Utopian? Transcendentalism?
After engaging in the Modern Utopian Society project creation, what are
you thinking about Transcendentalism? What is one quality within
Transcendentalism that pique's your interest? Please complete this blog
response by 2:30p.m. on Mon., Sep. 12th.
posted by Greg T at Friday, September 09, 2016
22 Comments:
I believe that transcendentalism is a philosophy which says that thought and spiritual things are more important than ordinary human experiences and material goods. One of the qualities of transcendentalism that interests me is how thought is so emphasized. You are suppose to think for yourself and about the world around you in an unorthodox way, it is necessary to find yourself and I think that is important. If I were to use any part of this philosophy it would be the deep thinking and ability to coexist with nature in a spiritual way.
I fell in love with the book Into the Wild by John Krakauer after reading it freshman year. Ever since then, I have always wanted to abandon my city life and travel the world. This unit of transcendentalism is very interesting to me for that very reason. I love the idea of nonconformity and rebelling against what society tells us to do. Even though I’m not much of a reader, I thoroughly enjoy reading the pieces by Emerson and Thoreau. Their ideas and opinions take my thinking to a whole new level. I question things that society tells us are right and I wonder what it would be like if we lived in unity with nature. The idea of transcendentalism also makes me think about the people that don’t understand it. They say, “Why would anyone want to go live by a pond for two years?” It amazes me how much people are engulfed in this society filled with willingness to be just like everyone else. They don’t see the point in nature, they don’t drive down the street just looking at the massive trees, they don’t want to leave Centennial, Colorado. Why wouldn’t you want to see what’s out there? Transcendentalism provokes the dreamer inside of me and makes me question our society.
I believe that transcendentalism is a very interesting topic. I think that it is one of very unique beliefs. I don;t necessarily believe or agree with all of there beliefs but I respect it because it is what they believe and it is truly unique. The thing that peeks my interest is I would like to know how many people truly believe in transcendentalism ideals. We are talking about specific and famous people that believe. But how many normal everyday people believe and actually follow transcendentalism?
After completing the Utopian Society project, I believe that the idea of transcendentalism is very interesting, but it is something that I would never follow in my life. The thought of people completely changing their lives and taking on new ideas is very intriguing to me. Be it moving inside of a cave and living without money, or living by a pond for two years, isolated from society. A quality of transcendentalism that piques my interest is that the people who do go through with trying to find transcendentalism in their lives are doing it all for themselves. This is interests me because I would never even consider doing something like Suelo or Walden because I am very happy with the life I have. It amazes me that people leave everything they own and everybody they know in order to find what they believe is a better purpose on earth.
After working on the Utopian society project, I came to the idea that transcendental thoughts are what make up our human instincts. For example, Suelo leaves almost everything man-made behind to listen to what random people have to say. Thats something that takes a lot of self discipline and courage, which i think is pretty special. I believe that as we pursue or careers and get caught up in the struggles of everyday, we forget to enjoy the simplistic treasures in life. Also, in today's society, i feel that following these simplistic/transcendental ideals can be very difficult. I can see why Suelo would leave his society to live in isolation to follow his transcendental ideas.
Since completing the Utopian Society Project, I have determined that the concept of transcendentalism is a ridiculous concept that is impossible to reciprocate in the modern world. Take for instance, the Acorn Society. At first glance they are independent of each other and no one posses any personal property. The seem to be free of the government and all free market enterprises. If you delve any deeper though, you find that it is the epitome of capitalism and free market enterprise. The whole society is based off of a seed sales business, producing agricultural seeds and selling them to companies or individuals who would like to plant crops. For this exchange of products, they are given capital, which they then exchange for goods like the sheet metal for barn siding, or new plumbing. While the 10 individuals who live there seem to work entirely independent of anyone else, they have inadvertently based their whole livelihood off of modern day society, in exchange for a higher quality of life.
The concept of transcendentalism isn't too bad of an idea, at least from the independence perspective. In my honest opinion, not enough people are independent from each other in a way that breeds a highly skilled and hardworking population. Instead people do use each other as crutches too often, and at some point no one will be standing on their own and it would take the slightest of a breeze to topple everyone over.
Communing with nature is another aspect of the transcendentalism that I find interesting. I'm not sure I agree that the end all answer to the meaning of life can be found by squatting in the woods for many years, but I also think that some solitude could help people answer whatever questions they have on life. Personally I find my transcendental moments on the weekends, when I'm out with just a few people and can achieve peace and quiet for a day or two. I also think that coming back helps me answer any question I have just as well because in society I am exposed to many opinions and can weigh them all before striking down them all, save one.
In the end I would say that a little transcendentalism cannot hurt you, but too much certainly won't help you.
After completing the Utopian Society project, I believe there are many different and unique beliefs that supports transcendentalism. Now, on the other hand, I not necessarily agree with some of the positions taken, but I agree that they are unique/interesting ideas. For example, the man that traveled all the way across the United States walking and interviewing people. I think that it was a very interesting idea, and it was cool to listen to what people talked about, but I don't think I would ever do that. I think other ideas of transcendentalism such as maybe traveling a couple states in a van home would be very cool and fun! Along the way it would be possible to take cool pictures and talk to many people. I believe we all experience some transcendentalism throughout our lives weather its to the extremes of living off the grid for months, or simple just having some alone time on the weekends. I agree with the fact that some alone time can benefit us all even if we don't always realize it. Alone time gives us time to think, and appreciate the little things in life that are often times overlooked. After all, there are many different transcendentalist beliefs and views, that are all unique to themselves, but I can only agree and relate to a few of these ideas.
After doing our transcendentalism project I realized that people take the smallest things in life for granted and that we miss out on the little important things for what we think is more important, which in reality the truth is the little things in life seem to leave a large impact on ones self. Not everyone agrees with transcendentalism but it's just s matter of opinion. My opinion is I believe parts of it. Not everything.
Since completing the modern utopia project, I can conclude that it would be nearly impossible for a modern transcendentalists to survive in this current society. I believe this because transcendentalists are independent thinkers and in today's society we rely on others too much and it would be pointless and ineffective to live without the help of someone else. Although Suelo followed the transcendentalist lifestyle and did it successfully, I personally could never see myself following transcendentalism because the idea of no currency is just not appealing to me. I don't hate the idea of transcendentalism, I can some good foundation around the idea of it but I think it would be way to difficult for a transcendentalist to survive today.
The strongest aspect of transcendentalism, that I believe most, and applies most to my life is the idea of self reliance. It's always easy to make mistakes, and even easier to make an excuse for them, but it takes a strong sense of self-reliance to own up to your mistakes, and have the integrity, to admit to yourself, that your mistakes are your responsibility. I believe that is the most abused aspect of transcendentalism today. People now more than ever, are willing to let other people do the work for them, and prosper off effort they have not put forth. For a society to work, equal effort must be put forward by all of it's inhabitants. A simple philosophy, you get out exactly what you put in and nothing more, this is what appeals to me, this is what the world needs to understand.
After finishing the Utopia Project, there are a lot of different beliefs and morals on transcendentalism. Even though I do not believe in transcendentalism, the ideas and understandings are still there and helpful. The beliefs they have are really cool and unique on how they see this world but spending 2 years away from society is really hard and complicated in this day in age. I believe there are many different ways to be a transcendental and not have to become one with nature and go out into the woods. The stories that these people carry are really life changing and beautiful stories and help a lot of people with life and losses they have and help people move onto greater things. A lot of these people have different philosophies and understandings and ideas that are considered healthy to them and some may agree but some may disagree but this topic to me is really cool and interesting.
After engaging in the modern utopian society project, I am thinking Transcendentalism is very opposed to the world that we live in today. Transcendental values such as the importance of nature and independence aren't nearly as valuable in todays society as transcendentalist would hope. The one quality within transcendentalism that I am most provoked by is self reliance and independence. This is the value that I most agree with and that I feel is very opposed in todays society. It is very important for people to go against what all of the conformists are going with.
After completing the Transcendental Utopia project, I realized that people often don't realize the small things that are in front of them, and if they do, they just walk by it knowing that it is there but not appreciating that it's there (for a reason) and it might be gone soon. Even though we don't realize it, transcendentalist always bothers about the fact that people don't realize, but that leads to a big problem which is that the little things must be there for them to live in that Utopia we created. The small things equal big impacts and those impacts lead to a different destiny. The destiny thought came from Thoreau because he believes that he is in control of his destiny and that piques my interest because I believe that you can't control your destiny. Controlling your destiny is like controlling everything around, and that is the case, then that means that you can change and morph the surrounds around you to the point of your liking. I'm not saying that you don't have control in your life, but I'm saying that you can't change the things around you in life. Thoreau says that he is a person who goes with the flow, but is also distracted by the little things that we don't appreciate. I do believe he is teaching us a lesson, a lesson that tells us that we shouldn't be selfish like the conformist we are.
After engaging in the project, I think Transcendentalism is a way of life that emphasizes simplicity and living in harmony with nature. Being happy, whatever that means for you. Letting yourself live beyond society's expectations, and not following the norms to “have a successful life”. I believe it’s being adventurous, and living thoughtfully. Transcendentalists believe in human rights, and that everyone deserves access to knowledge. One quality within Transcendentalism that piques my interest is that all people have access to divine inspiration.
After going through this assignment, I think Transcendentalism is everywhere. You can be transcendental when you believe that society and its institutions has ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual, and you have faith that people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. The biggest quality I like and I think pretty much everyone has its independence. The way I saw the Utopian society doing their own thing, making their way to feed themselves and creating their own place to live. Living in a tree house and be able to coexist with all the creatures in the woods to me, was amazing. Nature is also something that my Utopian Society valued a lot. They were very green and peaceful. I believe these people were transcendental in their own way. Doing their own thing, independently without caring about what people think is transcendental. Just like Emerson did, how he segregated himself to live transcendental. How he used to say, “"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." That is transcendentalism to me.
After completing this project I think that transcendentalism is this idea that can’t be 100% achieved. I feel as though today’s world and the ideas of these modern day groups are nearly impossible to combine. Many of these societies have no form of rules or regulations, this would cause complete chaos. They also need to incorporate a government or a set group of leaders. Without some of these bases to society, these utopias would fail. It is near impossible to fully get away from the ways of the real world, taxes still have to be payed and voting for our world leaders still matters. The idea of a utopia is always a good thought except for when it is truly thought about.
After the Modern Utopia Society Project, I have a different view on modern transcendentalism. At first, I thought transcendentalism was a peaceful and sacluded thing but after researching some of the modern “utopias” like the acorn society, I realized that some of the transcendentalists have very strong opinions about how the world should look and they aren't afraid to protest to get what they want. One thing that interested me during the project was how all of these utopias have very different views about the world. At first I thought that all transcendentalists believed the same things but it became clear to me that everyone has different opinions and things they believe in.
Though transcendentalism is an interesting idea it is something that is leaving us due to modern society, People are spending less and less time with nature and are simply trading it in for more time with their flat screens. Unfortunately I believe this cycle will continue and people will continue to lose touch with nature in order to embrace today's life style.
After working on the Modern day Utopia project I have learned that some of these Utopian societies have real organization but there is one key thing that is holding them together but without that it would be a very chaotic place to live in.It it also very interesting how they do not try to fit in with society they want there society to have different opinions on the government and things related .I think in some way they are trying to hide themselves from the real world and except reality.
After learning about and researching about modern day transcendentalism I have learned that these people live with the bare minimum and are happy with just that. They are not greedy and they see everyone as being treated the same. I think that it is awesome that no matter what you believe or how you act to a transcendentalist everyone is equal and unique in their own way. I think that is a major flaw in society today is that everyone thinks that they are better than everyone else, so I don't think that everyone should just become a transcendentalist but I think that some of their ideas lead them to an overall happier and more loving life than most people in todays society.
After engaging in the Modern Utopian Society project, I think that transcendentalism is a very inspirational idea. One of the qualities that interested me about it was the idea of diversity being celebrated and embraced. You can come from any kind of background, different places, beliefs, and ways of life all coming together to live a harmonious lifestyle. How much better would the world be if we were all tolerant of each other's ways of existing? I think it would entail a happy and balanced society.
It was very inspiring, the Utopia project. It really sparked my interest that there are people who live by there own rules. They seem a lot happier. It is insane to know people with all kinds of different background stories could come together with the same beliefs and ideas. It also sparked an interest to know how many utopias there are and how they're all different ideas and thoughts about certain things. It amazes me that people do this and it also amazes me that most people don't do this. I think it is a great idea to be in a community with similar ideas and beliefs and thoughts.
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