Really. Is Emerson not laughing in his grave?
Emerson begins (thereabouts) with:
A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.
And yet, here we are, in some circles quoting Emerson the bard, Emerson the sage, and do we not feel shame in taking our opinion from him rather than our own genius? He must be laughing in his grave.
Who actually has the time to wade through all this eloquence? How, if it all, does it apply to our world, 180 years later, where social media, news media, politicians, doctors, scientists — the entire plethora of so-called “experts” — is constant bombarding us with “this is how and what you should think.” Where 180 years have gone by and scientific, medical, social and economic advancement has occurred because thinking has been built upon other thinking rather than each person going off on their own direction willy-nilly and progressing no further than the threshold of their own personal cave.
Emerson concludes with:
He who knows that power is inborn, that he is weak because he has looked for good out of him and elsewhere, and so perceiving, throws himself unhesitatingly on his thought, instantly rights himself, stands in the erect position, commands his limbs, works miracles; just as a man who stands on his feet is stronger than a man who stands on his head.
As John of Salisbury wrote almost 1000 (yes, one thousand!!!) years ago (in 1159): “Bernard of Chartres used to compare us to dwarfs perched on the shoulders of giants.” The phrase “standing on the shoulders of giants” has become a metaphor which means “Using the understanding gained by major thinkers who have gone before in order to make intellectual progress.” (wikipedia)
No, my dear Emerson, not our feet, not our head, but rather standing on the shoulder of giants.
So, if you read Emerson’s Self-Reliance, read it with the idea that, if you think he was a giant, you are standing on his shoulders and will make your own moral and intellectual progress. Just try not to be so long-winded about it.
Marc Clifton 