Being Different

One of the major themes of the transcendentalist movement is being different and thinking for yourself. In "Self Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, he says that "I must be myself." People often get locked into what society expects them to be, and the transcendentalists encourage them to be something else. They want people to stand out, and to be themselves. This can be done in a variety of ways, and varies for each individual. People should not be afraid to stand out in a world where they are expected to act a certain way.

Colored Giraffe

"Living in the Moment" by Jason Mraz

The song "Living in the Moment" by Jason Mraz is a song about living life in the moment, and not worrying about the future. In the song he says:

I'm living in the moment
I'm living my life
Just taking it easy
With peace in my mind
Got peace in my heart
Got peace in my soul

He has peace by just living life when it comes, and taking it easy. This relates to the ideas of transcendentalism and specifically the writing of Thoreau in "Walden". Thoreau writes "Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?" People get too caught up in the future, and lose their sense of what is actually happening in their lives, Thoreau and Mraz address this, and challenge people to live life in a way that they can live in the moment, and not worry about what the future might bring.

"Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars

The song "Just the way you are" by Bruno Mars, is all about him expressing him loving a girl for who she is. In it he says:

When I see your face

There's not a thing that I would change

'Cause you're amazing

Just the way you are

Emerson says the same type of thing in his piece "Self Reliance". He says that he "must be himself" and "If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier." The common theme between Emerson and Mars is that they want their love to be true love, where they don't have to change who they are for someone. This relates to transcendentalism in the thought that they shouldn't have to change for love, or for the world, and if they are able to do that they will be happier.

"Las Meninas" by Pablo Picasso

"Las Meininas" is a 17th century painting, that was repainted by Pablo Picasso. He put his own touch on the painting, and now it can be interpreted to mean anything that someone would want it to mean, just like many other of Picasso's pieces. In "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau, he says how ones life can be lived anyway you can imagine, and says there are as "many ways as there can be drawn radii from one center" that you can live your life. This idea is illustrated by the many ways one can interpret a painting done by Picasso.

"Las Meninas" by Pablo Picasso

    

"Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer

The song "Waiting on the World to Change" features some of the themes talked by Ralph Waldo Emerson in "Self Reliance". The song starts off by saying this: 

Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There's no way we ever could 

This is very similar to what Emerson expresses in "Self Reliance". In it Emerson says "Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood?" and later, "To be great is to be misunderstood." He talks about how many of the great minds in the history of the world have been misunderstood time and time again. 

Later in the song Mayer talks again about an idea that can relate to transcendentalism, change. He talks about how they are waiting on the world to change, they are able to change, but society isn't. The transcendentalists felt this same thing as they introduced new ideas to their society. The world wasn't ready to change, and even now over a hundred years later, some of their ideas still have not been adopted by society.