Thoreau And Transcendentalism Essays - Lecturers, Civil Disobedience

Thoreau and Transcendentalism The beauty in the strength of mere words and the immense impact they have on the soul of man has been the inspiration to many of the greatest poets and writers. The ability to combine elegance with knowledge and thereupon affect the thoughts of others using only paper and pen has intrigued men for centuries. Each generation produces those who vehemently speak out against injustices by their written words. Henry David Thoreau proved to be the voice of his people and thus changed history by expressing the ideals he believed to be correct, though the majority of the people did not always understand these ideals. "I should have told them at once that I was a transcendentalist. That would have been the shortest way of telling them that they would not understand my explanations" (H. D. Thoreau). He believed in the oneness of individual souls with nature and with God, which gave dignity and importance to human activity and made possible a belief in the power to effect social change in harm ony with God's purposes (Richardson 81). Thoreau tore the veil of conventional thought away from societies clouded eyes. Born on a calm, mid-summer night of 1817 to a family of neither wealth nor importance, Thoreau became exposed to the reality of life at a relatively young age. His father made pencils in a small shop, while his mother took in boarders. During the bleak winter of 1842, Henry lost his beloved brother John Thoreau, Jr. to a terrible case of lockjaw brought on by a slight, but unattended wound. His death profoundly affected Henry who then resolved to eulogize his brother's death in a book based on a vacation the two had taken on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. By July 1845, Henry left civilization to live in a cabin he had built on the shore of Walden Pond, where he proceeded to write his tribute to his brother's life, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. However, the work which developed as a result of Henry's experiences at Walden Pond, entitled Walden, proved to be more original and exciting than Henry's first book. After graduating from Harvard in 1837, Thoreau met his acquaintance and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was Emerson who first introduced Henry to the concept of Transcendentalism, which drastically changed Thoreau's view of life from that moment on. Transcendentalism, which places emphasis of mysticism and individuality, gave Thoreau the platform he needed to express his thoughts. Emerson then employed Thoreau as a gardener and a handyman. During their spare time, they would freely converse over the concepts and beauty of Transcendentalism. Their lives were shaped and bonded together by their desire for understanding of this philosophy. Reality exists only in the world of the spirit. What a person observes in the physical world are only appearances of impermanent reflections of the world of the spirit (World Book 470). Transcendentalism opposes the philosophy of empiricism, which states that knowledge comes from experience. According to Thoreau, knowledge is not limited to or solely derived from experience and observation. He taught that the solution to human problems lies in the free development of individual emotions (Harding 18). Man must increase his understanding of himself in order to change the outside world. Transcendentalism arose partly as a reaction to society's growing love for material possessions and the dehumanization of man's emotions. It was also a response to what some felt was a spiritual inadequacy of established religion (Richardson 126). Thoreau's journey to Walden Pond was his first chance to test the idealism of this philosophy in the real world. In the chapter entitled "Where I Lived" of Wal den, Thoreau wrote, "Men esteem truth remote, in the outskirts of the system, behind the farthest star...In eternity there is indeed something true and sublime. But all these times and places and occasions are now and here. God himself culminates in the present moment...And we are enabled to apprehend at all what is sublime and noble only by the perpetual instilling and drenching of the reality that surrounds us"(Walden 'What I Lived For). By living closely with nature at Walden, Thoreau attempted and succeeded at attaining a higher truth. Transcendentalism earned a

Dealing with a Grad School Rejection

Dealing with a Grad School Rejection You followed all the directions for applying to graduate school. You prepared for the GRE  and  obtained excellent recommendations  and still received a rejection letter from the graduate program of your dreams. What gives? Its difficult to learn that youre not among a grad program’s top choices, but more applicants are rejected than accepted to grad school. From a statistical standpoint, you have lots of company; competitive doctoral programs can receive 10 to 50 times as many graduate applicants than they can take. That probably doesnt make you feel any better, though. It may be particularly difficult if you were invited for an interview for graduate school; however, as many as 75 percent of applicants invited for interviews dont get into grad school. Why Was I Rejected? The simple answer is because there aren’t enough slots. Most graduate programs receive far more applications from qualified candidates than they can accept. Why were you eliminated  by a particular program? There is no way to tell for sure, but in many cases, applicants are rejected because they demonstrated poor fit. In other words, their interests and career aspirations didnt fit the program. For example, an applicant to a research-oriented clinical psychology program  who didn’t read the program materials carefully might be rejected for indicating an interest in practicing therapy. Alternatively, its simply a numbers game. In other words, a program may have 10 slots but 40 well-qualified applicants. In this case, decisions are often arbitrary and based on factors and whims that you cant predict. In these cases, it may simply be the luck of the draw. Seek Support You might find it difficult to inform family, friends, and professors of the bad news, but it is essential that you seek social support. Allow yourself to feel upset and acknowledge your feelings, then move forward. If you are rejected to every program to which you apply, reassess your goals, but don’t necessarily give up. Be Honest with Yourself Ask yourself some hard questions - and try your best to answer them honestly: Did you select schools carefully, paying attention to fit?Did you apply to enough programs?Did you complete all parts of each application?Did you spend enough time on your essays?Did you tailor your essays to each program?Did you have research experience?Did you have a field or applied experience?Did you know your referees well and did they have something to write about?Were most of your applications to highly competitive programs? Your answers to these questions may help you determine whether to reapply  next year, apply to a master’s program instead, or choose another career path. If you are firmly committed to attending graduate school, consider reapplying next year. Use the next few months to improve your academic record, seek research experience, and get to know professors. Apply to a wider range of schools (including safety schools), select programs more carefully, and thoroughly research each program.