
Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1841) [pdf] - baristaGeek
https://math.dartmouth.edu/~doyle/docs/self/self.pdf
======
closetnerd
One of my all time favorite essays. "Nothing is at last sacred but the
integrity of your own mind."

~~~
icanhackit
It's an interesting essay and a good call to action for the already non-
conformist and independent. Though at the end of the day someone needs to mend
your shoes, bake your bread and so on - we can't all be primes if we want to
function as a cohesive society.

With regard to the contempt for charity, while you can celebrate that you are
the product of your own hard work, you forget that's never really true in a
society where we don't all start life with the same level of nutrition,
warmth, care, location, education or skin. The track is rockier and longer for
some, shorter and smoother for others. While we know charities are
inefficient, and putting a dollar in the hand of a beggar won't teach them how
to make more purposefully, I'd sooner hand over the dollar than pretend I
wasn't the benefactor of circumstance.

That doesn't mean you have to self-flagellate for being fortunate and dedicate
yourself to others, it's just honesty.

~~~
bardworx
It is my belief that Mr. Emerson's essay was more about being the best version
of yourself you can be. Yes, someone has to mend your shoes and bake bread,
however, if that's your profession, you should strive to be the best at the
given task. If you pride yourself in your work, then being the best baker
isn't an insult, nor being the best car driver, chef, or construction worker.

~~~
icanhackit
There's certainly no shame in being a driver, baker or barista. And if you
yearn to be the best at a particular task, all the better for those who use
your services and perhaps society at large. But you're not your job. In a
small amount of time you won't even be a memory. The universe doesn't care how
well you brewed that coffee, nor does it care about your electric car company.
Even as the people of the future and their artificial aides stand on the
collective shoulders of giants past, finally encapsulating the sun with the
greatest megastructure ever known to harness its vast power, the universe
stares back silently, carelessly.

You are the universe looking at itself. If you want to make something, make
it. Make it as good as you want to make it. But more than anything, celebrate
your existence. For some, that's doing a great job - making a great thing. But
society will suffer as long as the only way to validate your existence is to
work and work hard.

~~~
saiya-jin
striving for being best shouldn't be limited to profession, but also on
personal levels - friend, family member, partner, parent. sociery will benefit
greatly from people who manage to get this all well, but there seems to be
actually very few people who achieve this.

------
crimsonalucard
Self-reliance is an honorable trait, but those individuals deemed as greatest
amongst the ranks of humanity built their empires off the work of many.

~~~
justinator
One of the things Emerson was warning about was Dogma:

 _“The objection to conforming to usages that have become dead to you is, that
it scatters your force. It loses your time and blurs the impression of your
character. If you maintain a dead church, contribute to a dead Bible-society,
vote with a great party either for the government or against it, spread your
table like base housekeepers, under all these screens I have difficulty to
detect the precise man you are.And, of course, so much force is withdrawn from
your proper life. But do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and
you shall reinforce yourself. A man must consider what a blindman 's-buff is
this game of conformity. If I know your sect, I anticipate your argument. I
hear a preacher announce for his text and topic the expediency of one of the
institutions of his church.” _

~~~
brightball
That is an excellent quote.

"If I know your sect, I anticipate your argument."

Put in modern terms, it virtually defines the combination of politics,
marketing and labeling that defines our current system in the US.

We no longer discuss issues, we anticipate the version of the argument we're
told to expect from the assumed "sect" and prepare a response to that. You can
see this play out on Facebook or other platforms when you try to discuss an
issue with someone and get a response completely unrelated to anything you
just said.

Slap a label on a straw man, then campaign against that.

------
johnohara
"In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come
back to us with a certain alienated majesty."

So painfully true.

------
thanatropism
IIRC (but I can't seem to source it) it was Marshall McLuhan that said that
there was nothing sweeter than the gaze of a tyrant. This is what Emerson
seems to be preaching against, and how good a sermon it is.

------
billwilliams
Build yourself a hut. Pretend to live off nature while women from the town one
mile away bring you pies. Thus is self reliance.

~~~
dang
Let's try to do better than reflexively repeating the #1 dismissive meme about
someone's work.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9722096](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9722096)

All the more so when the work is beautiful and the meme is about the wrong
guy.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Your linked response is so perfect I'm saving it in my quotes file. Thank you
for putting into words the vague feeling some of us have but can't name.

