On "Self-Reliance"

These are the voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world.
R.W.E, American


My, my, was he smart or what? And what he was saying way back then, still shimmers today. Possibly shimmers even more today than back then. Listen to yourself, he says. Don't just follow blindly along, learn the language of the masters so you can speak with them. Don't rely on all that junk you're collecting in your house. Find your own compass; tack your ship to your own coordinates. Who you are is not in the big moments but in the little ones.

and that hobgoblins line is delicious.

They stared back blankly.

This is America. Does he still speak for us?

I am still listening.