When Emerson states in his essay, Nature , " Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs? Embosomed for a season in nature, whose floods of life stream around and through us, and invite us by the powers they supply, to action proportioned to nature, why should we grope among the dry bones of the past, or put the living generation into masquerade out of its faded wardrobe? The sun shines to-day also. There is more wool and flax in the fields. There are new lands, new men, new thoughts. Let us demand our own works and laws and worship " what do you think he means?

A. Emerson means that we must break with tradition(s) and trust our own imaginative insights and forge a new way of thinking in order to achieve transcendence.

B. Emerson means that for humans to transcend to a higher spiritual existence we must learn from the lessons and mistakes of our previous thought and philosophy.


C. Emerson means that even though we, his readers, need new thoughts and ideas we are still dependent on the past.