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ads7w6 t1_j12fuuv wrote

Reply to comment by breadandbuttercreek in Do no conform: Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay Self-Reliance argues that we should strive for greatness and self-reliance rather than the "meanness" of conforming to the society's dead institutions saying that "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind" by thelivingphilosophy

You're really just doubling down on the myth of self-reliance. I am all for using resources at your disposal and doing what you can on your own but pretending that you aren't reliant on society, the productivity of others, or the knowledge that others have previously gained is just not reality.

If you have a problem and use the internet to find out how to solve it, then you are relying on others to provide your electricity (or the things that you are using to make it), relying on others to run an internet connection to you or put a satellite in space, someone to design and make your computer, someone else to have the knowledge to fix your problem and put the answer on the internet. That's really not even a complete list.

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breadandbuttercreek t1_j12r43b wrote

That's all true but it isn't what Emerson was talking about. No-one can be fully self-reliant, but you can take charge of your own life, make meaningful decisions for yourself and not just be carried along by the flow of society. It is about living a rational life, rather than the life society expects of you.

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