Boy, one offhand remark about Jerry Lewis, and the next thing I know I'm counsel for the defense in the landmark case of Henwood v. Emerson.
>Some morsels from "Self-Reliance"
><http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm>:
>
>... Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of
>its members. ...The virtue in most request is conformity.
You have a problem with that conclusion, Doug?
>Your goodness must have some edge to it, - else it is none. The doctrine of
>hatred must be preached as the counteraction of the doctrine of love when
>that pules and whines.
You have a problem with that too? I'd say lovey-dovey Christianity, e.g., functions all too often as a means to help rich fucks feel better about themselves.
>Then, again, do not tell me, as a good man did to-day, of my obligation to
>put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor?
RWE is right. The poor *belong to themselves.* They should not be the playthings of Lord and Lady Bountifuls who indulge their egos by making charitable gestures. IMO all members of society deserve to have their basic needs, and then some, fulfilled as a *right* -- not fitfully met by the whim of the well-off.
>... all history resolves itself very easily into the biography of a few
>stout and earnest persons.
RWE is equivocal in his view of history's notables. I believe his POV is that these figures should not be simply admired for their achievements, but also studied as cautionary examples of what happens when certain personality traits flourish at the expense of other traits needed for a well-balanced life.
I think RWE's overriding point is that the voyage of self-discovery means nothing unless it ultimately places one in the harbor of common humanity. Having stretched that metaphor to the breaking point, I would conclude with a line from "Self-Reliance" that you did not quote -- i.e., the best line: "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius."
Carl