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Literary
August 17, 1842
The Samaritan, And Total Abstinence Advocate
Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island
What is this article about?
Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay observes the restless activity and progress in modern society, contrasting superficial commotion with deeper philosophical insights into human advancement and the eternal amid the changing.
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OCR Quality
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Full Text
SOCIAL AGITATION.
BY R. W. EMERSON.
If you look over the face of Society the indication that first meets you is commotion. You see continually, and in every thing, restless activity—intolerance of repose. There is everywhere a moving to and fro—everywhere a busy spirit, and an earnest effort. The law of the race is action; the result of the law, progress. The great feature of the age is the intense development of this law, the mighty unfolding of its result. The agitation is broad and deep. Its spring is the mind and heart of the multitude. The movements are many, and to the eye of the unskilled, heterogeneous and hostile. He sees only collisions; no uniform tendency, no features in common, no similarity of final results. The activities are numerous, but he who looks not thoughtfully at them, and into them, will see only cross-purposes. He will hear in the contacts of the individuals and the parties—in the conflict of principles—only the discordant sounds. The harmony of the undertones are not for him.
This commotion, generated in the great deep of the social life, has also its superficial perturbation—its agitation at the surface. The worldling perceives the ebullition, but not fathoming the causes, judges untruly, and cannot predict results. The philosopher throws out his sounding line, penetrates the bosom of the perturbed ocean, and seeks an anchoring ground. The wise man essays to find, in every thing, a bottom—a foundation. Amid moving elements he seizes on the fixed, the firm. He would have a place to stand on, a start-point for speculation. Then, with a true eye and just comparison, he reads the phenomena of his times. The ever-changing he interprets by the unmoved, the evanescent by the eternal.
Meet occupation it were for him of comprehensive thought to traverse the planet through that which has been, and that which is, to scan the progress of his race, to apprehend the inward—the soul's beauty, mystery, power. The mental vision, impatient of the present, outruns it. Intellect, borrowing the wings of imagination, contemns the known and the finite, stretches forward to the future, the unknown, upward towards the infinite.
BY R. W. EMERSON.
If you look over the face of Society the indication that first meets you is commotion. You see continually, and in every thing, restless activity—intolerance of repose. There is everywhere a moving to and fro—everywhere a busy spirit, and an earnest effort. The law of the race is action; the result of the law, progress. The great feature of the age is the intense development of this law, the mighty unfolding of its result. The agitation is broad and deep. Its spring is the mind and heart of the multitude. The movements are many, and to the eye of the unskilled, heterogeneous and hostile. He sees only collisions; no uniform tendency, no features in common, no similarity of final results. The activities are numerous, but he who looks not thoughtfully at them, and into them, will see only cross-purposes. He will hear in the contacts of the individuals and the parties—in the conflict of principles—only the discordant sounds. The harmony of the undertones are not for him.
This commotion, generated in the great deep of the social life, has also its superficial perturbation—its agitation at the surface. The worldling perceives the ebullition, but not fathoming the causes, judges untruly, and cannot predict results. The philosopher throws out his sounding line, penetrates the bosom of the perturbed ocean, and seeks an anchoring ground. The wise man essays to find, in every thing, a bottom—a foundation. Amid moving elements he seizes on the fixed, the firm. He would have a place to stand on, a start-point for speculation. Then, with a true eye and just comparison, he reads the phenomena of his times. The ever-changing he interprets by the unmoved, the evanescent by the eternal.
Meet occupation it were for him of comprehensive thought to traverse the planet through that which has been, and that which is, to scan the progress of his race, to apprehend the inward—the soul's beauty, mystery, power. The mental vision, impatient of the present, outruns it. Intellect, borrowing the wings of imagination, contemns the known and the finite, stretches forward to the future, the unknown, upward towards the infinite.
What sub-type of article is it?
Essay
What themes does it cover?
Political
Social Manners
What keywords are associated?
Social Agitation
Societal Progress
Philosophical Observation
Human Action
Intellectual Vision
What entities or persons were involved?
By R. W. Emerson.
Literary Details
Title
Social Agitation.
Author
By R. W. Emerson.
Subject
On Social Agitation And Progress
Key Lines
The Law Of The Race Is Action; The Result Of The Law, Progress.
The Agitation Is Broad And Deep. Its Spring Is The Mind And Heart Of The Multitude.
The Ever Changing He Interprets By The Unmoved, The Evanescent By The Eternal.
Intellect, Borrowing The Wings Of Imagination, Contemns The Known And The Finite, Stretches Forward To The Future, The Unknown, Upward Towards The Infinite.