Ralph Waldo Emerson

Biography

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American Transcendentalist poet, philosopher and essayist during the 19th century.  One of his best-known essays is "Self-Reliance.” Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May 25, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts. In his work, you'll find a huge emphasis on individualism, which is one of the central themes of American Romanticism. Emerson's religious views were often considered radical at the time. He believed that all things are connected to God and, therefore, all things are divine.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a christian and believed it was very important compared to nature. 

Emerson referred to nature as the "Universal Being"; he believed that there was a spiritual sense of the natural world around him. Depicting this sense of "Universal Being", Emerson states, "The aspect of nature is devout." Emerson asserts throughout nature of spirit over matter.

Self Belief!!!

In “Self-Reliance” Emerson defines individualism as a profound and unshakeable trust in one's own intuitions. Ralph Waldo Emerson's philosophy of individualism was an inspiration for the people to live in self-belief, to have self-trust, to value self-worth and to evolve in self- reliance for the emergence of strong individuals capable to build strong nations to change the course of real history. Emerson's emphasis on self-reliance and nonconformity, his championing of an authentic American literature, his insistence on each individual's original relation to God, and finally his relentless optimism, that “life is a boundless privilege,” remain his chief legacies.

- Emerson was Christian 

- He believed God was revealed through nature

- God was neither the stern judge of the Calvinists nor the distant clockmaker of the Deists

- He said, “The spirit only can teach. Not any profane man, not any sensual, not any liar, not any slave can teach, but only he can give, who has; he only can create, who is. The man on whom the soul descends, through whom the soul speaks, alone can teach."