When gifts are given, the giver should receive no self- satisfaction. The receiver should not feel glad or sorry after receiving a gift. If you are glad, you also feel sorry your independence has been invaded. If you feel sorry, it's because the person didn't know your spirit. Emerson also says that sometimes gift giving leads to the receiver loving the gift more than the giver. The best gifts are the ones that the giver made because then the person is giving a part of themselves. Emerson is critiquing the way people receive and give gifts. He also doesn't seem to like the role gifts play in society because he doesn't see how they strengthen ties between people.
If I were to become a gift giver in the Emersonian sense then the gifts. It would have be more personal and meaningful. It would take more thinking to decide on an Emersonian gift for someone.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Post 1: Self-Reliance
"Travelling is a fool's paradise."
People travel to see new things and try to escape themselves but that's impossible.
"We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents."
We only say things and do things society will deem acceptable. In doing this we are hiding the divine part of us (our soul).
"Life only avails, not the having lived. Power ceases in the instant of repose."
You can only have power while you're in action. Giving up or stopping takes that power away. You have to live every moment of your life because that avails, not the fact that you have lived.
"What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what people think."
To Emerson this was what distinguishes greatness and meanness. To be great you have to stop caring about how society will react to what you say or do. This is hard especially when people think they know your place better than you do. They will try to tell you what to think and what to do but you can't listen. It's easy in solitude to do this but once you add society it becomes harder. A "great man" can maintain solitude in a crowd. Ne can keep his own ideas and opinions and not let them be drowned out by the crowd. You have to rely on your own instinct and can't be swayed by the crowd's position. I personally think it's hard not to care what people think. Sometimes not thinking of others is selfish because ultimately your actions do affect others. But in general I'm all for defying society's norms if you don't agree with them or they restrict you. Emerson says that a great man is the nonconformist. You have to rely on yourself and make your own judgement calls. Do your own thing and surprise society, it may lead to revolutionary action. Think back to the abolitionists whose ideas were considered radical. They didn't conform to society's standards and their work helped lead to the end of slavery in the US.
People travel to see new things and try to escape themselves but that's impossible.
"We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents."
We only say things and do things society will deem acceptable. In doing this we are hiding the divine part of us (our soul).
"Life only avails, not the having lived. Power ceases in the instant of repose."
You can only have power while you're in action. Giving up or stopping takes that power away. You have to live every moment of your life because that avails, not the fact that you have lived.
"What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what people think."
To Emerson this was what distinguishes greatness and meanness. To be great you have to stop caring about how society will react to what you say or do. This is hard especially when people think they know your place better than you do. They will try to tell you what to think and what to do but you can't listen. It's easy in solitude to do this but once you add society it becomes harder. A "great man" can maintain solitude in a crowd. Ne can keep his own ideas and opinions and not let them be drowned out by the crowd. You have to rely on your own instinct and can't be swayed by the crowd's position. I personally think it's hard not to care what people think. Sometimes not thinking of others is selfish because ultimately your actions do affect others. But in general I'm all for defying society's norms if you don't agree with them or they restrict you. Emerson says that a great man is the nonconformist. You have to rely on yourself and make your own judgement calls. Do your own thing and surprise society, it may lead to revolutionary action. Think back to the abolitionists whose ideas were considered radical. They didn't conform to society's standards and their work helped lead to the end of slavery in the US.
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