Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 10, 2026

A Modified Mirror Test as a Visual Guide for the Self-awareness Trait in Wild Antarctica Penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae
Published on: July 8, 2025
"The Sphinx must solve her own riddle": Emerson, secrecy, and the self-reflexive method
1Central Michigan University.
Abstract:
This article offers a fresh approach to the religious thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson, exploring (1) the particular conception of secrecy in connection with which he understands the human spiritual predicament and (2) his response to this predicament by means of a self-reflexive turn in his writing-a procedure designed to undermine quests for truth elsewhere and so to restore the self to the wholeness implicit in its initial conditions. The operation of this method will be traced through a number of Emerson's major works, including the second "Nature" (from Essays: Second Series), "History," and the poem "The Sphinx." Along the way, Emerson's thought will be discussed in relation to the history of Emerson criticism, alternative views of secrecy in religion, and the theory and practice of religious nondualism, to which Emerson's intellectual project bears considerable resemblance.
Related Concept Videos
Self-Schemas
Structure of Self
Components of the Mind: Id, Ego, and Superego
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison
Introspection
Understanding the Self
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification

