Blog – Given today’s discussion, was Eustace a Transcendentalist? Gilbert does comment on this. Do you agree with her interpretation?

To some degree Eustace was a transcendentalist. Without getting too bogged down with the definition, a transcendentalist is a person who believes in the right of the individual to define what they believe in. This is where the biggest disconnect between Eustace and transcendentalism lies. Eustace believes he is right. Whereas transcendentalists were opposed to congregationalism, Eustace wanted everybody to follow him. It's not that concrete though, because Eustace wanted people to adhere to his notion of living, but not necessarily live with him. This is an area of gray, Eustace believes in the individual's beliefs, as long as they lie in the realm of appreciating and coexisting with nature. It is true that nature was a major part of transcendentalism, but there is a difference between that nature and Eustace's nature. Eustace's nature is more extreme. Just as there is a difference between Christianity and extreme Christianity. What Eustace was doing was unique, it cannot be solely defined by any idea that came before, such as transcendentalism. It mirrors various theories of living in some aspects, but is not identical because of the extreme nature of Eustace's beliefs - it has been created by one person, in the mind of one person. transcendentalism was more than an idea created by one person.