Am I a Transcendentalist?

This is an incredibly difficult question because I kind of agree with both sides. Both make points that I agree with, and that makes it very hard to choose a side.

One point that I really do agree with is the point that the transcendentalists make about all men being inherently good. Emerson says, "...the wide universe is full of good..." Self-Reliance is filled with these kind of allusions to the truth about man's true nature. I can truly relate with this point because I very passionately believe in both trust and that given the opportunity, more often than not people will do the right thing. I think that the poem at the very beginning of Self-Reliance really sums up my beliefs nicely. "Man is his own star; and the soul that can render an honest and a perfect man, commands all light, all influence, all fate..." This really shows the true beauty of humanity and shows that even if the world is not perfect, man can still shine like a star and do something that is kind and good.

Another point of Transcendentalism that I believe is the basic idea of self-reliance. Throughout both Emerson and Fuller's essays there is a clear belief that people need to learn to believe and rely on themselves. This point definitely rings a bell with me. I have always thought that people need to be prepared to live and be on their own. Everybody needs to be self-dependent to a certain degree in order to function in today's society where so many things need to be done by oneself.

Even through all these things about Transcendentalism that I think are excellent points, there is one thing that holds me back from completely agreeing with the ideas that it presents. That thing is the fact that Transcendentalists are very anti organized religion and I just cannot agree with that. Religion is a big portion of my life and I disagree wholeheartedly with their thought process about relying wholly on your "inner god." I believe that you should rely on yourself, but I also believe that church and gatherings of people with similar beliefs is one of the best things to do in order to grow closer to whatever God that you choose to worship. You are able to learn more about your own faith, and you are also able to get together with others for moments of prayer and accountability.

So, am I a transcendentalist? I have to say no. Through all of the points that I agree with, I cannot shake the feeling that my very ideas of faith counter with their ideas. This alone makes me say no.

Map Post

Maps and Atlases

http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1633m4.jpg

One thing that is really prominent in these maps is that there are not yet really any states or colonies formed besides “Floridae” and “Virginiae.” This is really interesting because it shows how old the map is. Another aspect that helps show that the map is incredibly dated is the shapes of the coast. Everything is extremely flat which shows that they had not really mapped out the area very well to tell what was actually there. What really drew my eye to the map was all of the small and detailed pictures that are drawn without. Babb says in her essay that there was “a…transition from mapmaking to storytelling…” and while I think this is definitely not a pure story map, it does tell us a lot about what the mapmaker thought and knew about the land.

This map is really good at telling a story through pictures. Strewn throughout the seas and oceans are drawings of little boats. This tells us not only the kind of ships that were being used back then, but also shows the ships that must have been the best of the best. These were the ships that were used to come over to the New World and therefore must have been huge and sturdy to survive that long of a journey. Another interesting thing about this map is the actual representations of living creatures. It is interesting to see where the mapmaker drew what because I believe that it can show us where these creatures are in abundance. They also have pictures of sea serpents on the map. I am not speculating that these people believed in mythical creatures of the sea, but it could represent areas where it is hard to land ships or the weather is often bad. It could show a place that ships might want to avoid, but that is only a possibility. “Resembling a modern comic strip, the map has…tiles.” This map may not look close to a comic strip, but it does have images next to the title that show how different towns and villages might have looked.

http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1763s6.jpg

The first thing that jumps out at me about this map is how detailed it is compared to the one that I first saw. I attribute most of the details simply to more exploring and to the fact that this map was made much later than the other one. It is also scary accurate which is very neat. It very closely resembles a modern day map with the shapes of the lakes and the coastline. This is clearly done by an expert map maker. It does not have all the extra fluff in pictures and such, but it shows a detailed map of North America which includes names of rivers, territories, and mountain ranges that were absent from other maps that I looked at. This was made possible by becoming familiar with the land through “approximation and past discovery.” What amazes me is the way that this artist is able to write in perfect calligraphy all the way through the map.

This map does not tell a story in the same way as other maps do. There are no fancy pictures. There are no comic-esque squares. But there is still art and there is still a story in this map. The story that is told by this map is by this day in age, the late 18^th century; people were no longer looking for maps filled with guesswork and pictures of boats. People must have wanted facts without all of that extra stuff. Just as smith’s map did in the reading, this map “lessened the threat posed by unfamiliar people.” It created a landscape of the US that showed exactly where everything is, and this took away the mystery or danger that the Native Americans once possessed. Why would the owner of this map be afraid when he/she knew where everything was? It was in this way that this map told a story about the needs of the average American, and was able to fill those needs quite nicely.