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| English: Image of American philosopher/poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, dated 1859. Scanned from Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Lothrop Motley: Two Memoirs by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Published by Houghton Mifflin, 1904. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
"The Over-Soul" is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson,
first published in 1841. The broad subject of the essay, considered one of
Emerson's best, is the human soul. Several general themes are treated: (1) the
existence and nature of the human soul; (2) the relationship between the soul
and the personal ego; (3) the relationship of one human soul to another; and
(4) the relationship of the human soul to God. Influence of Eastern religions,
including Vedantism, is
plainly evident, but the essay also develops ideas long present in the Western
tradition, e.g., in the works of Plato,
Plutarch, and Neoplatonists like Plotinus and Proclus – all of whose writings
Emerson read extensively throughout his career[1][2] – and Emmanuel Swedenborg.
The essay attempts
no systematic doctrine, but rather serves as a work of art, something like
poetry. Its virtue is in personal insights of the author and the lofty manner
of their presentation. Emerson wishes to exhort and direct the reader to an
awakening of similar thoughts or sentiments.
With respect to the
four themes listed above, the essay presents the following views: (1) the human
soul is immortal, and immensely vast and beautiful; (2) our conscious ego is
slight and limited in comparison to the soul, despite the fact that we habitually
mistake our ego for our true self; (3) at some level, the souls of all people
are connected, though the precise manner and degree of this connection is not
spelled out; and (4) the essay does not seem to explicitly contradict the
traditional Western idea that the soul is created by and has an existence (?)
that is similar to God, or rather God exists within us.
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