“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.”
"The ideas of these men, along with those of Plato and some of the Hindu, Buddhist, and Persian thinkers, strongly influenced his development of the philosophy of transcendentalism".
Be yourself and trust your own inner voice, is what Emerson repeats throughout his essay in different ways. Emerson believes that everybody was born able to recognize and unders
tand the moral and truth of life with no pre awareness. Using this inborn knowledge, a gift of God, people can make a moral decision without relying on information gained through everyday living, education, and experimentation.
For instance, Emerson points out in his essay a simple case of small children that speak for themselves, even though they have not been corrupted by the society. Emerson also claims that we are all different individuals and that we should avoid “imitating” models of perfection, but that we should express original ideas and ourselves.
tand the moral and truth of life with no pre awareness. Using this inborn knowledge, a gift of God, people can make a moral decision without relying on information gained through everyday living, education, and experimentation.For instance, Emerson points out in his essay a simple case of small children that speak for themselves, even though they have not been corrupted by the society. Emerson also claims that we are all different individuals and that we should avoid “imitating” models of perfection, but that we should express original ideas and ourselves.
In history, the results of individualism have been spread worldwide. Important leaders, thinkers, and philosophers with radical ideas in virgin areas of research were making significant finds “Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and everybody pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.” (Emerson 1168)
In addition, Emerson says that we should never conform or accept they way society live and tells us how to live, we do not need to follow any pattern or “culture” to be adequate and be happy. “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself” (Emerson 1180)
Because of his spirit of self-reliance, Emerson makes decision for himself, and he would strongly reject any law or policy that would go against his decision or moral force. Emerson’s era happened was a reform and resisted period, and he thought that the effect of the society was not helping people, but building conformity and fear in each of them. He was often criticizing society and trying to make people express their creative thinking, getting rid of the conventionalism.
