I’m reading an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson titled The Poet written in 1844. Here’s the main argument: Poets are called upon to write honestly about the world. If they can manage this, we can hold on to our humanity. There’s a specific passage that reads, “He (The Poet) is isolated among his contemporaries byContinue reading Your Painful Secret
On August 31, 1837, a speech was delivered to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University that would become famous. The address was titled, The American Scholar, and it was given by Ralph Waldo Emerson. He challenged the students of Harvard, along with all future thinkers (which include you and I), to realize thatContinue reading Dear Reader, What Do You Think?
In Walden, Henry David Thoreau built a cabin in the woods that he might live deliberately. He wanted to get rid of the unnecessary claims on his attention so that he could focus on the act of being human (80). It struck me yesterday that we’re all looking for our personal Waldens. There’s a forceContinue reading I Will Live Deliberately
“Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” This quote comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s fantastic essay titled, Self-Reliance. Let’s unpack it. My first job in college was doing basic accounting work for a homebuilder. I was tasked with keeping track of all the bills we had to pay. We were building 250 homes aContinue reading Foolish Consistency