Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays--First and Second Series
Reading notes--Adam Kissel
pp. 85-109 (in Riverside = R, 129-166)
- soul is of the universe and cannot suffer pain, 85; it is
of the infinite, 86
- intellectual life is best as the life of nature; doesn’t need artificial
speculations, 86
even so, it takes rare gifts to explain/express one’s faith
- education is best when naturally directed, not academically so, i.e., not
through the will but through nature, 86
- better to have natural virtue than to merely succeed against temptation; virtue
is not about will power, 87
- greatness is to let nature run through you; there is no need to give account
of yourself, 87
- our wills interfere with nature’s optimism, 88
- we try hard to change the world, while there are natural ways to do so, 88
nature works by short ways, unlike large institutions,
89
- nature is inexhaustible, over against rigid erudition and pieties, 90
- choose belief and love; obedience; spontaneous action, 90
- obey your natural calling; all who do so, win heaven, 91
- choose right, goodness, with your whole self, 91
- calling is not about a trade but about character, 91; a mere trade
dehumanizes, 92-93
- talent/call depends on a person’s organization, i.e., his individual incarnation
of the general soul, 92
person is unique, yet there is no “extraordinary
man” [cf. Raskolnikov in C/P], 92, 94
- vocation also consists in communicating oneself fully to others, 93
- don’t just perform the task; convert your understanding of it to its liberal
end, 93 [cf. innerwordly asceticism]
- greatness and heroism can be found anywhere--have a royal mind [true
kingliness];
i.e., elevation is: by habit to always make a new estimate of things, 93
- How to discern your genius: pay attention to what sticks in your memory,
94 [cf. 85]
- friends can get into each other’s moods and secrets, 95
wise men know each other across time; their esoteric
secrets will be uncovered, 95-96
secrets are waiting just for the hearer to be prepared
to hear, 96
- man conforms his environment to himself [vs. the other way around], 96-97;
ditto with groups, and friends, 98
teaching is for communicating one’s character
and experience, 99; sincerely so, 100
“a public oration is an escapade, a non-committal, an apology, a gag,
and not a communication, not a speech, not a man,” 100
sincerity reaches an eternal
audience, 100
other books/teachings fall away
in time, 101
on
the classics: though
few may truly understand them, they have intrinsic importance to disclose the
constant mind of man, 101
- likewise in action, the depth of sentiment is what measures the action’s
effect, 101
Optimism: all things
good and bad illustrate truth; i.e., they all have some being, 102
Character: expressed by all people continually. Silence is not reserved wisdom, but no-help,
102
faces never lie even when the person does, 102
unbelief will out, regardless of expressed profession, 103
pretension will out, 103-04
virtue is to act in accord with the nature of
things. To be rather than seem, 105
real action is in silent thought and
renewal, 105-06
perform both action and inaction at the
right times; thought precedes action; to think is also to act, 107
Our reading
interferes with our real duties, 107
We should act, being of the same nature as all men (not mere academicians), 108
Put on God, not airs, 108