The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

November 29Express Authenticity

And indeed who can see the works of a great artist without feeling that not so much the private as the common wealth is by them indicated. I think the true soul—humble, rapt, conspiring with all, regards all souls as its lieutenants and proxies—itself in another place—and say of the Parthenon, of the picture, of the poem,—It is also my work.

Ralph Waldo Emerson—Letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne—published in Memories of Hawthorne by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop (1897)

The passage from today's reading is an excerpt of a letter Emerson sent to his friend and writing companion Nathaniel Hawthorne, bemoaning the fact that none of his lectures were suitable to share outside of his immediate family. Of course, the group of lectures referenced would include several, such as Self-Reliance, which would eventually come to be immortalized.

Even wracked with doubt about his own works, he understood that they were both of him and from him and that he had little choice to create them or share them.

Ironically, even as he expressed that he found them lacking by the literary standards of those he compared them to, he felt they uniquely represented who he was (his soul).

And also ironically, we choose the path of self-reliance not as a way to create independence but as a way to express authenticity.

In terms of self-reliance, this may be the highest moral measure.

Honor those gut feelings, embrace your discomfort, keep an open mind, but stick to what you value.

Challenge ...