Reliance

I just finished reading __Self- Reliance__ by Ralph W. Emerson. I thought it was pretty good at parts but somewhat confusing at times. I realy liked how this one statement stood out to me in his essay:


 * "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."**

I really liked this saying because it had a good meaning behind it. It's basically saying that your mind is really special and unique. No one else in the whole world has the same mind as you do. You shouldn't take your mind and your body, for that matter, for granted. One should cherish their knowledge from their mind always. A lot of people probably don't even realize how important, different, and special their minds are. A lot of them spend time messing up their minds with drugs or alcohol. All you are doing there is damaging your mind and sense of knowledge. That is a rather unfortunate situation. Just remember what many of us were taught: "My body is a temple." This includes your mind, too. 1201570762

I liked this essay a little bit better than the one on nature. I agree with ewe, very few people realize how great their mind really is and those who do not end up messing it up woth drugs or alcohol. Ewe mentioned the phrase "My body is a temple." If you think about it, your mind is like the main shrine in the temple. In a temple, the main shrine is an altar dedicated to whoever the temple was built to honor and is the center for whatever goes on in the temple. If your body is the temple, then the temple was built to honor you, and the main shrine is dedicated to you. The main shrine controls whatever goes on inside your body. If you do drugs or drink alcohol, its like the temple of your body is now a center for buying and selling things (addictions and bad decisions). Think about how this happened to the Temple and Jesus' reaction when he found out. This is similar to the feeling of guilt wen doing drugs or alcohol because you want to quit(and stop the buying and selling of merchendise). Jesus was able to just trash the Temple to get rid of those who defaced the Temple by conducting business inside. it is not that easy to quit drugs and alcohol. Overall, this poem was ok. I liked it better than the one on nature, but I really did not enjoy it much.1201571786

I really liked this poem bec ause I think that it preached a lot about individuality and about not being consistant, but spontaneous. Following the crowd is not always good and being your own person and doing what you like is what makes you unique and I think that is a very important quality in a person. A person's personality reflects how they think of themselves and how they approach diversity. I really liked how Emerson got his point across. My only question is if he preached about individuality so much, did he only like Whittman because they had similar writing styles or because he admired his perceptions? If he only told Whittman he was a great writer because they shared the common thoughts, then that would contradict his opinion that you should embrace not the alike but the different. I think that Emerson overall had a really good outlook on being different and putting yourself on the line. Another idea that Emerson tried to expand throughout the population was that you should not envy anyone and should be extrememly grateful for what you do have. A lot of people seem to overlook what they have and instead chose to be jealous of others. I think that we are all guilty of this; I know I have been in the past. Emerson truly had great insights and I think that they should definitely be embraced. 1201649837


 * "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse"**

These first phrases of Emerson's essay immediately grabbed my attention. They are all so true and useful: envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide, and we must take ourselves for better or for worse. Envy is ignorance- Envy is a feeling of discontent in regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc. Ignorance is the condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed. So, this phrase is pointing out that when you envy someone, you are being ignorant because it is like you don't like them because of what they have and you don't. People do this all the time out of jealousy. For example, someone could have many advantages in their life and you may envy them because of it. Imitation is suicide- As im sure everyone knows, imitation is the act of copying and suicide is the taking of ones life or interests. By this phrase, Emerson is saying that when you imitate someone you loose yourself in the process. This is a very true statement. He must take himself for better, for worse- I think this phrase means you should accept and respect yourself no matter what. Whether you are poor or rich, fat or skinny, popular or geeky, etc, you have to take yourself the way you were created. user:KCaKCa

I really like how emerson writes because he writes alot about individuality. I may not like most of his views or how he carries them out, but i do like on of his views. Agian Individuality. How you hould be independant and not let other people control your life. People should do things themselves and to e honest with you technology is getting to the point that it is going to do everything for us, so i feel that we could lay off the tech just a little bit. KCa's pharses and views on nthem are very good, and i really like the way KCa visualizes these phrases and how they analyze them. All in all i do not really like emerson's views, except one or two, and i really dont like the way he carries them out.