Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. It is the spirit of God pronouncing his works good.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Spirit of God

Topic: Prayer, Meditation, & Contemplation

Prayer that craves a particular commodity, anything less than all good, is vicious. Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. It is the soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant soul. It is the spirit of God pronouncing his works good.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Emerson studied at Harvard and then became a Unitarian minister, before a crisis of faith led him to pursue a career in writing and public speaking. He is best known for his essays like "Nature" (1836) and "Self-Reliance" (1841), which proposed a deeply personal, intuitive approach to spirituality and morality, emphasizing individualism and the primacy of the individual's relationship with the natural world.

Throughout his career, Emerson’s ideas had a profound impact on American thought and literature. His works expressed a belief in the spiritual potential of every person, and his call for intellectual independence and nonconformity resonated with contemporaries and future generations alike. His lectures across the country brought him recognition as one of America's foremost public intellectuals. His influence can be seen in the work of other celebrated American writers, including Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman, who were directly inspired by his vision of individual freedom and self-reliance. Emerson passed away in 1882, but his writings continue to inspire and influence philosophical and literary thought to this day.

(1803-1882) Humanism, Arts and Sciences

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Prayers." In Essays: Second Series, 1844.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Theme: Prayer

“Prayer that craves a particular commodity, anything less than all good, is vicious. Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. It is the soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant soul. It is the spirit of God pronouncing his works good.”

—Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Prayers.” In Essays: Second Series, 1844.

In this quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that prayer should not be seen merely as a medium for asking for specific desires or commodities. Rather, it should be an act of seeking ‘all good,’ indicating a holistic well-being and universal good. This emphasizes his belief in the interconnectedness of all things and beings, a key element of transcendentalist philosophy, implying that our desires should not be narrowly self-centered but instead should resonate with the betterment of all.

In the second part of the quote, Emerson shifts the traditional view of prayer as a plea or request to a divine entity. Instead, he sees prayer as a contemplation of life from the highest vantage point. It is a moment for the soul to introspect, to behold the world and revel in its jubilance. It’s a solitary discourse where the soul communes with the divine, reflecting the inherent goodness of creation. This view aligns with his transcendentalist belief in the inherent goodness of individuals and nature. Thus, according to Emerson, prayer becomes less about supplication for personal gains, and more about acknowledging and appreciating the innate divinity and goodness of the universe.

Additional Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.”

—Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Friendship.” In Essays: First Series, 1841.

Friendship

“A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal, that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another.”

—Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Friendship.” In Essays: First Series, 1841.

Our spiritual nature:

“We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal ONE.”

—Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “The Over-Soul.” In Essays: First Series, 1841.

Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. It is the spirit of God pronouncing his works good.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Spirit of God

Topic: Prayer, Meditation, & Contemplation

Prayer that craves a particular commodity, anything less than all good, is vicious. Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. It is the soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant soul. It is the spirit of God pronouncing his works good.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(1803-1882) Humanism, Arts and Sciences

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Prayers." In Essays: Second Series, 1844.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Theme: Prayer

“Prayer that craves a particular commodity, anything less than all good, is vicious. Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. It is the soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant soul. It is the spirit of God pronouncing his works good.”

—Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Prayers.” In Essays: Second Series, 1844.

In this quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that prayer should not be seen merely as a medium for asking for specific desires or commodities. Rather, it should be an act of seeking ‘all good,’ indicating a holistic well-being and universal good. This emphasizes his belief in the interconnectedness of all things and beings, a key element of transcendentalist philosophy, implying that our desires should not be narrowly self-centered but instead should resonate with the betterment of all.

In the second part of the quote, Emerson shifts the traditional view of prayer as a plea or request to a divine entity. Instead, he sees prayer as a contemplation of life from the highest vantage point. It is a moment for the soul to introspect, to behold the world and revel in its jubilance. It’s a solitary discourse where the soul communes with the divine, reflecting the inherent goodness of creation. This view aligns with his transcendentalist belief in the inherent goodness of individuals and nature. Thus, according to Emerson, prayer becomes less about supplication for personal gains, and more about acknowledging and appreciating the innate divinity and goodness of the universe.

Additional Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.”

—Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Friendship.” In Essays: First Series, 1841.

Friendship

“A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal, that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another.”

—Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Friendship.” In Essays: First Series, 1841.

Our spiritual nature:

“We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal ONE.”

—Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “The Over-Soul.” In Essays: First Series, 1841.

The Spirit of God

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