Reflecting on Emerson’s Self-Reliance

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Reflecting on Emerson’s Self-Reliance
Self-reliance is a commonplace term whose meaning eludes those who attempt to practice it. This discussion goes beyond the dictionary or mainstream definition of self-reliance by reflecting on a masterpiece that has stood the test of time: Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The book is captivatingly worded and laden with a message that challenges the readers’ basic understanding of self-reliance. The examples utilized therein, too, are things that had been lingering in our subconscious, but we most likely dismissed. Consequently, we are left marveling and cheering those who manage to shake us to the shaming reality that is so familiar.Everyone is a genius, but the ingenuity goes unexploited because of the ingrained tendency to ignore the voice that comes within regardless of how faintly or loudly it implores.
I have never come across a better definition of self-reliance than Emerson’s. The writer implicitly positions himself as a genius by appealing to the readers’ common understanding of ingenuity – personal rejected thoughts that haunt people’s conscious as soon as they learn that someone else had the audacity to pronounce or implement them (Emerson par.1). It is indisputably convincing and intriguing that the things Emerson describes as the greatest obstacles to mastering self-reliance are surreally relatable. Humans are fond of dismissing the “gleam of light [flashing] across the mind from within” simply because we need external approval to grant credibility to our innermost thoughts (par. 1).In short, the article points to an obvious fact that somehow goes unnoticed: a person’s greatness is su...