Emerson's Divinty School Address

I recently started a class on Emerson at UUCA. I had tried to read him before on my own unsuccessfully. The structure of the course has helped me to focus on the material better.

The first reading assignment was Emerson's Divinity School Address. Already with just one reading I feel a great spiritual kinship with Emerson. It feels like he had many of the same thoughts I have had, but that he looked more deeply into those thoughts and understood them better.

Emerson's main point in this essay is that religious understanding can only come first-hand, through our own interal apprehension of the universe. We cannot come to spiritual truths through teaching or dogma, because these truths must be experienced directly. Emerson makes his point in the context of trying to revive a dying Christian church, but the point is universal.

Here he speaks about the need for an immediate relationship with the divine, with no outside interpretation or mediation:
Let me admonish you, first of all, to go alone; to refuse the good models, even those which are sacred in the imagination of men, and dare to love God without mediator or veil.

I am looking forward to reading more of Emerson, and to learning more of his insights. I have a feeling he will help me understand my own faith and my own light more clearly.

Comments

Anonymous said…
[quote]I recently started a class on Emerson at UUCA. I had tried to read him before on my own unsuccessfully. The structure of the course has helped me to focus on the material better.The first reading assignment was Emerson's Divinity School Address. Already with just one reading I feel a great spiritual kinship with Emerson. It feels like he had many of the same thoughts I have had, but that he looked more deeply into those thoughts and understood them better.Emerson's main point in this essay is that religious understanding can only come first-hand, through our own interal apprehension of the universe. We cannot come to spiritual truths through teaching or dogma, because these truths must be experienced directly. Emerson makes his point in the context of trying to revive a dying Christian church, but the point is universal.Here he speaks about the need for an immediate relationship with the divine, with no outside interpretation or mediation:Let me admonish you, first of all, to go alone; to refuse the good models, even those which are sacred in the imagination of men, and dare to love God without mediator or veil.I am looking forward to reading more of Emerson, and to learning more of his insights. I have a feeling he will help me understand my own faith and my own light more clearly.[/quote] i agree

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July 23, 2011
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