I definitely have my own thoughts, but they aren’t particularly new or unique. It’s as if all the thought’s I can’t seem to articulate, someone has already eloquently, poetically, or succinctly expressed. Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of those people. Coincidentally, after completing this first paragraph, I rediscovered the following quote in “Self Reliance:”
“Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time […]” (McQuade 538).
Emerson’s writing sometimes invokes thoughts that are completely new to me, while at other times, (like now,) he says exactly what I’ve already been thinking about but struggle to complete. What’s phenomenal though, is that I relate to what he is saying so much; it’s as if I’ve joined some exclusive “thought-club” that transcends time or space. Emerson, of coarse, already knew this too.
“We lie in the lap of immense intelligence, which makes us receivers of its truth and organs of its activity.” (McQuade 545).
Here, he is acknowledging this idea that we, as people, are all a part of something much greater, this “immense intelligence,” which supplies us with everything we need to do our part. This larger thing could also be a nation, such as this one, that Americans were just beginning to understand after the Revolutionary War in the mid-nineteenth century.
At this time, the people had just achieved political independence, but were still, on many levels, culturally and intellectually dependent on Europe. This discrepancy between being recognized as a nation and actually being a nation caused Americans to have a profound and heightened desire for identity. Transcendentalism emerged from this desire for identity and in protest to the social and religious climate (Reuben). In a letter to President Martin Van Buren on the removal of Cherokee Indians, Ralph Waldo Emerson sought to appeal to the president through this lack of national identity. Emerson argued that if Van Buren sanctified Cherokee removal, “ […] the name of this nation, hitherto the sweet omen of religion and liberty, will stink to the world.” At such a critical time in the nation’s history, this decision of Cherokee removal would have a much greater magnitude beyond this group of people and their parcel of land; it had the potential to create a (shameful) national identity.
Similarly, one of the main themes within Transcendentalism dealt with the scale and plurality of an idea; that what is true for an individual is true for multiple individuals or a group of them.
“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men, —that is genius.” (McQuade 538).
Applying this concept of plurality, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self Reliance” speaks about an individual’s ”self-reliance” and that of a nation’s. So with this idea, on the larger scale of the United States, Emerson was saying that the country had everything (“immense intelligence”) –land, resources, labor, will power, and ability—to build a self-reliant nation.
………………………………………………………………
It’s difficult to describe the sheer level of optimism and energy inherent in “Self Reliance.” Each sentence is like a seed, packed with this magnificent potential, far exceeding its parts or even the sum of its parts. Likewise, this idea of potential applies to “Self Reliance” in its entirety. When you read the words, a garden explodes to life in your head. Plants take root subconsciously and flowers open up before you, fruits ripen when you’re hungry. And when you explore, see, smell, and feel this garden, you awaken your sense of Self. Your spirit and ego dance.
“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.” (McQuade 540).
The world will support you when you trust yourself. Not in the sense that it will be there when you fall or stumble or need it, but in a much greater sense. Things will come together and start happening externally that will not merely justify—but amplify—your initial trust in your own prerogatives.
“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” (McQuade 539).
No comments:
Post a Comment