I was just reading through "Self-Reliance" for about the hundredth time and paused on this sequence:
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
If we can forgive the sexist language (I'm sure you noticed how Emerson associates brave nonconformity with masculinity and mindless conformity with femininity), perhaps we can take a minute to appreciate this three part statement. If nothing else it is a perfect lesson in how to use the semicolon, the most under appreciated of punctuation marks.
No, seriously, I like what he says here, because it puts into words something I've felt before. Living how the world expects you to live is relatively easy. If you know how to pick up basic social cues, it is easy enough act in ways that bring us into the protected fold of society. It is also easy, when isolated, to make thoughtful decisions about the kind of person you want to be. You can close your bedroom door and make your own personal mission statement and accompanying lists of values, virtues, and resolves (like Ben Franklin). But as soon as you take that list -- and those very individualistic notions -- out into the world, you start to feel the brute power of social expectation. Truly courageous people stand up to this tidal wave of expectation, dig their feet in mud, and insist upon their own visions of themselves. To use the language of the guy from this morning's assembly, courageous people are the ones who stand up. I'm not talking about rebellion per se, or even Rosa Parks type determination -- just the simple courage to be exactly the person you are or want to be. If you decide that most gossip is mean-spirited and hurtful, then have the courage to say something your caddy friends -- or even walk away. Sometimes, in order to be true to yourself, you have to say things that create the kind of awkwardness in conversations that everyone seems to want to avoid at all costs. Later in the piece, Emerson suggests that we should speak our words as "hard as cannonballs," the exact opposite advice given to us by our good friend Ben Franklin. Cannonballs, of course, can sink ships, but in the end to have enough moral nerve to stand by an unpopular viewpoint can bring the kind of "perfect sweetness" that he mentions. Sweet!
Oh ... and also: if you want to look ahead to the next couple of weeks, I put the new assignment sheet and the next three essay prompts on the website. On a scale of 1-10 with one being fast asleep and ten being ecstatic, how excited are you right now?
ReplyDeleteIt might be human nature and wired into our brains to follow in the footsteps of others, and for this, we may not even realize that we are. But it takes a great deal of courage and chutzpah to “toot you own horn” because in the process, you’re challenging the accepted ways of the world and disrupting the balance (not to mention, you’re ticking off a butt load of people too).
ReplyDeleteSo, the quote I’m pulling from Emerson’s essay is, “For non-conformity the world whips you with its displeasure”.
As teens, I think we’re very familiar with conformity. We are developing adults and in our own process of finding our identities. At large, we conform to our parents, their values, their actions, and their religious and political beliefs. We also follow what’s popular in the media and amongst our friends. But hopefully, as Emerson wills, we’ll abandon the conscious or subconscious activity of conformity.
This theme of non-conformity, which Emerson exhaustedly supports in his essay, is essential throughout history and the main idea of the Age of Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was an era of free thought and individualism. Both social, political, and religious aspects of the world were questioned and gave rise to some of the greatest thinkers of all time: Luther, Galileo, Newton, etc. These men thought differently than the rest of society around them and weren’t afraid to voice their opinions. Since their ideas and actions were completely uncommon for their time period, they were misunderstood and ostracized. However, it was by them that we live as we live today. This is Emerson’s point. “To be great is to be misunderstood”. “The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks”. He means we need to free ourselves from following the herd to form our own opinions and make our own decisions that might rock the world like the philosophers of the Enlightenment and change the future of mankind FOREVER!! (Do I sound dramatic? ☺)
Super dramatic, but I love it. :)
ReplyDeleteTo summarize Emerson’s work, “Do not search outside yourself.” This is a great thought, but it is heavily flawed. Emerson uses assumptions, generalities, and limits himself to a theoretical world individualism. Life plays differently than thought; peer pressure, slothfulness, social normality, and outside influences alter one’s actions and challenge one’s goals. As seen in the speckled axe, theoretical expectations are contorted under the pressures of society.
ReplyDeleteIs the great man, not the great woman, truly the one who remains independent and free? To answer this question let us ponder society as we know it; humans are social and learn from each other. School is the ultimate example of restricting thought through social beliefs, and introducing free thought based on past knowledge. If the “great man” is independent, most certainly he would have never utilized school to become a “great man” because school voids the belief of self-reliance and inward searching, however; school opens the past to the student allowing open interpretation and a continuation of thought from the predecessors to those acting in the continuous now.
As an individual in the most rapid and technological era of human history, it is important to acknowledge our ability to access knowledge from years past, but necessary to live independently at times to discover ourselves. Although Emerson’s quote and entire essay are flawed and idealistic, the message remains the same and is applicable to everyday society; be an individual. We need to stop living in the shadows of the past and make our own shadows. Let us embark on a journey now.
Also, anything Drew adds to this blog will be fallacious.
“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age.”
ReplyDelete~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson is saying, trust yourself because you will know what is good advice and bad advice. Meaning, just because someone gives you advice doesn’t mean it is valid. It is cowardly to just follow someone else’s thoughts and intuition. It is up to you to listen to your conscience. He continues on to say do whine about your life; accept where you are, the society around you, and your life’s events as gifts from God. You are where you should be, in the right time period and community that is right for you.
I chose this quote mainly because I agree with the message Emerson is trying to project. I believe that Emerson is trying to send the message: Live life to the fullest and in your own way. People shouldn’t rely on other people’s judgments, doing so is cowardly. People also shouldn’t waste time wishing they were someone else or wishing they were in a different era. It is a huge waste of time, with no solution. Instead a person and create their own pathway. By doing so, a person exhibits original and child-like behavior, but still creates a persona of maturity. Without individuality, nothing can be accomplished. A person must capitalize on his or her own life and perceiver to accomplish something on his or her own (instead of following someone else). Only then can a person be self-reliant.
I really liked the quote Jessica picked out because it is so true. I also agree with Jessica that some of the people who we now consider to be great thinkers, were often misunderstood during their lifetime because their ideas were way ahead of their times.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite quote from the essay is, “What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what the people think.” People worry way too much about their appearance and what other people think about them. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m in this group too, but I think as high school students a large percentage of us are. We should really care less about what other think of us because in the end, the people who make lasting marks on the world are not remembered for how cool they were, but instead how they contributed to society. This is much easier said than done. It is so easy to just fit in and conform to society. The hardest part about just trying to fit in is as Emerson says, “our consistency.” He continues by saying that consistency is “a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than out past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them.” It takes lots of courage to stand up and decide to be different. Those who decide to be different are the ones who are remembered long after they take their last breath. So even though this is very difficult to do in modern society, there is still a lesson to be learned from Self Reliance: don’t worry so much about your appearance and how cool you are because when it is all over no one will really care how you dressed or who you hung out with. So just be yourself.
And wow, thanks for that Tony -_-
After reading through "self-reliance" the quote that stood out the most to me as it seemed to for a few others in our class was "For non-conformity the world whips you with its displeasure." This quote not only strongly appeals to the lives of everyone around the world, but also relates to the stories we have read recently. Human nature is slow to accept anything foreign and unknown. For centuries humans have been rejecting and punishing anything that is different from their way of life. Jews, Christians, homosexuals, African-Americans and many other types of people have been put through persecution since year one. People have literally been "whipped" for having different beliefs or for not fitting in with the designated "norm" of that society. Even today, in our "open-minded" and "evolved" society this kind of animosity is still very clear and present. Just recently there have been several suicides of young kids who were harassed for being different, for being gay. This shows how even though we think of ourselves to be so broad-minded, things really haven't changed all that much. Emerson was well-aware of the corrupt and hypocritical world in which we live in, and the horrible affects human nature can have. When we are born, our minds are clean, uninfluenced, and indifferent to the socially driven world that we are born into. The world where people live their lives to fit the mold that pop culture and hollywood has made for us. To be the perfect suburbian family, to be thin and pretty, or to be rich and famous. Anyone who does not strive to be like this or who does not care what other people think, is seen as an outsider, a "freak." The world shuns what they don't understand instead of embracing it and learning from it. There seems to be progress in this day and age that is pushing away from the norm and embracing the different, and hopefully when my children are growing up, they wont be brainwashed by the media telling them to be something that they can't be.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, on a scale of 1-10 of excitedness (which I know is not a real word, I am at about a 4 because I have been incredibly busy all weekend and now am super tired. However, I can never be too tired to post a blog entry about "Self Reliance!" :)
ReplyDeleteThe quotation that immediately jumped out at me while I was reading Emerson's "Self Reliance" was, "I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you. If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier." I chose this quotation for multiple reasons.
1) As a teen in high school, I fully understand the importance of being myself. Outside the classroom, I tend to be fairly outspoken and crazy. I am someone who is unafraid to fully speak her mind or act "weird" and "abnormal." I love to laugh and enjoy spreading laughter and smiles, normally through acting like the hysterically crazy person I am. In school, however, I feel as if everyone is the same person, and they will not accept me for who I truly am. Unfortunately, I now couldn't really care less about what everyone else thinks because I know I have friends who appreciate me and act crazy with me. Jessica is definitely one of those people :)
2) Earlier in my childhood, I thought it was incredibly important to wear what everyone wore, to have what everyone had, and to be like everyone else. I started to act strange and incredibly unlike myself because I cared too much about what other people thought. I started to push away from the activities I truly enjoyed, like dance, and gravitate towards more popular sports, like soccer or volleyball. Only until I won a regional title at a dance competition did I realize exactly what sport I wanted to pursue, even if that meant being different. That was a huge change for me and allowed me to start to see that people should love me for who I am and I should never feel compelled to change myself because of other people.
3) As I think about the years I have lived and the years to follow, I realize even more the importance of being myself. In college, for instance, I may never make true friends by acting like someone I'm not to please other people. I could make friendships that would last my lifetime if I just be myself. I try not to worry about pleasing other people or being someone other than myself. Just because I am different than other people does not mean we can no longer be friends, we just view things differently. My future greatly depends on me being my true self and not pleasing other people. People will love me for who I am without me changing myself for them.
Basically, it is crucial to be yourself and not worry about pleasing others. People will actually be more prone to being friends with someone who is more confident in themselves than someone who changes themselves to be "cool." No one should be able to influence you so much to change who you really are because there are people that actually appreciate you for being you and only you.
Pre-Note: I will be referring to Ralph Waldo Emerson as Waldo from now until an undetermined point in the future because:
ReplyDelete1. I love that name
2. I find it entertaining and almost necessary to express myself (as Waldo would want) by putting an unorthodox spin on an otherwise orthodox assignment.
Shortly after the spot where Mr. H pulled his quote, Waldo goes on to describe how society masks the individual. Waldo says, *Ehem* "But do your thing, and I shall know you." This one particular line stood out to me not only because I am surprised that he would use the phase "do your thing," but because it summarizes what he wants the audience to take from his writing. The Title of the work is "Self-Reliance" and Waldo tells you to "do your thing." The two seem to mesh together so perfectly that I felt that I needed to pull the quote. Waldo says this because people tend to group themselves together like schools of fish. The individual joins a greater power, such as a political party or religious or social group, for assured security. The only problem with this is that you yourself will become unrecognizable when compared to the millions that you group yourself with. The very group that you draw comfort and security from, will also muffle all of your ideas until the point that you become nothing more than a droplet in the ocean.
Waldo goes onto say, "Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself." This is when Waldo tells you (the reader) that you should break out of conformity and start to think for yourself. As others already noted, It was independent thinkers such as "Luther, Galileo, Newton, ect." (Jessica Malone) that shook society down different paths through the course of history. Such paths would be the focus on religion, The Enlightenment, and Romanticism. It is only because of independent thinkers that society ever changed and will continue to change. This is precisely why Waldo was urging people to work and think free from the sect that claims you. He was expressing his ideas in the interest of the advancement of the human race for without radical changes brought on by influential independents, the world would be at a stand still until nature decides to take over and wipe the human race out. In the course of any event Whether it be social, political, or technological, some free thinker is the spark that started it and so it will always be.
“To be great is to be misunderstood.”
ReplyDeleteThis quote is straight forward but very powerful to me. I am sure we all have found ourselves at one time or another trying to be someone we are not. Whether it’s to fit in, to please someone else or whatever, it is especially popular during the teenage years. We all have our own gifts and talents, and should use them to the maximum capacity while we still can. Just like that speaker on Thursday was saying, time is precious and we never know what the future holds. Listen to yourself and what you believe in; don’t follow another persons belief because it’s the more “popular” way of thinking. Stand up and be brave for yourself and listen to your gut, because it knows what is right for you (most of the time). Everyone is good at something, it’s your own responsibility to take that “something” and do the best you can with it. People may disagree with this, but I believe we were all put on the planet with some sort of gift, and whatever it is, it shouldn’t be ignored it should be used until it can’t be anymore. Be the best you can at whatever you do, listen to yourself and do great things with it. Follow your intuition and believe in it although people may not understand where you are coming from or your beliefs. If you be the best you can be and follow your intuition, chances are something great will come out of it. Many people at the time misunderstood Albert Einstein. Einstein could have easily tried to “fit in” and put down his own beliefs. Since he continued experiments and continued to follow his goals, we have refrigerators and atomic bombs!
The quote that really stuck with me was "Men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath at every moment."
ReplyDeleteThis quote stuck out to me because I think it is something that many people, myself included do not realize. People tend to think that they are judged on their actions and words, and do not realize that everything thing they do and every look that they give sends off a message of who they are as a person.
I think this quote also stood out to me as a teenage girl. At my age many girls tend to care mostly about their appearance and what people think of them. It is important for all girls to be popular and pretty. Enough so that some girls may even act unlike themselves in order for people to like them or think highly of them. However, this quote can be considered a message to those girls, or anyone else for that matter, that people can "see through you" and the things you say, and see deeper to who you truly are.
Finally, I chose this quote because it is a very honest quote. The quote uses the word breath to describe how virtue or vice is emitted. This implies to me at least, that both virtue and vice are natural, for breath is natural. No one has to be perfect and honest and just at every moment. Everyone is immoral at some point and it is natural.
"Else to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another"
ReplyDeleteThis quotation stuck out to me for two reasons; the first being that it is a philosophy about philosophy, but what made it different than the other lines was the placement. This line comes at the end of the very first paragraph, and sets up Waldo's view on philosophy. As the rest of the essay is a series of philosophical theories and beliefs this one ties them all together.
This line is great because it's a double-double of sorts. The first double has already been explained, it is a bit of philosophy regarding philosophy. The second double is that the reader is doing exactly what the line says. The reader is realizes something that they have already felt and experienced through the written expression of another, which is just what the line says. Now this whole double-double thing makes more sense, and now I no longer look like a fool.
The idea within the line is great as well, and it is something that Waldo can be sure has happened to all of us before. This realization, or rather putting into words, of one's ideas is something that we have all experienced at some time, no matter how philosophical we may be. The one word that makes this line is shame. The idea that somebody else beat us to the punch, someone expressed what we felt before we could. Dag-nabbit. They were able to capture what I feel and express it better and before I could. The idea of feeling shame over this is fairly accurate, I felt a little disappointed when I saw that Waldo beat me to explaining this.
Great line, great double-double meaning, great chance to use "waldo, dag-nabbit, and double-double" in writing.
“Else to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another"
ReplyDeleteThis quotation stuck out to me for two reasons; the first being that it is a philosophy about philosophy, but what made it different than the other lines was the placement. This line comes at the end of the very first paragraph, and sets up Waldo's view on philosophy. As the rest of the essay is a series of philosophical theories and beliefs this one ties them all together.
This line is great because it's a double-double of sorts. The first double has already been explained, it is a bit of philosophy regarding philosophy. The second double is that the reader is doing exactly what the line says. The reader is realizes something that they have already felt and experienced through the written expression of another, which is just what the line says. Now this whole double-double thing makes more sense, and now I no longer look like a fool.
The idea within the line is great as well, and it is something that Waldo can be sure has happened to all of us before. This realization, or rather putting into words, of one's ideas is something that we have all experienced at some time, no matter how philosophical we may be. The one word that makes this line is shame. The idea that somebody else beat us to the punch, someone expressed what we felt before we could. Dag-nabbit. They were able to capture what I feel and express it better and before I could. The idea of feeling shame over this is fairly accurate, I felt a little disappointed when I saw that Waldo beat me to explaining this.
Great line, great double-double meaning, great chance to use "waldo, dag-nabbit, and double-double" in writing.