Self Reliance as Discussed by Ralph Waldo Emerson - Essay Example

Emmerson's norms or customs become strange to the people. Emerson continues with the thought that society is the main influencing factor in the lives of such people who eventually comprise their values, beliefs, and customs to make the world and society happy. A person should be allowed to live his life which he believes is good for him; anyone who creates a pattern in his life can be considered as defying his nature or his sphere of life. The lines explore that a person should not follow the pattern which is drawn for him by other people. He needs to think of challenging steps to explore the beauty of life. Foolish people can only follow the norms and customs without knowing whether they are beneficial for them or not but wise men don’t do that. Wise men follow the logic and rationale behind everything.
Meaning of Prayer According to Emerson:
People pray without knowing the true essence and meaning of the prayers. A prayer is a form of faith that a person has in God. Emerson in his essay has stressed the need of praying honestly and with all faith. In his essay, “self-reliance”, he clearly stated that people pray to get their worldly desires to be fulfilled in a mean and selfish way. Prayers should be free of meanness; they should be pure and genuine. According to Emerson, our prayers are more focused on the fulfillment of our means at the cost of others. He states in his essay that our prayers can be exemplified “as a means to effect a private end is a meanness and theft." Only by being self-reliant and determined, we can pray with all our honesty. According to him, our prayers should not be focused on attaining our personal goals; they should have a wider sphere of benefits for us and humanity. A self-reliant soul would ask beyond his means from God. As a result, a person will pray beyond the fulfillment of personal favors. Honesty is the only key factor that will help the person to know how to pray without any regrets about his actions. Read More