Spiritual anarchy in Emerson: the infinitude of the private man

• Thesis title in Czech: Duchovní anarchie u Emersona: nekonečnost soukromého člověka
• Thesis title in English: Spiritual anarchy in Emerson: the infinitude of the private man
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2010/2011
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK)
• Supervisor: David Lee Robbins, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 12.04.2011
• Date of assignment: 18.04.2011
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 07.11.2011
• Date and time of defence: 10.09.2012 09:00
• Date of electronic submission: 22.08.2012
• Date of proceeded defence: 10.09.2012
• Submitted/finalized: committed by student and finalized
• Opponents: prof. PhDr. Martin Procházka, CSc.

Guidelines

The central focus of the thesis will be a critical study of anarchistic ideas vital and alive in the major literary works of R. W. Emerson and his essential influence on prominent thinkers, naturalists and activists of the 19th and 20th century. Present throughout Emerson's essays, poems and journals is a significant insistence on the infinite possibilities of self-exploration and the persistent emphasis on the inner potential of the individual man or woman to find liberation from imposed restraints of external authority (state, church, social custom, etc) relying upon his or her instinct, trust and inherent divinity/genius. The goal is to succeed in finding one's own meaningful place in the world and relation to the universe - not in opposition but in accord and ultimately, in transcendence of the dual tensions governing Nature. The explicit withdrawal from equilibrium in favouring one polar extreme over another can be arguably perceived as the underlying pathos of patriarchal centralized governance which restricts the individual and sets itself in opposition to the natural disposition of the individual to act as the mediator of extremes.
Included in the thesis will be a general layout of the history and major figures of anarchism as well as its definitions, bearing in mind the fact that anarchy is indeed a broad river with as many diverse streams and currents as there are individuals striving for freedom. Throughout the history of human kind individual needs, values and aspirations inevitably clash against the restrictive norms of society and state. Freedom is a basic human need and anarchy may well serve as a tool for the sustenance of it. Although the outcries defending freedom have been solitary, its energy and genius have aroused the appraisal of many whose longing for liberation has not been down-trodden with social estrangements; among such significantly influenced by Emerson was Henry David Thoreau who in turn played out the intellectually and spiritually sophisticated insights of Emerson into the practical experience of everyday living and being. His insistence on a simple and fulfilling life, bereft of materialistic concerns and hindrances, in complete harmony with nature, made him a sober example and inspiration for the generations of activists, deep ecologists and philosophers to come. His brilliant essay "Civil Disobedience" directly influenced spiritual leaders such as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King in their subsequent passive resistance movements.
But even though Emerson influenced so many new and radical ways of thinking, his own philosophy remains unclassifiable. The closest he comes to any stream of anarchy is through his belief in validation of spirituality through autonomous and solitary efforts. Accordingly, he can be broadly defined as a libertarian idealist being predominantly concerned with the individual right to liberty, answering the innate call of human nature to be free to challenge, expand and create. It was and remains to date an extreme challenge and experiment to unravel and explore the inner realms of being and to this particular extent Emerson proves to be of remarkable value as he defied not only the parochial doctrines of the day and the stifling atmosphere of secular society but also the inner limitations these doctrines imposed upon the individual making him, as Emerson would say, a part of the machine he moves whereby the man is lost.
In conclusion I will endeavour to show that the spiritual anarchy of Emerson can be perceived as a state of mind, or rather a state of being, with the implication that the true authority is to be found within, that the real revolution happens inside in terms of a perpetual evolution and transformation of individual consciousness. The constant need for re-actualization of the self together with the inherent human potential for growth direcly corresponds with and is reflected in the laws of nature whereby all things grow, expand, evolve, coalesce -instinctively, incessantly. Although Emerson could hardly be classified as an anarchist, his stark portrayal of the individual was and is always ready to supply the anarchist with a vision and very broad outlook of what it would morally signify to take up the challenge of an anarchistic society where creativity and responsbility are the foremost and essential virtues.

References

R.W.Emerson: Essays and Poems
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edited by Richard Poirier
Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edited and with Foreword by William H. Gilman
Robert D. Richardson Jr: Emerson: The Mind on Fire
H. D. Thoreau: Walden: or, Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
H. D. Thoreau: Walden and Other Writings
H. D. Thoreau: Wild Fruits
A Historical Guide to Henry David Thoreau, Edited by William E. Cain
Robert Richardson Jr: Thoreau: A Life of the Mind
F. O. Matthiessen: American Renaissance
Richard G. Geldard: The Spiritual Teachings of R. W. Emerson
The Essential Transcendentalists, Edited and Introduced by Richard G. Geldard
Oscar Wilde: The Soul of Man, De Profundis
Tony Tanner: The American Mystery
Peter Marshall: Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism
The Essential Chomsky, Edited by Arnold Arnove
Bertrand Russell: Roads to Freedom
Peter Gelderloos: Anarchy Works
Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass
William James: The Varieties of Religious Experience
D. T. Suzuki: Zen Buddhism
Ken Wilber: Sex, Ecology, Spirituality
Deep Ecology for the 21st Century, Edited by George Sessions