Nature - Conduct of Life
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Catalog Record: The conduct of life, Nature, and other essays | Hathi Trust Digital Library
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Success has no more eccentricity than the gingham and muslin we weave in our mills. Indifferent hacks and mediocrities tower, by pushing their forces to a lucrative point or by working power, over multitudes of superior men, in Old as in New England. They believed that things went not by luck, but by law; that there was not a weak or a cracked link in the chain that joins the first and last of things. Individualism, to Emerson, is crucial to intellectual and historical achievements. Power educates the potentate. The complete works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Reviews User-contributed reviews Add a review and share your thoughts with other readers.
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In this framework, power is not only a desirable end, but also a natural attribute of powerful people. Such people stand out in every circle of society. The reasons for their power are their "causationism", self-reliance, and health. Power is thus not necessarily with the refined elite. This is a major concession of a New England intellectual to Jacksonian Democracy and a "popular government". However, it comes along with the optimist prospect that after all, "power educates the potentate" In large parts, the text conceptualizes power as an attribute of a few special people.
However, there is also a more pragmatic side to the text, which claims that concentration, use, and routine can also help to develop a powerful personality: In the end, the text reconciles this practical tendency with the intellectual approach to life: This text unfolds a two-sided approach to the notion of wealth: Thereby, the wealthy individual is characterized as a culturally productive and well-educated member of society "To be rich is to have a ticket of admission to the master-works and chief men of each race.
Thus, the term wealth is not reduced to being rich in pecuniary terms, but widened to cultural, moral and psychological aspects. By exploring the multitude of different facets of "culture", Emerson points out its complexity and thereby its resistance to be defined in clear-cut terms.
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For him, culture should not only be understood in the context of social community, but also on the level of the individual: More specifically, culture is conceptualized as self-cultivation in an educational sense — a life-long process which "cannot begin too early" In a world that is driven by "the pursuit of power and of wealth as a means of power" , culture is a corrective force: As the physical sphere of this educational process Emerson praises the urban—the cities that "give us collision" —as a place of intellectual stimulation just as he praises solitude, "to genius the stern friend" , which can be found in nature.
Emerson breaks with the myth of culture being thought of as "high" culture: In this essay, Emerson uses the term "behavior" synonymously with the term "manners" and defines it as "the visible carriage or action of the individual" Emerson celebrates "the wonderful expressiveness of the human body" while especially emphasizing the eyes—"another self" —as being the most universally understood, hence highly revealing and almost erotic , means of interpersonal exchange.
Emerson does not only conceptualize behavior as the basic mode of human expression, but also defines what it means to have good manners: To the list of desirable traits he also adds "integrity" , "directness" , "sincerity" , "uprightness" and "self-control" Once a person has the kinds of manners which "indicate real power" , "he or she must be considered, and is everywhere welcome, though without beauty, or wealth, or genius" Here, manners are turned into a democratic means, which can transcend biological as well as social inequalities.
At the same time, however, the selective function of manners operating in a society that "resists and sneers at you; or quietly drops you" if you do not follow its rules is addressed.
The Conduct of Life - Wikipedia
Only the true genius has the potential to overcome "all the observances, yea, and duties, which society so tyrannically imposes on the rank and file of its members. In this essay, Emerson describes and explains shifts in practices and objects of worship. He moves from skeptical concerns to a holistic religion to come, founded on morals and intellect, and merging faith, science, aesthetics, and arts.
Worship is not limited to religious beliefs, but also relates to intellect, health, and beauty. Taken together, "the whole state of man is a state of culture; and its flowering and completion may be described as Religion, or Worship" At the outset, Emerson diagnoses a decline of religion and moral beliefs.
Large parts of the population tend to worship only science, wealth, and public opinion. Consequently, "we live in a transition period, where the old faiths This can be devastating for communities if it results in a "distrust in human virtue" But since Emerson is equally critical of demoralizing "know-nothing religions" , he says, "forget your books and traditions, and obey your moral perceptions" Science, religion, and moral beliefs are indeed compatible—for those who see the "unity, intimacy, and sincerity" in nature, which find expression, for example, in cause and effect.
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Accordingly, Emerson repeatedly emphasizes the importance of both mental and physical activity, encapsulated in his idea of "voluntary obedience" or "necessitated freedom" Emerson envisages the future religion to be intellectual and the future church to be grounded in moral science. Emerson says that, while fine souls are empowering and inspiring, fine society is excluding and deadening. Similarly, he does not wish "to concede anything to 'the masses', but to tame, drill, divide, and break them up, and draw individuals out of them" They are "unripe, and have not yet come to themselves, do not yet know their opinion" Individualism, to Emerson, is crucial to intellectual and historical achievements.
One of the most central lessons to learn is "the good of evil" Antagonism is vital to nature. In both the private and social spheres, many great achievements "are brought about by discreditable means" Emerson concludes that humans are indebted to their vices As for the development of character, it is essential to "know the realities of human life" Also, friends "to whom we can say what we cannot say to ourselves," as well as people "who shall make us do what we can" , are essential.
Emerson closes the essay on an encouraging note by saying, "life brings to each his task, and whatever art you select, … begin at the beginning, proceed in order, step by step" His concluding remarks resonate with many of his other writings: Emerson next turns to Beauty, a topic he dealt with in Nature in Looking at beauty from different angles, Emerson works toward solving the problem of defining beauty by exploring examples, counterexamples, and qualities of beauty. In this last essay on Beauty, Emerson is less systematic than in his three-section investigation of beauty in Nature.
The conduct of life : nature, & other essays
First comes a criticism of science for moving far away "from its objects! Defining beauty in order to encourage a return to affection, Emerson writes, "Beauty is the form under which the intellect prefers to study the world. All privilege is that of beauty; for there are many beauties; as, of general nature, of the human face and form, of manners, of brain, or method, moral beauty, or beauty of the soul. Then ensues a study of beauty through examples and explanations, "We ascribe beauty to that which is simple; which has no superfluous parts; which exactly answers its ends; which stands related to all things; which is the mean of many extremes.
It is the most enduring quality and the most ascending quality. Investigating beauty in nature, society, rhetoric, art, architecture, and women, he comments "The line of beauty is the result of perfect economy" and "Beauty is the quality which makes to endure" The comparison of beauty to ugliness brings Emerson to the essence of his argument, "Things are pretty, graceful, rich, elegant, handsome, but, until they speak to the imagination, not yet beautiful.