Self-Transcendence, Value, and Power: Emerson and Zhuangzi

Abstract

Both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Zhuangzi lived in eras of profound social transformation. They both reconstruct virtue to respond to the meaning crisis in this social transformation. However, for the reason that their metaphysical foundations of virtue differ, there is a significant difference between them. Emerson’s concept of virtue promotes aesthetic appreciation of nature. Emerson regards nature as the best meaning of life. Meanwhile, Zhuangzi’s concept of virtue promotes the aesthetic appreciation of harmony between humanity and the Dao. He does not have Emerson’s sense of aesthetic appreciation of nature, including wilderness. In this paper, I will conduct a comparative study between Emerson and Zhuangzi based on the core categories in research on meaning in life, which are self-transcendence, value, and power. I aim to reconstruct Zhuangzi’s virtue through intercultural dialogue by absorbing Emerson’s virtue. Through this dialogue, we can deepen our understanding of Emerson and Zhuangzi in their efforts in the reconstruction of the self and value through virtue, which gives them enormous spiritual power to cope with the meaning crisis in their lifetimes. The new virtue is an integrated environmental virtue, which will give us a new understanding of the self, value, and power. The new self is an ecological aesthetic self, which is integrated with value in nature. The new self and value have the potential to shape new practices in the era of new transformation, which is generated by AI.

1. Introduction

Both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Zhuangzi were philosophers who lived during periods of profound social transformation. As Richardson (Richardson 1995, p. 12) observes, “Emerson came of age in a country that was inventing itself. The early nineteenth century was a time of extraordinary optimism and energy in America, with new lands opening to settlement, new industries taking root, and a new literature struggling to be born. It was an age when the individual seemed capable of anything, and Emerson’s voice gave expression to that boundless possibility”. In this age, traditional religious values such as Calvinism and Unitarianism had gradually lost authority over people. Intellectuals such as Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Bronson Alcott sought to shape new values through initiatives like utopian communities, advocacy for gender equality, and abolitionist movements. Emerson’s primary contribution was his reinterpretation of virtue. He integrates the self with virtue, which responds to the era’s meaning crisis by reconstructing a new religion, which is termed “the romantic triad” by Samantha C. Harvey (Harvey 2013, p. 15). It refers to a new trinity among nature, humanity, and spirit. Notably, Emerson draws on several of Zhuangzi’s ideas about virtue to address the crisis of meaning in his time.

Zhuangzi lived during China’s Warring States period, a time marked by the disintegration of the Zhou feudal order. Confucian rituals and Zhou-era values had lost their authority, prompting intellectuals such as Confucius, Mozi, Laozi, and Zhuangzi to propose diverse solutions to restore social order and meaning in life. This era is well known as the “Hundred Schools of Thought”. Zhuangzi’s virtue of “wandering” emerges as a compelling response to the meaning crisis, offering a framework for reconstructing life’s purpose. Today, as artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly shapes daily life, a renewed crisis of meaning has emerged. Through an intercultural dialogue between Emerson and Zhuangzi, this paper explores how Zhuangzi’s virtue ethics can be adapted to address this contemporary challenge in the age of AI.

Since the 19th century, the translation and dissemination of Chinese Confucian and Daoist texts have inspired an “Eastern turn” in Western thought, particularly in Emerson’s Transcendentalism. Given the parallels between Transcendentalism and Confucian–Daoist philosophies—especially their views on human nature, the natural world, and the good life—comparative studies of Emerson and Chinese philosophy and religions remain a dynamic field in both Chinese and Western academia. While earlier scholarship predominantly compared Emerson with Confucianism, recent years have seen growing interest in Emerson and Zhuangzi. For instance, Professor Xuehong Jia from Yangzhou University received funding from the Chinese National Social Science Fund in 2023 to study the nature writing of Emerson and Zhuangzi. Her article, “Beauty and Dao: The Transcendental Expressions of Nature in Emerson’s Prose and the Zhuangzi,” published in a Special Issue titled “Nature, Spirituality, and Place: Emerson and Chinese Religions” (Jia and Wu 2024, pp. 16–35), exemplifies this trend. Notable works in terms of comparative study between Emerson and Zhuangzi include Meng Jia’s (Jia 2025) ““Circulations” and Self-Transcendence: A Comparative Study of Emerson and Zhuangzi” and Wang Leng’s (L. Wang 2023) Study on Emerson’s Transcendentalism: From Literature to Philosophy. This paper builds on these efforts but focuses on the ethical category of virtue through the lens of meaning in life. So far, this remains an underexplored area in comparative studies between Emerson and Zhuangzi. By comparing how Emerson and Zhuangzi reconstruct meaning in life through virtue in their respective contexts, this paper proposes an integrated “environmental virtue” for the AI era, grounded in ecological aesthetics and the intrinsic value of nature.

This paper uses three key categories in the study of meaning in life to conduct a comparative analysis of Emerson and Zhuangzi: self-transcendence, value, and power. This approach draws on methodologies found in Jennifer A. Frey and Candace Vogler’s Self-Transcendence and Virtue: Perspectives from Philosophy, Psychology, and Theology (Frey and Vogler 2018) and Krzysztof Piotr Skowronski’s Values and Powers: Re-reading the Philosophical Tradition of American Pragmatism (Skowronski 2009). The logical relationships among these concepts are as follows: (1) self-transcendence is fundamentally an expression of virtue; (2) virtue is intrinsically tied to the value of goodness and the cognitive power of human beings; and (3) self-transcendence involves transcending the false self to achieve the true self, thereby aligning with ultimate value.

The analysis is structured in four parts. First, I explore the relationship between the self and virtue in Emerson and Zhuangzi, arguing that both of them view virtue as an expression of the true self, despite differing conceptions of virtue. Second, I examine the notion of the false self in their philosophies. For Emerson, the false self manifests in three forms: a narrow ego, an obsession with outcomes, and ignorance of nature’s significance. For Zhuangzi, the false self is tied to the “intentional mind” (chengxin). Third, I analyze self-transcendence as the essence of virtue, contending that both Emerson and Zhuangzi conceive of virtue as the process of transcending the false self to unite with the true self and ultimate value. While both emphasize the value of goodness, their interpretations diverge: Emerson associates goodness with scientific truth, whereas Zhuangzi links it to authenticity. Finally, I propose a new virtue category—integrated environmental virtue—inspired by the intercultural dialogue between Emerson and Zhuangzi, as a transformative response to the meaning crisis in the AI era. This virtue is rooted in ecological aesthetics and the intrinsic value of nature, and offers a pathway to reconstructing meaning in life in an age of technological transformation.

2. Self and Virtue

Emerson scholar Wesley T. Mott (Myerson 2000, p. 74) in his article titled “The Age of the First Person Singular” points out that the concept of self is “an unfashionable term in the late twentieth century, when literary theorists have treated ‘self-construction’, according to Daniel Walker Howe, ‘an essentially pathological’”. However, Emerson reconstructed the concept of the self and connected it with virtue. The Chinese translation for Emerson’s concept of the self is ziji (自己), which is made up of two Chinese characters, zi (自) and Ji (己). According to the first Chinese dictionary, The Origin of Chinese Characters (说文解字), the original meaning of zi refers to one’s nose. The pictograph of zi resembles the shape of the nose. When people converse with each other, they will point to their nose to represent themselves. Ji (己) refers to personal identity and ownership. Zhuangzi stresses wuji (no self 无己). For Zhuangzi, no self is considered a virtue. In the following, I will focus on three things: (1) I will investigate the concepts of the soul in Emerson and Xing in Zhuangzi since they are deeply connected with virtue; (2) I will examine the core virtues in Emerson and Zhuangzi, which are self-reliance and wandering, respectively; and (3) I will discuss the religious foundations for the concept of virtue in Emerson and Zhuangzi.

2.1. Self: Soul and Xing

Emerson’s concept of the self is best understood through the soul, which is intimately connected to virtue, while the equivalent concept in Zhuangzi is xing (性), similarly tied to virtue. Let us first take a look at Emerson’s writing in the essay “Oversoul”: “What we commonly call man, the eating, drinking, planting, counting man, does not, as we know him, represent himself, but misrepresents himself. Him we do not respect, but the soul, whose organ he is, would he let it appear through his action, would make our knees bend. When it breathes through his intellect, it is genius; when it breathes through his will, it is virtue; when it flows through his affection, it is love” (Emerson 1983, p. 387).

The above passage best illustrates the relationship between the self and virtue. For him, our most bodily activities, such as eating, drinking, and planting, do not represent our true self. Our body for Emerson is just the organ for the soul to express itself through actions. In terms of the relationship between the soul and virtue, the concept of will in this passage can help us better understand it. The will in this passage refers to self-will, which uses one’s understanding to choose their way of life. Emerson stresses that we should relinquish self-will and surrender to the soul, and we will obtain virtue. The soul is derived from God. It will exert religious power on human beings, and we cannot resist its influence.

For Zhuangzi, xing (inborn nature 性) is closely related to de (virtue 德), which represents the self. In terms of the relationship between xing (inborn nature 性) and virtue, scholars such as Xu Fuguan (Xu 1969, pp. 369, 373) and Siu Chun-sing (Siu 2014, p. 70) argue that de (virtue 德) is both identical to and interchangeable with xing. King-chong Chong defines xing (inborn nature 性) and de (virtue 德) in his article titled “Zhuangzi and the Issue of Human Nature”: “Xing (inborn nature 性) is used to refer to an original unspoiled state of humans and de is used to refer to natural capacities of humans” (Chong 2023, p. 241). However, what are these natural capacities? How do we define these natural capacities? The author does not address this issue. I will discuss it in detail in part III. In Zhuangzi, we can find rich evidence that xing (inborn nature 性) and de are interconnected. The concept of xing (inborn nature 性) is often mentioned together with the concept of de (virtue 德). “The Course is the full array of virtuosities. The life process is Virtuosity shining forth. The inborn nature is the concrete material of life process. The motion of inborn nature is a kind of activity, but when activity becomes deliberate and artificial, it can be called the loss [of that inborn nature]” (Ziporyn 2009, p. 102).

In summary, Zhuangzi’s conception of xing (inborn nature 性) fundamentally differs from Emerson’s understanding of the soul. Zhuangzi posits xing (inborn nature 性)as both a material process and a spiritual process. It is first a material process, since inborn nature is not separated from the movement of vital energy within our body. It is also a spiritual process. In the above passage, by activity, Zhuangzi refers to the mind’s activity, which tends to pursue definite aims, including success, long life, power, and so on. When the mind’s activity is goal-oriented, vital energy in our body will not flow in accordance with Dao (the Course 道), so that inborn nature tends to be harmed. However, for Emerson, the soul is not related to the body, but it is related to the functions of the mind. For him, the soul from God can trigger the movement of the functions of the mind, including memory and imagination.

2.2. Virtue: Self-Reliance and Wandering

Emerson gives us a detailed account of self-reliance in his essay titled “Self-Reliance”. It is based on self-trust. It means that we trust the “aboriginal self” which is “at once the essence of genius, of virtue, and of life” (Emerson 1983, p. 269). Emerson calls it spontaneity. For him, the self in the core virtue of “self-reliance” refers to the aboriginal self, which will lead us to receive the truth of God. In essence, self-reliance is God-reliance. Emerson’s core virtue of self-reliance is often misinterpreted. For instance, Quentin Anderson in his book Imperial Self: An Essay in American Literary and Cultural History claims that Emerson’s self-reliance denies “history, membership in a generation, charity, reform, institutional means of every sort” (Anderson 1971, p. 54). In actuality, Quentin has a serious misunderstanding of Emerson. Emerson highlights interconnectedness. “Nature is intricate, overlapped, interweaved and endless”. He continues to use the example of hibernation to illustrate “the web of relation” (Emerson 1983, p. 961). When Emerson discusses humanity, he often situates it within the background of nature and history. However, all things in nature and history are the result of God. For Emerson, human beings’ connection to God is paramount.

By contrast, Zhuangzi stresses wudai (waiting for nothing 无待). If we achieve this state, we will have the virtue of wandering. “The consciousness of living creatures depends on their breath. It is not Heaven’s fault if it becomes depleted. Heaven blows through them day and night without cease, but human beings see to it that all their openings are blocked off. Only when you reopen yourself all the way back down to the placenta can your mind wander in the Heavenly. When there is insufficient space in the house, the womenfolk will surely fall to quarreling. If the mind has no Heavenly wandering, the six apertures of perception will interfere with one another. This is why being in a vast mountain forest benefits a man more than whatever might be granted by the gods” (Ziporyn 2009, p. 113). This passage highlights a key distinction: while Emerson’s self-reliance is intrinsically tied to God, Zhuangzi posits that the virtue of wandering can be cultivated by immersion in a “vast mountain forest”, a physical and symbolic space representing the Dao, distinct from the secular world’s values which are influenced mostly by Confucian moral values.

Zhuangzi considers the wandering mind the core virtue of human existence, yet he does not explicitly define wandering. The concept can be best understood based on the following dimensions: (1) It is related to our mind. For Zhuangzi, when our mind is empty of false self, and full of authentic self, the mind will achieve heavenly wandering. (2) It is also related to our body since there is no separation between mind and body for Zhuangzi. The body will be full of vital energy if our mind is full of the authentic self. (3) Heavenly wandering is the result of rational reflection. In terms of reflection and its relationship with the virtue of heavenly wandering, I will examine it in the third part of this paper.

In summary, Emerson’s self-reliance is in essence God-reliance. It is closely related to ultimate values in God, which combine truth, goodness, and beauty. However, Zhuangzi’s wandering mind does not rely on any supernatural power to obtain guidance. The wandering mind transcends various types of values. It only flows spontaneously with the Dao.

2.3. Religious Foundation for Virtue: Moral Sentiment and Intuition

Emerson grounds his concept of virtue in the moral sentiment inspired by God. Without this foundation, virtue will cease to exist. Emerson writes “We distinguish the announcements of the soul, its manifestations of its own nature, by the term ‘revelation’. These are always attended by the emotion of the sublime. For this communication is in influx of the Divine mind into our mind” (Emerson 1983, p. 392). Emerson’s concept of virtue has a religious foundation. For him, the highest reality, which is often termed oversoul or God, will inspire people to pursue the ultimate values, which are justice, truth, love, goodness, and so on. He holds that we are powerless to resist God’s influence, which resides in moral sentiment and faith in its revelations, not in rational judgment.

By contrast, Zhuangzi connects virtue with the Dao. For Zhuangzi, if we follow the Dao, we will have virtue. The existence of the Dao in Zhuangzi is not based on rational justification. For Zhuangzi, the Dao’s existence is a given reality rather than illusion. “That Course has its own tendency and consistency but without any deliberate activity or definite form. It can be transmitted but not received, attained but not shown. Being its own root and its own foundation, it exists firmly even when heaven and earth are not yet there. It makes the spirits and the Lord-on High divine, generate both heaven and earth.” (Ziporyn 2009, p. 42). From here, we can find the commonality between Emerson and Zhuangzi in their understanding of the highest reality which is the Dao: They will not justify the existence of it through rational argument; rather, they treat it as first principles or given facts. They also have belief in it. Emerson’s belief is based on moral sentiment, while Zhuangzi’s belief is not based on moral sentiment; rather, it is based on intuition. Intuition is not emotion or reason; rather, intuition is based on comic imagination which is outside of human society.

From the above, we can see the difference between Emerson and Zhuangzi in the religious foundation for virtue. For Emerson, moral sentiment flows from Top (God) to down (human mind). Moral sentiment has an intention to inspire people to know God. However, for Zhuangzi, intuition is within the human mind. It takes existence itself as the ultimate reality, and intuition will not doubt this existence. In this aspect, it is similar to the idea of Descartes that he never doubts he is doubting. This is Descartes’ intuition. However, for Zhuangzi, he never doubts the existence of the world we live in.

3. False Self

From the previous section, we know that both Emerson and Zhuangzi connect the true self with virtue. In this section, I will focus on the false self. To clarify, false self is not a term that appears in Emerson and Zhuangzi’s work. However, there are similar terms which best explain the clear distinction between the true self and the false self. In Emerson’s essays, we can find terms such as “strange dualism” (Emerson 1992, p. 219) and “disparity” (Emerson 1971–2013, p. 30). These terms are used to explain human nature. For Emerson, there exists the “perfect” self and a less perfect self, which is “incapable of any assurance”. Zhuangzi has the explicit expression of dualism in human nature, although he never uses the concept. He states it in “I lost myself” in his essay titled “Equality of Things” (Ziporyn 2009, p. 12). In this sentence, the terms “I” and “myself” are, in Chinese, respectively, “吾” and “我”. These two terms have subtle differences. The former tends to represent the true self who realizes virtue, while the latter refers to a false type of self who tends to focus on narrow self-interest. In Zhuangzi’s work, the terms which are used to represent the false self also include “formed mind” (成心), “mechanical heart” (机心), and so on. In this paper, I only focus on the formed mind since it includes all other types of false self.

Emerson and Zhuangzi both view their conceptions of the false self as states of disconnection from ultimate reality rather than as inherently evil. However, their interpretations of the false self diverge significantly. This section compares their perspectives through three dimensions: (1) opinion: self-willed versus chengxin (formed mind 成心); (2) value: idolatry of results and worship of secular goodness; (3) nature: stranger to nature and infinite pursuit of knowledge.

3.1. Self-Willed Versus Formed Mind (成心)

For Emerson, the false self is often described as self-will, egotism, or individualism. It arises from attachment to narrow self-interest. He advocates self-denial, which entails rejecting the false self. A self-willed person pursues a life centered on personal gain, guided by unexamined opinions that fail to challenge traditional values. Emerson elaborates on the concept of imperfect opinion by explaining this concept in the following passage” “God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take which you please—you can never have both. Between these, as a pendulum, man oscillates. He in whom the love of repose predominates will accept the first creed, the first philosophy, the first political party he meets—most likely his father’s. He gets rest, commodity, and reputation; but he shuts the door of truth” (Emerson 1983, pp. 425–26). For Emerson, a person with a false self tends to live a life that is based on opinion rather than on truth. For Emerson, opinion is related to following an unexamined first principle, philosophy, or party. However, for him, this “first” is the received idea, and it is not the truth. He stresses that living a life based on opinion may bring a lot of energy or power to people. However, this kind of power is dangerous and needs to be constrained. He writes

“Our American people cannot be taxed with slowness in performance or in praising their performance. The earth is shaken by our energies. We are feeling our youth and nerve and bone. We have the power of territory and of sea-coast, and know the use of these. We count our census, we read our growing valuations, we survey our map, which becomes old in a year or two. Our eyes run approvingly along the lengthened lines of railroad and telegraph. We have gone nearest to the Pole. We have discovered the Antarctic continent. We interfere in Central and South America, at Canto, and in Japan; We are adding to an already enormous territory. Our political constitution is the hope of the world, and we value ourselves on all these feats.”

(Emerson 1909)

Emerson, in this passage, stresses that the false self also produces enormous energies or power, including political power and technical improvement. However, these powers cannot give people dignity. Only moral powers represent the essence and dignity of people. In this aspect, Emerson is similar to Kant since for Kant, the only thing in the world that has absolute goodness is good will.

By contrast, Zhuangzi’s expression of false self is the “intentional mind”, literally “formed heart-mind,” a construct that fabricates moral judgment. It comprises cheng (formed) and xin (heart-mind 心), and it refers to a mind which is full of rigid preconceptions, without the Dao’s fluid reality. The term chengxin (formed mind 成心), combining cheng (formed, fixed) and xin (mind 心), denotes a mind burned by preconceived notions, detached from the Dao’s spontaneous flow. For Zhuangzi, the formed heart-mind, which generates moral values in human society, represents the false self. He describes the “intentional mind” in the following passage:

“If we follow whatever has so far taken shape, fully formed, in our minds, making that our teacher, who could ever be without a teacher? The mind comes to be what it is by taking possession of whatever if selects out of the process of alternation—but does that mean it has to truly understand that process? The fool takes something up from it too. But to claim that there are any such things as “Right” and “Wrong” before they come to be fully formed in someone’s mind in this way—that is like saying you left for Yue today and arrived there yesterday.”

(Ziporyn 2009, p. 11)

In this passage, formed mind refers to the intentional mind, which is characterized by value judgements. A value judgment is closely related to moral values rather than objective facts. For Zhuangzi, value judgments easily fill people with complicated feelings, including fear, joy, worry, and so on. He gave a detailed and vivid description here: “Shooting forth like an arrow from a bowstring: such is our presumption when we arbitrate right and wrong. Holding fast as if to swear oaths, such is our defense of our victories. Wore away as if by autumn and winter: such is our defense of our victories. Worn away as if by autumn and winter: such is our daily dwindling, drowning us in our own activities, unable to turn back” (Ziporyn 2009, p. 10). For Zhuangzi, when we make value judgements toward other people, it will create negative emotions and tensions among the people and our mind, which disturbs the harmony among the people and also the harmony among ourselves. For Zhuangzi, this is not evil; rather, it is negative psychological tendencies when people are deeply influenced by it.

In sum, self-willed people as Emerson interprets them tend to repose in subjective opinions which are shaped by traditional values. They do not try to attempt to know the objective truth since it will take great effort to overcome a lot of barriers. For Zhuangzi, the false self tends to make value judgements based on objective truth. For Zhuangzi, there is no objective truth. Zhuangzi stresses that if we try to make value judgements based on objective truth, he believes it will harm our inborn nature and peaceful mind. By contrast, a peaceful mind is the barrier for us to ascend to truth since we tend to rest in opinions which make us comfortable.

3.2. Worship of Effects Versus Valuing Secular Goods

Worshiping effects refers to valuing things and regarding things as being ultimate. By things, I mean institutions, societal goods such as wealth, fame, and power, and so on. Emerson uses the term “idolatry” to refer to people who worship effects, just as he writes here:

“There are but two things, or but one thing & its shadow—Cause & Effect, and Effect is itself worthless if separated from Cause. It is Cause still that must be worshiped in Effect; so that it is only one thing. The worship of Effect is Idolatry. The Church including under the nature, Doctrine, Forms, Discipline, Members, is the instant Effect: Weak man adheres to the Effect & lets God go … The indisposition of men to go back to the source & mix with Deity is the reason of degradation & decay. Education is expended in the measurement & imitation of effects: in the study of Shakespear[e] for example as itself a perfect being is with every scholar. Thus the College becomes idolatrous-a temple full of idols. Shakespear[e] will never be made by the study of Shakespear[e]. I know not how directions for greatness can be given. Yet greatness may be inspired”.

(Emerson 1960–1982, pp. 356–57)

Emerson uses the term “idolatry” to convey the misguided worship of effects, whether individuals, institutions, or nature, disconnected from their ultimate source. He argues that these effects gain intelligibility only when viewed through the lens of the final cause, which sparks human creativity and aligns it with divine purpose. In this aspect, Emerson’s idea resonates with Spinoza. For Spinoza, we should love and know God first, since it is the final cause of everything. If we love power, people, or fame for their own sake, we will be greatly harmed. However, if we try to unite with God, we will achieve supreme goodness. Emerson also stresses love toward God. But he also stressed the direct experience of nature, which is the foundation for us to know God. For Zhuangzi, secular goods include moral values and aesthetic values, wealth, fame, political power, and so on. He strongly objects to us valuing these things. He states

“So the conduct of the Great Man harms no one, but he places no special value on humanity and kindness. His actions are not motivated by profit, but he does not despise those who slavishly subordinate themselves to it. He does not fight over wealth, but he places no special value on yielding and refusing it. He doesn’t depend on others, but he places no special value on self-sufficiency. He does not despise the greedy and corrupt, and though his own conduct is unconventional, he places no special value on eccentricity and uniqueness. His actions do [not] follow the crowd, but he does not despise the obsequious flatterers”.

(Ziporyn 2009, p. 70)

In this passage, humanity and kindness are the core moral virtues of Confucianism. In Confucianism, only if we try to achieve virtue can we as human beings become complete. Ordinary people will value material goods such as profit and wealth. For Zhuangzi, when we value these things, regardless of whether they are lofty spiritual ideals or material things, we tend to despise those who do not pursue these values. The false self is characterized by this tendency.

One point I would like to make here is that the metaphysical foundations for the concepts of effects and secular goods are different. The contents of Emerson’s effects and Zhuangzi’s secular goods seem to be similar. For example, they both include wealth, traditional values, and fame. However, other things such as the natural world fall outside of effects as Emerson understands them. The natural world for Emerson is the effect of God. It is just a tool for human beings to know God. However, for Zhuangzi, the natural world is the living space for people to experience the Dao and it is not a tool for us to know the Dao; rather, the Dao is immanent in the natural world.

3.3. “Strangers of Nature” Versus Pursuing Knowledge

For Emerson, the false self appears when individuals worship external effects. By effects, Emerson refers to social institutions, churches, material wealth, and so on. He laments that those captivated by these effects forsake their primal bond with the natural world: “As we degenerate, the contrast between us and our house is more evident. We are as much strangers in nature, as we are aliens from God. We do not understand the notes of birds. The fox and the deer run away from us; the bear and tiger rend us. We do not know the uses of more than a few plants, as corn and the apple, the potato and the vine. Is not the landscape, every glimpse of which hath a grandeur, a face of him? Yet this may show us what discord is between man and nature, for you cannot freely admire a noble landscape, if laborers are digging in the field hard by. The poet finds something ridiculous in his delight, until he is out of the sight of men” (Emerson 1971–2013, p. 39). For Emerson, when a person degenerates, they become separated from nature. Then, this person will not understand the language of nature, such as the singing of a bird. Emerson treats this kind of lack as disharmony between nature and human beings.

In contrast, Zhuangzi critiques the false self’s fixation on accumulating knowledge, which he views as a disruption of life’s natural vitality and a corrosion of virtue. He gives an account of this point here: “The flow of my life is always channeled by its boundaries, but the mind is never on knowledge. A flow channeled by its boundaries is endangered when forced to follow something that is not, and trying then to rescue it with the doings of the knowing mind only makes the danger worse” (Ziporyn 2009, p. 21). For Zhuangzi, the false self tends to pursue infinite knowledge. However, the things we try to understand are always changing. There is no objective truth; therefore, we do not need to try to acquire more knowledge.

In summary, the big difference between Emerson and Zhuangzi in their understanding of knowledge is as follows: For Emerson, we can better know our self if we acquire knowledge of nature. He holds that there is a predetermined correspondence between the human mind and nature by God. However, for Zhuangzi, nature and human beings are interconnected through the Dao. Such correspondence which is based on dualism between the human mind and physical nature does not exist to Zhuangzi. Therefore, we can never acquire objective knowledge of nature since it is always flowing with the Dao.

4. The Essence of Virtue: Self-Transcendence

The concept of self-transcendence is a concept that attracts scholars from diverse disciplines, including psychology, religion, and philosophy, inspiring a wealth of books and articles that explore the concept from various angles. Psychologists examine how attachment to a greater good enables individuals to transcend the narrow self, fostering happiness or human flourishing. Philosophers investigate the metaphysical and ethical foundations of self-transcendence, while religious traditions position it as a core term, often directing transcendence toward spiritual entities and ultimate values. Despite these various perspectives, scholars generally agree on three key aspects of self-transcendence. (1) It involves a change or transformation from a false self to a true self, a process deeply tied to power; (2) it has a value-directed orientation, as the change aligns with meaningful values; (3) self-transcendence has a value direction since it is a change toward value; (4) its achievement cultivates aesthetic feelings. One thing I would like to add here is that virtue exemplifies only one form of self-transcendence as do art and beauty. This paper focuses solely on virtue, analyzing it through these three aspects, which constitute the core elements of self-transcendence.

4.1. Virtue and Power of Transition: Change in Reason and Transformation of Reflective Rationality

Virtue as a mode of self-transcendence embodies the power of transformation across cognitive, bodily, and practical dimensions. But this paper centers on cognitive power, which is the foundation for other powers. Here, I explore cognitive power through the lenses of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who emphasizes reason, and Zhuangzi, who highlights reflective reason. Emerson posits that the ability to know defines a human being. He asserts “Knowing is the measure of the man. By how much we know, so much we are. It is the measure of the man, because it is the measure of God” (Emerson 1903–1904, p. 10). Knowing requires abilities, which include reason, understanding, and imagination. When Emerson explains these faculties, he often uses power to explain this concept. Power is related to transition. In transition, power will show. In terms of reason, when Emerson explains it, he often explains this concept by comparing it to the other faculties of the mind, which include understanding.

“To the senses and the unrenewed understanding, belongs a sort of instinctive belief in the absolute existence of nature. In their view, man and nature are indissolubly joined. Things are ultimates, and they never look beyond their sphere. The presence of Reason mars this faith. The first effort of thought tends to relax this despotism of the senses, which binds us to nature as if we were a part of it, and shows us nature aloof, and, as it were, afloat. Until this higher agency intervened, the animal eye sees, with wonderful accuracy, sharp outlines and colored surfaces. When the eye of Reason opens, to outline and surface are at once added, grace and expression. These proceed from imagination and affection, and abate somewhat of the angular distinctness of objects. If the Reason be stimulated to more earnest vision, outlines and surfaces become transparent, and are no longer seen; causes and spirits are seen through them. The best moments of life are these delicious awakenings of the higher powers, and the reverential withdrawing of nature before its God”.

(Emerson 1971–2013, p. 33)

Emerson distinguishes reason from understanding and uses the concept of power to explain reason. Understanding, he argues, centers on material facts, treating them as the ultimate reality. However, reason elevates human beings’ minds. Reason aided by imagination and emotion sees the final cause and spirituality behind all material things. In the face of God, human beings start to move from nature. In terms of the relationship between reason and power, one important point I would like to address here is that power refers to the power of transformation or transition. Emerson explicitly states this here: “Well, this property is also the essential property of mental life—the flowing, the generation, the melioration. The advance, everlasting. All things flow, said the Ancient; all flows… The Universe is only in transit, or, we behold it shooting the gulf from past to future: And this the mind shares. Transition is the attitude of power, and the essential act of life” (Branch and Mohs 2017, p. 216). He further notes “In the instinct of progress, the mind is always passing—by successive leaps—forward into new states, and, in that transition, is its health and power. The detachment which thought effects is the preparation for this step” (Branch and Mohs 2017, p. 180). According to Emerson, our mental life’s power lies in transition. The important feature of mental life is reason, which can better represent a person’s dignity.

In contrast, Zhuangzi emphasizes reflective reason, though he never uses the term. Before I address reflective reason, one thing I would like to focus on is that Zhuangzi never mentioned this term in his work. His concept of emptying the mind (虚心) embodies reflective reason. An empty mind is the opposite of an intentional mind, which is characterized by the purposeful pursuit of moral values, wealth, fame, reputation, and so on. An empty mind will follow the Dao, which is spontaneous and not directed by purpose. It is the result of reflective reason. In terms of the meaning, Gerad Dworkin offers a fitting definition: “A second-order capacity of persons to reflect critically upon their first-order preferences, desires, wishes, and so forth and the capacity to accept or attempt to change these in light of higher-order preferences and values” (Dworkin 1988, p. 20).

First, Zhuangzi’s reflection emerges from deep engagement with human relationships and an acute awareness of them. His profound insight into complicated human psychology is evident in his observation of the emotional turmoil caused by human relationships. He writes “But the inclinations of the ten thousand things and the traditional codes for human relationships put them in quite a different condition. Joined, they separate. Completed, they are destroyed. The scrupulous are beaten down; the noble are criticized-whatever is accomplished is brought low. The talented among them scheme while the untalented just lie. What certainty could you get hold of amid all this? It is all very sad, but not it well, my disciples! There is nothing for it but our homeland in the Course and its Virtuosity. However, he doesn’t try to solve the problems caused by psychological conflicts. Rather, he goes different direction by following the Dao” (Ziporyn 2009, p. 84). This passage demonstrates Zhuangzi’s keen understanding of psychological dynamics and emotional complexities when people interact in their everyday lives.

Second, Zhuangzi’s reflective reason emerges from his understanding of human life within a community, which is shaped by dominating values. Reflective reason needs values, and without values, Zhuangzi’s reflective reason will not be conducted successfully. The values lie in spontaneity, which means that we should not make value judgments based on secular goods or standards. However, this does not mean that Zhuangzi will not value anything. He values oneness, just as he states here:

“The birth of man is just a convergence of energy. When it converges, he lives. When it scatters, he dies. Since life and death follow each other, what is there to worry about? It is in this way that all things are one. People take what they consider beautiful to be sacred and wonderful and take what they dislike to be odious and rotten. But the odious and rotten transforms into the sacred and wonderful, and the sacred and wonderful transforms into the odious and rotten. Thus do I say, ‘just open yourself into the single energy that is the world.’ It is for the sake of this that the sage values oneness”

(Ziporyn 2009, p. 86)

For Zhuangzi, valuing oneness transcends life and death dualities, fostering a peaceful mind that enhances bodily power. From this passage, we can find that the reason Zhuangzi does not value life over death and treats them as being the same thing is that oneness is the reason for life and death. If we value oneness, we will not be disturbed by death, which will bring peace to our minds. A peaceful mind will strengthen bodily powers.

Third, unlike Emerson’s God-directed reason, Zhuangzi’s reflective reason arises from a reflection of Confucian moral perfectionism, which tends to encourage hypocrisy and fake feelings among the people. It causes a failure in sticking to virtues both in their inner heart and in other behavior. People try to pretend to be virtuous to avoid social pressure. Zhuangzi does not try to solve the failure in many ways; rather, he chooses to go a different direction, which is to live by the Dao.

In summary, the big difference between Emerson and Zhuangzi in their understanding of the mind is that Emerson emphasizes reason. This reason is God-inspired, and our minds are the pious receivers of it. However, for Zhuangzi, reflective reason is not Dao-inspired; rather, it is based on rich experience of human life and knowledge of human moral psychology. It also necessitates a long period of mental cultivation such as forgetting efforts as Zhuangzi mentions many times in his work.

4.2. Virtue and Value: Truth-Oriented Goodness and Authenticity-Oriented Goodness

For Emerson, virtue is directly related to the value of good. In this regard, he is very similar to Plato, who thinks that good is the highest value. The following passage from Emerson best explains this point:

“Essence, or God, is not a relation, or a part, but the whole. Being is the vast affirmative excluding negation, self-balanced, and swallowing up all relations, parts, and times within itself. Nature, truth, virtue, are the influx from thence. Vice is the absence or departure of the same”.

(Emerson 1983, p. 299)

For Emerson, God as being doesn’t include any negation. It is self-balanced, and virtue comes from it. There is no evil from the metaphysical root. Vice doesn’t have ontological existence. The vice we talk about in our daily lives mainly refers to deviation from God. According to Emerson, virtue flows from God. God is not personality-based; rather, it is the consciousness of value. The core value is Goodness.

“Self-existence is the attribute of the Supreme cause, and it constitutes the measure of good by the degree in which it enters into all lower forms. All things real are so by so much virtue as they contain.”

(Emerson 1983, p. 272)

Truth is based on Goodness. Emerson’s understanding of truth is a combination of science, religion, and philosophy. Although he emphasizes science, he reminds us of the danger if we rely too much on science since science will be dry and meaningless if it is separated from imagination, which can connect us to both material and spirit of nature. Emerson writes, “Science does not know its debt to imagination. Goethe, the great genius of the Germans, was a poet first, then a philosopher; and his clear and universal glance pierced the secret laws of nature, because he was poet first. When the imagination is lord, then science is a true vassal, and yields noble service” (Emerson 1903–1904, p. 10) For Emerson, science is just the tool for imagination to know the ultimate truth of God. Zhuangzi’s understanding of goodness is not based on truth as Emerson understands, but rather it is based on spontaneity, which is in opposite to a person’s purposeful pursuit of aims. He states, “What I call good is not Humanity and Responsibility, but just being good at your Virtuosity. What I call good is certainly not what these people call Humanity and Responsibility! It is just fully allowing the uncontrived condition of your inborn nature and allotment of life to play itself out” (Ziporyn 2009, p. 60). Zhuangzi’s understanding of goodness is not based on Confucian core values, which are humanity and responsibility, but allowing everything to play itself out. For Zhuangzi, it is authenticity. It is also interchangeable with spontaneity. Spontaneity in Chinese is made up of two Chinese characters: zi and ran. In terms of the meaning of Chinese word ran(so), a leading Zhuangzi scholar in China Wang Bo has concluded after research on etymology of this term, ran has the meaning of value.

(B. Wang 2018)

Emerson and Zhuangzi’s concepts of virtue are both related to goodness, and goodness is not objective but rather fluid and is always in the process of transformation. However, they differ in their interpretation of the value of good and its relationship with the other two values (truth and beauty). For Emerson, among truth, beauty, and goodness, beauty guides people into pursuing truth and goodness. Goodness is most important. He conveys this idea in the following passage: “In the eternal trinity of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, each in its perfection including the three, they prefer to make Beauty the sign and the head” (Emerson 1983, p. 206). Compared with the concepts of goodness and truth, beauty represents intuition. In terms of truth, it is related to nature. For Emerson, human beings’ intellect and intuition will evolve with the help of God since “God enters by a private door into every individual” (Emerson 1983, p. 418) so that “whatever curiosity the order of things has awaked in our minds, the order of things can satisfy” (Emerson 1983, p. 7). Emerson appeals to faith in our understanding of God. By contrast, For Zhuangzi, goodness is most important. Beauty lies in harmony between human beings and the Dao. It does not play a role, as Emerson interprets it, as a guide for humans to know goodness. Nature does not represent the truth since physical nature is interpreted as flowing energy. It is not guided by any spiritual laws; rather, it flows naturally. For Zhuangzi, we can know the Dao if we give up on developing intellectual knowledge.

4.3. Virtue and Religious Feelings: Ecstasy and Tranquility

For Emerson and Zhuangzi, achieving virtue evokes distinctive religious feelings: Emerson emphasizes ecstasy, while Zhuangzi highlights tranquility. Emerson’s ecstasy is a fleeting, intense moment of divine connection, where the self dissolves, interpersonal ties fade, and the individual merges with God’s spirit. Barry M. Andrews’ in-depth analysis of ecstasy in his article “That Which Was Ecstasy Shall Become Daily Bread” (Andrews 2017) can give us a lot of inspiration. He quoted James William in his classic work The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature: “They are states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect. They are illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance, all inarticulate though they remain; and as a rule they carry with them a curious sense of authority for after-time” (James 1925, pp. 380–81).

Andrews argues that the three characteristics of religious experience mentioned by James in this book are all included in Emerson’s ecstatic experience, which includes ineffability, noetic quality, and transience. He pointed out that ecstasy is the most appropriate name for these religious experiences, which means that a person loses self-consciousness, gradually becomes alienated from their surroundings and environment, and feels a kind of uplift by universal energy. This uplift serves as a good summary, because in Emerson’s ecstasy, his self has been separated from the people around him and the material environment and has risen to the realm of pure spirit. When realizing this ecstasy, Emerson did not emphasize the need for many years of effort to achieve it as in Chinese philosophy, but it can be achieved instantly. Arthur Versluis used a concept to express this ecstasy produced by Emerson without effort in his book American Gurus: From Transcendentalism to New Age Religion: immediatism, that is, immediacy. He explained this concept as follows: “It is a claim that people can spontaneously obtain awakening or spiritual inspiration, which does not require any special way, nor does it require meditation or guided practice for several years” (Versluis 2014, p. 2). The following passage can help us further understand the concept of ecstasy about Emerson: “We are prisoners of ideas. They catch us up for moments into their heaven, and so fully engage us, that we take no thought for the morrow, gaze like children, without an effort to make them our own. By and by we fall out of that rapture, bethink us where we have been, what we have seen, and repeat, as truly as we can, what we have beheld. As far as we can recall these ecstasies, we carry away in the ineffaceable memory the result, and all men and all the ages confirm it. It is called Truth. But the moment we cease to report, and attempt to correct and contrive, it is not truth” (Emerson 1983, p. 419). Emerson argues that the soul, originating from God, receives rather than produces truth, experiencing ecstasy in this divine encounter. However, when individuals construct truth independently, they lose this ecstatic connection. So, Emerson’s ecstasy is related to two elements: (1) the element of God—ecstasy comes from the truth revealed by God to the human soul; (2) the common sense of truth. People go to receive the truth revealed by God: “Our thinking is a pious reception” (Emerson 1983, pp. 418–19). This reception is a devout reception, not with a skeptical attitude. In addition, the people who receive the truth include all people of all cultures and times, not just humans in a specific culture.

Zhuangzi emphasizes joy. It is a religious feeling that is accompanied by achieving virtue. In Zhuangzi’s work, we can see the following passage: “May I ask about the man of Virtue?” “The man of Virtue rests without thought, moves without plan. He has no use for right and wrong, beautiful and ugly. To share profit with all things within the four seas is his happiness, to look after their needs is his peace. Sad-faced, he’s like a little child who has lost his mother. Bewildered, he’s like a traveler who has lost his way. He has more than enough wealth and goods, but he doesn’t know where they come from. He gets all he needs to eat and drink, but he doesn’t know how he gets it. This is called the manner of the man of Virtue” (Watson 2013, p. 38). “May I ask about the man of spirit?” “He lets his spirit ascend and mount on the light; with his bodily form, he dissolves and is gone. This is called the Illumination of Vastness. He lives out his fate, follows to the end his true form, and rests in the joy of Heaven and earth while the ten thousand cares melt away. So all things return to their true form. This is called Muddled Darkness” (Watson 2013, p. 38).

Zhuangzi contrasts true joy with the fleeting pleasures derived from purposeful pursuits such as sensory gratification and wealth. This pursuit also includes moral virtues. He argues that these purposeful pursuits tend to deplete human beings’ vitality. Zhuangzi emphasizes that the ultimate joy is no joy, a profound contentment arising not from deliberate striving but from unity with the Dao (the Course 道). Zhuangzi’s heavenly joy is an aesthetic emotion when man and Tao are one, but this aesthetic is not like Emerson’s aesthetic emotion produced by scientific knowledge of nature, because there was no science in Zhuangzi’s time; although they knew nature, this knowledge was based on the connection with the values he advocated, and he did not appreciate nature itself as an independent object free from this connection.

Zhuangzi’s aesthetic emotion is more reflected in the emotion brought by the tranquility of the mind after successfully getting rid of various prejudices and the desires of the senses of the ears and eyes. This tranquility is not the tranquility brought by escaping from society, but the removal of value judgments of right and wrong based on full contact with and understanding of society. When a person’s mind is quiet, there will be communication between the person and the qi of nature; Zhuangzi’s saying “wandering in the one qi of heaven and earth” represents a physical level of communication but also a spiritual level of communication, because the value of heaven and earth is nature, and when a person’s mind is quiet, it is also in a natural state.

In summary, the big difference between Emerson and Zhuangzi in religious feelings is reflected in three aspects: (1) strength of the feelings and complexities—ecstasy is more intense and stronger than tranquility, and ecstasy is also accompanied by fear, while tranquility does not include any negative feelings; (2) frequency—ecstasy does not appear very often, but tranquility usually accompanies the person as long as they achieve virtue; (3) value—ecstasy is related to ultimate values such as goodness, beauty, and truth. However, tranquility transcends all of these values and aligns with the spontaneity of the Dao.

5. Transformative Virtue from Zhuangzi: Ecological Aesthetic Self, Value in Nature, and Aesthetic Power

Through an intercultural and religious dialogue between Emerson and Zhuangzi on the concepts of self-transcendence, value, and power, this paper provides intellectual resources for the modern transformation of Zhuangzi’s virtue thought. By “modern transformation”, I refer to the reinterpretation of Zhuangzi’s virtue thought into environmental virtue, which seeks new meaning in the era of significant social change driven by the advent of artificial intelligence. John Nolt, in his paper titled “Hope, Self-transcendence and Environmental Ethics” (Nolt 2010, p. 167), has provided a similar approach to relating environmental virtue to meaning in life through self-transcendence. However, I will modify this approach by relating environmental virtue to the ecological aesthetic self, value in nature, and power.

The core virtue in Zhuangzi’s work, wandering, is characterized by its refusal to establish an objective value and its openness to all values. In contrast, Emerson’s virtues are tied to objective values, which are unified under the concept of God: truth, goodness, and beauty. Zhuangzi’s virtue of wandering is deeply related to the Dao, which transcends all objective values and moral frameworks. However, in China, with the deepening understanding of nature and the establishment of various natural spaces, such as national parks, our sense of wonder toward nature has been increasingly heightened. This sense of wonder forms the basis for recognizing nature’s value, providing a foundation for environmental virtue that integrates the self with value. The development of science and the popularization of science education in China enable us to incorporate Emerson’s nature-based aesthetics, grounded in natural science, into Zhuangzi’s environmental virtue. Environmental virtue encompasses three core elements: the ecological aesthetic self, the value of nature, and aesthetic power. Below, I elaborate on these three elements.

5.1. The Ecological Aesthetic Self

The ecological aesthetic self is grounded in natural science and the immersive bodily experience of being in nature. This self represents a transcendence of Zhuangzi’s xiaoyao you (wandering 逍遥游) self. Although Zhuangzi’s texts contain many descriptions of nature, these descriptions serve as symbols of the Dao. In Zhuangzi’s philosophy, there is no aesthetic appreciation of nature itself, which is closely tied to his value system. Zhuangzi’s aesthetics revolve around human beings, focusing on a human-centered aesthetic where the object of beauty is harmony—harmony between humans and nature. The core of Zhuangzi’s human–nature relationship lies in the harmony derived from the sustainable use of land. While the concept of sustainability did not exist in Zhuangzi’s time, we can infer from certain textual descriptions that Zhuangzi regarded natural agriculture (without the use of technology) as an essential aspect of human nature. However, the ecological aesthetic self expands the boundaries of this agrarian aesthetic to include the aesthetic appreciation of wilderness itself. In Zhuangzi’s philosophy, the wilderness represents a vast spatiality, such as mountains and forests, which he believed was conducive to cultivating the human spirit. However, this does not mean he objectified the wilderness for aesthetic appreciation. In Zhuangzi’s texts, all descriptions of nature are grounded in the transcendent value of the Dao, serving as expressions of the Dao rather than depictions of natural elements themselves. On this point, Zhuangzi’s translator offers a more profound commentary: “Zhuangzi does not dwell on the aesthetic qualities of nature as an end in itself. Rather, nature in his texts functions as a backdrop for illustrating the spontaneity and freedom of the Dao. The beauty he describes lies in the philosophical realization of non-action (wuwei) and equanimity, not in the sensory appreciation of natural forms” (Moeller 2006, pp. 377–90). This differs significantly from Emerson, who, grounded in natural science, describes and appreciates natural objects themselves, as they embody the spiritual laws of God. The aesthetic appreciation of nature reflects a love for these laws. In Zhuangzi’s work, however, the wilderness is not appreciated for itself but represents a vast, devalued space in contrast to the value-laden spaces of human culture. The natural elements he mentions are merely symbolic expressions of this devalued space.

5.2. The Value of Nature

Another element of environmental virtue is the recognition of nature’s value. In Zhuangzi’s philosophy, material nature, as a realm of the Dao, does not possess inherent value. For Zhuangzi, the core value is zhen (truth/authenticity 真), which primarily revolves around human beings, unlike Emerson’s concept of truth. Professor Shaojun Wang has conducted very detailed research on the term of zhen (真), which supports this viewpoint (S. Wang 2025). In Emerson’s philosophy, the recognition of nature’s value is achieved through God, who created nature, endowing it with a miraculous secondary value. In the Chinese cultural context, without the concept of God, recognizing nature’s value can be achieved by cultivating a sense of wonder, which establishes a connection between humans and nature’s value. This aesthetic sense of wonder arises from the combination of scientific understanding and immersive experiences in nature, while modern technological advancements allow people to access extreme landscapes without safety concerns. The logical relationship between wonder and nature’s value has been extensively studied, with a consensus that wonder facilitates a non-anthropocentric perspective, encouraging concern for the well-being of others. For example, American philosopher Martha Nussbaum explains the relationship between wonder and nature’s value as follows: “Wonder, as I shall understand it, is an emotion involving attention to an object that is evaluated as valuable in itself, not as a means to some further end. It involves a delighted, non-egotistical absorption in the object, seeing it as wonderfully important in its own right. Unlike awe, which may involve fear or a sense of being overwhelmed, wonder is painless and opens the heart to the particularity of the world” (Nussbaum 2001, p. 54). Similarly, Australian scholar Haydn George Washington, in his book A Sense of Wonder towards Nature: Healing the Planet through Belonging, defines wonder as follows: “A sense of wonder at nature is the key to changing our worldview from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism. It fosters a deep sense of belonging to the natural world, inspiring us to value nature not for what it provides us, but for its intrinsic worth and interconnectedness” (Washington 2018, p. 11). Through the definitions and explanations of these scholars, we can see the deep connection between wonder and intrinsic value. However, this sense of wonder requires cultivation to become a stable emotion rather than fleeting curiosity. In Emerson’s philosophy, this wonder is primarily achieved through faith, as a response to the creations of God. In the context of Chinese cultural traditions, if Zhuangzi’s thought is to be modernized, the cultivation of wonder toward nature must be achieved through immersive experiences, scientific understanding, and narratives about nature that spark imagination.

5.3. Aesthetic Power

The ecological aesthetic self is closely related to the category of power. Aesthetic appreciation can inspire the power of action. In the history of wilderness preservation in the West, the initial advocates were often individuals with a strong sense of nature’s aesthetic value. This paper takes John Muir as an example. Through his aesthetic appreciation of nature, Muir gained spiritual strength, enabling him to transcend the self shaped by the traditional religious values of his family and society. For instance, Donald Worster writes in Muir’s biography that “Muir’s religious background was steeped in a strict Calvinist tradition, where his father demanded rigorous Bible study. Yet, Muir found his deepest spiritual connection in the wilderness, where he saw the divine more clearly than in scripture. He wrote, ‘I’d rather be in the mountains thinking of God, than in church thinking about the mountains’, revealing how the aesthetic grandeur of nature supplanted the Bible as his primary source of spiritual insight” (Worster 2008, p. 72). Clearly, through aesthetic appreciation, Muir transcended the moral self shaped by traditional Calvinism, developing a wilderness aesthetic self. It is important to emphasize that this transcendence does not involve a complete abandonment of the previous self but rather the construction of a new self. This new self retains the core of the original spirit while incorporating new dimensions.

6. Conclusions

In this paper, I conducted a comparative study between Emerson and Zhuangzi based on three disciplinary concepts of self-transcendence, value, and power. They both reconstruct virtue in response to the crisis of meaning in life in their lifetimes. Through this comparative study, Zhuangzi’s concept of virtue has the potential to complete transformation into a new virtue, which is an integrated environmental virtue. Environmental virtue is based on the ecological aesthetic self, value in nature, and power. This virtue provides a possible good life in the era of artificial intelligence, where the crisis of meaning in life tends to spread.