Chapter I
1. Transcendentalism can begin to be understood inside the I; Intuition, Insight, Inspiration, Introspection, (true) Intellect, and ultimately into Individuation and understanding of the world around us as a consequence of the journey.
2. Transcendentalism is essentially a journey of self; to define one's perceptions.
3. It is neither religious in nature, nor is it atheistic or agnostic in nature.
4. Transcendentalism is a matter for every thinking human being.
5. Indeed, how can we be a thinking human being if we do not concern ourselves with the matters of I, mentioned above.
6. To define our perceptions we must take the journey or we are doing nothing other than taking everybody else's word on that which is the only thing we truly have domain over;
7. Who we really are, and how we perceive the world.
8. Transcendentalism may further be defined through some of those things - qualities, goals, emphases - that are inherent in the thinking individual:
9. An appreciation of nature, and a striving to understand our species' place in it.
10. A respect for the three principle I's - Intuition, Insight and Inspiration - and their part in the attainment of a strong intellect.
11. To be endowed with a social nature, but to avoid both the superficial and material lifestyle, and acquaintances that may reasonably be called either superficial or materialistic.
12. A desire to give birth to one's self; and to know one's self as completely or as well as a human being may.
13. To seek out and pursue the extraordinary, and at the same time have a child's enthusiasm for the little things most consider mundane;
14. There is both beauty and great secrets to be unlocked in the smallest things, from a blade of grass blowing in the wind to a line of ants patrolling for food;
15. There is as much to be learned from these things as there is to be learned from the next generation of spacecraft propulsion, whencesoever it arrives.
16. An understanding of the great things human beings can do, and of the great future that lies ahead for our species in ovo;
17. And in keeping with this the thinking individual has an idealistic flavour about them, for to have a pessimistic view is to admit that you are beaten, and whilst they have their mind the thinking individual is never beaten.
18. But they are also Pyrrhonistic by nature, which is to say that of everything we know, see and hear, nothing is certain; importantly Pyrrhonism is not skepticism.
19. It can be defined as, we accept what feels right for us, but keep ourselves open to other, even opposing ideas, in every area of life.
20. If we approach everything with our own ideals and opinions but have a completely open mind at the same time, we see so much more.
21. And more, that perception and reality are intertwined and must be apprehended together.
22. The traditional Transcendentalists were lovers of society, but had a sufficiently deep understanding to realize that big positive changes can never occur without a view or idealism that is as grand as society itself, and as a consequence they tend not to participate in the common avenues of change.
23. (Of course that last element is one that can make us thankful that all who wish change are not Transcendentalists.)
24. They are constant in thought, but quite inconstant in their actions, but this is not necessarily as bad a thing as it sounds.
25. Transcendentalism is about change, about development, initially for one's self, and ultimately for society.
26. Eventhough it has changed since its origins in the nineteenth century, it is best explored through a display of writings from those originators.
27. Best explored in this way because we need to see its origins in order to decide what form it is to take for each of us.
28. The specific meaning of Transcendentalism is so ill-defined because it is an ideal that must take root in each individual so they may develop their own version of the ideal.
29. Each individual must develop their own idea of what Transcendentalism means to them as they journey towards the understanding and the attainment of the I's.