Grant Ewing 8/2/11 American Literature Charity Clarke Words: 155

Essay #2 Transcendentalism finds its roots geographically in New England, but principally in the belief of Monism. Authors and Poets of the 19th century such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau, were the catalysts for the spread of this belief system. Transcendentalists believed that God and the world were intimately connected, and that truth and divinity is to be found inside oneself. The majority of people who aligned themselves with this worldview, were rebelling against the Christian God, whose ways and truths they had rejected. Yet their spiritual longing still remained. Their attempt to remedy that deep desire, so they made themselves God. These people decided that the truth was inside of them, and since they were born inherently good, they could "follow their heart", and they would turn out right. In the end this is simply one of the many reactions the people of this earth have had to a righteous and holy God.