Self Reliance and Other Essays (Annotated Edition)

Throughout his essays, Emerson is concerned with the fundamental relationship between humanity, nature, and God.As the broadest overview of his ideas, Nature calls for a renewed spiritual relationship with the universe (or rather, God and nature, two sides of the same coin for him), unchained from the past, based on personal experience and revelation. Such a relationship would allow individuals to become a "transparent eyeball," a conduit for God in nature. In "Self-Reliance," Emerson focuses on how the individual may achieve such a relationship with nature and God through self-reliance. To be self-reliant, individuals must avoid conformity and false consistency, follow their own instincts and ideas, and remain true to themselves. "Experience" explores the "lords of life," which confuse our experience of life and distract from the cultivation of our relationship with God. Emerson advises we turn to self-reliance to overcome these.