396 Emerson, Ralph Waldo
become incorporated into the mix, thus continuing
to provide a wellspring of eternal truths to those for
whom these lofty goals are open.
Emerson’s vision of “Man Thinking” as it is
pronounced in “The American Scholar” is a picture
of a vibrant and growing democratic society, fraught
with active and connected individuals. The venue
for the address is important, as Emerson wants the
Harvard students to be indoctrinated into this line
of thought, thus propagating it throughout the rest
of a young and vibrant America.
Michael Modarelli
spirituality in “The American Scholar”
In “The American Scholar,” Ralph Waldo Emer-
son’s spirituality comes through his notions of tran-
scendentalism. For Emerson, nature, as an entity,
exists as one of the three educators of the scholar,
the other two being action and books. The past is a
tyrant; the scholar must study the present in order
to be free from the chains of the past. In nature,
Emerson argues, we can see the shadow of our own
existence; it is the raw material within which pat-
terns of our own spiritual lives exist, and the scholar
is one who most engages nature and mines it for
these ideas. Boundless nature, argues Emerson, has
no beginning or end; instead, it is a circular spiritual
power always existing for itself. In this way, nature
resembles the spirit, or soul, of man. Each soul exists
individually and collectively, part of the larger web
of nature.
Emerson begins his address by including the
audience in his speech. The gathering consists
of would-be scholars, members of the Phi Beta
Kappa Society, and Emerson quickly debunks the
notion that the scholar’s job is merely to become
the romantic intellectual. Instead, scholars should
remain open to new possibilities and spiritually and
intellectually receptive to others. Indeed, Emerson
patterns his scholar after God’s pattern of nature:
The role of the scholar is to create. But first the
scholar must create himself, which is the basis for
“Man Thinking.” Yet the scholar begins to classify.
Emerson claims that this classifying leads “Man
Thinking” back to the past, where he becomes sub-
ordinated once again. Hence, books—the literature,
histories, and ideas of the past—can only serve one
to an extent.
Perhaps the most important idea Emerson wants
to get across to his audience lies in his idea of
spirituality, which underlies everything else in the
address. He seeks to explain that when man can
“read” God correctly, he needs no other readings
or teachings. And God, for Emerson, can be found
within nature. Given this idea, then, events and
substances in nature are symbols of spiritual facts. In
fact, man exists at the spiritual center of the universe,
and ultimately, the keys to this universe already exist
within in man. This idea forms the heart of Emer-
son’s transcendentalism. The structure of nature, the
universe, and everything existing within, structures
itself on man, and vice versa. So when Emerson
discusses “Man Thinking” as man in action, he
means that “Man Thinking” is in touch with his
very nature. “Man Thinking” realizes the ultimate
doctrine of himself and therefore the fundamental
structure of nature and God’s pattern.
“The American Scholar” is one of the first
instances in which Emerson’s transcendentalism
comes to the fore. Written for scholars, the address
serves two distinct purposes: to promote a shift
away from the burgeoning mercantile and capital-
istic trends of the day toward a more spiritual view,
and to illustrate this spiritual shift in the nature
and duties of the scholar. Emerson acknowledges
the draw of money, fortune, and fame, but he
argues against this worldview. Instead, he says, the
outward world exists as an appearance; the inner
world, as seen by the web of nature, is divine. Any
man who finds the connection of the soul with
God will be an American scholar. He will be “Man
Thinking,” and he will see the patterns of God in
himself and in nature. But the scholar has certain
duties, Emerson is quick to point out. The scholar
must, with this spiritual connection, study nature
and books. Most important, the scholar must
remain active, an active, living divinity of reason
existing within the soul.
Emerson’s “The American Scholar” addresses
a fundamental spiritual crisis arising in a United
States on the brink of industrial explosion. In
order to get back to reality—for Emerson, reality
exists as spirituality in connection with its divine