To Emerson, one of his most famous essays is called The Self Reliance, and
that was one of the options you had, for this week.
In self-reliance, he makes the argument that
we have been too long subservient to other people's thinking.
Too long culturated into modes of being
that have nothing to do with our heart, nothing to do with our energy.
And we need to somehow liberate ourselves from those constraints and
dependencies and stand on our own two feet.
And again, I'm gonna give you just some phrases from
Emerson's comment on them, a little bit,
again to see how Emerson is trying to turn us away from history and
argument and skepticism and toward experience.
Toward animating or vivifying the world around us.
So from Self-Reliance, from the very beginning, 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.
To believe that what is true for you is true for all men, that is genius.
That is genius comes from your ability to follow your own heart.
Trust thyself, Emerson writes.
Trust thyself, every heart vibrates to that iron string.
Emerson is preaching to you.
Right?
But he does not want you to follow him.
He doesn't want you to rely on him.
He wants to try to help liberate us
to follow our own hearts.
>> You use the word in answering the former question of self reliance,
which obviously.
>> Yeah. >> You're not using it without a reference
one of your other hero's.
You mentioned Ceasar.
>> Well Caesar himself said you should always italicize the self,
it's self reliance and
it is indeed the American religion as proclaimed by Ralph Waldo.
Who is still the national sage, if not quite the national prophet.