From: Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson"In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty." The picture I chose represents the rejected thoughts, or discarded ideas that Emerson is talking about in this work. Self-Reliance is about exactly what the title states. It stresses the importance of being your own leader, championing your own ideas, and acting upon things for yourself. Each crumpled piece of paper represents a thought or idea that we have had and not acted upon that we then find to be the brilliant "work of genius" of some other person. Emerson then talks about how we then must shamefully take the opinion from this other person; even if it was something we'd believed all along. I thought this quote embodied a lot of what transcendentalism is about. Throughout all of Self-Reliance, there is a stress on the individual, and moreover, the power of the individual: what each of us can accomplish on our own, and why we shouldn't wait to be followers. This quote in particular stood out to me as an easy way to relate transcendentalism into anyone's daily life. I'm sure we've all experienced the feeling, "I thought of that first!", and can then somewhat relate to what the quote is talking about. Transcendentalism was also about turning ideas into actions. I think the quote I chose does a beautiful job of making that point, and stressing its importance. So don't throw away those good ideas, act on them, and the work of genius can be your own!
I think that same type of picture is constantly repeated in things, even in our own lives. How many times do we start something only to scrap it and start again. Our minds must constantly grow and we use ideas of the past to create things in the future. If we don't think of something on our own then someone else is going to come along and make it happen. me must stand on our two feet.
ReplyDeleteThe crumpled up pieces of paper are a great representation of our rejected ideas that Emerson talks about in the quote. Seeing your own ideas that you gave up on appear in someone else's "work of genius" is a good lesson because hopefully you won't make the same mistake again and you will be proud of all of your ideas. I like how you mentioned that everybody has experienced the feeling, "I thought of that first!", which is always followed by the regret that you rejected that idea.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job on your picture and in your writing. It was a simple way to explain what Transcendentalism means. It even gave me a better understanding of it. Transcendentalism also means being open to new ideas as you explained. Not all of us can be a genius, but we can make the best use of our mind by believing in our ideas and ourselves. Good job on your writing!
ReplyDeleteJason Richert
Great picture, this is an image seen quiet often in carton postings and on television shows along with in many offices, the frustration of your ideas and not being able to get what you think in your head down on paper the exact way you would like. There are many other frustrations in life but I believe that your illustration shows one seen a lot in our world. People have many incredible thoughts that get thrown out and somehow they come back to us later in life.
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