Divinity School Address

Harvard has and still is one of the most prestigious schools, but asking Emerson to speak to fresh graduates of the Divinity School was one of their biggest mistakes. As Emerson begins, he goes right into how religion has formed and molded our society. However, he very quickly turns his train of thought towards a different view. A view of nature and how religion is just something that is not real, can't be real, and never will be. Instead, all of what governs us, humans, is the laws of nature and the laws of the soul. A true life is one not affected by the rigors of religion; it is one that takes nature, everything around you, into account. The influences that coincide with religion change man into something that isn't real. Once someone has an understanding of what is truly there, only then can he be considered a real person. As you can probably tell, this was controversial for most of the graduates, having just been in school to become preachers. Hence why Emerson was banned from Harvard for over thirty years. However, there were the select few to agreed with his views and changed their lives to accommodate this new way of examining life. Emerson took risks in what he said, but still affected the lives of many. Eventually, this led him to become one of the most renown poets, writers, and speakers in history.