A Look At Emerson's Self Reliance

In my American Lit Class, we were discussing the famous poet Ralph Waldo Emerson's  essay on "SELF-RELIANCE," and it teaches us as individuals that we must be self-reliant in order to be connected to the higher power. Whether your higher power be Buddha or God, Emerson argues that this notion of self-reliance will indeed get you there. For me, I am a full-out Christian and I most definitely believe in my Heavenly Father so I pondered on the thought, Do I have Self-Reliance? Do I trust myself? What's the point of doing good things if I don't trust & specifically rely on myself? My answer came from Emerson teaching us to "do your own thing," that is to be different, to be a true individual by creating your own ideas, not on the basis of others but on the basis of unique creativity, getting inspired from nature and looking to the highest. We all have self-reliance but we all too, suffer from realizing it. This is where we need to welcome TRUST, having trust in ourselves to then have faith in our Heavenly Father. In other words, I, you, we & all have potential to be originals and this true individual, we just need to realize it instead of being too dependent on society and it's stereotypes. Sometimes, most of us mold ourselves into the images society expects us to be (I too suffer from this), however knowing our self-reliance and the fact that we can be self-reliant will allow us to escape from society's conventions and social constraints. When this occurs, we become more closer to God, the highest. We become an eligible individual of the Lord's pre-elect (heavenly chosen), or more closer to God. So not only do we have to believe in God, but we must believe in ourselves...we must be self-reliant...we must recognize & have FAITH in the Lord & see it within ourselves. As my professor states "in being truth to oneself (having this self-reliance) it begins to connect to to others, by becoming independent you become Dependent." So Hence, Let's depend on firstly the Lord, and secondly ourselves so that thirdly others can depend on us. The result: a peaceful & magnifying world. GOD BLESS YOUR DAY TODAY MY TRUE Individuals! ;)