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The Spiritual Laws of Ralph Waldo Emerson
How Emerson’s transcendent, ageless wisdom can help us today
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay Spiritual Laws is a powerful invitation to awaken to a higher truth. It’s a truth that already lives inside us.
Emerson was a Transcendentalist
I’m inspired to write because I started rereading Emerson after a decent break. Emerson, one of the leading voices of the American Transcendentalist movement, believed that something greater exists within every individual: a divine intelligence that lives not in books or traditions but in each person's soul.
As I reread his essay on spiritual laws, Emerson reminds me his worldview is less about religion and more about the direct experience of spiritual truth. His time working for the Church at Harvard didn’t end well due to his transcendent beliefs, which flew in the face of the dogmatics.
Transcendentalists channeled wisdom from the Far East, the minds of Lao Tzu, Buddha, and early Hindu saints. These were the teachers of the way who preceded Christ's consciousness and showed us how to live, but it was always too much for most of us.
Here are the spiritual, transcendent lessons I curated from my limited understanding of Emerson. As long as we are willing…
