Self-Reliance Vs Transcendentalism

Ralph Waldo Emerson who was an American Transcendentalist. He was also a poet, philosopher, and essayist. Who wrote a lot in his time but one of his best works was Self Reliance which said, “To be great is to be misunderstood.” Which says that if you are beyond the average of everyone else you are hard to understand. It means that people will not understand you and why you are who you are. Emerson put the writing together to show people how self reliance can benefit you. He tries to show you to not be tiid and worry about what others tell you to do and how to live you life. There is no reason for you to have to go to another person to live your life so why let what they think change how u act. He wants his readers to understand that you have

He wants us to not fall into the norms of society. So he wants us to find out how to become better by not falling into peer pressure. He wants us to move forwards strong in our beliefs and disbeliefs. He says that "Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist." When you fall into conformity it's where you believe those wrong things around you and not the things you know are right. "No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature . . .” he says. Which says that you should follow what your inner self is telling you. You should even follow it if it is evil because you shouldn't try to live the “correct life.” Merely because yours peers or the figures you see everyday say it's right. If you put your foot forward and just attempt to see what you can do on your own you will be surprised on how much ability u have and have been missing out on. This is what cause you to mature mentally because if you can sit back and find your strengths and weaknesses it will elude you from what others are saying because the confidence you have built in yourself. That's why Emerson wants us to “mature” to become better versions of

It is a situation where it can only guide you in the right direction if it is in your walk already. He tells the reader that the religion should not over influence who you are and that it should have minor changes on who you will become. It should just be a piece of the puzzle persay. It should not be the road map it should just be one of the destinations that helps you get to the end of the map. He includes that each religion can help you in a certain way it just depends which religion you are apart of. He quotes "Everywhere I am hindered of meeting God in my brother, because he has shut his own temple doors, and recites fables merely of his brother's, or his brother's brother's God." Meaning you can find find new ideas and propositions to how you do things. In the end you must be self reliant though not merely on religion. Then again religion he says gives you answers to questions before you even thought of them like in christianity where there is no sex before marriage.Then in Buddhism there are multiple rules like no gossiping, no harming living things, no stealing, etc. If you are against these rules but follow the strictly because there your religion you are not self reliant. He portrays that different religions and cultures give you some type of “wisdom.” Which he says makes you mind stray from your inner