Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson (Essays First Series)

A discussion of Emerson’s famous essay with multiple readings and questions regarding its continued influence.

Recommended if you like:
Protagoras by Plato
Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
The Education of Henry Adams
Shadow and Act by Ralph Ellison

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[tomlabooks]

So little time... but I’ve put Emerson on my TBR anyway. This is the way to live a full life, by overloading your TBR as an act of pure optimism. 😄 Thanks for this video.

[BookishTexan]

I think the best tonic for Emerson's advice on how to live and how society should work are the lives of those who followed those ideas. Yes, Thoreau and Whitman were inspired by Emerson's ideas, but did it make them happy? Was the immortality of their work a trade off for what always struck me as fairly lonely lives? I could be wrong about the relative happiness of both.
Also, was Emerson a part of a utopian society/ community? Or at least he inspired one (Brook Farm?). No one demands conformity more than utopian societies, that's what make anti-utopian literature possible and popular.

[sterlingreads]

I haven’t read it but I really enjoyed this video!

[StephanieJCohen]

Enjoyed the thoughtful analysis. I haven’t read this essay. I have the big biographies on Emerson and Thoreau that I need to read at some point. Hopefully that will enlighten me more on some of their thought.

[delilah]

I've read this essay, though parts of it went over my head xD
Overall, I appreciated the essay more from an artistic standpoint; if you hesitate on speaking your truth in your work now, someone may say the exact same later... and it'd kind of suck. The perspective seems helpful for getting me to write more which would be great. The essay's rant against traveling struck me as a bit odd, though I can kind of see where it was coming from. Personally, traveling helps with inspiration and understanding a lot. It puts certain cultural expectations or norms into perspective and shows alternative solutions to common problems.

Altogether, you make a lot of valid points concerning its substance and several modern associations that I appreciate. It's important to look toward any lifestyle or mindset suggestions with a good bit of skepticism. The way you pointed out Emerson's aversion towards viewing people for their material substance rather than their character stuck with me. I enjoyed reading that part of the text as well. It's interesting how a lot of popular texts are misinterpreted.

[gambledg]

I don't think the people who were refusing to wear masks read Emerson.