Society and solitude: Twelve chaptersEmerson, Ralph Waldo
Philosophy
Society and solitude: Twelve chapters
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
American essays -- 19th century
2. Certainly, not aloof from this homage to beauty, but in strict
connection therewith, the house will come to be esteemed a Sanctuary.
The language of a ruder age has given to common law the maxim that
every man’s house is his castle: the progress of truth will make every
house a shrine. Will not man one day open his eyes and see how dear
he is to the soul of Nature,--how near it is to him? Will he not see,
through all he miscalls accident, that Law prevails for ever and ever;
that his private being is a part of it; that its home is in his own
unsounded heart; that his economy, his labor, his good and bad fortune,
his health and manners, are all a curious and exact demonstration in
miniature of the Genius of the Eternal Providence? When he perceives
the Law, he ceases to despond. Whilst he sees it, every thought and
act is raised, and becomes an act of religion. Does the consecration
of Sunday confess the desecration of the entire week? Does the
consecration of the church confess the profanation of the house? Let
us read the incantation backward. Let the man stand on his feet. Let
religion cease to be occasional; and the pulses of thought that go to
the borders of the universe, let them proceed from the bosom of the
Household.
These are the consolations,--these are the ends to which the household
is instituted and the rooftree stands. If these are sought, and in any
good degree attained, can the State, can commerce, can climate, can
the labor of many for one, yield anything better, or half as good?
Beside these aims, Society is weak and the State an intrusion. I think
that the heroism which at this day would make on us the impression
of Epaminondas and Phocion must be that of a domestic conqueror. He
who shall bravely and gracefully subdue this Gorgon of Convention and
Fashion, and show-men how to lead a clean, handsome, and heroic life
amid the beggarly elements of our cities and villages; whoso shall
teach me how to eat my meat and take my repose, and deal with men,
without any shame following, will restore the life of man to splendor,
and make his own name dear to all history.
FARMING.
FARMING.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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