Witness the career of Bronson
Alcott. It is also true that the glorious affirmations of these
seers can be neither proved nor disproved. They made no
examination and they sought no validation of consciousness. An
explorer in search of the North Pole must bring back proofs of
his journey, but when a Transcendentalist affirms that he has
reached the far heights of human experience and even caught sight
of the gods sitting on their thrones, you and I are obliged to
take his word for it. Sometimes we hear such a man gladly, but it
depends upon the man, not upon the trustworthiness of the method.
Finally it should be observed that the Transcendental movement
was an exceedingly complex one, being both literary, philosophic,
and religious; related also to the subtle thought of the Orient,
to mediaeval mysticism, and to the English Platonists; touched
throughout by the French Revolutionary theories, by the Romantic
spirit, by the new zeal for science and pseudo-science, and by
the unrest of a fermenting age.
Our present concern is with the impact of this cosmopolitan
current upon the mind and character of a few New England writers.
Pages:
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147