Continuing our discussion of “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “Our reading is mendicant and sycophantic. In history, our imagination plays us false. Kingdom and lordship, power and estate, are a gaudier vocabulary than private John and Edward in a small house and common day’s work; but the things of life are the same to both;…
Maybe You’re Just Crazy : Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson : 021
Continuing our discussion of “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “Let a man then know his worth, and keep things under his feet. Let him not peep or steal, or skulk up and down with the air of a charity-boy, a bastard, or an interloper, in the world which exists for him. But the man in…
Breaking it Down
I posted the following reply to a question in the Happiness Trap Online Interest Group on how to make a big move towards your values, when you can’t break it down into smaller goals: “Thanks for asking this xxxxxx. I’m no expert in ACT, and not a therapist, just a guy for whom ACT has…
Get Out Of My Sun : Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson : 020
Continuing our discussion of “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “I hope in these days we have heard the last of conformity and consistency. Let the words be gazetted and ridiculous henceforward. Instead of the gong for dinner, let us hear a whistle from the Spartan fife. Let us never bow and apologize more. A great…
Consistency Not Necessary : Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson : 019
Continuing our discussion of “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “There will be an agreement in whatever variety of actions, so they be each honest and natural in their hour. For of one will, the actions will be harmonious, however unlike they seem. These varieties are lost sight of at a little distance, at a little…
What You Are vs. What You Do : Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson : 018
Continuing our discussion of “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “I suppose no man can violate his nature. All the sallies of his will are rounded in by the law of his being, as the inequalities of Andes and Himmaleh are insignificant in the curve of the sphere. Nor does it matter how you gauge and…
A Foolish Consistency : Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson : 017
Continuing our discussion of “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard…
Live Ever In A New Day : Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson : 016
Continuing our discussion of “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “But why should you keep your head over your shoulder? Why drag about this corpse of your memory, lest you contradict somewhat you have stated in this or that public place? Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then? It seems to be a rule of wisdom…
Other People’s Comfort : Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson : 015
Continuing our discussion of “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them.” You don’t have…
“I Don’t Care What They Think!” : Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson : 014
Continuing our discussion of “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. “For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure. And therefore a man must know how to estimate a sour face. The by-standers look askance on him in the public street or in the friend’s parlor. If this aversion had its origin in contempt and resistance…