Secular Individualism

Secular Individualism My original title for my Capstone Thesis was supposed to be "How Individualism Related to the American Vision." The further into the assignments for this class the further away from believing all of what Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about in his essay "Self-Reliance" (1841, 1847). I have not completely given up on all of the points he made in his essay though. Some of the ideals that Emerson stated that I do still believe are, "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius" (Emerson, Self-Reliance 1841, 1847). I believe that what Emerson was saying is to trust in yourself but at the same time do not persecute your fellow man for their beliefs. In Self-Reliance, he is stating that traditional thinking or traditions can be a hindrance to the development of society. Only through individualism and independent thinking can true greatness be achieved. "What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude" (Emerson, Self-Reliance 1841, 1847). And that to not concerning myself with what others think. "What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because

you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to