Ralph Waldo Emerson's insistence that every person is free to be his own god served as the underpinnings of the ascendant, emergent religion of humanism.

In one of his writings, Emerson reacts with anger, adamantly rejecting any force, custom, or tradition which threatened to put his intellect in chains.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was America's foremost practitioner of Transcendentalism and Pantheism, which equate the creation and the Creator, ignoring Him.

Although Transcendentalism as a movement never had an abundance of adherents, Emerson's teachings did permeate the schools of philosophy of the Ivy League.

Contrary to false concepts of meditation in Eastern religions, we are mandated to maintain control of their minds, using meditation as a teaching tool.