Self-Reliance of the Individuals - Essay Example

Self reliance The influence of others has made man lose the rightful direction, through ignoring what he thinks and feel deep down in their souls. The belief that what others think about a person is more than what the person thinks of him/herself is the ultimate sources of people taking shame on their opinion (). The genius in humans is their own thoughts, and as such, people should take their internal thoughts and impressions with less flexibility. The gateway to knowing what people can become is by their trying what they think they are better in, considering that it is only them who knows exactly what they can become, based on their internal drives.

Similar to what an artist does, inscribing the content of their minds into a surface and eventually producing a beautiful work of art, similarly people should let their inner drives move them, so that the beauty of their minds and soul can be manifested to the world (). Further, even God’s intention when he created the world was that people would exploit their potentials, though doing what is their best in whatever they seek to engage in, considering that God’s work cannot be executed by cowards.

Therefore, the essence of the soul and mind that we have been granted by God is to become self-reliant on our own, because what we have been granted is by itself very adequate to enable us become the best there can be in whatever we set our minds on. As a matter of fact, man only finds peace in the things that he has done to his best (). Whatever else that man does out of the influence of others, he shall always feel ashamed and discontented. The greatness of life comes from trusting in own selves, in allowing the inner soul drive us towards the chosen destiny, because it is only then, that man is capable of exploiting his genius.

Similarly to what infants and small babies are, that is what the life of humans is supposed to be. The life of infants and small babies does not conform to other people’s lives, but rather influences others to emulate their lives (). In this respect, infants and small children have been able to live an authentic life, which is contrary to the life that adults live, the life of conforming to the external environment, rather than influencing the environment to conform to their lives. Therefore, every life, at whatever stage of the lifecycle is gracious, and should individuals manage to live by what their lives dictates.

However, people have allowed external influences to deride them into shyness, lack of eloquence and lack of charm, since they have been negatively influenced in the course of their growing up. Therefore, what defines humanity, as was intended by the creator, was non-conformism (). Through conforming to the environment, man loses the potential of exploiting his genius to the fullest, and the consequence is life full of imitators. In conclusion therefore, virtues are built through leaving an honest and genuine life, devoid of external influence.

Emerson, Ralph W. “Self reliance”, 1841. Retrieved March 5, 2014 from http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm