Self Reliance And Other Essays - Ralph Waldo Emerson
One-Sentence Summary:
A challenging set of essays that genuinely makes you “think” as it outlays the value of independent thought that is so rare in the world.
Rating On Time Of Review:
It was okay. It’s a classic so I’d like to revisit it again in the future. I think there is enough there to warrant a second try.
Book notes below. My thoughts are in italics. Opinions are mine during the time of review.
Date Reviewed: June 25, 2020
Self-Reliance
“I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that if should be glittering and unsteady.”
“What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think….. you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. 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.”
“…do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself.” / In reference to how much of what people do is try to associate their identity.. (maybe even make their identity) to factions existing in society (i.e. religion, politics, titles) but that’s all ‘fat’ that hides yourself. The truth is revealed in the work you do (or lack thereof).
**“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradicts every thing you said to-day. - ‘Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood,’ - Is it so bad, then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.” / An insight into not holding onto false beliefs when new facts arise. An inconsistency is painful to embrace if you had believed in something for a while but the stupid thing is to not change your mind. Such an act of inconsistency will make the world start doubting you… but over the long term, they will come to understand why you switched.
**“The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks. See the line from a sufficient distance, and it straightens itself to the average tendency. Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. Act singly, and what you have already done singly will justify you now. Greatness appeals to the future.” / It’s like how the share price of a business can seem so volatile in 2 months but in 10 years, it looks like a smooth line. Puts into perspective that the many decisions in life will lead one down weird trails. Especially if they are genuine.
“An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man…” / same can be said for companies. Hence the importance of founders in investment thesis.
**“If our young men miscarry in their first enterprises, they lose all heart. If the young merchant fails, men say he is ruined. If the finest genius studies at one of our colleges, and is not installed in an office within one year afterwards in the cities or suburbs of Boston or New York, it seems t this friends and to himself that he is right in being disheartened, and in complaining the rest of his life. A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont, who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles , keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always, like a cat, falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his easy, and feels no shame in not ’studying a profession,’ for he does not postpone his life, but lives already. He has not one chance, but a hundred chance.” / Yes. Live daily. Non-stop.
“Regret calamities, if you can thereby help the sufferer; if not, attend your own work, and already the evil begins to be repairs.” / Focus on getting your own affairs in order. Fixing yourself up is better for the world than you getting distracted and trying to make someone else’s business your own. Especially when you can’t solve it. Its just your ego talking most of the time.
“Insist on yourself; never imitate.” / hmm, I think this is something one earns/develops. I think when you start it does begin with imitation. Nothing wrong with that. But the aspiration as authenticity of self over time. Not originality… I don’t think that really exists. Emerson goes onto say how Edison, Shakespeare are all unique but I can’t believe that they were never inspired by works of others. But if the focus is to embrace your uniqueness that stems from your heart/instinct… then I agree.
**“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.” / there are elements in the essay that I haven’t shared where Emerson focuses on how ‘useless’ people have become from specialization/industrialization where they no longer know all the common skills people of old ages used to have. However, this has made society wealthier and contradictorily.. it gives individuals to become self-reliant by focusing on the things their hearts truly yearn for. Slack in the system is required to become self-reliant in a ‘productive’ way and I think Emerson missed that. But, the conclusion is still valid in that one should examine the self and put one’s affairs in order first and to not rely on the external world. Happen to the world instead of the other way around.
Intellect
“What is the hardest task in the world? To think.”
“The difference between persons is not in wisdom but in art.”
“The thought of genius is spontaneous; but the power of picture or expression, in the most enriched and flowing nature, implies a mixture of will, a certain control over the spontaneous states, without which no production is possible.” / Ideas are plentiful. Execution is not.
**“If Aeschylus be that man he is taken for, he has not yet done his office, when he has educated the learned of Europe for a thousand years. He is now to approve himself a master of delight to me also. If he cannot do that, all his fame shall avail him nothing with me. I were a fool not to sacrifice a thousand Aeschyluses to my intellectual integrity. Especially take the same ground in regard to abstract truth, the science of the mind. The Bacon, the Spinoza, the Hume, Schelling, Kant, or whoever propounds to you philosophy of the mind, is only a more or less awkward translator of things in your consciousness, which you have also your way of seeing, perhaps of denominating. Say, then, instead of too timidly pouring into his obscure sense, that he has not succeeded in rendering back to you your consciousness. He has not succeeded; not let another try.” / Maintain intellectual integrity. Just because someone is famous or is well-regarded it does not mean they are ‘right’. It does not mean that my own thoughts need to conform to them. Each person of the past needs to earn their space in my mind. This too shall evolve as your mind develops. One day a Plato might make sense to you, but that may evolve to Neitszche. Even in the world of investing, there are things one can disagree with Buffett on. They are not always right. The important thing is to learn but think for yourself. Listen instead of blurting opinions. After listening, think.
Disclaimer - I’m writing this for myself. For my past, present and future self. Much of what I write is my opinion. If it somehow ignites agreement in you then great, I’d love to hear about it. If it sparks disagreement in you, don’t reach out because I don’t care for it. There always are obvious exceptions and the flawed person in me hasn’t considered them all.