A. What is the mind according to Emerson?
The mind is something that doesn't concord with with what the soul does. Our actions are different if they are based on mind than if they are based on soul. It is like comparing reason with passion. As Emerson says it, it is the "scale of the senses and the understanding."
B. Define "beatitude" as it is used on page two.
Happiness and/or blessing.
C. On the first paragraph of page four, why does Emerson employ a parallel structure? Explain.
He accentuates his ideas and shows that together they form a main idea.
D. For Emerson, how are revelation and creation related?
Emerson says they are both related to questioning life and arguments it by saying that "revelation is the disclosure of the soul" and creation, well, it's self-explainatory.
F. What's God's role in all of this? Do you think Emerson's theory is feasible?
God's role is to provide a "shoulder to cry on." That is, to be accessible to all who need him. Even if they don't believe they need him. He is in each of our souls. Emerson doesn't talk about the Catholic god himself, but about a miscellaneous God that is inside all of us; a God we are unaware of. He says that the only way to notice him is by living our lives, and we will eventually see his effects on such.
I don't think Emerson theory is feasible, at least not fully. Maybe it is true that we have some sort of energy or soul within the soul that is named "God," and it is its duty to be accessible when needed. But that doesn't mean that to unleash it we must live our lives. Our purpose to live is solely to live, not to discover the God within us.
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