Episode #164 ... Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self Reliance - Philosophize This!  ## Metadata - Author: **Philosophize This!** - Full Title: Episode #164 ... Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self Reliance - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/b3958c89-2bd1-4472-85a7-c4e425311ef5 ## Highlights - I'm Just an Ordinary Person Summary: Ralph waldo emerson thinks this is an absolutely toxic way of thinking about yourself. You read these really smart people and essentially just say whatever they said, he says. Somebody asks you what you think about something, you just recite the pre approved smart person answer that you memorized last week. That's a bad attitude to have. Transcript: Speaker 1 And then, after they arrive at this good idea, they throw the idea don't ever talk about it. People ask them about social issues, and they never even bring it up, if for no other reason than because they themselves were the ones that came up with it, the thinking being that, hey, i came up with this idea, so this is probably just a stupid point. I mean, who am i to come up with any sort of interesting counterpoint to the discussion of my age? I'm just an ordinary person. I'm not some genius. I'm not a thought leader. Of some sort. Yes, sure, this idea is truly how i feel about the situation, but if i say this thing in public, i'm probably jus going to embarrass myself. I must be missing something incredibly obvious here that all the smart people already know. Ralph waldo emerson thinks this is an absolutely toxic way of thinking about yourself. And he says, so often what naturally goes along with this type of attitude is the further assumption that if you're a thinking person and you want to know more about the world around you, that path to becoming a really smart person with well thought out beliefs comes from reading a bunch of other really smart people that are quo experts in whatever area you want to educate yourself about. In other words, to get smarter, all you got to do is turn to a philosopher, a religion artists, thought leaders, external sources of truth. You read these really smart people and essentially just say whatever they said. Somebody asks you what you think about something, you just recite the pre approved smart person answer that you memorized last week. ([Time 0:06:36](https://share.snipd.com/snip/51ca5ea6-f6c3-42cf-9c1a-93455608f801)) - I'm Just an Ordinary Person Summary: Ralph Waldo Emerson says imitation is suicide. When you trade your own unique personal development for a ready made dogma spoon fed you by a third party, you are effectively sacrificing your life. He was an enemy of dogma of all varieties. Transcript: Speaker 1 I must be missing something incredibly obvious here that all the smart people already know. Ralph waldo emerson thinks this is an absolutely toxic way of thinking about yourself. And he says, so often what naturally goes along with this type of attitude is the further assumption that if you're a thinking person and you want to know more about the world around you, That path to becoming a really smart person with well thought out beliefs comes from reading a bunch of other really smart people that are quo experts in whatever area you want to educate Yourself about. In other words, to get smarter, all you got to do is turn to a philosopher, a religion artists, thought leaders, external sources of truth. You read these really smart people and essentially just say whatever they said. Somebody asks you what you think about something, you just recite the pre approved smart person answer that you memorized last week. That's basely what becoming a smart person even is. Where else would you learn how to think? Intelligently, other than by listening to smart people. Well, ralph aldow emerson thinks this is exactly where people go wrong when trying to learn to think intelligently. See, if emerson was anything, he was an enemy of dogma of all varieties. He didn't think tha you should just imitate some else's opinions if you wante to be a smarter person. As he says, imitation is suicide. And what he meant by that is that when you trade your own unique personal development for a ready made dogma spoon fed you by a third party, you are effectively sacrificing your life. ([Time 0:07:12](https://share.snipd.com/snip/99a61938-e658-4a70-b580-03ecebbbcad4)) - When Do People Turn Into These Cautious Adults? Summary: When do people turn into these cautious adults? That's the question here. When do the children of our species get beat ento submission by society at all levels? Well, if you want to solve a problem, probably pretty useful to figure out how it happened in the first place. And this is exactly what emerson spends the majority of the essay doing. There are three major traps that people fall into that cause them to lose this initial to be self reliant. Transcript: Speaker 1 And look, it's not like emerson's defending people independently makin unfounded claims. He's defending the spirit in play there, the spirit of self reliance. He's trying to point out that there's a distinct difference between children whose opinions about a situation are not bought or finessed in any way, and what he calls thequote, cautious Adult, people who are so scared about their reputation, their group identity, not offending anybody too much, that they can never actually fully be themselves. When you are a cautious adult, you care more about saying something polite than what is right. So when do people turn into these cautious adults? That's the question here. When do the children of our species get beat ento submission by society at all levels? Well, if you want to solve a problem, probably pretty useful to figure out how it happened in the first place. If you don't run into the problem again. And this is exactly what emerson spends the majority of the essay doing. There are three major traps that people fall into that cause them to lose this initial to be self reliant. And the first one we're going to talk about to day is called conformity. Now this is far from a mysterious philosophical term. Simply what fact is, to emerson, most people conform to the demands of their society. We go out into the world, we become adults, and society puts pressure on us to be a virtuous person. And what is being a virtuous person? Conformi to the normalized ways of thinking approved by society. ([Time 0:11:11](https://share.snipd.com/snip/f498d56b-62bf-45fe-9398-45f815c5c880)) - What's the Difference Between True Nonconformity and the Art of Nonconforming? Summary: There's a lesson here that emerson can offer to people living in modern times. What is the difference between true nonconformity and the type of nonconformism that just looks good on social media? Is this just a covert, modern, digital version of conforming to the way that things are, content with nothing changing? In many ways you are just as complicit as somebody that's doing nothing at all. Transcript: Speaker 1 But emerson would ask, how many of those people were being individuals, using their unique talents to create something that actually tries to move things in the right direction? There's a lesson here that emerson can offer to people living in modern times. You know, there's a lot of people out there who consider themselves to be onconformists, because they strongly oppose some way that things are structured within society. But what is the difference between true nonconformity and the type of nonconformity that just looks good on social media? Lot of people superimposing flags on their profile pictures as a symbol of their solidarity? Lot of people screaming into the yawning abyss of twitter to people that more or less already agree with each other. Or any example of activism where you have zero skin in the game andno to lose, regardless of the good intent behind it. It's interesting to ask, can merely symbolic support of a cause be a convenient disguise for that cowardice that emerson was talking about before. Because if you're not actually changing hearts and minds or contributing to progress, and at emerson's point, if you're just appealing to some third party that gave you all the talking Points you're screaming at people, what are you at that point? Well, certainly not a self reliant individual that's rested in creating something that may serve others. In many ways, you are just as complicit as somebody that's doing nothing at all. Is this just a covert, modern, digital version of conforming to the way that things are, content with nothing changing? ([Time 0:18:04](https://share.snipd.com/snip/617534d7-6a1c-4632-b201-41800349e09f)) - The Greatest Thinkers of All Time Summary: Ralph waldo emerson asked the people living during his time in america to dare to be inconsistent. He says no great thinker who has ever lived has ever been considered a great thinker because they consistently adhered to the status quo. The greatest thinkers of all time seem totally contradictory, inconsistent and misunderstood. Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Tobe great is to be misunderstood. Transcript: Speaker 1 What he means by this is, why continue to hold on to ideas that are being challenged, simply because you happen to have believed them in the past? Why not live in the present? Why spend your life always poised, waiting to defend what you already believe? Why be so defensive? The burden and the futility of that is really like dragging around a corpse with you everywhere that you go in life. Ralph waldo emerson asked the people living during his time in america to dare to be inconsistent. Consider the fact, he says, that no great thinker who has ever lived has ever been considered a great thinker because they consistently adhered to the status quo. You know, when when it comes to never changing your mind about anything and believing what everyone else believes, they were the greatest of all. Write their names down in the history books. No, that's never what happened. The greatest thinkers of all time seem totally contradictory, inconsistent and misunderstood. He says, ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood. Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and socrates and jesus and luther and copernicus and galileo and newton and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. Tobe great is to be misunderstood. The cost of greatness sometimes requires you to be a misunderstood person, living in a state of true nonconformity, with the mobs of society constantly breathing down your neck. ([Time 0:25:07](https://share.snipd.com/snip/4b4fa8ae-44dc-4a65-a4ab-aaab15b56b3c))