Self Reliance, By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Self Reliance, an essay by the famous transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson, is pretty deep. Way deep. Read-it-multiple-times kind of deep. Emerson’s essay discusses self-trusting, and urges readers to follow their own instincts and ideas. However, despite the author’s intelligent language and thoughtful insight into self-reliance, it ultimately became repetitive, hard to follow, and just lacking clarity.

In Self Reliance, Emerson explores themes of non-conformity and individualism– the essay is chock full of personal development and is one of the key pieces that helped distinguish American transcendentalism. I think– I’ll say it again– Emerson is a great writer; his way with words is undeniably fantastic albeit repetitive. His philosophy,
however, is a completely different story. Mr. Emerson’s discussion about battling mediocrity and conformity drags on and on for what seems like eternity– seventeen pages, to be exact. The same sort of discussion could occur in perhaps a five page piece, as I realized further into the essay that I had no clue what he was talking about due to his complex language. See, Mr. Emerson seems to get too in-depth, so deep that I figure he’s just trying to impress himself now; it seems more like reading a stream of consciousness then a clearly thought out, cohesive argument.

Alongside Emerson’s rambling writing, his opinions on self reliance are puzzling at times.
While I do not completely agree with his almost extreme individualistic beliefs and perspective on non-conformity, I acknowledge his ideas, and that’s enough. Some advice from the piece are thoughtful and helps in establishing one’s thought, however a few passages borders on extreme individualism. “I hope in these days we have heard the last of conformity and consistency…. Let us never bow and apologize more. A great man is coming to eat at my house. I do not wish to please him; I wish that he should wish to please me.” Mr. Emerson is right about trusting oneself and following gut instinct, however the previous quote is just plain overconfidence– besides intense individualism, Emerson harshly criticized society– “I hope in these days we have heard the last of conformity and consistency… society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other. It undergoes continual changes; it is barbarous, it is civilized, it is christianized…” This viewpoint of severe individualism and non-conformity almost seems to urge the reader to just throw out any knowledge, thoughts from the past, and history out the window and to embrace solely ones gut instinct– and to ignore any sort of established organized
society.

So, what’s the deal with this Emerson dude? I can see how he is declared as one of America’s greatest philosophers– his radical ideas and creative new outlooks on life has certainly carved out the basis on what is known as Transcendentalism. Despite my rather negative review,I recommend reading Self Reliance– it’s intriguing to swim through his thought provoking perspective on the relationships between nature, man, and the soul. While Emerson does not awe me, I think he would very much like to; perhaps he could have a greater effect on someone else– so try it, and see for yourself.