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>> We're going to start tonight
with Emerson, and there he is.
His dates.
Emerson was the preeminent
American intellectual in the
19th century.
There was no one who was equal
to him in terms of his
influence, his importance, in
terms of the wideness of the
discussion of Emerson and his
ideas.
Basically, Emerson made his
living by giving talks, giving
lectures, and he came out to
Wisconsin several times,
Milwaukee.
By train, of course, in those
days.
He went everywhere he could,
even to California, as part of
his expression of his beliefs.
So when we talk about how then
should we live, no one's ideas
in 19th century America was more
discussed than were my ideas, as
Emerson.
So how then should you and I
live?
That's the most important
question in life as far as I'm
concerned.
That's the question I spent my
time on, in terms of thinking,
in terms of talking, in terms of
writing.
An endless journey.
Life is a journey.
I was on a journey, and I want
people to understand they are
too an endless search to find
the best way to live.
Now at one level the question of
how then should we live, the
answer is easy.
The answer is you should be
yourself.
There's nothing more to it.
The challenge, of course, is how
to be yourself.
But when I say be yourself, what
I mean, of course you
understand, is your natural
self.
Your real self.
Your inner self.
Your divine self.
It's there.
It's in every one of you as it
is in me.
And so it's a matter of
discovering and often uncovering
your natural and divine self.
How should you live?
Be yourself.
Now, the question is, well, how
do you do this?
What are some of the ways to
help you be yourself?
And, of course, what are some of
the paths you must not follow?
The paths that, I'm sorry to
say, the masses follow.
But I'm basically a very, very
positive and upbeat person, and
I'm known as such.
Indeed some of my critics, I
don't know what's wrong with
these people, but some of my
critics think I'm a little too
happy, a little too positive,
but that's not possible in my
view.
So how to discover and then
honor your true self, okay?
Well, I'm just going to suggest
a few.
If you know anything about me,
you know that of course when one
is looking for one's true
nature, it's tremendously
important to go into nature.
Nature is a wonderful source, a
wonderful setting for discovery
of yourself.
Nature, I said, is my beautiful
mother.
Yes, nature is my beautiful
mother.
And I have a child's love for
it.
The image of truth in children
in nature.
This is an image of children
somehow expressing the
fundamental simplicity of truth
that is present, of course, in
some other traditions and some
other thinkers.
Let me read to you from one of
my poems.
Beneath my feet
The ground pine curled
its pretty wreath,
Running over the club moss burs;
I inhaled the violet's breath;
Around me stood
the oaks and firs;
Pine cones and acorns
lay on the ground;
Over me soared
the eternal sky,
Full of light and of deity;
Again I saw,
again I heard,
The rolling river,
the morning bird;
Beauty through my senses stole;
I yielded myself
to the perfect whole.
Yeah.
I connected.
I bonded.
I yielded.
Because to find yourself, you're
going to have to yield.
So, getting out in nature, yes,
of course, that's absolutely
crucial, but for me it's
appreciating nature wherever
it is.
I thought of that as I walked by
the Pyle Center.
Some flowers, incredible as it
may seem, are desperately trying
to come up there, and I thought
a bit of beauty, it's a
wonderful thing.
And I felt my inner self
responding, connecting, being
discovered.
So how to discover and then
honor thy self?
Well, nature is so important,
but we need to properly
understand what nature is.
Nature isn't just trees or pine
cones.
Nature, of course, is the
expression of God, of the
divine.
Nature is divine.
And you and I, we are divine too
because we're of God.
We're not gods, but we are part
of this whole that is nature,
and that whole partakes of the
spiritual, of the divine.
Now another way we can proceed,
of course, is if you want a
slightly more philosophical
approach, we discover ourselves,
we discover truth by intuition.
By the teachings of our heart.
We need to look into our hearts,
divine they are, and find
ourselves.
So we need to listen to our
hearts.
They, more than anything else,
will give us the way.
It's intuitive.
It's a matter, ultimately, of
feeling.
Just as we come by feeling to
understand nature.
So, individually, we come by
feeling to understand our
hearts, and in our heart is the
repository more than anywhere
else of ourselves.
So we must discover and honor
our hearts, our intuitions.
As I said, I will not live out
of me.
I will not see with others'
eyes.
My good is good.
I will go down my own road.
and I will be as lighthearted as
a bird and live with God, and I
find him in my heart.
And I listen to his voice, the
voice of truth, in my heart.
Well, how else can we go?
How else can we proceed?
Because it's one thing to say,
well, you have to listen to
yourself, you have to be true to
yourself.
There are ways and I have some
insight into those ways,
intuition to those ways, and I
try to live by those ways.
Nature and the heart.
But you do understand that you
have to go alone.
You have to go alone.
Now, as you'll see, I don't mean
by that you have to live alone.
That's not the same thing.
And that's not me at all.
But ultimately you have to go
alone.
Only you can truly search out
your heart.
Only you can find your, so I say
to you let me admonish you.
Go alone.
This is a journey, if one is
serious about discovering
oneself, that one has to
undertake oneself.
Not in isolation, but it's an
inner journey that you have to
go alone.
And as you do, it's absolutely
essential that you respect
yourself.
You are very, very, very
special.
You even partake of the divine.
I mean the real you is very,
very special.
The you that you will be
searching for, that I'm
searching for.
And so you need to respect
yourself and honor yourself.
Yes, you are just part of an
incredibly complex natural
world, but you are an essential
part and you must respect
yourself.
If you do not respect yourself,
and even more if you do not
trust yourself, trust yourself
that you can do this, that you
can explore your heart, that
you're strong enough to do this
without someone telling you who
you are, then you're going to
get there or get much closer
there.
You see, every one of you has
genius.
You might say, well, that's a
little exaggerated.
No, it's not exaggerated.
Do you understand?
You have a genius.
You do.
Now, I'm not saying you have
some spectacular skill, you
understand, that sets you out.
I mean as the person you are,
really, you have genius.
You are great.
And you have to trust that you
are.
I don't want anything to do with
people who say, well, no, I
can't, I won't.
No.
You're genius.
You have genius.
You honor that, you believe
that, and you will progress
toward finding yourself.
That's for sure.
And just one last point about
how to do it.
You understand that behind all
of this lies the belief that you
must be free.
And yes, my friends, freedom is
in part an external, and we'll
be talking about that this
evening.
But you do understand that the
ultimate freedom, the freedom
that matters more than anything
else, in my view, is your inner
freedom.
And you have to be free.
You have to have the spirit of
freedom inside to make the
journey.
And, of course, you're not free
if someone else is directing you
on your journey.
If you're not going alone.
If you don't trust yourself.
If you don't recognize and
appreciate your genius.
Let me just mention a few things
that I think on your way, on our
way toward the discovery of your
real self that need to be
avoided, and then let me move on
to some of the broader
implications.
Of course, you know that
whosoever would be a man must be
a non-conformist.
I mean, that's mandatory.
If you plan to live your life as
a life of conformity, it's over.
You're hollow.
You're empty.
You're not listening to
yourself.
Please don't misunderstand.
And I will develop this a bit
later on.
Conformists are conformists of
the heart.
Do you understand?
They're conformists of the mind.
They're not people who wear odd
clothes.
What we're looking for then is,
I don't care about external
appearance.
Do you understand what I'm
saying?
So if somebody wants to be a
non-conformist, I want to say,
in their dress or whatever,
fine.
Whatever.
It doesn't tell me a thing about
whether you are non-conformist
and what matters in your heart.
Understand?
That's the test.
And so, see me?
See anything weird?
Well, not for my time.
I'm very conventionally dressed.
Of course.
But I was no conformist.
And, frankly, a lot of times, in
my view, those externals and
trying to make a statement with
them can get in the way of your
search internally.
So of course you have to be a
non-conformist.
And all that means is you're not
going to do what they do just
because they do it.
If in your heart, some of their
beliefs and their actions accord
with what your heart teaches
you, fine, but you have decided.
Understand?
You did not do it out of
conformity.
And, I'm sorry to say, but the
implication of this should be
clear to you.
I really am not an enthusiast
about the average person.
It's not a case of lack of
capacity.
Everyone has genius.
You understand?
Everyone is of the divine.
It's incredible.
It's wonderful.
It's beautiful.
But they don't live that way,
and let's not pretend they do.
So often they're dead
internally, and they're dull.
It's sad but it's true.
And any serious searcher knows
it's true.
Even though it was a part of my
lectures that in democratic
America of my time was not
particularly well received.
Though very frequently I
suspected my listeners nod and
said yes, it's absolutely true,
of course it's not true of me or
any of the people I know.
If so, wonderful.
But you can't run after them.
It just doesn't work.
Well, I imagine we have a lot of
very good thinkers out there.
Lots of people who know how to
use their reason very well, and
I'm a practical sort myself.
After all, somebody has to get
the train schedule and meet the
trains and show up on time for
the lectures and so on.
But the answer is not some kind
of higher reason.
And it never failed when I gave
lectures that somebody would
either during the lecture of
afterward come up and say, oh,
well, you made a contradiction.
You said one thing and then you
said the other thing.
So what?
Right?
That's some kind of logic
chopping.
You can chop logic all day, but
it won't ever get to your heart.
It won't get you to your true
self.
And that's why I said, foolish
consistency is the hobgoblin of
small minds.
I mean, they're important,
consistency, sure.
But I'm sorry, I would not
recommend, there's nothing wrong
with taking classes in logic.
Go right ahead.
But please don't be under the
idea this is somehow going to
help you discover your real
self.
It's not.
Not at all.
In fact, well, it's harmless.
Go ahead.
But don't think that it's going
to be the answer.
Well, my friends, having a firm
that you and I are of the divine
and nature is of the divine, and
that in a certain sense the
search for our true self is a
search to find the divine in us,
you can see how intensely
spiritual I am, but I must tell
you that one of the paths you
cannot follow that will not lead
you there is the path of a
formal religion.
Formal religion will not help
you.
And, as may you know, I was
ordained as a minister.
But I had to resign because
churches and doctrines, they're
exterior.
And time and time again they
interfere with the individual's
search for themselves in nature.
They are a expression, and,
sure, I was not somebody running
around saying I hate these
things.
Not at all.
But you do understand that they
are just another expression of
the external.
And my view was, well, I respect
churches and I respect ministers
and it's all very nice, but too
often, and in my case always, it
does not lead to one's heart.
It leads to rules, fashions,
conformity, doctrines.
So do I believe in the divine?
Well, of course.
I believe the divine is
everywhere.
But we must discover the divine.
And creeds and pews and
ministers, no.
They become, too often, a
substitute.
Now, am I saying no one could
ever belong to a church or
religion?
No.
Of course I'm not saying that.
But I'm saying for me and I fear
for you all too, one must be
very, very much on guard.
They are, after all, more often
than not likely to be another
expression of, sadly, the
conformity.
Now, that leads us to the
question that goes beyond how
might we discover our true self
and what do we want to avoid.
And it leads us to the topic of
what kind of, how should we act?
How should we act?
But before I turn to that, let
me ask, are there any questions
or any problems you have with
what I've had to say so far?
Don't look into your logic mind,
but look into your hearts.
Do you see anything?
Any problem?
Well, then, I will go on.
How then should we act?
Because, for me, when we say
live, we not only are in the
search for truth that's in us,
and isn't it beautiful?
It's in all of us.
You see, you can understand why
later analysts said of me not
only, of course, is he the
famous individualist of 19th
century America, but, of course,
I am a radical egalitarian.
You understand that?
Because at base, we're all equal
and we're all special and we're
all wonderful.
So how are we going to act?
Very, very important.
As I've mentioned, I'm a very
positive man.
I believe in living positively,
enthusiastically, joyfully.
Joy is a tremendously important
word for me.
Affirmatively.
If we don't live this way or try
to live this way, we will
interfere with our journey of
self-discovery, that's for sure.
But it is an incredible thing to
have this gift of life and to
have the potential to really
discover the divine within one.
It's incredible.
There's a tremendous basis for
enthusiasm and joy.
Now, please understand I'm not
saying that there's not
suffering in life or that I
didn't suffer.
I did.
My first wife died.
Heartbreak.
A beloved son died.
Heartbreak.
This is part of nature, we
understand.
Death is part of nature, but I
choose to focus on renewal in
nature.
So of course I had my moments of
despair, but mostly I lived, my
belief in enthusiastic, a
positive life.
And it won't surprise you that
as a kind of, not unfamiliar,
optimistic, and positive 19th
century American, indeed I was
the very symbol of it, I really
wasn't interested in people who
liked to dwell on the past.
The historic past or their own
past.
It drags you down.
It's not that there's not plenty
of reasons to be disparaging in
the past.
Exactly right, and that's why we
don't want to spend a lot of
time on it because we want to go
forward.
We want to believe in joy.
We want to put on a smile.
Let me say that a different way,
a better way.
We want the smile to come from
within, the joy to come from
within.
And if we're going to act, this
is our attitude, but we're
certainly going to vigorously
enter into life.
I'm all for urging people to
participate in the incredible
divine world around them.
Of course.
It's going to be on our terms.
It's going to be on my terms not
their terms.
I'll decide when, how, and in
what ways I will participate.
But my heart tells me that I am
and you are and we are part of a
whole.
And being part of that whole,
being an active part of that
whole is crucial.
Absolutely.
So, could we turn to, you see
him?
Now, this guy was, as you know,
my closest friend.
He often lived with me and my
sisters and so on.
As you know, he was not, shall
we say, always self-supporting.
And I'm sorry to say, when he
died I was called upon to give
the final words.
Why not?
He was so close to me in so
many, many ways.
And in my famous oration at his
funeral, accolade after accolade
after accolade piles up.
But there's just one little
sentence, one little sentence
that slips in.
And my listeners, of course,
heard it.
They knew too what this was.
You see, I said, and I don't
know, should I have really said
this at somebody's funeral?
But I said, you know, Thoreau
could have been a captain of
men.
In other words, he could have
been an active, vigorous
participant in life, and
instead, I said, he chose to
become the captain of the
Huckleberry party far away.
No.
Thoreau was not the answer.
It is not true, in my
experience, that the search for
your true self, the search the
divine self leads you away.
It lead him away.
Maybe that was his true self.
But I think there was more
there, and that's why I say he
could have been a captain of
men.
And so there's a certain
disappointment even with my dear
friend Thoreau.
So we can go back to Emerson
here.
So you've got to get into life
on your own terms, and you can
do it of course.
Did I?
Well, sure I did.
I was a husband.
I was a father.
I was very much involved in my
local community of Concord,
Massachusetts.
I was on the local school board.
And, of course, unlike my dear
friend, I had a job.
If you will, a career.
So yes, I was very much
involved.
Well, of course another way in
which I became known for my
involvement in life, my embrace
of life, was as a reformer.
Now, you all understand that all
I've said so far about how to
live is a reform agenda.
You understand?
The individual, I'm urging,
needs to follow.
So I'm a reformer all the way.
But in terms of broader social
involvement, I was also a
reformer because for me the
individual journey cannot be
separated from the larger
community.
Just as the individual in nature
is not somehow not part of the
larger nature.
For example, I was very active
in opposing the, from my
perspective, notorious evil
removal of the Cherokee Indians
from Florida and Georgia to
Oklahoma in the 1840s.
A terrible, terrible event.
But my most famous activities,
of course, were my fight against
slavery before and during the
civil war.
External slavery.
Terrible denial of human
freedom.
But from my perspective, doubly
bad, do you understand, because
the enslaved, I felt, find it
very difficult to achieve the
inner freedom which is
ultimately the most important.
So by the 1840s, I was involved
in the anti-slavery effort
without any apology.
My whole philosophy can be
described as an attempt to free
people.
So it made sense.
And you know how we proceeded,
don't you?
We despised abolitionists.
Our view was we really can't get
rid of it in the south.
We have no means.
The federal government is
controlled too much by southern
slave hold interests.
So we were advocates of
separation.
People often talk about how the
confederate states seceded.
Well, we were the first
advocates of secession, we
abolitionists, because we
couldn't get rid of it but we
didn't want to touch it and its
owners.
It was touching evil.
So maybe the answer was to
secede and get away.
Of course, fate brought the
Civil War.
But you may or may not know, I
was one of the people who went
to see President Lincoln to say,
now, wait a minute, you're doing
all this talk about Union
saving.
I don't care about the Union.
Not a bit.
But I care tremendously about
ending slavery.
When's that going to happen?
Well, you know your Lincoln, I'm
sure.
You know our delegation received
some very nice, very folksy
stories which were not relevant,
and we were sent on our way.
But our time came.
And it did become clearly about
ending slavery, external
slavery.
In all my activities, in all my
involvements as a reformer or
elsewhere, in all my active
participation, and I hope you
understand I'm not participating
because I'm a good American
citizen.
I'm participating because I'm
trying to live the truth that my
journey has uncovered inside of
me.
And so I must live life
according to principle and
involvement according to
principle.
And I feel I did.
Does anyone have any thoughts or
concerns about my model of
involvement and participation?
Do you understand what I'm
suggesting?
As Emerson, I'm really a very
pleasant person.
You don't need to be afraid that
I am going to get mad at you.
That wouldn't be pleasant.
Okay.
Then let me go on.
Ah, all right.
Yes, sir?
>> Wouldn't it have been
unsatisfactory if the country
had divided as you originally
wanted and slavery still existed
in the south, you wouldn't have
abolished slavery, you would
have just separated yourself
from it?
>> Very, very unsatisfactory.
Agreed.
But I had no alternative.
I can't mobilize the military
because the government is
controlled by southern
interests, so I can't do
anything else.
Of course I lectured against
slavery, you understand, and so
on.
But sure, of course it would be,
very much so.
And you're a practical soul.
I understand.
But all I can do is what I can
and what I think is right, and
I'm not going to let the fact
that it's terribly
unsatisfactory get me down
because then I won't keep at it.
You see, can we bring up Thoreau
again?
Thoreau didn't like, Thoreau got
mad when several things took
place.
The Mexican-American War, he
didn't like that.
He got mad about the treatment
of the slave freer John Brown.
And he'd make these statements,
and then off to the hills.
Off to the huckleberry patch.
So to me, he's not being very
practical either.
He's speaking from his heart,
I'm for it, but, my dear friend,
we need a bit more
participation, granted,
it's limitations.
So, what about social
institutions more broadly?
And what about governments and
such?
Well, I want you to be very
clear that the only kind of rule
I believe in, the only kind of
rule that's acceptable, the only
kind of rule that speaks to the
divinity within each of us is
self-rule.
And that's why I became famous
for saying society is
everywhere.
Conspiracy gets the manhood of
every one of its members.
The conspiracy is conformity.
The conspiracy is not listening
to the heart, not listening to
the divine.
But I'm not saying, okay, get
rid of governments, get rid of
the family, get rid of every
institution you can think of.
Just as I'm saying, don't get
rid of ordinary conventional
dress.
They have their place.
Modest.
And always, always, always with
a skeptical eye toward the
leadership or the electorate or
both.
I don't want to abolish schools.
I was on the school board.
They have their uses too.
But, but.
Yeah, even the most horrible of
organized social activities,
war, has its place.
I'm no pacifist.
I fully supported the Civil War.
Absolutely.
Because sometimes the truth has
to take the most drastic of
actions toward its realization.
I make no apology for that.
And, again, I'm not against
community expressed in ordinary
institutions and otherwise.
That's part of life.
It's natural.
As long as it does not rule
because there must be self-rule
in these institutions.
We turn to my friend Thoreau
again.
He wants to get rid of these
institutions.
Horrible.
But you know, in a certain kind
of way, such a stance is denying
human genius, is denying the
community of very special people
in nature, and I'm not for it.
So these institutions are fine
as long as, well, I have to tell
you honestly though that my
least favorite institution was
government.
But remember, if necessary, I
can support a government
involved in a horrible, horrible
war.
But generally I recommend to you
what I've experienced myself:
the less government the better.
Man must not obey the laws too
well.
Say to me, well, John, Abigail,
whatever, boy they're wonderful
law abiding citizens.
I'm not impressed.
They're just announcing that
they're good little conformists,
and that's not a good sign.
I obey laws on the basis of
whether they accord with the
truth as I understand it.
You may say, well, wait a
minute, Emerson, did you go
through every little law and
think, well, does it accord?
Of course not.
Again, look at my dress.
We routinely go along.
But we don't believe in law.
There's a huge difference.
We routinely go along with what
were in my time the very low
demands of government, but we
don't believe in government.
There's a huge difference,
right?
We believe in self-rule.
In fact, if a law is immoral,
it's our duty to break it.
Absolutely.
Like the laws supporting
slavery.
Or the laws leading to the
terrible treatment of the
Cherokee.
You see, what's our goal?
Our goal is this self-discovery.
Our goal is living true to
ourselves, the self that's in
there.
Our fantastic self.
The divine self.
The special self.
The genius self.
And that means our goal is to
become wise.
And if we are wise, if we have
discovered ourselves, if we are
wise and we have discovered
ourselves, then we are
self-governing.
The wise need no government.
They may have some institutions
floating around, but the wise
person, the person who truly
knows themselves doesn't need
it.
But you see another reason, my
friends, for why we have to have
a little bit of government is,
I'm sorry to say, most people
are external, and so, yes, there
will be some need for some
restraints.
But we must be so afraid of them
whether they are cultural,
social, or governmental.
They can get us,
they can get us.
And so, in your individual
journey, the way I put it is
this way, with the appearance of
the wise man in your life, and
by the way, man for me was a
generic term, man and woman,
with the appearance of the wise
man, the state expires.
The state expires.
It isn't needed.
You don't need it.
You're free.
The real free.
Not just the external free but
the real free that is inside of
us.
Any questions or thoughts about
my attitude on institutions and
government?
Yeah?
>> What about the vote for
women?
>> What about the vote for
women?
Fine with me.
But how important do you think
that is?
>> Very.
[LAUGHTER]
>> I'm not against you at all on
that issue.
Not at all.
But if you think that's number
one in your life or in anybody
else's life, I don't agree with
you.
But of course we should have
that.
I'm an egalitarian all the way.
But I've got to ask always about
reformers as I would ask of
anyone else, in their beliefs
and in their actions, are they
self-governing?
And if they are, they have my
support.
But if they're part of a
movement in which others are
governing them, then I begin to
worry.
So I'd have to take a look at
every person and every
individual.
But, you understand, I won't be
doing that in judgment because
I'm not here for that purpose.
I simply urge others to ask
themselves.
So if someone were to say in
their heart I feel that this is
a form of, the absence of
women's votes is a form of
denial of the fundamental divine
reality of people, I want to do
something about it, beautiful.
However, were you to join up
because your neighbor says, hey,
let's do it, we have good
parties, no.
Okay?
But I'll tell you this, if
you're going to do it, if you're
going to enter reform, if your
heart tells you this way, you've
got to do it.
I don't want you talking it.
Do you know what I mean?
Because talking it isn't
serious.
I only want serious reformers.
And most people, whether they
are for this or for that, are
just like the rest of the
people.
They're not really listening to
their hearts.
They're not really serious, I'm
sorry to say.
And I experience that all the
time over the slavery issue.
All sorts of people said, well,
of course I'm against slavery,
not let's get on.
Well, they're not serious.
So I'll take it you're serious
for this cause and that's fine.
That's good.
I welcome it.
All right, where are we then?
The last point is that I don't
want you to ever forget that
what we're talking about
ultimately is an interior,
interior journey.
Inside of us is ultimately the
real world, the real self, the
real truth.
So what I'm talking about is a
journey of the soul.
The discovery of one's genius.
The living of a divine life.
That's the end.
[APPLAUSE]