Obeservations on Self Reliance
Self Reliance is defined as the reliance on one’s own judgment and abilities. In his article on Self Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that in order for individuals to get a better understanding of self, every man should strive for self reliance by being non-conformists and being “one’s own star and the master of his own fate”. ... In addition to his essays on Self-Reliance and Spiritual Laws, he wrote many books, and nature essays. Thus, according to Emerson, for an individual to truly become self-reliant, they should practice self-gratification, be non-conformists, know themselves, be truthful and consistent in all that they say and do, and develop a closer spiritual relationship with God. In this essay, I believe that Emerson provides a detailed approach to achieving self-reliance by following a set of values centralized around going through life answering only to oneself. ... Colemanscurry wrote in his observations to Emerson’s essay on Self-Reliance, that this essay “proposes a code for living that defies all previous constructs and encourages a societal outlook foreign to many minds”. ... An individual’s quest for self-reliance is really a search for harmony in oneself, which could only be achieved by each person seeking his or her own unique means of self-fulfillment.