Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul, as the most important thing in the universe. The Oversoul was an all-pervading power for goodness, omnipresent and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which all were a part. It existed in nature and man alike and constituted the chief element of the universe.

Transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau were telling people to depend upon themselves for spiritual perfection if they cared to make the effort because, in their opinion, the individual soul communed with the Oversoul and was therefore divine. Now this new notion of the individual and his importance represented, obviously, a new way of looking at man. It was a reaction against the Calvinist concept that man is totally depraved, he is sinful and perseveres in sin hood, and cannot hope to be saved except through the grace of God.

What's more, they offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Nature was, to them, not purely matter. It was alive, filled with God's overwhelming presence. It was the garment of Oversoul. Therefore it could exercise a healthy and restorative influence on the human mind.