On Reading and Applying Emerson
The Over-Soul is the central, unified, and divine Mind that is the source of all life and connects every living thing.
Our study of Ralph Waldo Emerson begins on Saturday. This Saturday and next Wednesday, we begin with a two-session consideration of Emerson’s “The Over-Soul,” an essay that is foundational to understanding his more famous essays, such as “Self-Reliance.”
The complete schedule is available here.
I have previously explained that, while Emerson's prose may be initially difficult to read, paradoxically, this difficulty enhances learning.
Here are some other pointers to get the most from your study.
Although early in his career he was a minister, Emerson’s core philosophy is not a replacement for religion or a challenge to your religious beliefs. His philosophy aligns with the universal tenets found in nearly all major religions. Religious or not, most people long for transcendence from the tedious nature of our egoic mind. Emerson helps show the way.
Emerson’s Over-Soul points to God’s immanent presence. The Over-Soul is the central, unified, and divine Mind that is the source of all life and connects every living thing.
This is the concept of God’s Universal Spirit, or the Divine Essence that dwells within all creation. By whatever name is used, it is the attribute of God that is omnipresent.
In short, Emerson’s Over-Soul is simply a non-denominational term for God who lives within us and through us all. His belief in the loving presence of God in all of us was not the product of a charmed life. Emerson’s first wife, Ellen, died just under two years after they were married, and his first son, Waldo, died at age five.
Emerson’s belief in the Oneness of all things directly supports the highest ethical command of most religions.
The perceived separation between people is an illusion created by the physical senses. You can’t lift a wave out of the ocean. Because we are all waves in the same Over-Soul, we are fundamentally one being.
This provides the metaphysical justification for the Golden Rule and the command to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It means that when you act with kindness toward another, you are literally nourishing a part of the greater divine life that you also inhabit. When you hurt someone else, you hurt yourself.
Emerson aims to show on a philosophical level why love is the highest law: because we are not separate; we are literally expressions of the same divine whole.
This past Monday, author and traditional conservative thought leader Rod Dreher alarmingly wrote:
Anti-Semitism is spreading like a virus among religious conservatives of the Zoomer generation. They’re getting it through online influencers, but apparently their pastors and parents are either not fighting back, or have lost authority in the minds of these young people. This is irrational. For example, I heard from a number of Zoomercon Christians that Zoomer trad Catholics are making antisemitism part of their spirituality — this, despite the fact that the Catholic Church explicitly condemns it. The same phenomenon, I am hearing, exists among Zoomercon Orthodox and Protestants. Putting aside politics, this is total spiritual poison.
Emerson would add the word “deadly” as in deadly spiritual poison. We can modify the old saying about anger: Jew hatred is like drinking poison and expecting only Jews to die.
Consider how few people are willing to read the treasures of humanity, such as Emerson’s works, compared to how many are willing to have their passions stirred by social media, and you know why the world today has so much suffering and despair. The market gives us what we demand, but that doesn’t mean that what we demand is a recipe for human flourishing.
There is one point of potential conflict with religious beliefs to clear up. Emerson asserts that the individual needs no priest, church, or historical figure to access the divine, because the Over-Soul flows directly through every person. This is a radical affirmation of the direct accessibility of God’s presence, rather than a dismissal of sacred traditions or prayer. Emerson believed in prayer and would never quarrel with traditions that are alive in you.
The work lies in applying the principles learned to daily life, turning Emerson’s philosophy (at least those that resonate with you) into spiritual action.
As with our other Mindset Shifts U sessions, we can practice disidentifying with the “whirlpool” of our ego—our self-concept, our fears, our need for external approval, etc.
When anxiety arises, we can pause and ask, Is this fear coming from my eternal Over-Soul, or from my transient ego? Often, being willing to ask the question results in a change of mind.
To reinforce the concept of the Over-Soul, we can actively practice seeing the divine in others.
When interacting with someone we dislike or disagree with, we can make the conscious effort to look past their ego and recognize the shared humanity of the Over-Soul within them.
Do you believe your essential self lies inside your body, and all other people lie outside of you and are different? That’s certainly what our senses and thoughts tell us. But Emerson is going to ask us to consider what happens when we perceive the world that way. What happens when we are sure our perceptions are correct?
What if we have forgotten our true identity? Importantly, we don’t have to find ourselves. We merely have to remove the barriers we have created to our true Nature
In today’s world, we receive opportunities to practice many times a day. Just watch your mind react to your news feed. Importantly, as we will see, Emerson doesn’t advise us to sing Kumbaya. He wants us to oppose what we see as wrong vigorously. Emerson advised, “Speak what you think to-day in words as hard as cannon balls.” We can do that without denying the humanity of those with whom we are at odds.
By focusing on these two levels of process—the intensive philosophical study and the active practice—we can move beyond being inspired by Emerson to living the parts of his philosophy that inspire us.
There is a difference between reading and reading and taking notes. Consider using your favorite note-taking app, Word, or Google Docs to capture favorite quotations from the readings, along with insights and questions that arise while you read. When I am out, I always carry index cards and a pen in my pocket because inspiration often arises when the mind is relaxed. There is rarely a day when my cards are not full of scribbled notes; my daily walks, especially when going uphill, yield insights that remind me of what my morning writing sessions have missed.
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Really lovely and thought provoking. Thank you.