What Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self Reliance” Can Teach Us About Writing
How being honest and bold is the backbone of all great writers (and people)
As a writer for a number of years, I have learned a lot of things. I’ve learned to break up long paragraphs. I’ve learned about white space and provocative headlines. But the most important lesson in writing took me over a year to learn.
What is that lesson? Be yourself and be brave. Two rules that seem so simple yet are so amazingly hard to do as writers.
My journey as a writer has helped me unlock doors to courage I never knew existed. But those doors did not open easily. I played “the game” for a while; I wrote about popular topics and formed my ideas around what I thought would be pleasing to others. Then I wondered why I was not successful. Now I know that I was doing the exact opposite of what good writers do.
Good writers are honest. They are not afraid of the voices that whisper to them when they are composing. They speak from the heart.
And if ever if you need the courage or inspiration to show this honesty as a writer (or a person), read the essay “Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
His essay is not on the topic of writing, but it is about embracing one’s true self. And honoring that self with unashamed truth and boldness. And I think his words are something that all writers need to hear.
He warns us of the dangers of not being our authentic selves, and I have applied these consequences to the craft of writing.
Sacrificing your authenticity will not allow you to fulfill your true purpose as a writer
“The eye was placed where one ray should fall, that it might testify of that particular ray.”
In order to grow and to fulfill your job as a writer, you must understand that every event in your life should do two things: Teach you a lesson and teach others a lesson. Emerson’s quote seems to validate this fact. Your job is to “testify” or give evidence to humanity about how each of your experiences has molded you and provided you with specific knowledge from which others can learn.
When readers read of your specific experiences and deem them truly authentic, they will spontaneously begin to evaluate their own thoughts and determine if those thoughts need to be questioned or altered. And to make others think new thoughts is the purpose of all good writing.
This is why as a writer you must avoid the temptation to give false testimony to suit the opinions of the masses. And if you give in to this temptation, you are wasting your time.
Why?
Because a reader’s “eye” has likely fallen on that particular “ray” that you so proudly pretend to know about, and he or she will immediately sniff out the deception in your words.
So, do as Emerson says in another statement from his essay: “Go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways.”
Sacrificing your authenticity will destroy your writing “voice”
“I appeal from your customs. I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you. “
“Appeal” in this quote means that as a writer, you look to a higher “jury” than your audience. It means you look to yourself for a verdict of the worth and validity of your words. This does not mean that you do not accept constructive feedback on how your words are presented, but it does mean that you do not change the ideas and truths behind them.
Do not “break” your morals or values by being and speaking as anyone other than yourself. It is wrong for more than the simple fact that you feed lies to your readers, it is wrong because you feed lies to yourself. And the longer you write lies, the more you lose your voice as a writer.
And voice is everything.
Sacrificing your authenticity will cost you peace of mind and creativity
“A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace. It is a deliverance which does not deliver. In the attempt his genius deserts him; no muse befriends; no invention, no hope.”
When you write from a place other than your heart and your soul, then you invalidate your own truths. And there is nothing more likely to make the Muses turn away from you, for they have no inner spark on which to feed.
Inspiration and creativity are driven by the unique way that you perceive life, and if you are not writing from those authentic perspectives, there can be no truly successful result. Hypocrites are not convincing; their words do not “deliver” and when you have written from a stance which your heart tells you is untrue, can you really feel satisfied?
Perhaps you can, for many times this lack of authenticity can gain you notoriety, popularity, and fame, but Emerson states that this method will give you “no peace,” because true peace for a writer only comes from pouring his or her heart onto the page, not someone else’s.
Sacrificing your authenticity will turn you into a coward
“For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure.”
As writers, you are going to think thoughts and have opinions that are not popular. But write them anyway. Let the masses “whip you with [their] displeasure.” Great men in our country have fought for the right to allow us to speak our minds, and so we should speak it. Respectfully, of course, but speak it nonetheless.
However, I know this is easier said than done. Because it’s scary. Our words and stories are parts of us, and to be scorned for them feels like a condemnation of who we are.
You think thoughts such as “What if they don’t like me?” “What if they disagree with me?” “What if I am misunderstood and my words are used against me?”
To this Emerson says: “Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.’ — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
Good writing demands courage. And don’t just be brave enough to write courageously. Be brave enough to publish your writing for all to see.
Real readers want to be tested. They want to taste the medicine of another’s words. Maybe the taste will be bitter. And worthless. Or maybe it will help them find a cure to a question or problem with which their spirit has been struggling.
Readers need truth to grow, and they want you as a writer to help them do it.
So be courageous. Show us your truth.
The bottom line:
“What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.”
You as a writer have a gift of insight, and your duty is to share that gift. And as a matter of fact, this is the duty of all people who want to make the world better. Eyes may want to remain closed, but your job is to seduce them to open. To ponder. To evaluate. To argue inside their head, either with you or with themselves. The most beautiful benefit of writing authentically is that if you speak your truths, others will be bold enough to speak theirs.
And that in itself is all the reward I need to keep writing.
