Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Philosophy of Self-Reliance

In other words, it is the ability of a person to control their own destiny and way of life. Ralph talked about several issues in his work that described the importance of relying on oneself. An individual’s will, honesty, and voice sum up the aspects of Waldo’s arguments on self-reliance. The basic definition of a will is the inherent mental power that helps a person make decisions and subsequently act based on the choices they have made. Emerson was quick to elaborate that it is significant that people follow their will instead of conforming to the ideas of society (Emerson, 2015 p. Following one’s will does not create situations where a person will have low confidence in themselves. Trusting in one’s instincts gives a human being more reason to believe that they have made the right decision.

Emerson stipulated that there is some kind of genius in the inner voices of people. Many successful individuals have told their stories of how they made it to the top by following their instincts. Waldo outlined that rejecting one’s thoughts often comes back at them in the future in form of a regret. Essentially, the implications of Emerson’s work are that the values and skills that people tend to imitate from other individuals are just part of those people’s uniqueness. Each person has their own potential and it is that important they concentrate on how they can build on it. Self-reliance means looking for that unique skill, value, or idea and developing it by the influence of a personal decision and not one made in conformity to the expectations of the intermediaries.

Religious institutions, for example, play a role in influencing the choices made by people, something that could lead to a poor choice or missing out on one that would have been better off, if it was made by oneself. Individuality according to Emerson is the key to personal success. This was a common belief among the conservatives and it pretty much details the issue of willingly disobeying. Ralph was sending the message of self-reliance by this because if he argued that paying taxes should only be on the basis that someone believes in what the government wants to do, then it means that the conviction has to come from within an individual. The individuality that Ralph claimed should be expressed if someone is to be considered self-reliant is one that portrays the ideas that the person strongly believes in their inner self.

He argued that supporting a government’s ideas by paying taxes when one does not believe in what it wants to carry out is equally suppressing their own idea that is inclined inside them (Emerson, 2015 p. Ralph similarly, had a point of view that supported the liberals thinking as well. Connecting this issue to honesty in relationships, Ralph meant that people should speak the truth to others because if they lie then it means, in their thoughts, they have made their minds believe that the lie is a truth, which is not in the real sense. Emerson’s criticism of conformity was enormous (Emerson, 2015 p. From Ralph’s work, it is clear that telling a lie is like blocking the thoughts from the inner self of an individual from coming out.

By telling a lie, a person has complied with the pressure that is surrounding them, which ultimately makes them hide the truth. Self-reliance is all about being able to make decisions and choices without the influence of any external pressure. Hence, Emerson’s work on self-reliance can be put to test in real life situations like practicing honesty. It is vital understanding that Ralph Waldo Emerson was a great philosopher and his work on self-reliance best explains how an individual can grow by embracing individuality. His argument of conformity being suicidal is absolutely justifiable because this act is a matter of imitating other people’s skills and values thereby ignoring the inner gifts and skills that an individual possesses. Hence, external pressure like religious practices and other societal expectations have to be avoided.

His support from both the liberals and conservatives is a clear evidence that self-reliance has a strong sense of push that is anchored in beliefs to achieve goals, even those that may seem unreachable. Harvard University Press, 2015. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Essays, First Series: Self Reliance. Retrieved from: www. archive.