Ralph Waldo Emerson on Self-Reliance, Cultivating Your Genius and The Curse Of Society

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American philosopher and writer, and his essay on Self-Reliance talks about the necessity of individualism and avoidance of conformity.

While the book seems to be writing for a predominantly male audience, I believe the book speaks to everyone who wants to become a formidable thinker and person. Everyone who reads and contemplates on his words will find something useful to apply to their lives, improve their thinking and build character as an individual.

“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. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost…”

Emerson tells us to believe in ourselves and speak openly and candidly what we believe to be true.

Many of us are afraid to share our innermost thoughts in fear of criticism and backlash. We are careful to mask our words, to make sure they are ambiguous and safe so as to not hurt anyone’s feelings or create any misunderstandings.

Many of us believe we have nothing valuable to share. We have flashes of brilliance in our ideas, artwork or writing, but our fears stop us before we can even try. We doubt our skills in our creative endeavors, and allow our minds to be the biggest obstacle.

Emerson tells you to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men. Most of us are too afraid to speak up, and find ourselves gravitating toward those who dare to break the silence.

When you are brave enough to speak what you believe to be true, you will find that others agree with you but were simply keeping silent, hoping for someone like you to express your own opinion first to see if what they hold is acceptable or rational.

We should not be afraid to speak our mind. If we find that we are misinformed or ignorant, there is more for us to gain. If we find that our views were rigid, harmful or unacceptable, at least we will be able to know that we were wrong and could make efforts to improve ourselves as smarter and balanced individuals.

“A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster 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”

We always see ideas like Facebook, Youtube or Uber and think to ourselves:

“I had that idea first! If only I had taken action back then — I would be a billionaire now.”

Or maybe we listened to a great orator or read a brilliant book, but had an uncanny feeling that you’ve heard or read something similar before.

It could also be the case that you already knew what the person was talking/writing about in your head, but you could never explain or clarify it until it was manifested by the speaker/writer.

We all have ideas and thoughts that have potential to be brilliant every day. Sure, they may be a little raw and can take time to hone and perfect, but I believe we all have a little bit of genius inside ourselves.

We just haven’t had the patience and practice that our ancestors had cultivated with years of deliberate training and undying devotion to their crafts.

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.”

“A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace.”

Emerson tells us to take action and get to work. He tells us that to envy great and successful people is to be ignorant. What’s the point of being jealous of what other people have and what paths other people are walking? We are simply unaware of what we truly want in our lives and decide that living the life that “looks” fun, comfortable and filled with luxury is what we want.

He tells us that imitation is suicide, because our path is different than the person next to us. To emulate someone else’s life as your own would not be living your own life. You are simply imitating someone else’s way of life and will never find happiness or fulfillment.

He tells us that no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him without putting in the necessary work. You will reap what you sow. No one will hand you anything in life — you have to work for it. No one else but you knows what you are to do with your time here. No one else but you can find out what you should be doing with your time here. But you certainly will never find anything if you never even try.

You will be able to sleep well, knowing that you have done everything you set out to do everyday. If you say you were going to work out, start on your art project or write a novel but never take action, you will be disgruntled and anxious. You know what you should be doing to change your life, yet you procrastinate. You know what you would love to do, yet you stop yourself because of doubt.

Stop living in this perpetual, negative cycle. Doing what you know you should be doing will give you freedom.

“There are the voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world. Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.”

We are never truly alone with ourselves. In our hyper-connected world, our friends and family can have instant connection with you through messages and calls. We read the news and watch TV, keeping up with the entire world.

We are never truly alone with our thoughts. And there is no one to blame but ourselves. As a society we have chosen to block out certain things, to refrain from talking about things and identify them as taboo or rude, to try to be as comfortable and happy as possible by avoiding the uncomfortable conversations and thoughts that we must inevitably confront. We find distractions to keep us going throughout the weeks, months and years.

We ignore the unsettling feeling inside us, the gnawing sensation in the back of our heads, our inner voices asking us if we’re truly to live our lives filling out spreadsheets for 8 hours a day, serving coffee for 10 hours a day, cleaning dishes and mopping floors for 12 hours a day.

In order to not feel alone, we have chosen to conform. We have given up our individuality, our abilities to be our true selves, to be included in a society… and then wonder why we have to wear masks and hide our true selves in our social interactions.

We crave solitude but love companionship. It is the cruel paradox of the human experience.

We have long ignored the inner voice within us. We are all capable of becoming geniuses, artists, writers and innovators.

If we all did not worry about what people think about us and envy the lives of others, what kind of world could we create for the next generation?

If we all took responsibility for our lives and set on improving ourselves, what would this world look like in the next 50 years?

If you took responsibility to change your life from this point forward, what would you look like in the next few years? You will become a strong individual, a person to look up to, a capable, respectable and impressive being.

If you learned to be self-reliant and were able to stand proud and strong even if society crumbled before you, what have you to fear?

“What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it.

It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.