As a transcendentalist, Emerson firmly believed that the mind is active and can evolve; therefore, anything that prevents the mind from reaching its potential is a danger to be avoided. For the mind to transcend, it cannot be bound by conformity or consistency. Emerson uses a metaphor of dragging the heavy “corpse” of memory to show that humans would rather be weighed down by old traditions and beliefs than publicly contradict themselves (274). Emerson explains that all great men in history have contradicted themselves and been misunderstood by society; they were “countercultural and socially destructive” because their minds were inconsistent and unpredictable (Emerson 274; Park 490). Emerson illustrates how consistency and fear of contradiction constitute a heavy burden on the transcendentalist ideal of constant introspection and evolution of thought; therefore, for the mind to develop and transcend, one must fearlessly abandon the philosophies and philosophies of the past.