Nothing New Under the Sun: Transcendentalism in America

What nineteenth century pastor, writer, and lecturer led generations of Americans astray by mixing Christian beliefs with eastern mysticism? The result of his brew became known as American Transcendentalism, and it quietly wormed its way into churches.

His contemporaries, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman, championed his works, and his denomination injected his writings directly into Unitarian liturgy and worship, where it remains to this day.

His name is Ralph Waldo Emerson. Some of his famous lines, sounding like great advice, beckon undiscerning readers to lean into his philosophies:

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”

“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.”

The reoccurring strain of these lines, or course, is the power of Self. To these sentiments, he adds:

“Good and evil are but names…the right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong is what is against it.”

“With consistency a great soul simply has nothing to do.”

Replace the word “consistency” in the quote above with the phrase “traditional Christianity” or even “a standard for truth”, and you’ll have a clearer view of the worldview this pastor promoted.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the 1980s, similar ideas came raging back into vogue in the New Age movement, and today, in a third iteration, the same philosophies waft around us today in the forms of New Age Pantheism and the Higher Consciousness Movement. This recycling of old ideas bring to mind a wise quote from the famed Israelite King thousands of years ago. There is “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9), wrote Solomon.

New Age Pantheism and the Higher Consciousness Movement, like Transcendentalism, promote self-reliance, non-conformity, the importance of nature (everything is god), and intuition over reason.

I ask students to spot these tenants in popular culture. Perhaps the tenant that is easiest to spot on the magazine covers of any grocery store checkout line is that of meditation as a means to health and well-being. It seems like everywhere we look, meditation is promoted. Even our doctors now typically suggest meditation as part of any daily health regimen.

The idea of meditation entices Christians today as much as it did in the 1800s when Henry David Thoreau “went to the woods” to become “part and parcel of God” through simplified living and harmonizing with nature.

Henry David Thoreau

What is the difference, I ask students, between Emerson & Thoreau’s meditation, which is so similar to today’s secular meditation, and Biblical meditation?

Coming from the Hebrew word śûaḥ, Biblical meditation means to muse, to commune, to study. A glance at Strong’s Bible Concordance produces a firm understanding of what the object of that “study” ought to be: God’s Word. Biblical meditation has one object: to reflect on God’s revealed instructions, His law, and His thoughts. Christian meditation focuses on nothing else. It wants to know, honor, and glorify God just as he describes himself in His Word. The entries below from Blue Letter Bible illustrates the point:

Secular meditation, on the other hand, leads the soul either to a communion with some “higher spiritual entity” or deeper into one’s own self and desires. Both realities are frightening. What “entity” should one expect to meet with during meditation that is not focused on the true and living God? And as for accessing the depths of one’s own self, advice is ubiquitous.

Even Christian bookstores display “follow your heart” home decor, and secular meditation is a means to that end. The "follow your heart" adage, however, does anything but line up with scriptural advice, which teaches that the fallen human heart will surely misguide us every time. It is the last place students should look in for wisdom or peace. We look, instead, to the source of all wisdom.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5&6).

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you (James 1:5).

Students who are trained to discern worldviews in literature easily transfer that discernment to the world they live in. When asked, students readily find examples of modern forms Transcendentalism in their music, social media feeds, and movies. The goal of the Christian English teacher is to drive students deeper into the Word of God as the source of truth so they become warriors who know how to defend the faith. I can’t think of a more rewarding reason to teach the nineteenth century American Transcendentalism.