as a leader of the transcendentalist movement, ralph waldo emerson believed that group of answer choices self-knowledge opened the doors to self-improvement and self-realization. one could only find god in the great architecture and literature of the greeks. true fulfillment only could be achieved by the gathering of great wealth and material goods. man had no spirit and pursuing a just life was ultimately pointless. god was dead, and the west had entered into an age of atheism.