American Literature / Unit 7 AML 0603 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Over-Soul
Captions available
The idea
Rejecting Locke's mind as a blank tablet passively receiving impressions, the Transcendentalists described an interchange between an individual mind and an animated nature, an exchange that both received and created a sense of spirit. That shared spirit is what Emerson calls the Over-soul.
In practice
One spirit, shared by mind and nature.
Where people slip
The mind is active here, never a receptacle.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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