Originally published in The Atlantic Monthly in November 1857, the poem "The Great God" is one of Emerson's finest poems and can be said to be a visual interpretation of his "Oversoul" thought. Emerson's "supersoul theory" can be traced back to Coleridge's theory of the connection of all things and Schelling's theory of spiritual entities, and can be traced back to the natural philosophy of Plato, Stoics and Plotinus, and also related to Indian philosophy of religion is intrinsically closely related. As early as in the article "On Nature", he believed that all things in nature are symbols of the spirit, and they all belong to an all-encompassing soul. "All things are different, but they are actually common." Later, in "On the Supersoul", Emerson elaborated his "supersoul theory" in detail, saying: "Through the ages, the highest critic of error, the only prophet of what must appear, is the That nature, in which we rest, is like the earth lying in the soft embrace of the atmosphere; it is the 'unity', the 'supersoul', in which the unique existence of each person is contained and becomes one with that of others. "We see the world little by little, such as the sun, the moon, animals, and trees; however, all of these are striking parts of the whole, and the whole is the soul." This transcendental "superspiritual" thought attempts to break through All experience limitations, to achieve a holistic wisdom that transcends time and space and the boundary between subject and object, thereby guiding people to look at the world, individuals and every event from a new perspective. Emerson had read some classic works of Indian religion, especially the Upanishads, which had a great influence on him. The "supersoul" he called had a profound similarity with the Brahman of Brahmanism. The word "Brahma" first appeared in the Vedic literature "Brahma", and was further explained in the "Forest Book" and "Upanishads". The meaning of "prayer" was later extended to the mysterious power obtained by prayer, and also extended to the ruler of the world. In the Upanishads, it was described as the noumenon of all things, the highest reality of the universe. It is eternal, indescribable and indefinable, Emerson's "supersoul" has the attributes of "Brahma". In fact, his poem "Brahma" (also translated as "Brahma") promotes his "supersoul" theory through the figurative interpretation of the "Brahma I am like" in the Upanishads. In the Upanishads, "I" means the "small self" on the one hand, that is, the self, the self, the individual soul, and the individual physical body, and on the other hand, it refers to the "big self", that is, "Brahma". "Brahma is the same as" or "Brahma is the same" means that the "Brahma" (big ego) as the noumenon of the universe and the "I" (small ego) as the master of man are essentially the same, and Brahman is everything The root of all things is the essence of self, so although all things in the world appear to be diverse, all these are only phenomena, and the only real thing is the highest Brahman, and all things are the same as Brahman. Different, in fact common” meaning. As a kind of transcendental theory, both the "Brahma as I am" theory and Emerson's "supersoul" theory are both great challenges and denials to the world of experience. Therefore, at the beginning of the poem "The Great God", Emerson wrote, "If the blood-stained murderer thinks he has killed someone, / If the dead think he has been killed, / They do not understand my mysterious Tao deeply", killing The killed and the killed, as well as the distant and the immediate, the forgotten and the remembered, the honor and the disgrace, etc. mentioned below, are opposites on the level of empirical reason and have opposite essences, but in the supernatural At the level of experience, they collectively belong to a supersoul that includes all spiritual and natural phenomena, and are essentially "one and the same". The murderer kills his own soul when he kills others, and the murdered exists in another form in the souls of the murderer and others, the forgotten things live in life like those remembered It leaves traces in it and becomes a memorial or memorial to the soul, but it cannot be easily detected. Therefore, all is in the supersoul, and all in the supersoul is equal and eternal, "He who forgets me, he is miscalculated; / he who runs away from me, I am his wings", outside The form of being cannot change the inner essence, or the inner essence transcends all formal stipulations. I, you, he, and them are all one, each other's shadow, each other's body, and each other's mind. Therefore, the object The distinction from the subject is unnecessary in the transcendental sense, "I am the doubter, and at the same time the doubter, / And I am the monk and the hymn he sings". If people comprehend these and the existence of the supersoul, they will also realize their own attributes and belonging as the carrier of the supersoul, and become a "humble lover" who respects and loves all living beings, thus abandoning the unnecessary afterlife. heaven, and build a beautiful heaven in this world.
