Those are the bare bones. Before touching on the details of his time spent in Concord, here are a few key pieces of his life story that are of particular consequence... life events that profoundly impacted and shaped his life’s trajectory.
• In 1811, 8-year-old Emerson loses his father to a reported stomach tumor and the family is thrown into financial hardship. Loss and the resulting instability are a part of his everyday world.
• In 1831, his first wife Ellen dies of “consumption” or tuberculosis (TB), less than two years after their vows, at the young age of 19 years. This was one of the most profound emotional and spiritual shocks of his life.
• In 1834, Emerson’s younger brother by two years, Edward, dies of TB at the age of 29 years; in 1836, his younger brother by five years, Charles, dies at the age of 28, also from TB.
Now, I understand that no one’s course through life avoids troubled waters. Traumas are a reality of life. And they shape us. Having said that, that is a lot on one’s shoulders so early in life. That diseases such as tuberculosis and dysentery have largely disappeared in this country is noteworthy and deserving of our gratitude. You can clearly get a sense of how they impacted families of the day.
Emerson ended up moving back to his family home in Concord in 1834. He remarried and his first son Waldo, named for Emerson’s father, was born in 1835. But yet again tragedy struck in January 1841, when his son Waldo died at the age of five from Scarlet Fever, the single most devastating event of Emerson’s life.
Emerson’s writings, including journals which he kept throughout his life, reflect his processing of these events and attendant grief. They transition from deep personal heartbreak to a philosophy of soul, centered on resilience and self-reliance, as well as an intimate and intuitive connection to the divine found in ourselves and in Nature.
Grief can do that to us; it can strip us down, bring us to our knees. Often it is precisely at these times when God reveals himself... when the divine whispers in our ear and tells our heart to rise.
Emerson is known primarily for his writing, perhaps most notably
Nature published in 1836 and
Self-Reliance published in 1841. In
Nature he postulates how the individual spirit participates in a universal spirit (“oversoul”), visible within the architecture of nature. With
Self-Reliance he emphasizes the importance in trusting yourself, questioning conformity, individual over institution, and the necessity of recognizing the divinity within each of us.
Trust thyself. Your intuition is sacred. Your inner voice carries truth. Authenticity matters more than approval. Individuals betray themselves when they subordinate their convictions to the consensus of public opinion. Self-reliance doesn’t mean a narcissistic isolation from society, but rather radical integrity, fidelity to inner conviction and moral independence.
These thoughts seem particularly relevant to our contemporary times.
Born out of Emerson’s life and experiences was the Transcendentalist movement, emerging out of Concord in 1836. A small group of friends and literary artists including Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and Bronson Alcott would meet regularly to discuss philosophy, religion, and literature. Members would go on to publish and edit the magazine
The Dial
from 1840-1844, which pushed their influence nationwide. The principles in general espoused:
- The Over-Soul – a universal spiritual unity
- Intuition over tradition
- Nature as revelation
- Radical individualism
- Moral reform rooted in self-transformation
Though lasting perhaps only ten years or so as a formal American Intellectual movement, its influence would extend far beyond this time period and even profoundly impact social reform in America and across the globe. How? Abolitionism for starters. Transcendentalists argued that slavery was morally wrong and that individuals must act according to their conscience, not law or custom. People like Henry David Thoreau supported the Underground Railroad. Their call for self-reliance and moral courage inspired direct action against injustice. Spiritual and moral intuition drive an obligation to oppose social evils.
They also impacted women’s rights and education, with Margaret Fuller promoting equality for women, most notably with
Woman in the Nineteenth Century. Considered the first major feminist work in the U.S., it would later impact the women’s suffrage movement overall.
Their influence impacted education reform, arguing for intuition, creativity and moral cultivation over rote memorization, and even prison and penal reform, influenced by the idea that humans have inherent moral worth and potential for improvement.
