Emersonian Person Essays - Lecturers, Transcendentalism, Mystics

Emersonian Person The most Emersonian person that I have ever known would be with out a doubt be Frederick Jones. I spent two summers working with this man on the Linville River for the Kawana fishing club. In Self Reliance Emerson writes Your genuine action will explain itself and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. This is clearly a call for individuality in men. Though Frederick has probably never read or even heard of Ralph Waldo Emerson, his way of life is very much in line with what Emerson claims will be the only true way to inner peace. Frederick is very much a mystery to the people of Linville, and except for those who know him best, he is not very well liked. He quit school after the eight grade, yet he is one of the most intelligent people I have ever known. Like Emerson, Frederick believes that all he needs to know and understand is with in himself. He claims to have no regret for quitting school. His argument is that once he learned to read and write, what he did with those skills should be at his discretion. Frederick is a wealthy man, but very few people know to what extent. His beat up Ford truck and old work cloths suggest nothing more that a simple working man. In fact this is exactly what he is. Frederick has a reputation for having little to say except for when the issue concerns him, but he is also know for speaking his mind and standing up for himself regardless of the consequence. Like most people he loathes taxes, but it is not so much the money that bothers him as it is what he sees to be criminal waste of his money. His feelings on giving money to the poor are much the same as Emersons: ... do not tell as a good man did today of my obligation to put all good men into good situations. Are they my poor?(553) If it were up to Frederick, there would not be a dime of him money spent on welfare. I used to wonder why a man in his financial situation would subject himself to such a life of labor. I finally asked him on one of the hottest days of the summer while were chain sawing a trail through a Rhododendrem jungle. All he said was it keeps me alive. It was only then that I began to see what that river means to him. Having lost his family to a car accident, that seven mile stretch of river is his only source peace. Later in that summer while we were walking down the river bank he said Out here things are real. These trout, these mountains, this river-there is no bull *censored*, and that is one thing I hate-bull *censored*. Frederick is a man who depends on no one, and expects nothing. He says what he feels, and he makes no apology when he offends. Emerson states my life is not an apology, but a life (553) This is precisely how Frederick lives, and it is for this reason that he is not loved by the masses. In his defense, Frederick is genuine. He is a man that can be taken at face value, and people always know where they stand with him. It is not that Frederick trys to hurt or belittle people, but he has a reputation for calling situations as he sees them. He once told me the truth is often a lot more painful than a lie, but life is to short for lies. Most would agree that tact is not his strong point, but having spent time with him all I can honestly say it is not his strong point because it is not important to him. For Frederick integrity is the most important thing a man can have. In the time that I spent with him I never heard him do or say anything to suggest that he is not perfectly content with himself. Emerson writes every great man is unique(565) With consistency that I have seen from no other man, Frederick believes in himself, and that truly is unique. He is not a man that judges others opinions as wrong, simply different. Emersons position that No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature(552) is exactly the way Frederick lives his life. He is known for holding on to his principles regardless of outside opinion. Because of the