SELF-RELIANCE by RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Ralph Waldo Emerson is U .S . first and , perhaps , most influential democratic public intellectual . Ideas expressed by Emerson in his work Self-Reliance ' are closely related to Transcendentalism . The ideal of self-reliance , according to Emerson , is that a human being must live in accordance with own nature , whereas nature , in its turn , is revealed to him through Intuition or the great Over -Soul in his impulses . In to succeed , a man must keep himself free of past and opinions of society , which tie him to the past

Trust thyself ' - is a motto

set by Emerson that ties all his ideas The author throughout the work consecrates his attention on the need of every individual to resist to external norms set by society . As people normally feel inferior when they are confronted by consistency conformity , and commonality , Emerson reveals a new way to remain confident -through the wisdom that springs from within : that source at once the essence of genius , of virtue , and of life , which we call Spontaneity or Instinct ' Emerson further articulates on characteristics of thoughtless and thoughtful men , he reverses the concepts widely accepted by society . Thoughtless men are the ones who cannot understand thoughtful self-reliant individuals , as they seem inconsistent to them

While in general I tend to agree with Emerson , there is a couple of ideas that need clarification . Firstly , impracticality of Emerson 's ideas should be stressed . According to Emerson , poets are the truly self-reliant individuals , who are connected to the Over - Soul . Emerson is , obviously , too idealistic about the everyday casual human activity Secondly , I tend to disagree with the idea , that Imitation is suicide . When discussing the four arenas in which confident self-reliant men are needed , Emerson argues that already established principles substitute for independent thought required for a self-reliant thinker . Going even further then this , according to Emerson , a person , who travels : with the hope of finding [something] greater than he knows . travels away from himself , and grows old even in youth among old things ' Emerson seems to ignore the educative role of history in human life . While I tend to agree that imitation is not able to produce genuine work , there is a need to imitate at the early staged when the skill is acquired - and this is not related only to arts . As a human being learns through imitation , virtually , any development of intellectual activity would be impossible without imitation . Perhaps , inability of the author to consider the concept of human learning through imitation can be attributed to the age of writing , which is over 150 years old now . At the same time , Emerson seems to relate the idea of imitation to school education , as students according to him , are taught only to imitate but still the education process through imitation is ignored

Another concept that is arguable is that through technological development society does not improve from material changes . To be more specific , a person with the watch gradually loses his ability to tell the time by the sun . As such , natural abilities are lost , whereas improvements in transportation system do not result in improvements of human physical abilities : The civilized man has built a coach , but has lost the use of his feet ' Even though the fact that abilities are lost can hardly be argued , it should be pointed out , that the abilities are substituted by newly acquired ones that are more complex and developed in nature . Emerson disagrees with the concept of evolution , as the loss of inferior abilities to more developed ones is a normal evolutionary process

To sum up , Emerson 's Self - Reliance ' is an interesting piece of writing , as it introduces to the basic ideas of transcendentalism and does carry a useful and helpful message that positively influences personal self-esteem . While the minor faults in thinking of the author can be attributed to a different age during which the work was written the greatest drawback of self-reliance is that it requires extensive courage from an individual . Unfortunately , not too many are courageous enough to confront society

Works Cited

Duffy , John-Charles "A Religion by Revelation : Emerson as Radical Restorationist " ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly ) 14 .3 (2000 : 227

Emerson , Ralph Waldo (1841 . Self-Reliance . Retrieved July 10 2006 , from

Mcmillin , T .S "Consuming Text : Transubstantiation and Ingestion in the Interpretation of Emerson " Criticism 38 .1 (1996 : 85

Stephenson , Will , and Mimosa Stephenson "Emerson 's Self-Reliance Explicator 53 .2 (1995 : 81-82

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Self -Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson ...