American Transcendentalism

[HammerStone]

http://spectator.org/archives/2013/01/23/a-transcendentalist-moment

I was struck by these quotes on American exceptionalism transcendentalism, but the entire article is a great read. It's a reflection of the Inaugural prayer.

Moral guidance does not come from natural or special revelation; instead, it originates from a deep inner light — one’s own insight into the “Universal Being.” Even contemporary thinkers in American liberalism like John Rawls allude to a feeling deep down inside the heart — an innate inner control — that guides the moral sensibilities of human beings. And it is here that we see Evers-Williams conform most clearly when she claims that “there is something within!”

...

This is what Americans do when they invent religion. They do not turn outward to divine order but inward to individualistic realization. Cosmic Oversouls, self-help, and a progressive mythos can be found even today in scientology and The Secret. Most Americans are not militant secularists. Instead, they set themselves up as their own spiritual authorities freed from creed, canon, catechism, or confession. In other words, they are heretics — generally warmed-over Transcendentalists.

Emphasis mine.

I'd submit this is not just a 'liberal problem.' Although the language and circumstances certainly vary, conservative Christians most notably invoke similar fierce individualism for the sort of things that line up with their version of living - think consumerism. You get the same line of self-help thinking, albeit with differing language.

Thoughts? Criticisms?