Leaving civilization behind and moving to a cabin in the woods would be a challenge for man in today's society. People today often live complex lives focusing heavily on material possessions. This is the opposite of living 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 the search for meaning. Respect for nature is one of the main characteristics of Transcendentalism. When Emerson talks about his transcendentalist thoughts, he writes: "Considered philosophically, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul" (Nature 1). Emerson, along with other followers of transcendentalism, believe that nature is equal to God, since in both they always surround man. Nature is a part of the individual; similarly, the individual is a part of nature. When Emerson talks about his feelings towards nature he states: “I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see everything; the currents of the Universal Being circulate th...