Thoughts on Self-Reliance
Emerson argues that “society everywhere is in a conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members,” and goes on to explain how society is great deterrent to self-reliance. Emerson sees consistency as being detrimental to self-reliance and states that it is the “hobgoblin of little minds.” True knowledge comes from within and Emerson is quick to advise the reader “not to search outside yourself.”
However, in my very limited understanding, Emerson’s arguments in Self-Reliance can come off as quite hubristic in the sense that I feel that self-reliance/ individualism leads to moral decay and as Nietzsche has once stated to “death of God.”
His ideas on isolationism while romantic can also have very aversive consequences. I find it hard to believe that the “silent church before the service begins” is more desirable/meaningful than the actual sermon. Emerson was exposed to Hindu religious literature and I think it is pertinent to ask whether Emerson would be happy if we all turned into the “Kupamanduka*” a type of well-frog that repeatedly occurs in multiple Sanskrit texts.
Emerson’s most cogent argument and also most prophetic is the thought that “God will not have his work made manifest by cowards.” In this modern era where men who preach about apocalyptic visions of the world are in abundance, I think, this profound perspicacity offers much food for thought.
*
“The Kupamanduka is a frog that lives its whole life within a well, knows nothing else, and is suspicious of everything outside it. It talks to no-one, and argues with no-one on anything. It merely harbors the deepest suspicion of the outside world.” The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen
Very interesting post, EP. I wonder how you relate self reliance as argued by Emerson to moral decay.
Actually, he doesn’t give any reason to suggest that he would approve for moral decay. After-all, he was a man of the Church.
The essay Self-Reliance, however, makes some very bold arguments. For example, Emerson says,
““Do not search outside yourself.”
This without a doubt is the foundation of individualism and as we know individualism leads to materialism, which in turn leads to moral decay or as Nietzsche called the ” death of god.”
Also, Emerson’s definition of “genius” is quite interesting.
“To believe in your own thought, to believe what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men-that is genius.”