...while sustaining the principles of the powers of human reason. Part Two CAPITOL OF BEST INTENTIONS Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres...fathers. It writes biographies, histories, and criticism. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature (1836) Have we not molded a giant statue, not out of marble or brass,...

...Obey thy heart," and "God enters by a private door into every individual" (from "Intellect") and then "The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face...also enjoy an original relation to the universe?" (from Nature). They heard each of these, blinking, and all remained silent when I asked for comments....

...in revolutionary fashion: "Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres of the fathers . . . Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe?" And so, "Let us demand our own works and laws and worship." Turning his back on tradition, Emerson...