Emerson's Legacy: How He Reshaped America

Emerson's Legacy: How He Reshaped America

A Talk by David Beardsley

4 February 2017

12 East 79 Street

7:00 PM

Central to the philosophy of Emerson was his "one doctrine: the infinitude of the private man." He understood the divinity of each human being and urged people to look at the details of their lives and celebrate them, not trying to be something they are not.

In this talk we will look at three examples of people in the next generation who took this challenge: Charles Ives, a composer still regarded as ahead of his time. Emily Dickinson, the reclusive poet sitting alone in her room, who created a whole world from her own imagination, and Swami Paramananda, an Indian guru who took Emerson's writing as a starting point for a deeper understanding of the Indian scriptures.

The hope is that the example of these three will inspire each of us to look for the fingerprints of that "infinitude" in our own lives.