor, respectively. Thoreau s life and work has influenced many important environmental thinkers. Margaret Fuller wrote to a friend about a heavenliest day of communion in which she was free to be alone in the meditative woods all the films seemed to drop from my existence. In his book Nature, Emerson reflects: In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, - no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, - my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space, - all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or parcel of God. While Emerson and other Transcendentalists were skeptical of the miracles in the Bible, Emerson could still claim that the miraculous existed in nature: Miracles have ceased. Have they indeed? When? They had not ceased this afternoon when I walked into the wood and go into bright, miraculous sunshine in shelter from the roaring wind. Who sees a pine-cone, or the turpentine exuding from the tree, or a leaf, the unit of vegetation, fall from its bough as if it said, The year is finished, or hears in the quiet piney glen the Chickadee chirping his cheerful note, or walks along the leafy promontory-like ridges which like natural causeways traverse the morass, or gazes upward at the rushing clouds, or downward at a moss or a stone and says to himself, Miracles have ceased? So to separate oneself, however briefly, from the routines of everyday life and spend time in the natural world, or to simply appreciate plants, animals, and other living beings in a more urban environment, was deemed good for the development of the soul or self-culture. Here in Northeast Ohio we are fortunate to have not only several Metroparks systems but also a National Park! (You may recognize the slide behind me is of a trail near the Rocky River Nature Center.) As someone who enjoys the connection to something larger from spending time in a natural forest or park setting - and the associated sense of well-being - I m glad there is no lack of

opportunity for such an experience locally. Writing or journal-keeping is another spiritual practice. The Transcendentalists published a periodical called The Dial as a forum to express their ideas; Margaret Fuller was its first editor. Many of the transcendentalists kept a journal. Emerson s journal output was over 5,000 thousand pages and originally published in ten volumes in the early 20 th century under the direction of his son Edward. At the first meeting between Emerson and Thoreau, Emerson asked Thoreau if he kept a journal. Thoreau began writing in his journal that year and continued to do so for nearly twenty five years, until his death in 1861. His journal, which filled forty seven manuscript volumes, was the source of much of his published writing and a window into his inner life and his studies of the natural history of Concord, Massachusetts. Emerson noted the following regarding the importance of keeping a journal: It is not for what is recorded, though that may be the agreeable entertainment of later years, and the pleasant remembrances of what we were for the habit of rendering account to yourself of yourself in some more rigorous manner and at more certain intervals than mere conversation or casual reverie of solitude require. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I have not kept a journal for many years. The last time I did so was my first year of college. That was a period of adjustment in my life, to say the least, and writing about the challenges I faced was therapeutic and aided in self-knowledge. And I m glad to have the chance to look back at those pages to see some of the issues I was dealing with at the time. While most writing is probably done indoors, it is nice that journaling is not confined to one location. While communing with nature, why not take some time to write about the experience? Conversation is yet another spiritual practice. From 1836 to 1840 a group of Transcendentalists met some thirty times at private homes often at Emerson s to discuss a variety of topics such as theology, philosophy, American genius, education, law, and property. This group was known as the Transcendental Club. Emerson said that the rule suggested by the club was this, that no man should be admitted whose presence excluded any one topic. Members included Margaret Fuller, Theodore Parker, George Ripley, and William Henry Channing, nephew of the Unitarian leader, William Ellery Channing. Bronson Alcott created new methods of teaching that emphasized intuitive and conversational methods instead of exposition and recitation. For several years Margaret Fuller held a series of conversations for women at the bookstore owned by Elizabeth Peabody Palmer, another significant person in Transcendentalism. The purpose of these gatherings was designed to encourage women in self-expression and independent thinking. Fuller did eventually open the conversations to some men. Long conversations were commonplace at Ripley s Brook Farm experiment in communal living. Regarding the spiritual role of conversation, Emerson said: And so in groups where debate is earnest, and especially on high Questions, the company become aware that the thought rises to an equal level in all bosoms, that all have a spiritual property in what was said, as well as the sayer. They all become wiser than they were. It arches over them like a temple, this unity of thought, in which every heart beats with a nobler sense of power and duty, and thinks and acts with unusual solemnity. All are conscious of attaining to a higher self-possession. It shines for all. I don t have to list the benefits to spiritual and mental health resulting from quality conversations

with others though, speaking as someone who is truly more on the introverted side, there CAN be such a thing as too much conversation. Other spiritual practices associated with Transcendentalists include contemplation/prayer/ meditation; reading, particularly of sacred texts; making sacred space or sacred time; and engaging in creative expression, such as music, art, and theatre. In regard to sacred texts, both Emerson and Thoreau were influenced by Hindu and Buddhist scriptures; hence my use of a Buddhist-themed Invocation. For further information or review of this subject, see Jane Rosecrans article, Transcendentalism for the New Age, and Barry Andrews books, Emerson as Spiritual Guide and Thoreau as Spiritual Guide, both of which have been available at West Shore s bookstore, which will reopen in September. And of course there are other relevant publications; as you may know, more than a few people have written about Emerson and Thoreau in particular. The glory days of the Transcendentalists and their feuds with Unitarians - are long past, but the movement continues to live on as part of our Unitarian Universalist heritage. May it be so. Bibliography Albanese, Catherine, ed. The Spirituality of the American Transcendentalists. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1988. Andrews, Barry. A Dream Too Wild: Emerson Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Boston: Skinner House, 2003. ---. Emerson as Spiritual Guide: A Companion to Emerson s Essays for Personal Reflection and Group Discussion. Skinner House, 2003. ---. Thoreau as Spiritual Guide: A Companion to Walden for Personal Reflection and Discussion. Skinner House, 2000. Bode, Carl and Malcolm Cowley, eds. The Portable Emerson. New Edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1981. Bode, Carl, ed. The Portable Thoreau. New York: Penguin Books, 1982. Buell, Lawrence. Emerson. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003. Capper, Charles and Conrad Edick Wright. Transient and Permanent: The Transcendentalist Movement and Its Contexts. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society: Distributed by Northeastern University Press, 1999. Church, Forrest. Emerson s shadow. UU World. March/April 2003. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Spiritual Emerson. Ed. David Robinson. Boston: Beacon Press, 2003.

Geldard, Richard G. The Esoteric Emerson: The Spiritual Teachings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne Press, 1993. Grodzins, Dean. American Heretic: Theodore Parker and Transcendentalism. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002. Higgins, Richard. Emerson s mirror. UU World. May/June 2003. Howe, Daniel Walker. Making the American Self: Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1997. Mott, Wesley T., ed. Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1996. Myerson, Joel and Philip Gura, eds. Critical Essays on American Transcendentalism. Boston, G.K. Hall, 1982. Myerson, Joel, Sandra Harbert Petrulionis, and Laura Dassow Walls, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Transcendentalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Richardson, Robert. Emerson. The Mind on Fire: A Biography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. Rosecrans, Jane. Transcendentalism for the New Age. American Transcendentalism Web. 6 February 2005. Ruehl, Robert Michael. Transcendental Disseminations: How a Movement Spread Its Ideas. American Transcendentalism Web. 2011. Sacks, Kenneth. Understanding Emerson: The American Scholar and His Struggle for Self- Reliance. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2005. Sullivan, Robert. The Thoreau You Don t Know: What the Prophet of Environmentalism Really Meant. New York: Harper Collins, 2009. Versluis, Arthur. American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Woodlief, Ann. Tempest in a Washbowl : Emerson vs. the Unitarians. American Transcendentalism Web.