The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

June 21Exceeding Peace

Transfused through you, O mountain friends! / With mine your solemn spirit blends, / And life no more hath separate ends. // I read each misty mountain sign, / I know the voice of wave and pine, / And I am yours, and ye are mine. // Life's burdens fall, its discords cease, / I lapse into the glad release / Of Nature's own exceeding peace.

John Greenleaf Whittier—“Summer by the Lakeside,” The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, Vol. II (1888)

Today's reading, a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, could be taken as an ode to nature, and a reading of the full text would reveal this to be true. The chosen passage for today's reading, however, speaks also of themes of kinship and relationship.

The premise of self-reliance at times gets treated as a call to go it fully alone. Search the term and you'll likely encounter a website or two telling you how to build your own home, make your own clothes, or render lard from pig fat.

All useful skills to be sure, but self-reliance is far more than that. Often the surest path to it is one that intersects with those who support and encourage your habit of self-examination.

These don't have to be people who agree with you or validate your every decision; in fact, they may prove more useful if they can call you out and push you toward the truth. Finding and spending time questioning others who, like you, wish to chart their own course may provide a potential shortcut to further self-discovery and “Nature's own exceeding peace.” ...