From the develishly intriguing essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Self-Reliance'

-----------------

The magnetism which all original action exerts is explained when we inquire the reason of self-trust. Who is the Trustee? What is the aboriginal Self, on which a universal reliance may be grounded? What is the nature and power of that science-baffling star, without parallax, without calculable elements, which shoots a ray of beauty even into trivial and impure actions, if the least mark of independence appear? The inquiry leads us to that source, at once the essence of genius, of virtue, and of life, which we call Spontaneity or Instinct. We denote this primary wisdom as Intuition, whilst all later teachings are tuitions. In that deep force, the last fact behind which analysis cannot go, all things find their common origin. For, the sense of being which in calm hours rises, we know not how, in the soul, is not diverse from things, from space, from light, from time, from man, but one with them, and proceeds obviously from the same source whence their life and being also proceed. We first share the life by which things exist, and afterwards see them as appearances in nature, and forget that we have shared their cause. Here is the fountain of action and of thought. Here are the lungs of that inspiration which giveth man wisdom, and which cannot be denied without impiety and atheism. We lie in the lap of immense intelligence, which makes us receivers of its truth and organs of its activity. When we discern justice, when we discern truth, we do nothing of ourselves, but allow a passage to its beams. If we ask whence this comes, if we seek to pry into the soul that causes, all philosophy is at fault. Its presence or its absence is all we can affirm. Every man discriminates between the voluntary acts of his mind, and his involuntary perceptions, and knows that to his involuntary perceptions a perfect faith is due. He may err in the expression of them, but he knows that these things are so, like day and night, not to be disputed. My wilful actions and acquisitions are but roving; — the idlest reverie, the faintest native emotion, command my curiosity and respect. Thoughtless people contradict as readily the statement of perceptions as of opinions, or rather much more readily; for, they do not distinguish between perception and notion. They fancy that I choose to see this or that thing. But perception is not whimsical, but fatal. If I see a trait, my children will see it after me, and in course of time, all mankind, — although it may chance that no one has seen it before me. For my perception of it is as much a fact as the sun.

-------------------------------------

In the essay Emerson preaches the indefatigable wisdom of approaching all that we encounter in the spirit of an individual. Central to his philosophy - we have inherited the same faculties of our intellectual and spiritual predecessors, equally disposed with the intended attributes of our Maker. By that logic, we should never be bound as slaves to their ideas, marketed as ideologies, but should instead seek after our own avenues to truth and reason, in guidance of our actions.

Equally, as in the actions of Plato and Milton and David and Jeremiah, winds of change are effected in direct opposition to acceptance of conventional wisom. In conformity, there is blindness and incapacitation of free will. Authorities are false authorities, their points of view so readily availed to and shoved onto us should always be subordinate to our individual judgements and never judicial instructors. I find it interesting to apply such a mode of thought to the functioning of societies. Can an army function if its soldiers question continually? Can there be a division between functional (floutable) and ethical (essential) aspects of a legal system? Can customs continue to play a part in our daily lives if we see ourselves as individuals with a responsibility, intrinsically appointed, to fashion our own statutes and lifestyles?

But those questions are hardly rhetorical.

Emerson goes on to discredit society as a progressive force. Art and custom in civilisations of old are but ornamental "costumes" of that period, not something to be hankered after, or built upon. Travelling for amusement, or in idolatry of the conceived beauty of foreign lands, is regarded by Emerson as unproductive, for a lost age is rarely the source of greater wisdom.

"Abide in the simple and noble regions of thy life, obey thy heart, and thou shalt reproduce the Foreworld again."

It is interesting that in taking his word for it, one goes against the very principle he advocates. So, indeed, maybe Emerson, in taking an intellectual position so extreme (but hardly, hardly insupportable), goads his readers to find the cracks in his own philosophy.

Still I regard the passage quoted at the beginning of this post as a good reminder of why I started writing here in the first place. To regard my world with my own eyes, and appreciate its constituents under the profundity of its changing shades and tints.