t would become known as modern transcendentalism: a complex, versatile philosophy. American Transcendentalism was a literary and philosophical movement that had a profound influence on American philosophy, religion, politics, and literature.
             Thoreau met his acquaintance and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson after graduating from Harvard in 1837. It was Emerson who first introduced Thoreau to the concept of Transcendentalism, which drastically changed Thoreau's view of life from that moment on. Emerson and Thoreau would freely converse over the concepts of beauty of Transcendentalism. Their lives were shaped and bonded together by their desire for understanding of philosophy.
             Transcendentalism arose partly as a reaction to society's growing love for material possessions and the dehumanization of man's emotions. "Reality exists only in the world of the spirit" (Oneida 1).
             Transcendentalism opposes the philosophy of empiricism, which states that knowledge comes from experience. According to Thoreau, knowledge is not limited to or solely derived from experience and observation. Man must increase his understanding of himself in order to change the outside world.
             Emerson and Thoreau's studies also aroused writers, poets, and musicians desire to develop a style that all could call "American". Spawned from the writings of the era, the other aspect of Transcendentalism is that it existed as a form of religion and spirituality. Through their writings they conveyed the concept of the Over-Soul. The Over-Soul is the ideal spirit that lives in every person. This "one mind common to all individual men" is the driving force of life. A
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