Editing Transcendentalism (section)

===Idealism===
Transcendentalists differ in their interpretations of the practical aims of will. Some adherents link it with utopian social change; [[Orestes Brownson|Brownson]], for example, connected it with early [[socialism]], but others consider it an exclusively individualist and idealist project. Emerson believed the latter. In his 1842 lecture "[[The Transcendentalist]]", he suggested that the goal of a purely transcendental outlook on life was impossible to attain in practice: 
{{quote|You will see by this sketch that there is no such thing as a transcendental ''party''; that there is no pure transcendentalist; that we know of no one but prophets and heralds of such a philosophy; that all who by strong bias of nature have leaned to the spiritual side in doctrine, have stopped short of their goal. We have had many harbingers and forerunners; but of a purely spiritual life, history has afforded no example. I mean, we have yet no man who has leaned entirely on his character, and eaten angels' food; who, trusting to his sentiments, found life made of miracles; who, working for universal aims, found himself fed, he knew not how; clothed, sheltered, and weaponed, he knew not how, and yet it was done by his own hands.  ... Shall we say, then, that transcendentalism is the [[Saturnalia]] or excess of Faith; the presentiment of a faith proper to man in his integrity, excessive only when his imperfect obedience hinders the satisfaction of his wish.}}