Tenets

This week in English Class we are starting to learn about Transcendentalism. We are starting to focus just on the basics, meaning what exactly Transcendentalism is and the Tenets of Transcendentalism. "A principle or belief, especially one of the main principles of a religion or philosophy," this is the definition given by Oxford Dictionary. This is the first time I have heard this word and to my understanding Tenets are kind of like the backbone of Transcendentalism.

When applied to Transcendentalism they are often situated with individualism and nature. However, these are not the only ones, in fact, I found ten in total.

1. Live life to the fullest

2. Thou shalt not conform

3. Individualism

4. Do not worship the material

5. Be your own mentor

6. Society corrupts an individual's inherent goodness

7. Be one with God, not the church

8. Simplicity

9. Moral values

10. Nature is sacred

Out of these, I don't exactly have one favorite. I have two, simplicity and live life to the fullest. I like the idea of simplicity, how clear it is. Back then life wasn't so busy all the time, families had time for each other. Now humans have work, I know they had this back then too, but today it's different some people are too focused on work. Humans also have technology which leads to social media. Technology these days is so advanced, which is great, but isn't it getting to be too much? Social media practically rules our lives, without it, people would be lost, nobody has time to get to know things on their own, everything they want to know is just a google search away. That's so sad I think that people need to take a step back once in a while, take a deep breath and just enjoy life around you. Look around you and enjoy the simple things in life, you might be surprised and what you find.

My other favorite tenet is living life to the fullest, today this is such a cliche thing to say but it's something everyone should try to do. Life would be boring if you didn't take risks, now I don't mean something like drugs or anything illegal like that. I mean that sometimes you have to step outside of your comfort zone, and have some fun. To me, this tenet is more open to interpretation, it has multiple meanings; such as pursuing your dreams, or living in the future.

Tenets, like I said before, are kind of like the backbone of Transcendentalism. They are the ones that give people inspiration and really make them think.