The "One Mind"
This is the main concept of Emerson's History. The “one mind” is the divine logic of life shared by all of humanity. It is the “one mind” which unites humanity in the process/study of History. As Emerson sees all of history as arising from man, it is the “one mind” which produces history. All of humanity is then united in the three traits of life, history, and the “one mind”. This “one mind” relates to the “godhead” or “providence” of Emerson's Transcendentalist philosophy. It is the divine nature within human that bestows life. The “one mind” shows all human thought comes from the sacred reality of nature.
Potential
Emerson sees history as emerging from humanity, which emerges from the first man/individual, which emerged from nature. Just as an acorn can grow a forest, Emerson sees each person as able to produce a civilization. The omnipotent, divine nature of the “one mind” allows all things the possibility of growing into something great. Any human than can produce a great work or preform a great feat. Each society Emerson sees as coming from a founder, who comes from humanity, who comes from the divine source of nature. The reader of the essay then has the ability to do the same. They can also write or create history as all the figures in his essay did.
Unity
All life Emerson sees being united in the natural existence. All of nature is permeated with a shared divine substance to Emerson. The process of history comes from this humanity. It is the story humanity writes to understand the process of nature. All things are always draw together by this “divine magnetism”. The whole of nature is driven to strive forward by this divine nature. This leads to the process of evolution across the entire world. Everything in the world follows the same process as humanity. History shows the unity of this entire process.
Origins
As Emerson sees the entire world as having a shared origin, he believes all of society relates back to that single origin in nature. The entirety of human existence references back to the forests from which humanity emerged. The forest is where all of history emerged from. To humanity, this makes the forest the holy/divine source of life. Emerson sees Greek temples and Gothic cathedrals as being stone imitations of these ancient forests. Humans constantly look backwards to those primordial forests. The forest is from where all life has come and will return. It is the closest one can come to the divine source of nature.
History
The main purpose of the essay History is to examine the purpose of the study of history. Emerson sees history as a human process. It is the only process which best attests humanity's origins. History is what best shows humanity's shared origins. Since history is a shared process, it best reveals the shared struggles and evolution of society. The resemblance between each period/era can be studied to better understand history. By the study of history, humanity can better achieve its divine purpose.
