Leaving civilization behind and moving to a cabin in the woods would be a challenge for man in today's society. Today, people often live complex lives and focus overwhelmingly on material goods. This is the opposite of a transcendentalist lifestyle. Transcendentalists believe that spiritual thought and things are more real than ordinary human experience and material things. Some of the many ideas followed by transcendentalism are: God as nature, less government and search for meaning. Respect for nature is one of the main characteristics of transcendentalism. When Emerson speaks of his transcendentalist thoughts, he writes: “From a philosophical point of view, the universe is composed of nature and the soul” (Nature 1). Emerson, as well as other adherents of transcendentalism, believe that nature is equal to God, because in both it always surrounds man. Nature is part of the individual; likewise, the individual is part of nature. When Emerson speaks of his feelings in nature, he says: “I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see everything; the currents of Universal Being circulate...