Carl writes:
>He said in his essay "Experience": "I grieve that
grief can teach me nothing, nor carry me one step
into real nature."
I have always felt that was one of Emerson's most Buddhist insights: the uselessness of emotional indulgence.
Chis responds:
>Yeah, see, that sentence is exactly what I find
annoying. Grief is a _part_ of real nature.
No it is not. Grief is an emotional choice humans make. Buddha realized it. Emerson realized it.
> And you're human, and grieve. Emerson wasn't -
he aspired to be a self-sufficient monad.
Not at all. Read Politics. He understood that the the self had to be transcended and people join together like "a pair of lovers." In Politics, Emerson shows his queer side more than in other pieces.
Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister
For information about the queer Emerson see "The Crimson Letter: Harvard, Homosexuality, and the Shaping of American Culture" by Douglas Shand- Tucci.