The Over-Soul

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Over-Soul



The Over-Soul (1841) is a treatise on transcendentalism. Emerson was one of the original authors of this philosophical system, and in his essay, he argues the basic principles of individualism and free thought. He also elaborates on his belief that God lives in each of us, that we can communicate with the spiritual world without any formal religious affiliation, and that our souls are limitless, free to rise above the petty circumstances of daily life and to merge with the universal spirit.