美國超驗主義

美國超驗主義（American Transcendentalism）是美國的一個重要思潮，它興起於十九世紀三十年代的新英格蘭地區，但波及其他地方，成為美國思想史上一次重要的思想解放運動。它是與拉爾夫·沃爾多·愛默生以及梭羅相關的一種文學和哲學運動，宣稱存在一種理想的精神實體，超越於經驗和科學之處，通過直覺得以把握。

一般認為，愛默生是超驗主義的倡導者，他的散文，特別是他的演講，令人感到親切，聲音奇異，帶有強烈的個人感情色彩；他的散文在端莊凝重的說教之中每每流溢出特有的富有魅力的睿智、幽默感和文學、哲思的深度來。他的言詞文本雄辯有力而輝煌，語調變幻莫測，顯示出他的深奧的文學技巧來。

1831年，愛默生辭去波士頓第二教堂的聖職到歐洲去旅遊。其間，他會見了不少當時的文學名人，諸如英國詩人、散文家瓦特·蘭德（Walter Savage Landor），詩人柯勒律治（Samuel Taylor Coleridge），華茲華斯（William Wordsworth）和蘇格蘭散文家、歷史學家卡萊爾（Thomas Carlyle）。特別是他在蘇格蘭鄉間會見了卡萊爾之後，開始了兩位文學家的終生友情和通信。

1837年，當愛默生作《美國學者》演講時，另一名超驗主義的集大成者梭羅剛從哈佛大學畢業。對於很多人而言，梭羅是一本教科書，通過他，人們可以用自然界發生的事實來理解世界，於是世界便成了一個供人閱讀、品味、咀嚼的整體。他希冀過簡單的生活。

梭羅說過：“我之所以走進林間並不是想生活得便宜些或者更昂貴些，而是想以最少的麻煩做些個人想做的事。”因此，他的文字細膩而自然，充滿了一個敏感的作家和一個深思熟慮的哲人對大自然的至誠的感受和感動。

比起愛默生的演說和寫作，梭羅更多地是實踐和行動，在他的性格中，那種崇尚生命和自然、崇尚自由和獨立的精神，和那種曾經在美國的開發，尤其是西部的開發中表現出來的勇敢、豪邁、粗獷、野性的拓荒者精神存在某種內在的聯繫。

徠從現在的歷史資料來看，人們無法了解梭羅是否親自聆聽愛默生的演講，但梭羅一生實踐了愛默生在《美國學者》中的召喚：更多地關注美國本土，追求美國本土的獨創性。

作為一場融歐洲與美國思想潮流於一體的思想運動，它催生了美國散文一系列經典之作：《自然》（Nature，1836）、《美國學者》（TheAmericanScholar，1837）、《知識的自然歷史》（NaturalHistoryofIntellect，1893）、《瓦爾登湖》（Waldon，orLifeintheWoods，1854 梭羅著），等等。

十九世紀的美國被一些歷史學家認為是獨特的美國文化誕生和成長的時期，是繼政治獨立之後美國精神、文化從歐洲大陸的母體斷乳而真正獨立的時期。正是在這樣的特殊時代，以愛默森和梭羅等為代表的“超驗主義”思潮“破空出世”，成為美國人的精神獨立宣言。

超驗主義追求人的自由的精神成為美國文化中一個重要遺產。這種思潮發源於單一神教，同時又接受了浪漫主義的影響，強調人與上帝間的直接交流和人性中的神性，其結果是解放了人性，提高了人的地位，使人的自由成為可能。超驗主義具有強烈的批判精神，其社會目標是建立一個道德完滿、真正民主自由的社會，儘管帶有烏托邦的理想色彩。

超驗主義的核心觀點是主張人能超越感覺和理性而直接認識真理，認為人類世界的一切都是宇宙的一個縮影——“世界將其自身縮小成為一滴露水”（愛默生語）。它強調萬物本質上的統一，萬物皆受“超靈”制約，而人類靈魂與“超靈”一致。這種對人之神聖的肯定使超驗主義者蔑視外部的權威與傳統，依賴自己的直接經驗。

超驗主義的主要思想觀點有三。首先，超驗主義者強調精神，或超靈，認為這是宇宙至為重要的存在因素。超靈是一種無所不容、無所不在、揚善抑惡的力量，是萬物之本、萬物之所屬，它存在於人和自然界內。其二，超驗主義者強調個人的重要性。他們認為個人是社會的最重要的組成部分，社會的革新只能通過個人的修養和完善才能實現。因此人的首要責任就是自我完善，而不是刻意追求金玉富貴。理想的人是依靠自己的人。其三，超驗主義者以全新的目光看待自然，認為自然界是超靈或上帝的象徵。在他們看來，自然界不只是物質而已。它有生命，上帝的精神充溢其中，它是超靈的外衣。因此，它對人的思想具有一種健康的滋補作用。超驗主義主張回歸自然，接受它的影響，以在精神上成為完人。這種觀點的自然內涵是，自然界萬物具象徵意義，外部世界是精神世界的體現。

愛默生有句名言——“相信你自己”，這句話成為超驗主義者的座右銘。這種超驗主義觀點強調人的主觀能動性，有助於打破加爾文教的“人性惡”、“命定論”等教條的束縛，為熱情奔放，抒發個性的美國式文化奠定了基礎。

正因為愛默生的超驗主義觀點摒棄了加爾文教派神為中心的思想，認為在某種意義上，“人”就上帝，才使得超驗主義明顯地烙上資本主義上升期的時代轟烈：“一個人一定能夠成為他想成為的人。”而這種素來被稱為美國平民宗教的自立自強，激勵了美國民族精神的發展完善。

因此，超驗主義者的貢獻就在於在理想主義的旗幟下重新審視了“美”的哲學命題，解放了美國思想，也使美國文學（包括散文創作）從模仿英國及歐洲大陸的風格中脫穎而出，開創了美國文藝復興時期。

其實，“超驗主義”作為一種並不確切的戲稱，也許只在認識論的意義上表現了這一思潮的一個特徵，即崇尚直覺和感受，而這一思潮的意義也許更重要地是體現在它熱愛自然，尊崇個性，號召行動和創造，反對權威和教條等具有人生哲學蘊涵的方面，它對於美國精神和文化擺脫歐洲大陸的母體而形成自己嶄新而獨特的面貌產生了巨大影響。

1.Brief introduction

American Transcendentalism or“New England Transcendentalism” or “American Renaissance” (1836---1855) was the first American intellectual movement, which exerted a tremendous impact on the consciousness of American people. As Lawrence Buell states, “To proclaim transcendentalism’s impact, however, is easier than to define it, for the movement was loosely organized and its boundaries were indistinct”.

New England Transcendentalism was, in essence, romantic idealism on Puritan soil. It was a system of thought that originated from three sources. First William Ellery Channing (1780---1842) was an American Unitarian clergyman. His Unitarianism represented a thoughtful revolt against orthodox Puritanism. Unitarianism believed God as one being, rejecting the doctrine of trinity, stressing the tolerance of difference in religious opinion, and giving each congregation the free control of its own affairs and its independent authority. It laid the foundation for the central doctrines of transcendentalism. Secondly, the idealistic philosophy from France and Germany exerted enormous impact on American intellectuals. Thirdly, oriental mysticism as revealed in Hindu and Chinese classics reached America in English translations. As a result, New England Transcendentalism blended native American tradition with foreign influences.

Dissatisfied with the materialistic-oriented society and eager to save the soul with a doctrine of the mind, some American intellectuals were so athirst for new ideas that they formed an informal discussing group, the Transcendental Club, with some thirty men and women of Boston and Concord in 1836. They were strongly influenced by the new German idealism and delighted in abstract discussion. They met irregularly over the next four years at Ralph Waldo Emerson's home in Concord for the purpose of discussing the new ideas of life and society. This club was the first and most famous of a series of forums that served during the next few decades as social gathering points. It became the movement's magnetic center. From 1836 to 1835, they advocated their views and principles in various magazines. Besides, they even published their journal. The Dial (1840-1844).

Their meetings and their journal promoted this movement and added prominence to it. Many people interested in the new ideas of transcendentalism were impressed by the brotherhood of humanity. In order to separate themselves from the evil society, they made two communitarian experiments by establishing ideal communities. George Ripley (1802-1880) set up the Brook Farm on Boston's outskirts, which ran from 1841 to 1847 with emphasis on cooperation without competition. On this farm, people shared in domestic and physical labor, and secured material and cultural welfare. It stressed educational reform and its most distinguished institution was its school. The great novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne (1806-1864) was once its member. It is a pity that a disastrous fire in the uninsured main building put and end to this experiment. The second experiment is Fruitlands, near Harvard, set up by Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) in 1843. On this farm, Alcott stressed the absolute avoidance of exploitation of man and beast. It lasted less than a year because it was more extreme in practice than the Brook Farm. Alcott also helped to organize and preside over the concord School of Philosophy (1879-1888), a summer seminar. This was the last significant activity of transcendentalism. However, in the 1830s and 1840s,transcendentalism was treated in newspapers and magazines as something between a national laughing stock and a clear menace to organized religion

2. Major Concepts

The term “transcendentalism” is derived from the Latin verb transcendere meaning, to rise above, or to pass beyond the limits. Transcendentalism has been defined as the recognition in man of the capacity of acquiring knowledge transcending the reach of the five senses, or of knowing truth intuitively, or of reaching the divine without the need of an intercessor. As the leader of this movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson interpreted transcendentalism as “whatever belongs to the class of intuitive thought,” and as “idealism as it appears in 1842.” He believed that the transcendental law was the “moral law” through which man discovered the nature of God as a living spirit. The major concepts that accompanied transcendentalism can be summarized in the following six points.

(1) It stressed the power of intuition, believing that people could learn things both from the outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner world by intuition. But the things they learned from within were truer than the things they learned from without, and transcended them. It held that everyone had access to a source of knowledge that transcended the everyday experiences of sensation and reflection. Intuition was inner light within.

(2) As romantic idealism, it placed spirit first and matter second. It believed that both spirit and matter were real but that the reality of spirit was greater than that of matter. Spirit transcended matter, and the permanent reality was the spiritual one. It stressed essence behind appearance.

(3) It took nature as symbolic of spirit of God. All things in nature were symbols of the spiritual, of God’s presence. Nature was alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence. Everything in the universe was viewed as an expression of the divine spirit. Behind physical objects was a universal soul. Nature was God’s enlightenment towards human beings. Therefore, it could exercise a healthy and restorative influence on human mind. Nature was ennobling and people were somehow better for being out in the woods or meadows. So people should come close to nature for instructions. Nature not only showed humanity its own materiality but taught human morality. Nature’s beauty was the beauty of human mind. The two were joined together. With this organic view in mind, it stressed unity of humanity and nature.

(4) It emphasized the significance of the individual and believed that the individual was the most important element in society and that the ideal kind of individual was self-reliant and unselfish. It held that there was a greatness in all human beings that needed only to be set free. People should depend on themselves for spiritual perfection. As the individual soul could commune with God, it was, therefore, divine. With the assumption of the innate goodness of humanity, it held that the individual soul could reach God without the help of churches or clergy. While stressing individuality, it rejected the restraints of tradition and custom. The transcendentalist had an uncompromising concern for individual’s moral development rather than for social progress. The dignity of the individual remains a vital part of American creed even today.

(5) Emerson envisioned religion as an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “Oversoul”. The “Oversoul” as called by Emerson was an all-pervading unitary spiritual power of goodness, omnipresent and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which everyone was a part. It existed in nature and in humanity alike and constituted the chief element of the universe. Generally, the Oversoul referred to spirit of God as the most important thing in the universe. Since the Oversoul was a single essence, and since all people derived their beings from the same source, the seeming diversity and clash of human interests was only superficial, and all people were in reality striving toward the same ends by different but converging paths. Thus was affirmed the universal brotherhood of humanity, and the ultimate resolution of all social problems. The harder each person strove to express his or her individuality, the more faithfully he or she followed the inner voice, the more surely would the aims of his or her life coincide with those of his or her neighbor.

(6) It held that commerce was degrading and that a life spent in business was a wasted life. Humanity could be much better off if people paid less attention to the material world in which they lived.

3. Significance

Therefore, transcendentalism can be best understood as a somewhat late and localized manifestation of romantic movement in literature and philosophy. The triumph of intuition over five senses, the exaltation of the individual over society, the critical attitude toward formalized religion, the rejection of any kind of restraint or bondage to custom, the new and thrilling delight in nature --- all these were in some measure characteristic of transcendentalism. These ideas also inspired English poets Wordsworth and Coleridge as well as many German idealist philosophers. As formulated by Emerson, transcendentalism became a clarion call to action, exhorting young people to cast off their deadening enslavement to the past, to follow God within, and to live every moment of life with strenuousness, to regard nature as the great objective lesson proving God’s presence everywhere in His creation.

Transcendentalism was also an ethical guide to life for a young nation of America. It preached the positive life and appealed to the best side of human nature. Therefore, it stressed the tolerance of difference in religious opinion and the free control of his own affairs by each congregation, and called to throw off shackles of custom and tradition, and to go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture. It insisted on the essential worth and dignity of the individual as a powerful force for democracy. It also advocated, and practiced, an idealism that was greatly needed in a rapidly expanded economy where opportunity too often became mere opportunism, and the desire to “get on” obscured the moral necessity for rising to spiritual height.

New England Transcendentalism is important to American literature at least for two reasons. On the one hand, it is represented by two major writers of the country----Emerson and Thoreau. They became movers and shakers whose writings have had more and more impact with the passage of time. So far as these two writers are concerned, they were more enduringly important for their ideology than for their actual literary achievement. On the other hand, a new group of writers under the influence of Emerson and Thoreau began to apply transcendental ideas in their works. Almost all the writers of the period were more or less influenced by transcendentalist doctrines. Hawthorne, Melville, Lowell, Dickinson, and Whitman were all exponents of transcendentalism in one way or another. They created one of the most prolific periods in the history of American literature.

4. Weaknesses

The transcendentalist movement had a small membership and only lasted for a few years, but it has exerted great impact in the country. As time passes, the term “Transcendentalism” has lost its derogatory sense and become the condensation of American romantic movement in literature of the period. It lasting importance is great. Transcendentalism, however, was never a systematic philosophy. It borrowed from many sources and reconciled few of them. Whenever the demand of logic became too insistent, it turned to mysticism. It became a rationale for the pressure toward expansionism that was already turning people’s minds to the conquest of the West. It resulted far more often in rampant individualism than in a democracy of mutual helpfulness and equal opportunity. The denial of the reality of evil tended to make moral indignation an irrelevant emotion. The failure of transcendentalism as a moral force in American life was its denial of its real spiritual origin. People used it to justify their acquisitiveness and left it up to the principle of compensation to balance the rest of the account. These are its weaknesses.