Examples Of Self Reliance By Ralph Emerson

Is Self Reliance Right for You? What is most confusing about Ralph Emerson’s Self-Reliance is his overwhelming selfishness. If everyone listened to Emerson’s writing, the world we live in wouldn’t even be possible because no one would work together and everyone would hate each other because they would not need them. The reliance on others is the only way to build a working society, but that does not mean Self-Reliant people are out of the picture in this world. Only certain people fall under the category of Self-Reliant and differ from Emerson’s harsh arguments. In Plato’s Apology, Socrates demonstrates that he was one of the first people to be recognized as Self-Reliant. The overall message of Socrates to the is I’m gonna do me, and you do you, which ends up costing him his life. But, he is also on trial because of his spreading of wisdom on the youth and others, which seems to contrast Emerson’s ideas of Trust Thyself. In relation to Socrates, Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” in Leaves of Grass connects on a similar spiritual dedication that Socrates had. Whitman’s work is dedicated to the undermining theme of the self and its relation to a bigger, universal self that exists. He is fascinated by nature 's power and loses himself into his spirit. His writings are much deeper and less exposed than Emerson’s pure

He is actually a nice kid and I became friends with him several years later. It came down to myself, I was too concerned with what that kid thought and I suffered for it. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance essay, he explains “What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think” (5). Basically, Emerson is saying that my own personal priorities are most important and not others opinions. People’s opinions are worthless distractions that prevent me from being myself. If I can’t even be myself and make decisions that I want then I am not relying on myself nor being