New England transcendentalism arose in reaction to the dehumanization and materialistic focus manifested by the Industrial Revolution. Chief among its proponents of radical thinkers and writers was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Transcendentalism arose from the ideas of Locke and Kant. John Locke argued that knowledge is knowable ôonly by direct observation through the physical sensesö (Perrin 2). Kant argues that ôtruth is innate in all of creation and that knowledge of it is intuitive rather than rationalö (Perrin 2). It was from such ideas that the transcendentalists rejected all dogma of traditional belief systems and rational insight as the means of discovering truth and connecting with the God-head. Yet despite the validity of New England transcendentalism and the need for it in an increasingly secular and material society, many argue that the movement eventually faded in significance. As Perrin (1998) writes, ôIndustrialization continued. Inequities were righted one by one, slowly, rather than through sweeping social changeö (3). Such a contention is patently invalid. The ideas and principles of New England transcendentalism remain valid and as a society and individually we remain more in need of adopting them than at any time in history.
The main idea offered by the New England transcendentalists was that the divine spirit is innately present in all living things, including all nature and the human soul. This meant that a one-on-one or direct knowledge of God and understanding of the self were possible through mystical, human intuition as opposed to rational deliberation of dogma of various belief systems. In Nature, Emerson, the leading transcendentalist, asked a fundamental question: ôThe foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we--, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe?ö (Perrin 1). In his essay The Over-Soul, Emerson maintained a unity of the ...