Survivor!

[Carl Remick]

>Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>
>>My impression is that individualism was a relatively marginal ideology
>>until the government-sponsored explosion of the suburban sprawl in 1950s.
>
>Depends on what you mean by individualism? Ever read any of the 19th
>century American classics, like Emerson, Thoreau, or Melville (who
>made merciless fun of the transcendentalists)? "I am an endless
>seeker with no past at my back. I unsettle all things," said Emerson.
>"Are they my poor?," asked Emerson.
>
>Doug

It would be a mistake, I believe, to see the transcendentalist stress on 
individuality as synonymous with sheer selfishness.  Transcendentalism, as I 
understand it, urges people to look within their individual selves to 
recognize their kinship with other people -- to appreciate that their own 
understanding is part of a great collective consciousness, the "oversoul."  
In fact, I think a belief in socialism of some sort is the inevitable 
outcome of transcendentalist thinking.

Carl
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