The Conduct of Life part IV

The Conduct of Life part IV - Page Text Content

BC: "Shame, poverty, and solitude" come from truth-speaking, Emerson said, but it's better to live with little more than self-respect and knowledge than to be stuck up and forget what life is all about.

FC: On Ralph Waldo Emerson and his Conduct of Life lectures

1: Emerson was born to a devout mother and a minister in a long line of ministers in Boston in 1803.

2: He was a wholly average student at Harvard University, from which he graduated an ordained minister of the Second Church.

3: When his young first wife died of tuberculosis, he resigned from his work in 1832. | He remairried in 1835 to Lydia Jackson and moved to Concord, Massachusets.

4: Emerson's home in Concord. The original lasted meny years but was lost to fire.

5: Spending his time writing, studying and lecturing, Emerson made friends with other Transcendental luminaries such as Margaret Fuller.

6: Emerson traveled to England in 1847 and wrote several works about the experience. His time there also influenced his thoughts on society.

7: Emerson began a lecture series in 1851 which he compiled and eventually published as The Conduct of Life in 1860.

8: In the chapter on Culture, Emerson implies that when acting as one, the masses tend to turn on the stand-out, talented people.

9: He goes on to say "The pest of society is the egotist." Such people see only themselves and what metters to them, and lose perspective.

10: Emerson said the worst of these people are those who beg for sympathy they don't deserve.

11: He said people of skill and renown, such as poets, should see beyond themselves. Don't apply everything to yourself, but keep an open mind.

12: Emerson said exposure to society helps "modulate the violence of master tones". Culture engenders modesty and staves off ego.

13: Solitude, however, when constant, leads to one becoming self-important.

14: "Let us make our education brave and preventive."

15: Politics and legislation are only stopgaps - they only patch society's problems.

16: He feels if everyone were well educated, slavery, war and other ills would never happen.

17: Railways allow people to travel more than ever, and doing so is important. Experiencing other people and other towns gives perspective.

18: "The mark of a man of the world is absence of pretension". It is a typical foible of American youth.

19: Speaking and acting plainly is worthy of respect. Privacy is OK but people should not fear constructive criticism - they should welcome it.