Ralph Waldo Emerson: Self-Reliance

"Society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other. Its progress is only apparent, like the workers of a treadmill."
- Emerson, "Self-Reliance"

"How I shall henceforth dwell on the blessed hours when, not long since, I saw that benignant face, the clear eyes, the silently smiling mouth, the form yet upright in its great age -- to the very last, with so much spring and cheeriness, and such an absence of decrepitude, that even the term venerable hardly seem'd fitting."
-Walt Whitman, "By Emerson's Grave"


The first quote above is from Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance," a piece full of wisdom on the importance of striving to be an individual, and of NOT conforming to society's expectations. The second quote is Whitman, speaking about Emerson. The rest of "By Emerson's Grave" can be found here.

Emerson's quote makes me think about all I've been reading about American history, and the fact that textbooks keep trying to hammer such B.S. into the minds of young people, saying that this country keeps getting better... that the U.S. only advances and progresses positively, and that, as Robert Loewen put it in so many words, things just "happen" in history... Nobody ever really does anything wrong. In a peaceful manner, the Emerson quote points out that there will always be an ebb and flow, or that perhaps the law of society is like the law of conservation of energy... It is neither created nor destroyed, but merely changes form. But more than making me think about American history, Emerson's "Self-Reliance" makes me think about the importance & greatness of individualism.

I love Whitman... So I knew I might also dig Emerson, since I always hear about how much he influenced Whitman. Although Emerson can be a little tough to read, I ultimately LOVE what he's saying, and to pick just one favorite quote out of an Emerson piece is like trying to eat just one bite of Key Lime Pie... It just can't be done. "Self-Reliance" is full of quotes, & full of profundity. Almost every sentence could be printed on fancy paper & made into an inspirational wall-hanging or refrigerator magnet, reminding one NOT to be self-conscious, and to speak one's mind at all times, before someone else gets to take credit for your great idea. One could fill a home with Emerson wall-hangings & magnets about the importance of letting one's true self shine through to the outside for all to see. "I must be myself. I will not hide my tastes or aversions." One could have an Emerson quote in his kitchen, where he prepares the morning tea, reminding him that "He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time," so that when he sits to enjoy his tea, he might set aside all modern noise and disturbances and simply enjoy his tea, in blissful silence. And when one has had a rough day, in which the world seemed ready to pounce negatively on his every idea, he could remember that Emerson said "To be great is to be misunderstood."
And when her family and friends all seem to think she's making the biggest mistake of her life, while she knows in her gut that it's the right thing for her to do, she can rest easy knowing that Emerson knew the feeling long before she did, because "you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it" and "the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude."

Maybe I should've just made a list of the Emerson quotes that spoke to me... therefore piecing together a complete Key Lime pie to display to the world in all its beauty and deliciousness. Or maybe that's exactly what I've done, to some extent. And maybe it's not the most perfect pie, or it doesn't look like all the other Key Lime pies, but that doesn't really matter, now does it.