There is another popular misconception to dispatch immediately. The final sentence of that paragraph (the second quote) reflects back into the entire paragraph and inflects the early statements with more meaning. I think it is common to bump up against transcendentalism and conclude that the movement was promoting man of over God or man over religion but I think it is more correct to understand it as a movement that was trying to create a better way to live. The point being that Transcendentalism was not simply a philosophical movement but a philosophical and religious movement. Modern students should keep in mind that though freedom of religion was a founding principal of the United States, religion was pervasive and much more deeply intertwined with the culture than it is today. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."
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