1. E.’s Plan for Self Reliance
Emerson Notes
E.’s Plan for Self Reliance

3. Part I: Intro Emerson stresses the importance of independent thought
Uses the painter who writes original thoughts as an example of genius, thus defining the term.
“Imitation is suicide.” If you copy other people, you are killing off that unique quality that defines your “self.”
He encourages us to trust ourselves, not our petty, biased self, but the inner truth we find when we truly consider the world.

5. Emerson then uses children as an example of pure and simple self reliance. They believe what they want to and cannot be influenced to change their true minds.
Society and the world at large are in conspiracy against each us to conform.
This beings up the obstacles to self reliance.

6. Obstacles to self reliance

7. First Obstacle: Conformity
Trust your self.
Don’t join groups and activities just because they are popular
Don’t let your demeanor or personality reek of apology: be proud of who you are.
Create and recreate yourself freely everyday.
(that brings up the second obstacle)

9. Conformity (c0nt.)
In solitude we trust ourselves, but in public we conform
Philanthropy is a type of conformity… we give to fit in or feel good
We take on many labels and join groups instead of searching for ourselves within

10. Second Obstacle: Consistency
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
He assures us that deviation from a perceived goal is not a failure.
He uses the analogy of a tacking boat that tends with east or west when heading from north to south.
If we pull away and look at the big picture, the course straightens out, just as mountains on the earth appear flat from space.
A mile is no more than a millimeter in the span of the universe.

11. Consistency (cont.)
Reading, not all reading, but reading as most people do it is bad
Don’t depend on other’s written ideas… you lose your spontaneity, instinct and intuition
Rose and acorn analogies

13. Third Obstacle: Travel
“The wise man stays at home.”
We should only travel for education and the arts, not to “find ourselves.”

14. Fourth Obstacle: Prayer
Our prayer is “mendicant” and “sycophantic”
It supposes a duality rather than reaffirming the connective between humans and the divine
You can’t “pray” to something that is part of you!

15. Fifth Obstacle: Failure to Advance through Technology
Think of the wave metaphor
Every time we invent something to make our lives easier, we lose the use of some natural ability
When we have a carriage we lose the use of our legs.

16. Sixth Obstacle: Reliance on Property & Govt.
We expect gov’t to provide for us
We expect gov’t to define a national identity instead of examining our own being
We are more concerned with possessing than understanding and learning

17. Emerson’s Style and Techniques
Defines his own terms: philanthropy, genius, prayer
His diction is fairly academic. What other adjectives describe his choice of words?
Very aphoristic in style
Employs various anecdotes and analogies
Uses a variety of periodic and loose sentence constructions. (Syntax)