Ralph Waldo Emerson and The Psychology of Self-Reliance

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In this video, drawing from Ralph Waldo Emerson's classic essay, we examine what it means to be self-reliant.
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Get the transcript (and find links to the paintings used in the video) ►

[academyofideas]

Based on the comments I want to make some clarifications.
To be self-reliant doesn't mean closing in on yourself and being unreceptive to the ideas of others. I read one comment that said: "You'll find yourself becoming a habitual contrarian for its own sake”. That is the opposite of being self-reliant, it's being conformist as you're reacting to others first and foremost, and not acting from within.
To be self-reliant means to be receptive to the ideas of others, just not dependent on them. You know your own truth as nobody else does. Often your own truth will appear from without, especially from the mouths of those close to you. But it is still your own truth.
To be self-reliant doesn’t mean living as a hermit in the forest either, that is a foolish conception of self-reliance. It means being inwardly independent, and is not mutually exclusive with cultivating a career or having a family. As Kipling said, it means “being your own man”, or to paraphrase Emerson, attaining the sweetness of independence in the midst of others.
Kierkegaard said "the inwardness of the existing person is the truth". When you understand that and live it, you have attained self-reliance.

[andrewmendoza]

Attachment is the root of suffering. The more you are able to rely on the self, the less you will suffer. You can be humble and compassionate while observing the world around you. Water flows regardless of what is in it's path. You can be like water. Form your own path. Create rivers, lakes, and oceans. Your path can coexist with paths set in place.

[catherinerhea]

An INTJ take:

Growing up in a suppressive, conformity-demanding environment, I often pondered what I would think & feel if no one was insisting I submit to theirs...

The freedom I found AFTER I LEFT(& NEVER went back!!!) again posed the same question: my answer then was "I don't know." ...but I set about observing my surroundings, asking multitudinal questions, & reading EVERYTHING...choosing to remain contemplative & in the shadows...

I chose to engage in areas & situations where I KNEW my actions would affect a positive shift, silently proceeding dispite other's negative objections... My persistence paid off & served to embarrassingly silence critics, who instead of realizing their misguided angst, weaponized it further into jealous revenge... yet another obstacle to circumvent. Ignoring them seemed to be my best option.

Now entering the final third of my years, I am quietly content in how I have walked, pursuing my enlightenment & assisting those who need it, while ignoring the negative "background noise" that has followed most of my pursuits: that is their baggage & not mine to confront. I persisted even when scores insisted it was impossible, yet even then, my manner & ethics proved them wrong. I saw obstacles through a strategic lense, honing my skill accordingly while never loosing sight of my goal... & did it myself... ALONE... but never "lonely" as I have always been the best friend I've ever had.💜

[harrisc]

You sir, I find, have the MOST refreshing channel on this platform. Thank you!

[academyofideas]

All the best for the new year, cheers.

[AHOY_MATEY]

The final sentence in this video blew my socks off. Literally!

[Geep]

To be able to entertain an idea internally and decide whether or not it jives with your own set of values n beliefs. I’ve always been the odd ball of the family or group and wouldn’t have it any other way even though I’m a target for those more reliant on society’s norms and ideas. To me those folks are so lost or busy judging what everyone around them is or has according to systems and ideas ingrained into them from the outside, that they’ll never have the chance to be truly free and as a result never be truly happy with themselves and always looking outside towards inauthentic answers.

[jazlyngomez]

“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude”(Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance). I really liked this quote because it makes me think on how society is only making us view life or how/ who we should be.The argument of the video is, “Society is purposely designed and structured to make you dependent on it.” They make us think that we need the best of the best brands, phones, etc. In the quote it says that the “great man” is the person who stay true to themselves. We can especially see this in high school, many students always try to fit in, they think that doing what others are doing will get them somewhere. However, staying true to yourself, whether they like them or not, is the best thing for them because they won’t feel lost.

“Well, most men have bound their eyes with one or another handkerchief, and attached themselves to one of these communities of opinion. This conformity makes them not false I’m all particulars. Their every truth is not quite true. Their two is not the real two, their four not the real four; so that every word they say chagrins us, and we know not where to begin to set them right.” (Emerson, Self-Reliance). Not all humans think the same. Back in the day when a person would think differently they would make them seem as crazy. However, nowadays people don’t usually follow the regimen. The quote says on how it’s a follow the leader time of thing, but in the news you can see how people are protesting about most things that are implied by society.

[aleilaledezma]

One of the most eye opening lines from this video that I have received is that of Montaigne and states "Our mind moves only on faith, being shackled and constrained to what is desired by someone else's ideas, a slave and captive under the authority of teaching. We have been so subjected to leading reins that we take no free steps on our own, our vigor and liberty are extinct." I was not able to understand this line at first, but the more I read it, the more I opened up my mind and realized what it meant. Personally, I had never realized or thought about how true this statement is in real life. We have been taught a certain way throughout all these years and have never fully realized our full capacity of living cause we seem to be restricted from it. Our lives have been taught several ways by adults that we are already used to being bossed around without us realizing it. From my own personal memory I can't remember the last time my parents our any king of adult asked me what I wanted to do or what my own personal opinion was. They are always telling me what to do and what to think. We have all been taught a certain way and all the same subjects in school as if they only want us to know a certain amount of information. We should have our own opinions in all different kinds of matters because it is our mind and not anyone else's.

[tinytattoomike]

This is something everyone needs to see

[ComedicScents]

Great video! Transcendentalism is one of my all time favorite movements, Emerson was a legend. Definitely a way of life to study and improve on the daily.

[emiliodg]

I love you you fight current trends like Social Justice with ideas and thinkers that outlived their era because the truth they spoke. Keep up the good work man!

[DansLeftDimple]

The opening statement is absolutely beautiful and definitely captured me as compared to all the other videos. I absolutely love that it is admitted that we are not born instinctively to be self-reliant, but are more born with it and can chose to accept it or not. When we talk about the obedience that is brought up in schools, I begin to kind of split myself in two. Yes, school taught me that I had to be obedient and do things such as get straight A's or pass tests, but it was also the birth place of my individuality. In school I learned to debate, form my own opinion, begin to think for myself, and truly be myself as compared to being in my home. The two videos that I have watched so far have enforced that people reach for acceptance and hate being alone and I believe that this is nonsense. Of course, people such as extroverts seek to be accepted by the crowd, but I grew up as an introvert and more recently, an ambivert, and find that it's perfectly ok with me to not fit in. Further, I don't believe that wanting to be accepted is anything negative. We are humans beings who want to loved, praised, and accepted, so why are we punishing and pointing fingers at each other? I agree with Emerson that you should hold your head up high and speak for what you believe in or someone else will speak for you, but I had never once thought that before we had a hive mindset and had to stay with the crowd to continue to live. It's kind of bizarre to think about. I don't, however, believe that if you become entirely self reliant, you will be able to completely forget the need to be accepted and loved. It's just human nature to want it.

[gauravthapa]

I am your biggest admirer from Nepal 🇳🇵, your materials are exquisite and they really have helped me alot thank you brother.

Glad to be first BTW.

[christianguerra]

While watching the video I was finding my train of thought straying towards Socrates and how he was one of the very first examples of self-reliance. What was expressed in the video was that self-reliance is meant to be the way in which we challenge and question the standards which society has set towards our everyday behavior. “A man is to carry himself in the presence of all opposition...I ought to go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways… your goodness must have some edge to it, - else it is none” was one of the more powerful quotes in the video due to how it basically says that someone who might have the mentality of Socrates must express their views in all ways if not then it will just be worthless. The quote in more simple terms meant that one must have a burning passion for the argument that they make, even if it requires the ugly truth to be told. Being self-reliant doesn’t exactly mean to be self-absorbed but rather to be independent in your own way and not be afraid to express yourself in the face of opposition. Another very powerful quote from the video was, “To be your own man is hard business. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes scared.” because it states in its own words that if one attempts to be self-reliant they will often find themselves being the only ones standing in their own position yet in the end, nobody can take away the form you held while expressing yourself. “It is easy to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy to live in solitude after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” was a quote that stood out because it basically tells the person listening or reading that there is no man greater than the one who can be himself in a crowd even if the rest of society doesn’t approve of how unique he might be. One of the most unique things that this video provided me with was the factor of learning the way to use my mind and learn to be myself in public more often than not. I was shocked when I heard the quote, “We have been so subjected to leading-reins that we take no free steps on our own, our vigor and liberty are extinct.” because of how it reminded me so much of how people used to act upon the reign of a new leader when it came to many forms of government in past centuries. Lastly in the quote, “But during the longest period of the human past nothing was more terrible than to feel that one stood by oneself.” what I noticed was that once someone can start the right kind of movement, only then can people get an open window where they can express their thoughts.

[kimberlymontiel]

With this video I learned and understood the meaning of self reliance. Self reliance teachers you mentally to move on forward not with craziness. This allows you to discipline yourself and become observant, you should allow yourself to value your own values and own yourself as a person. In today’s society it is important to be able
To describe your own self.

[JoseCruz-jmew]

This video brings puts out many ideas into play right off the bat. Something that stood out to me and that I agree to is when he used that example with the school system “The modern schooling system is a prime candidate spending over a decade… we are not encouraged to explore but to be obedient…” (Academy of ideas, 2018). I agree with this because he brings in the point that society and the school trains us not to be able to do things by ourselves but instead to rely on others. They restrict us in our age of exploration and shut down our pathways when we do try to explore beyond the norm that we get every other day. I can connect all this to my outside world as I witness with my own eyes everyday how society expects us to follow strict guidelines and pressure us into being ready for a “future” that we should already be ready for according to them. We shouldn’t be forced to every single one of us prepare for the same amount of time when some might do it faster or some might even take longer. They basically have all of us on a timer and don’t care if some of us have loads of time to spare or if some of us are panicking to the amount of time left. When the video stated the point of “Stray far from the belief system imposed on them by the schooling system...perceive reality in a perspective that is not their own because of ignorance and laziness...” (Academy of ideas, 2018). I don’t agree with this because the video talks about how people don’t change because they’re too lazy etc. and in my opinion people don’t change because they don’t know what to change too. When you’re only taught something a certain way your whole life if you try to replace it you’ll be lost on what to do or what to expect.

[brianminghella]

Thank you for providing an excellent and concise summation of the truly great minds.

[TutuSainz]

Awesome! TY! I think self-reliance is similar to self-trust, self-confidence and self-guidance and requires thoughtfulness and mindfulness in all ways. Enjoy your day!

[itzelmora]

I truly found Emerson's quote inspiring which said, " It's not a capacity we are born with, rather, it is one which must be cultivated". With age, people slowly start attaining that self-reliance and it should be a norm as once grows, but the idea of this video was to inform on why it's not being practiced. I really agree in that the schooling system greatly affects who we are today and why we don't tend to express that self-reliance because we are always being told how and what to think. Today, we still spent most of our lives in classroom trying to memorize some sentences and keywords to pass a test at that same moment and have forgotten the true purpose of what schooling was for: to learn. As previously mentioned, we should have the capacity to depend on no one but ourselves and what nature provides to become independent as one grows older, but, being self-reliant is not something practiced/ developed because we are impeded to it everyday by society regulations.