After reading Self Reliance what stood out to me the most was the line: " To be great is to be misunderstood", and "Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string." I also liked that Emerson believed in the highest mind transcending destiny. He believed that everyone should not be pinched in a corner, cowardly fleeing before a revolution. To me Emerson means everyone must be strong minded as well as stand up for what they believe in. A person has to trust him/herself and not let anyone else influence their decisions. When Emerson says that being great is related to being misunderstood, he means that some individuals are extrememly intelligent and therefore cannot communicate their philosophies or their ideas to others in a way that others will comprehend. Therefore, these individuals are misunderstood by people who are not willing to learn to understand them and accept their ideas.
Everyone should be self relient, connecting themselves with God and his teachings. When the highest mind transcends destiny, Emerson believes that God will speak to him through his mind.
The individual mind was connected to all others through what was known as the "oversoul", a collection of everyone's soul that we all share.
Transcendentalists believed that God spoke through people's minds and their hard work
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