Emerson Studies - Books by Richard Geldard

This anthology of Core Writings by the New England Transcendentalists Provides a Unique Overview of These Landmark Figures As Spiritual Thinkers.

Interest abounds in the work of the Transcendentalists, such as Emerson, Thoreau, and Bronson Alcott. But few appreciate the truly mystical and contemplative qualities of the Transcendentalists, and the spiritual movements and figures they have inspired.

As Richard G. Geldard -- one of today's leading scholars of Emerson -- illustrates in The Essential Transcendentalists, Transcendentalism amounts to a school of practical spiritual thought that aims to guide the individual toward inner development. Through revealing commentary, historical overview, and selections from classic works, The Essential Transcendentalists provides a distinctive and heretofore neglected overview of the spiritual breadth and depth of Transcendentalism.

"There are several first-rate anthologies of American Transcendentalism that show that movement in its historical context -- but Richard Geldard's is the only one that is primarily concerned with the enduring truths and spiritual usefulness of the philosophical and religious movement set in motion by Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, and Alcott. Transcendentalism is very much alive today and Geldard shows it to be an urgent and appealing Way. This is a necessary book for the modern seeker." -- Robert D. Richardson, Jr., author of Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind and Emerson: The Mind on Fire

"This book is a call, clean and eloquent, from a Transcendentalist of our time, who asks us to remember something truly great and make it our own again." -- Roger Lipsey, author of The Spiritual in Twentieth-Century Art

Library Journal - November 1, 2005 - PHILOSOPHY

Transcendentalism—a.k.a. New England Transcendentalism because of the birthplace of its major participants—was an American political, spiritual, philosophical, and literary movement of the early 19th century that attempted to "transcend" the "mysteries of existence and being" and drew on the thinking of such great writers, poets, dramatists, and philosophers as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, and Immanuel Kant. This study, edited by Emerson scholar Geldard (dramatic literature & classics, Stanford Univ.) is divided into three main sections, each preceded by helpful explanatory introductions. The first is "Primary Texts," with selections from the writings of Sampson Reed, James Marsh, Amos Alcott (father of Louisa May), and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The second, "Individual Voices," introduces selections from Frederic Hedge, Margaret Fuller, and Henry David Thoreau. The last is "The Transcendental Heritage," which features the works of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, Loren Eiseley, and Annie Dillard. This is a highly informed, elegantly written, fascinating story told through commentary, historical overview, and selections from classic works. It belongs in all libraries.—Leon H. Brody, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Lib., Washington, DC

The Spiritual Teachings of

Ralph Waldo Emerson

by Richard G. Geldard

Introduction by Robert Richardson

Lindisfarne Books - 2001

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American transcendentalist, poet, essayist and reformer has been presented in many ways, but never simply and radically as a spiritual teacher-- a guide to the intimate processes in inner development and self-transformation. But Emerson was just that. In countless ways, including the example of his life, he showed that "the holy and mysterious sources of life" were available to anyone, at any hour of the day, who can "listen for the right word."

This Book has a Japanese Edition

"We scarcely know what we have in Emerson-- an American teacher who made the world's wisdom his own and converted it into a code for experiencing life fully yet decently. Richard Geldard has written a magnificent book through which Emerson's teaching becomes again an instigator." - ROGER LIPSEY, author of An Art of Our Own: The Spritual in Twentieth Century Art.

The Emersonian work we must do is spiritual work. And for that spiritual work, Geldard's is the most practical and useful handbook we have apart from Emerson's own writings. Geldard leads the reader to a solid grasp of such concepts as "lowly listening," "opening the heart," to how "The best we can say of God is the mind as it is known to us," and finally to an understanding that courage, meaning "equality to the problem before us," is possible for us, too. Geldard restores Emerson to the position he held among his contemporaries, that of a "seer of a revolution in human self-recovery." - ROBERT RICHARDSON, JR., author of Emerson: the Mind on Fire.

"Through Geldard's book, Emerson shows a new generation of Americans that it is possible and necessary to bring to the spiritual search an open heart joined to a critical mind." - JACOB NEEDLEMAN, author of The Heart of Philosophy.

Reader's review on amazon.com

"Emerson Would Be Delighted - Emerson had a persona of being withdrawn, and rarely showed emotion. However, if he were here today, I believe that he would be very pleased with Geldard's interpretation of his work. Most of us have read Emerson's essays. They are thick and difficult, but the spirit of the work rings through and speaks very loudly to the authentic heart. Geldard has done the work of specific interpretation for us. If you feel a need for being yourself, which most of us do (healthy people do), then this book is a must read. Emerson turned away from the path that seemed to have been chosen for him, took a chance, and listened to his authentic self. The author points out that Emerson had some difficult years, and that rings true today for those of us that know, and chose to march to the beat of our own drum (Thoreau??). Emerson was inspired and was a great gift to us. Geldard makes his work understandable and relates it to our lives, today. Emerson was highly intellectual, and after reading Geldard's book, I'm preparing to read Emerson's essays once again, with the light that Geldard has placed upon it. It's pure, and it's spirit, and it is authentic. Of the five best books I've ever read, like my five friends out of the many, I can count this one on the top five. Read it, read it slowly, devour it, contemplate it. Let it permeate your being and at the very least have a place in your thought patterns during your day. This work is meant to teach and inspire and it has succeeded!" - KATHY ADAMS

God in Concord

Ralph Waldo Emerson's Awakening to the Infinite

RICHARD G. GELDARD

Larson Publications - 1998

God in Concord traces Emerson's private journey to the intersection of the seeking mind with the realm of the Infinite. Emerson undertook this journey without the benefit of tradition. That is, rather than depend on sacred texts, the great books, or the received traditions of his day, he struck out on his own. Each day was an opportunity. Each encounter was a revelation. And insofar as the day was filled with perceptions, it was fruitful.

Emerson's great gift to us was to leave an accurate record of his investigations. Sixteen volumes of his journals provide a rare glimpse of personal, sometimes brutally honest observation. They are a guide for any serious seeker of the truth of reality. What emerges through God in Concord, Geldard's latest study of these exquisite works, is an extraordinary care for the language of infinitude.

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"With great conviction and a wonderfully sure vision, Geldard gives us the essential Emerson: Emerson, the spiritual philosopher. There is no question that Americans need to attend to Emerson's thought-now more than ever. It will help us immensely to have this insightful book at our side." - JACOB NEEDLEMAN, author of Time and the Soul.

"Geldard carries us to the very center of what makes Emerson so vital and Inspiring." - DAVID APPELBAUM, editor Parabola

"Richard Geldard has written a magnificent book through which Emerson's teaching once again becomes an instigator." - ROGER LIPSEY, author of An Art of our Own

". . . Geldard is showing once again how Emerson unites intellect and sanctity: by properly focusing the mind, unity with God can be achieved." - RICHARD BARNA, Gnosis, Fall 1994

"This series of books offers the core teachings of the world's greatest philosophers, considered for the light their writings throw on the moral and material crises of our time. Repositioned in this way, philosophy and the great philosophers may once again serve humankind's eternal and ever-new need to understand who we are, why we are here, and how we are to live." - Jacob Needleman, Ph.D. - Series Editor

Ralph Waldo Emerson's vision of the infinitude of the private individual has served as the bedrock of America's deepest cultural values for more than 150 years. Nothing, Emerson taught, is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. This inspiring volume takes the reader directly to the depths of Emerson's uniquely American approach to the perennial issues of human nature, revealing him him as both a literary giant and philosopher par excellence.