Celestial Love VS. Daemonic Love

This is a term paper I did this semester. I think this is my best term paper ever! I really put my heart and soul into this one!

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote two famous poems called Celestial Love and Daemonic Love. Both of these poems are drastically different, both in content and in their meaning. They both, however, represent the different “forces” that drive us to our destinies.  Emerson helped shape the movement called transcendentalism, which became very popular in the early 1800’s.
    In order to understand Celestial Love and Daemonic Love, the reader must understand the authors background and his beliefs. They must also understand transcendentalism and what it involves.  Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May 25th, 1803 in Boston, Massachusetts. He grew up with a very religious family. After his wife Ellen Louisa Tucker died in 1832, Emerson left the Church and traveled throughout Europe lecturing and writing essay‘s reflecting the movement called transcendentalism.     The website Deep Spirits says, “in his own writings he managed to combine religion with philosophy, as well as ancient classical ideas with super-naturalism and mysticism. He supported the infinite potential of an over-soul, which he accepted as an inseparable part of the human existence… Having been influenced by the European Romanticism of that time, he promoted ethics, aesthetics and advanced thought, not only in the theoretical but also in the practical aspect of life. He was a non-conformist and a great supporter of human rights, a proponent of abolition of slavery, and one who believed that man has to be in absolute harmony with nature and with himself.”
Emerson believed that the human was being modeled after what the church thought the ideal human was to be spiritually, instead of the humans own beliefs and what they wanted to be like spiritually. So, Emerson’s life mission became to free the human soul from the Church and mass society  by awakening every individual to the creative power and immortality of their soul.   Brenè Brown states in her book that, “ Connection is the energy that is created between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment”(pg 145).
     She later goes on to say, “belonging is the innate human desire to be part of something larger than us. Because this yearning is so primal, we often try to acquire it by fitting in and by seeking approval… because true belonging only happens when we present out authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance”(Brown pg145-146).
    Brown states later that “spirituality emerged as a fundamental guidepost in wholeheartedness. Not religiosity but the deeply held belief that we are inextricably connected to one another by a force greater than ourselves-a force grounded in love and compassion. For some of us that’s God, for others it’s nature, art, or even human soulfulness”(pg 151).
Transcendentalism  is all about this connection with your spirit and with nature. Emerson makes the perfect statement to sum up, “ what lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us”(Reader’s Digest, pg 71).
    Daemonic Love is all about  how bad the Church  is for the human soul. “ Man was made from social earth, child and brother from his birth, tethered by a liquid cord… throbs of a wild religion stirred their good was heaven, their harm was vice, till beauty came to snap all ties… when her calm eyes opened bright, all were foreign in her light. It was ever the self-same tale, only two in the garden walked, the snake and the seraph talked”(Emerson). The meaning of the first stanza is about how the human was made to have a social bond with the Church(the “wild religion” mentioned). Emerson uses “beauty” to refer to nature and the human soul because he believed that the human needed to “snap all ties” with the Church and look inward at the nature around them and to his/her own belief system. When Emerson says, “But God said; I will have a purer gift, there is smoke in the flame…”, he is trying to explain that there is more that meets the eye when it comes to the spirit (Emerson). The flame is a persons’ spirit and the smoke is what drives them and what makes them unique. Emerson is making a point that the Church is closed minded and only see what they want to see in a person’s soul. “Close, close to men, like undulation layer of air, right above their heads, the potent plain of Daemons spreads… A gleam which plays and hovers, over the maiden’s head, and dips sometimes as low as her eyes”(Emerson). This stanza is Emerson’s way of saying that the Church blinds those who become a part of it; they pull a shield over the eyes of their congregations. Emerson is saying that the Church is trying to keep its people close minded and obedient. “As when a shower of meteors cross the orbit of the earth… blaze near and far… Mortals deem the planet bright, have slipped their sacred bars, and the lone seamen all the night sails astonished amid stars”(Emerson). This stanza is saying that Earth is a beautiful place and those who are not tied to the Church are free to enjoy and stand in awe of her magnificence. “Beauty of a richer vein, Graces of a subtler strain… so is mans narrow path, by strength and terror skirted… The Daemons are self-seeking; Their fierce and limitary will , draws men to their likenesses still”(Emerson). Emerson says that nature is rich with beauty, but the Churches beliefs strain to see it. He says that the Church tries to help people “find themselves” through their(the Church’s) limitary ways. Emerson points out in the end of this stanza that even though the Church has restrictions they draw in people. However, when Emerson says this line, “His radiant, sharpest-sighted god none can bewilder; whose eyes pierce the universe, path-finder, road-builder, mediator, royal giver, rightly seeing, rightly seen, of joyful and transparent mien”(Emerson), he is saying that God sees through these disguises of the Church. “Rightly seeing” meaning those who are not blind to the beauty of nature or their own uniqueness. “Rightly-seen” meaning he sees them for fakes and as transparent beings.      Transcendentalism was a way for people to help each other grow and become stronger by loving one another for their true self is what is being explained in this line, “ ‘Tis a sparkle passing, from each to each, from me to thee… sharing all, daring all, leveling, misplacing each obstruction, it unites equals remote, and seeming opposites”(Emerson). “His hot tyranny burns up every other tie; therefore comes an hour of Jove which his ruthless will defies; and the dogs of fate unties”, refers to the fact that the Church burns every tie with Gods power thus when it is time to repent, God will turn down those who are blind to this power. By the time the Church and its people realize their mistake, it will be too late and they will suffer for their foolishness.
    The last part of the poem is the most powerful lines of all, “shiver the palaces of glass, shrivel the rainbow colored walls, where in bright art each god… dwelt… and the galleries and halls wherein every Siren sung, like a meteor pass. For this fortune, wanted root in the core of God’s abysm, was a weed of self and schism; and ever the Daemonic Love is the ancestor of wars and the parent of remorse”(Emerson).
    These lines says that the different worship centers will not stand up to the power of nature. Emerson refers to the Church as a weed and he says it starts wars and remorse.  He says that a person has two paths, the Churches or your own. If you chose the Churches path you will be lead into the mouth of  hell; The Siren in the stanza , which is Emerson’s way of comparing the Church to the Siren in legend, which were beings that would draw men to their deaths by capturing them with their songs. However, if you chose your own path you will find a place of beauty and happiness. Brown says that, “ I believe that owning our worthiness is the act of acknowledging that we are sacred. Perhaps embracing vulnerability and overcoming numbing is ultimately about the care and feeding of our spirits”(pg 151).
    Celestial Love on the other hand is all about Nature and self-spirituality. “ Higher far, upward, into the pure realm, over sun or star, over the flickering Daemon film, thou must mount for love, into vision which all form, In one only form dissolves, in a region where the wheel on which all beings ride, visibly resolves… were unlike things are like, when good and ill and joy and moan, melt into one”(Emerson). This line takes the reader into another dimension, higher than the Church, where everything comes together in unison.
    “There past, present, future, shoot triple blossoms from one root substances at base divided in their summits are united, there the Holy Essence rolls, one through separated souls, and the sunny Aelig; on  sleeps folding nature in its deeps, and every fair and every good known in part or known impure to men below, in their archetypes endure”(Emerson).
    Emerson was merely trying to say that we are all connected by one root and that even when we are completely different in the end we stand together. Reader’s Digest put our a book called The Smartest, Funniest, Dumbest Things Every Said , which is were the next two quotes come from and are related to the above quote. Henry Miller says, “a man of good will with a little effort and belief in his own powers can enjoy a deep tranquil, rich life-provided he go his own way… to live one’s own life is still the best way of life, always was, and always will be”(Reader’s Digest, pg 27).  James Thurber states, “let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness”(Reader’s Digest, pg32). Emerson goes on to say, “The race of gods or those we erring own, are shadows flitting up and down in still abodes. The circles of that sea are laws, which publish and hide the Cause.” These lines are talking about the Church and other places of worship in relation to hiding the true spirit of the human being. The first line is talking about how all these religions are merely shadows in the end, because they only mask and chain down the human spirit. “O, What a load of care and toil by lying Use bestowed, from his shoulders falls, who sees the true astronomy, the period of peace. Counsel which ages kept, Shall the well-born soul accept”(Emerson). These lines are saying that if we are true to ourselves then the heavy burden of life will be lifted from our shoulders. Basically, by being ourselves we are set free of life’s torments.
    “The overhanging trees fill the lake with images, as garment draws the garment's hem men their fortunes bring with them; by right or wrong, lands and goods go to the strong; property will brutely draw still to the proprietor, silver to silver creep and wind, and kind to kind, nor less the eternal poles of tendency distribute souls”(Emerson).
    Emerson is saying that those who see the true beauty of nature and their souls, will be prosperous. “Need no vows to bind whom not each other seek but find. They give and take no pledge or oath, Nature is the bond of both. No Prayer persuades, no flattery fawns, their noble meanings are their pawns”(Emerson). Emerson is saying that a person does not need to make an oath to a worship center so our souls will be saved, because nature is the force that binds us to God.
    “Not with scarfs or perfumed gloves do these celebrate their loves, not by jewels, feasts, and savors, not by ribbons or by favors, but by the sun-spark on the sea, and the cloud-shadow on the lea, the soothing lapse of morn to mirk, and the cheerful round of work. Their cords of love so public are, they intertwine the farthest star. The throbbing sea, the quaking earth, Yield sympathy and signs of mirth; Is none so high, so mean is none, But feels and seals this union”(Emerson).
    Emerson is saying that nothing material will show your love for God. The only thing that will show your love for Him is if you work hard to protect Nature and you relish in her beauty and majesty.
     Rhonda Burke says, “the greatest joy in life is giving, because unless you give, you will always be struggling to survive… there is only one thing you can give-you love…Your love, your joy, your positivity, your excitement, your gratitude, and your passions are the true and everlasting things in life. All the riches in the world cannot even come close to the most priceless gift in all creation-the love inside you…While you are here, every time you choose the positive, every time you choose to feel good, you are giving your love, and with it you light up the world”(pg 246). 
      “ Even the tell Furies are appeased, The good applaud, the lost are eased”(Emerson). God forgives those who were involved in the Church because he know they were lost and they couldn’t see clearly. The good are the ones who truly see nature, so when they applaud they are really seeing the true self behind the masked person. Those that were lost now have a chance to redeem themselves in Gods eyes, by opening their own eyes to the true magnificence and power of God and of the Earth.
    “Love’s hearts are faithful, but not fond, bound for the just, but not beyond; not glad, as the low-loving herd, of self in others still preferred, but they have heartily designed the benefit of broad mankind. And they serve men austerely, after their own genius, clearly, without a false humility; for this is love's nobility, not to scatter bread and gold, goods and raiment bought and sold, but to hold fast his simple sense, and speak the speech of innocence, with hand, and body, and blood, to make his bosom-counsel good:
For he that feeds men, serveth few, he serves all, who dares be true”(Emerson).
    With the final stanza Emerson is making statement that if  the human was to focus only on his simple senses then he would understand nature and become awakened to the world around him. If you are true to yourself, then the world will open up and show you its beauty. Anodea Judith and Lion Goodman back this up in their book called Creating On Purpose : the Spiritual Technology of Manifesting Through The Chakras.
    They say that, “Materialism is disconnected from the upper chakras, treating them as if they were of no importance. This philosophy leads people to exploit the earth and its inhabitants, with dire consequences… When we use practices such a yoga and meditation, we expand our consciousness to include everything, creating the highest possibilities by integrating spirit and matter, transcendence and immanence”(pg 15-16).
    They later say, “consider the craft of a weaver. On her loom, she creates a fabric by pulling thread in a back-and-forth pattern, from front to back; she then weaves a  complementary thread, over and under, from one side to another. We create the fabric of our existence by weaving archetypal polarities together, giving life texture and strength. When the warp and weft are uneven, or when a thread doesn’t make it to the other side of the loom, the fabric is no longer strong and whole, and it can fray. Likewise, when we give unequal value to abstract spirit or pure materialism, we lack wholeness and integrity. The web of life gets fragile and frayed, and it ultimately unravels”(Judith/Goodman, pg 16).
    In conclusion, Emerson shows the importance of being true to yourself and you beliefs, before you can really be spiritually healthy. Even though this way of thinking is in so many books and in life, many people don’t see the beauty or the power behind it. This way of thinking shows the flaws behind our Church and behind other worship centers. Unfortunately, these worship centers still draw and blind innocent people away from the beauty and power of Nature. Thanks to Emerson, many people have awakened to see the masterpiece that God created on Earth.  

Author's Note

I think I was robbed of a better grade by my teacher seeing that he only said "write a term paper on an American author", he never said anything about a time frame. He gave me a 75 and didn't tell me what I did to deserve that. Anyway... comments, reviews, etc. are welcome! Let me know if any of you want the sources I used!