Transandentalism is complex and has many ideas that I both agree and disagree with.
I do believe that people should try to be self-reliant. However, I think that it's impossible to be completely self-reliant and that it is okay, to a degree, to rely on trusted loved ones. For example, I am very independent in the school aspect of my life. I keep track of my own assignments and don't rely on my parents or other students to help me learn or complete my homework. If I need help, I realize it on my own and take care of it. However, I can't be completely self-reliant in other areas of my life. When bad things happen, like a death or something that hurts emotionally, I know it's okay to rely on others, whether I need to or not. Having others' support makes me stronger and is something I wouldn't want to give up just to have the title of self-reliance. So in some ways, I do believe that " [civilized man] is supported on crutches, but lacks so much support of muscle," but in others, I think it's okay to have others give some "support of muscle."
As far as the idea of the inner divine, I also have a somewhat split opinion on this. I'm not exactly a religous person who believes in any specific God or savior. But if I did believe in a divine, I would think it is a force inside everyone, not a big-guy-in-the-sky kind of God. So in that way, I believe in what Emerson and Fuller are arguing in their texts. I do find some faults in that argument, though. If there is a divine in all of us, guiding us, why do some people do such terrible things? Even if "she is... her own light, and beats with the universal heart," not all humans "beat with the universal heart." In fact, fear of fellow humans unlike ourselves has driven thousands of years worth of conflict. It's a difficult topic to navigate and agree with completely, although it does have definite worth.
I do not remember Emerson talking about self-reliance in an emotional sense. Maybe that ties in with missing feminine voice. I believe Emerson did believe in God but that "God is here within (ourselves)" not in some organized religious service or ritual. I see how we all could have a part of God within ourselves but we choose individually whether or not we listen to that voice of reason.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Emerson speaks so in depth about emotional reliance as some other topics in the essay, but I think if you take the piece's principles, you could apply it to the emotional sense and probably guess Emerson's view on being emotionally reliant. He does actually talk about how "[o]ur love goes out to [the self-helping man] and embraces him, because he does not need it." (page 10). It's implied that those who do need love cannot be considered self-reliant. I tend to disagree with the idea that one shouldn't need love just to achieve status as a "self-reliant man."
DeleteAlso: while I agree that there is a missing feminine voice, I don't think it lies in the emotional part of self-reliance in the piece. Careful giving out gender roles. Leila probably wouldn't be thrilled with you about that. Ha-ha :)