Self Reliance example essay topic

Self-reliance according to World English Dictionary is the ability to make your own decisions confidently and independently. For Emerson, the religion of each person lay in the individuality that might be wanted in a free society. In the work Self Reliance, Emerson wanted people to value their freedom; he wanted them to be independent in their individual lives. He expressed his optimistic faith in the power of individual achievement and originality. He also considered the overelaborate need to discover and develop a relationship with nature and with God. Emerson stated a very interesting point, however he was not quit right.

In my opinion, a person cannot survive just by depending on himself. Too much self-reliance often leads to undesirable consequences. Once an individual becomes aware that he can think, his life will mean nothing unless he feels that he is aspiring to something better, not in the sense of his egoistic interests, but in the sense of the better goal of the society striving for that common great cause which inspires that person as well. An idea of individualism is deeply embedded in American culture.

Thus there's no doubt that people tend to be overly optimistic. For instance, most people believe deep down that they are less likely to get hit by a bus or to be mugged, than their neighbors are. Such optimism isn't necessarily bad; it lets people cope with life's uncertainties. However, optimism can have an adverse effect on certain decisions if people set unrealistic expectations. Self-reliance can also lead to overconfidence. Most people who are self-reliant are also overconfident in their own abilities.

Individuals can overestimate their own abilities or knowledge as well as the precision of their information. Essentially a man is created by nature, but its society that develops and shapes him. A well known Russian author A.N. Tolstoy wrote: An individual cannot be happy if cast out of society any more than a plant can live if torn out of the earth and thrown on barren sand. Thus I can say that if you seclude yourself from people, you have nothing to live for. A person who is self-reliant, becomes isolated with time, he starts to think that theres no one better than him. In consequence a person who sets himself apart from others robs himself of happiness, because the more isolated he is, the worse his life becomes.

In conclusion I would like to say that there are many ways of making the human condition unbearable. Probably, the surest of all is to dedicate oneself to the cult of self-preservation by means of self-reliance.