“Self-Reliance”
“Self-Reliance”
THE LITERARY WORK
An essay written in Concord, Massachusetts, synthesizing ideas from Emerson’s journals and lectures of the 1830s; published in 1841.
SYNOPSIS
Emerson expresses his outrage at the reluctance of Americans to trust in themselves and take action based on a recognition of God in all creation.
Events in History at the Time of the Essay
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was one of the most influential thinkers in nineteenth-century America. Like his father, he became a Unitarian minister in Boston, but he later left the church, whose doctrines he could not embrace fully. He traveled briefly in Europe, and after returning became a lecturer, an essayist, a poet, and a leader of the transcen-dentalist school of thought in America. His philosophy embraced individuality, optimism, and a belief in the presence of God in all things and persons. He is best remembered for his essay “Self-Reliance” and other early works that champion these ideals.
Events in History at the Time of the Essay
The Jackson administration
Andrew Jackson’s presidency (1829-1837) dominated America in the decade before Emerson wrote “Self-Reliance.” Through the essay Emerson tried to help individuals renew themselves and throw off the burden of “dead” institutions. In many ways, the nation under Andrew Jackson was also trying to free itself from its past and re-establish its identity in the 1830s.
The United States had entered a period of redefinition in which it tried to prove its autonomy and national character to the world. To achieve these goals, Jackson built on several key developments that had strengthened American sovereignty earlier in the century. Treaties had provided for the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory from France (1803), the assurance of commercial independence and freedom from meddling by foreign powers (1814), and the acquisition of East Florida from Spain (1819). A few years later, in 1823, the Monroe Doctrine had declared the whole Western Hemisphere off limits to interference by European powers. These changes allowed the young republic to focus on domestic issues with renewed zeal. Emerson’s essay, with its emphasis on looking inward for guidance, seems to be addressing both the growing nation and the individual.
The federal government encouraged settlement in its newly acquired territories, and the country expanded rapidly. In the first half of the century, fourteen new states were admitted to the Union, and in the 1820s alone, the total U.S. population increased by a third. Across the country, as well as in Congress, people seriously debated how much power the federal government should have over the states, given that each state seemed to have its own interests, problems, and history. Jackson’s presidency itself represented a break with tradition, since Jackson’s rural Southern background contrasted sharply with that of the elite New England politicians who had dominated the government until then.
Andrew Jackson was known as the “people’s president,” and he enjoyed most of his support among the common people in the South and West. Not surprisingly, he favored their interests and tried to expand their voting rights. For example, he advocated the abolition of property requirements and religious tests for eligibility to vote and hold public office. He also favored the South by claiming to be powerless to uphold federal orders that went against its economic interests. Jackson’s style suited many Americans who longed for a new approach to government. Meanwhile, others struck out on their own to effect social change.
Unitarianism
Emerson resigned his position as a Unitarian minister in 1832 after only three years of service. He felt unable to administer the Lord’s Supper in good conscience, since he was no longer sure the ritual was valid. Instead he devoted himself to a re-evaluation of Christian beliefs in America, often incurring the disapproval of his former fellows in the Unitarian church.
The Unitarian faith that shaped Emerson’s youth and early adulthood was, to be sure, the most progressive form of Christianity in its day. Although the Unitarians still believed that the Bible revealed God’s plan for humankind, they had come to reject the Puritan idea that people were inherently depraved. Also, contrary to almost all other Christian churches, they viewed Jesus Christ as the highest representative of mankind rather than as the son of God. In his sermons, Emerson struggled to put forward his own ideas while staying with in the limits of Unitarian doctrine. Some of his subsequent essays, such as “Self-Reliance,” echo his early sermons, as the following indicates:
Nor on the other hand let it be thought that there is in this self-reliance anything of presumption, anything inconsistent with a spirit of dependence and piety toward God. In listening more intently to our own soul we are not becoming in the ordinary sense more selfish, but are departing farther from what is low and falling back upon truth and upon God. For the whole value of the soul depends on the fact that it contains a divine principle, that it is a house of God, and the voice of the eternal inhabitant may always be heard with in it.— From a sermon Emerson delivered four times, beginning on 30 December 1830.
(Emerson in McGiffert, p. 110)
The Unitarian church in Boston attracted elites and members of the upper middle class, who were often reluctant to commit themselves openly to controversial causes such as abolition. Many were content to follow the path to salvation cleared by their forefathers, who had seen no need to abolish slavery. Some Unitarian businessmen had lucrative contracts with the South and chose to overlook the dire conditions under which slaves suffered. Other Unitarians—and religious groups in general—preferred moral suasion to political activism, arguing that legislation would address only the symptoms of the problems, not the causes. Lasting reform, they were convinced, could only come through a genuine change of heart. Emerson remained detached from the slave controversy in the 1830s and 1840s, preoccupied instead with promoting new ways of thinking. It was only later that events like the adoption of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 drove him into the camp of the radical abolitionists.
Religious revivals and the Age of Reform
A wave of religious revivals called the Second Great Awakening swept across New England from the 1790s through the 1830s. Fiery preachers tried to convert and save as many people as possible, since society showed signs of rejecting organized religion in the years after the American Revolution. Those who participated in the revivals often tried to practice and spread the faith by taking up a social cause.
As a result, the period between 1830 and 1860 was truly an age of reform in New England. Movements addressed a variety of social ills, such as slavery, drinking, war, inadequate rights for women, prostitution, and neglect of the deaf, blind, and insane. The reform impulse was strengthened by the ideas of European Romanticism, which emphasized the dignity and worth of every person and recognized feeling rather than rationality as the source of truth. In “Self-Reliance” too, Emerson encourages his readers to give their emotions primary consideration.
EMERSON SEEKS GREATER “DEPTH OF INTEREST” IN REFORM MEETINGS
As far as I notice what happens in philanthropic meetings and holy hurrahs there is very little depth of interest. … [A]n observer new to such scenes would say, Here was true fire; the assembly were all ready to be martyred, and the effect of such a spirit on the community would be irresistible; but they separate and go to the shop, to a dance, to bed, and an hour afterwards they care so little for the matter that on the slightest temptation each one would disclaim the meeting. “Yes, he went, but they were for carrying it too far,” etc., etc. 26 Aprii 18.38.
(Emerson, Journals, p. 431)
Some revivalists turned away from the emphasis on sin in traditional Calvinism, choosing instead to preach about the doctrine of free will. The notion that every person could choose to do good and be saved reinforced Emerson’s idea that each person was close to God and capable of self-improvement. Emerson remained ambivalent about getting personally involved in reform causes, though he was occasionally persuaded to support one by writing a letter or delivering a speech. He preferred to spend his time in contemplation, although he did write and lecture in the late 1830s. His two major addresses were “The American Scholar” (1837), which has been described as America’s intellectual declaration of independence from Europe, and “The Divinity School Address” (1838), which caused an uproar in religious circles. Listeners branded him as an infidel and atheist because he denied the special authority of Jesus Christ and spoke of the supreme authority of the spiritual intuition inside every individual.
Two issues attract Emerson’s attention
In the late 1830s, Emerson was struck by the plight of the slaves and that of the Native Americans facing forcible removal to the West. He agreed to speak out in support of these two groups. Some Northerners considered slavery a morally corrupt institution but only showed concern for the welfare of slaves overseas in the Caribbean islands of Haiti and Barbados. Emerson voiced his disdain for the hypocrisy shown by people who restricted themselves to becoming sentimental at the plight of slaves “a thousand miles off’ (Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” p. 51).
Meanwhile, President Jackson was leading the fight for an aggressive plan to relocate the entire Native American population to territory west of the Mississippi River. The Removal Act of 1830 became one of the first pieces of legislation passed under the Jackson administration, and the authorities moved quickly to enforce it. The affected tribes had no legal recourse against relocation since Indian testimony was not admissible in court. Occasionally, they received a little help from prominent Americans such as Emerson, who spoke out on their behalf.
Romanticism and transcendentalism
Through Emerson’s contact with English poets such as Thomas Carlyle, European Romanticism found a direct avenue into America and into transcendentalist thought. Romanticism rejected what it considered to be the overemphasis of the earlier Enlightenment movement on science and factual knowledge. Instead, the Romantic movement recognized feeling and intuition as surer guides to the truth. Like the Romantics, the transcen-dentalists held that one should seek knowledge through introspection and a thoughtful examination of nature. The transcendentalists further believed that people were basically good and capable of bettering themselves. In their view, self-reliance was essential to social improvement.
Emerson served as the most powerful spokesman of the transcendental movement, defining its basic principles in his essay Nature (1836) and continuing to spread these ideals in his lectures and writings. An informal club met for the first time in 1836 to discuss what came to be called Transcendentalism, and Emerson later wrote, “I suppose all of them were surprised at this rumor of a school or sect, and certainly at the name of Transcendentalism, given nobody knows by whom, or when it was first applied” (Emerson in Swift, pp. 6-7). Other sources say the name started as a joke originated by some of the members. The movement reached its height in the years between 1830 and the 1850s, and it had an impact on American thought out of proportion to the small number of intellectuals who identified themselves with it. Emerson himself is usually credited with making popular to Americans the ideas of self-reliance and freedom of thought, which were basic to the movement.
The Essay in Focus
The contents
Although “Self-Reliance” is sometimes criticized for its loose style, the essay in fact follows a fairly straight course. Emerson encourages self-trust, reminding us of the need for nonconformists and the reasons why it is reprehensible to conform. He acknowledges the harsh consequences of a self-reliant approach to life and offers practical suggestions. At the same time, he broadens his argument by considering the historical and religious significance of his ideas.
Emerson introduces his essay with three quotations. The first (“Do not search outside yourself”) is from the ancient satirist Persius, the second from the play Honest Man’s Fortune by two dramatists of the English Renaissance, and the third from one of Emerson’s own poems. By recalling the work of writers from other times and places, Emerson makes it clear that he values other sources. Ultimately, however, he looks into his own heart for answers and shares them with others.
Emerson first encourages the reader to trust and respect the self. One must begin, he says, by listening to one’s own thoughts instead of passing them over automatically. The next essential steps are to speak those thoughts with conviction and translate them into action. Peace of mind, he warns, will elude the person who does not testify to the divine idea that he or she represents. Emerson suggests we look to infants, children, and adolescents for fresh examples of honesty and nonconformity. What would it be like, he wonders, if an adult could recapture these qualities of youth!
Society desperately needs nonconformists, Emerson assures us. Moreover, one’s choices need not be explained to others, who have no right to tell one how to fit into society. Devotion to “dead” institutions, such as church societies or the dominant political parties, is a waste of time. If a man simply attaches himself to a group, Emerson has trouble defining who that person really is. Emerson maintains that adopting the opinions of even one group infects a person’s ability to utter any truth at all.
The consequences of nonconformity provide Emerson with two reasons why people are afraid to embrace self-reliance. First, the world rejects a nonconformist. Emerson acknowledges that “when the unintelligent brute force that lies at the bottom of society is made to growl and mow,” it is difficult to act as if society’s disapproval does not matter to us (“Self-Reliance,” p. 56). Second, we are terrified of contradicting ourselves because we do not want to disappoint others, who rely on our past record to figure out who we are. Emerson is not convinced: “Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then?” (“Self-Reliance,” p. 57). Ultimately, he writes, you are who you are, and your actions (provided each is genuine) all have one thing in common: you.
“THE SOUL OF MAN…DOES ABHOR THIS BUSINESS”
At the prompting of friends. Emerson wrote a letter (a “shriek” of indignation, as he called it) to President Jackson’s successor, Martin Van Buren, protesting the impending removal of the Cherokees: “Such a dereliction of all faith and virtue, such a denial of justice, and such a deafness to screams for mercy, were never heard of in times of peace, and in the dealing of a nation with its own allies and wards, since the earth was made.” —From Emerson’s letter of protest to President Van Buren; sent 25 April 1838 (Emerson in Cooke, pp. 64-5).
The historical significance of these ideas captures Emerson’s attention next. He assures us that we are as much at the center of things today as anyone ever was in the past. To be great, a person must commit himself fully to the age in which he finds himself. Those people who seize upon this fact never have time to accomplish their goals within a lifetime, but their actions are so compelling that others follow in their footsteps for centuries.
In examining the past, Emerson urges us not to feel intimidated by the accomplishments of others. Artifacts may be impressive, but they depend on our praise to make them celebrated. Heroes are put on pedestals, as though they were the only ones capable of virtuous deeds. The way we document leaders in our histories exaggerates their authority, and we lose sight of the fact that the actions of the commoner today are just as important.
Emerson then becomes more philosophical and abstract, examining the source of self-trust. Each of us has the wisdom of intuition, he says, and everything else we know is taught to us. In our calm hours, we can and do get in touch with this original knowledge common to all creation. An absolute respect is due to these involuntary perceptions, the things we and all people know to be indisputably true.
A CRITIC TAKES ISSUE WITH EMERSON’S “DIVINITY SCHOOL ADDRESS”
Why not be satisfied with the strong language of Jesus and John, and say that if [a man] love, God dwells in him, and he in God? or that he partakes of the divine nature, as Peter declares. Why go further, and seem to destroy the personality either of God or man by saying that he is God?—The transcendental reformer James Freeman Clarke, in response to unorthodox religious ideas in Emerson’s “Divinity School Address.
(Harris, p. 276)
As he explores the religious significance of self-reliance, Emerson claims that our intuition should even play a leading role in the way we relate to God. When God speaks, he communicates not one idea at a time, but rather all things at once. If our minds are open to this sort of communication and we hear him, our established notions fall away, as they should. Emerson stresses the potential for religious insight in his own time, claiming that to be a slave to the past is to miss the point. To exist with God, each of us must live fully in the present moment and listen for Him. But again, we are trapped: we dare not think that we ourselves hear the voice of God unless it sounds like the phrases familiar to us from the Bible.
The essay advises its readers to start on the road to nonconformity by achieving a state of spiritual isolation and calm. Even if the changes do not come all at once, people must at least begin to reorient their lives. Practically speaking, we must renounce our old ways, inform our friends and family of our commitment to truth, and be willing to part with our loved ones if they cannot make the same commitment. Again, Emerson knows that the task is difficult, that it demands something godlike in the person who takes it to heart. Instead, most of us cower before our fears of truth, failure, death, and each other. As a result, he explains, an entirely new outlook is needed in all areas of human activity. Religion, education, social interaction, and our pursuit of material goods must be re-evaluated from the perspective of self-reliance and respect for the divinity in each of us. Ultimately, according to Emerson, nothing will bring us peace but the triumph of such principles.
“God is here within.”
The religious implications of the ideas in “Self-Reliance” were much too radical for many New Englanders. Most religious groups believed God and his creation to have very little in common, and that if one were able to communicate with the other, it would be through a minister or the Bible. Emerson, however, was prepared to stir up controversy in his attempt to convince the reader that each person is directly linked to divinity, and as such should take himself or herself seriously. “God is here within,” he declares (“Self-Reliance,” p. 71). Emerson boldly asserts that “man is the word made flesh,” which would have been recognized by most New Englanders as an echo of the biblical idea that God is the Word, and Christ is the Word made flesh (“Self-Reliance,” p. 76). In short, Emerson sets the average person equal to Christ. According to Emerson, man represents the divine idea but is usually too afraid or too committed to institutional religion to truly do God’s work.
Many of the religious principles in “Self-Reliance” had been set forth in the already mentioned “Divinity School Address” three years earlier. It, too, had offended many believers, particularly by instructing Harvard College’s Divinity School students (who were about to graduate and become ministers) that it is more prudent to stay home and reflect on the Sabbath than to attend a lifeless church service. The chapel seated about a hundred persons, and the front pews were filled with Emerson’s conservative Unitarian adversaries. One of them later savaged Emerson in a lengthy article, and many newspapers labeled him an infidel and an atheist. According to one source, Emerson even worried whether he could continue to supplement his income by lecturing. Despite the outcry, or perhaps because of it, Emerson reiterated many of these ideas in “Self-Reliance.”
Emerson was well aware of the arguments against his liberal outlook on religion. He openly defied the opposition’s compelling claim that the miracles described in the Bible proved that Christ, unlike the rest of us, had been sent by God. Emerson was convinced that God’s message is undeniable not because of the “evidence” of the miracles, but rather because any careful listener can hear God’s message whenever He speaks. As a result, each of us has direct access to divine truth. One radical implication of this philosophy is that someone in communion with God today could write an equally legitimate Bible. Another is that believers are thoroughly justified in bypassing organized religion. Conservative and mainstream Christians opposed these implications vehemently, however carefully Emerson had thought them out and in whatever terms he presented them.
Sources
“Self-Reliance” draws on the ideas set forth in Emerson’s previous lectures and pamphlets, especially Nature (1836), “The American Scholar” (1837), and the “Divinity School Address” (1838). Emerson relied heavily on his journal when composing these early works, often quoting from it word for word.
In addition to the influence of Unitarianism on Emerson’s cosmology, several schools of philosophy helped shape his understanding of the place of people in the universe. He relied on a book called On Germany, by Germaine de Staël, for an overview of intellectual activity in Europe. In the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, Emerson found a polar opposite to John Locke, an Englishman who insisted that all knowledge is gained through the five senses. Like Kant, Emerson believed that all men’s knowledge was shaped by intuition, which “transcended” sensory experience. Such a belief, in turn, fueled Emerson’s respect for the private insights each person could achieve in moments of calm. His decision not to place too much faith in the material world also harked back to Plato and Hindu beliefs as well. Both spoke of the illusory nature of the world. While a student at Harvard, Emerson studied the Hindu concept of an illusory world from which each person must break free in order to discover and trust the godliness of the inner self. His agreement with this concept is evident in “Self-Reliance.”
Two movements in literature also had a profound impact on Emerson. His interest in European Romanticism was brought into sharper focus by a visit to his heroes William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Thomas Carlyle, all leaders of the Romantic movement in England. He and Carlyle kept up a warm correspondence for many years. At the same time, the writings of scholars called the German “Higher Critics” supported Emerson’s unorthodox approach to Christianity. Promoting a nontraditional interpretation of the Bible, these critics regarded the religious text as a purely historical document and refused to accept miracles as proof of Christ’s divinity. By being open to their ideas, Emerson was able to nurture his belief that anyone could communicate with God directly.
Reception
“Self-Reliance” was one of the texts that made Emerson famous. The controversial essay had a significant impact in the author’s own day, answering a spiritual need for many people in a time of change. Contained in his first fulllength volume, Essays, the piece helped attract a circle of devoted New England readers, many of whom had heard Emerson speak in the 1830s. More and more admirers started to visit Emerson at his home in Concord, Massachusetts.
Supporters and detractors commented on Emerson’s content as well as his style. Some attacked Emerson’s unorthodox religious views and his idealism. As a general comment on Emerson’s lectures, one critic had written in 1838 that their style “has been so different from the usual one, so completely Emersonian, as to confound and puzzle some, and disgust others” (Harris, p. 275). The observation probably held true for “Self-Reliance” in 1841 since even his supporter Carlyle acknowledged in a preface to the Essays that “the utterance is abrupt, fitful; the great idea not yet embodied struggles towards an embodiment. Yet,” continues Carlyle, “everywhere there is the true heart of a man. … Sharp gleams of insight arrest us by their pure intellectuality” (Carlyle in Harris, p. 276).
Although readers debated whether Emerson was optimistic or simply naive, few doubted that he had written from the heart. After observing people’s reactions to Essays for three years, Emerson’s fellow writer Margaret Fuller attested to his sincerity: “You have his thought just as it found place in the life of his own soul. Thus, however near or relatively distant its approximation to absolute truth, its action on you cannot fail to be healthful” (Fuller in Harris, p. 277).
For More Information
Cooke, George Willis. Ralph Waldo Emerson: His Life, Writings, and Philosophy, 5th ed. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1882.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Vol. 4: Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1836-1838. Edited by Edward Waldo Emerson and Waldo Emerson Forbes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1910.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self Reliance.” In The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Vol. 2: Essays, First Series. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1903.
Harris, Laurie Lanzen, ed. Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1981.
Jacobs, Donald M., ed. Courage and Conscience: Black and White Abolitionists in Boston. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
McGiffert, Arthur Cushman, Jr. Young Emerson Speaks: Unpublished Discourses on Many Subjects by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1938.
Swift, Lindsay. Brook Farm: Its Members, Scholars, and Visitors. New York: Corinth, 1961.