Trust Yourself

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till…Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”  ~Ralph Waldo Emmerson

This excerpt was taken from Ralph Waldo Emmerson’s Self-Reliance.  Ralph Waldo Emmerson is one of the most remembered transcendentalists from the 1800’s.  Born in Boston, MA, Emmerson wrote great pieces of work and essays like Self-Reliance and Nature.  He was a philosopher and a teacher.  Emmerson believed that people should not conform to society and be independent.  He believed people should trust himself and in Self Reliance, an essay he wrote, Emmerson explains his convictions about being true to yourself.  This essay is very trustworthy because it is a primary source and was written by Emmerson himself.  Transcendentalism was a reform movement from early to mid-19^th century.  It emphasized the importance of the individual and self-discovery through nature.  Transcendentalists believed that everyone was good and once they were able to trust themselves and their intuition, chaos would stop and people would refrain from bad things like alcohol.  Transcendentalism believed that one should not need to study the bible or attend church to know God, God is already inside you.  They also believed that by studying nature you will come to understand yourself and God much better.  According to the excerpt from Self-Reliance, Emmerson stated that there will be a time in everyone’s life when they will want to be like someone else; look like someone else or follow in someone else’s footsteps.  Emmerson exclaimed that if you started behaving like anyone but yourself, then you are not living your life.  He stated “imitation is suicide” and that living like someone else is basically destroying your life because it isn’t your life your living.  It’s someone else’s.  He wants people to trust themselves and their intuition and to be independent.  Transcendentalism preached confidence and free thought.  

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Self-Reliance. Hoboken, N.J., 1888.