Ever since Father Kilian's Transcendentalism class at St. Martin's I have loved Emerson. I've read and re-read all his works numerous times. I even had to buy a second copy of his complete works because my first copy was so used and written in that I couldn't really read it any more.
I was re-reading 'Self Reliance' this morning when this passage struck me.
In a world where I have insurance companies, an ex, other parents, the media etc. telling me I am wrong, it is very hard to trust myself. But Emerson is right, every person has a potential for greatness. I guess I just have to stop being afraid of the fight and advance "on Chaos and the Dark."
I was re-reading 'Self Reliance' this morning when this passage struck me.
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being. And we are now men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny; and not minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, redeemers, and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort, and advancing on Chaos and the Dark.
In a world where I have insurance companies, an ex, other parents, the media etc. telling me I am wrong, it is very hard to trust myself. But Emerson is right, every person has a potential for greatness. I guess I just have to stop being afraid of the fight and advance "on Chaos and the Dark."
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