Transcendentalists essays

Transcendentalists essays Transcendentalism For the transcendentalist, the "I" transcends the corporeal and yet nature is the embodiment of the transcendence and, or, the means to achieving transcendence, which gives way to a belief that the physical "I" is at the root of all transcendence. In practical terms, the transcendentalist is occupied with the natural over the synthetic (though it is doubtful that either Kant or Emerson would have couched it in those terms) and determines value as it relates to the individual. Among the most noted of the Transcendentalist philosophers have been Emmanual Kant, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. The connection between transcendentalism and utopian thinking is not always clear; inasmuch as the individual holds the highest measure of transcendence; however, the importance that is placed on nature and natural living within nature has spawned communal beliefs based on transcendental thought. As Catherine Keller sees it, "Our civilization," she writes, "is centered on the assumption that an individual is a discrete being: I am cleanly divided from the surrounding world of persons and places.... For our culture it is separation which prepares the way for selfhood. Realizing that "real" selfhood has thus been reserved for men (whose masculinity is culturally defined by such separation), ... To be "on one's own" does not necessarily mean to be out of relation. Is there even such a thing as a separate self at all-or only a posture?" (quoted in Zimmerman 646). The current debate is centered on the discussion of the future and whether the 'utopia' that evolves will be valid and, or, founded on transcendentalist philosophies. Brook Farm, the New England Transcendentalists' experiment in communal living is perhaps the most famous of America's intentional communities. Fruitlands, a smaller contemporary of Brook Farm, was also based on the transcendental thought of early Am...

Human Sacrifice Rituals and the Ancient Maya

Human Sacrifice Rituals and the Ancient Maya We forbid and place strict sanctions on cannibalism, incest, and human sacrifice, considering they epitomize savage or barbarian behavior. Not everyone or every civilized group has shared our sensibilities. Many groups of people have performed human sacrifices as a way of pleasing or appeasing their gods. The Maya were no different in this regard. Inscribed stones bear witness to the Maya practice of human sacrifice. Precious feathers appear where blood would be expected coming from the wounds in some depictions of Maya human sacrifice ritual. Perhaps this symbolizes how valuable the life-giving fluid is to the gods. In the accompanying illustration [see larger image], instead of spurting blood, there are serpents. The common method for human sacrifice seems to have been for the ah nacom (a functionary) to extract the heart quickly, while 4 people associated with Chac, the rain/lightning god, held the struggling victims limbs. Human sacrifices seem to have been made, as well, with arrows, by flaying, decapitation, hurling from a precipice, and throwing the victim into a limestone sinkhole. Warfare was one source of human sacrificial victims. It is thought that losers in the ballgames may also have sometimes been victims, and sacrifice appears to have been connected mainly with ballgames, festivals, and the assumption of power by a new king. Besides humans, the following objects were offered as sacrifices: manatees, jaguars, opposums, parrots, quail, owls, turtles, pumas, crocodiles, squirrels, insects, feathers, dogs, deer, iguanas, turkeys, rubber, cacao, maize, squash seeds, flowers, bark, pine boughs and needles, honey, wax, jade, obsidian, virgin water from caves, shells, and iron pyrite mirrors. Why did the Maya Practice Human Sacrifice? Sign up for the Maya Newsletter Sources: Archaeology and Religion: A Comparison of the Zapotec and Maya, by Joyce Marcus. World Archaeology, Vol. 10, No. 2, Archaeology and Religion (Oct., 1978), pp. 172-191. Procedures in Human Heart Extraction and Ritual Meaning: A Taphonomic Assessment of Anthropogenic Marks in Classic Maya Skeletons Procedures in Human Heart Extraction and Ritual Meaning: A Taphonomic Assessment of Anthropogenic Marks in Classic Maya Skeletons, by Vera Tiesler, Andrea Cucina. Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Dec., 2006), pp. 493-510. Human Sacrifice at Tenochtitlan, by John M. Ingham. Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jul., 1984), pp. 379-400. Gordon R. Willey and American Archaeology, by Jeremy A. Sabloff, William Leonard Fash