Emerson’s essay Character is less about character and more about what constitutes the foundation for Emerson’s ideal character. So what the essay turns out to be about then, is morals:
MORALS respects what men call goodness, that which all men agree to honor as justice, truth-speaking, good-will and good works. Morals respects the source or motive of this action. It is the science of substances, not of shows. It is the what, and not the how. It is that which all men profess to regard, and by their real respect for which recommend themselves to each other.There is this eternal advantage to morals, that, in the question between truth and goodness, the moral cause of the world lies behind all else in the mind. It was for good, it is to good, that all works.
The ultimate reason why morals are important is because Emerson believes that the world was created “for the benefit of all being.” What benefits all being is what is good, and morals are the result. If you say that a person is moral, then that person operates from a position of desiring to be a benefit to others. The desire to do good is very important for Emerson because he believes that “morals implies freedom and will.” We have to choose to be moral, we are not moral by default; default morality belongs only to animals and the stars. But while we must choose to be moral, the ability to choose, the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, is within all of us.
Morals, or the moral sentiment, does not help us in a private or particular way. The moral sentiment is for universal good and not to be found in private gain. Nor is it to be found in “particulars or events.” This is not to say that moral sentiment does not provide an individual benefit, on the contrary,
It puts us in place. It centres, it concentrates us. It puts us at the heart of Nature, where we belong, in the cabinet of science and of causes, there where all the wires terminate which hold the world in magnetic unity, and so converts us into universal beings.
Morals always get mixed up with religion. Religion is not necessary to live a moral life. The devout and those around whom we have built religions, are teachers of the moral sentiment. Emerson insists
The excellence of Jesus, and of every true teacher, is, that he affirms the Divinity in him and in us, – not thrusts himself between it and us. It would instantly indispose us to any person claiming to speak for the Author of Nature, the setting forth any fact or law which we did not find in our consciousness.
Emerson believes in a personal relationship with God and anyone and anything that gets between that keeps us from complete union with the Divine Mind.
When it comes down to it, “morals is the incorruptible essence.” It does not matter who the teachers were and what their fortunes. It does not matter whether you are right or wrong in the stories you tell about those teachers and your relation to them. All that does matter is “how you stand to your own tribunal.”
After Emerson builds his moral foundation, we can then understand what he means when he says
Character is the habit of action from the permanent vision of truth. It carries a superiority to all the accidents of life. It compels right relation to every other man, – domesticates itself with strangers and enemies….it confers perpetual insight. It sees that a man’s friends and his foes are of his own house-hold, of his own person. What would it avail me, if I could destroy my enemies? There would be as many to-morrow. That which I hate and fear is really in myself, and no knife is long enough to reach to its heart.
I love that last line. It gives me shivers.
Would it surprise you to know that Emerson believes that people with the character which he names here are rare, that he thinks that only one appears in any given generation and sometimes not at all? Just because we are not likely to reach the heights of character does not let us off the hook. We must still choose to be moral and even then we will waver, make mistakes and wrong choices. But, if we can live our lives overall with the moral sentiment as out guide, we will be better off and so will everyone else.
Next week’s Emerson: Education
All that does matter is “how you stand to your own tribunal.”
I quite like this. Lovely post, Stefanie, but you know I am always gushing about your Emerson posts
I’m going to have to bookmark this blog, and come back and read all of your posts on Emerson. This was so well written and clear, and I’d like to start at the beginning.
To think I found this with a search for “nonfiction book challenge”, because I’m thinking of reading a few non fiction books, which is somewhat rare for me.
I just finished reading March, by Geraldine Brooks, and Emerson had a bit part to play there. You might (or might not, actually) be interested to know that some of my distant ancestors are relations of Ralph Waldo Emerson. We have both Waldos and Emersons, actually. Pretty cool, huh?
I think this sort of ‘character’ is rare, because I think it is impossible for any human to achieve without guidance. Even with the proper guidance, most of us lack the discipline to be consistent.
I like his assessment of that which thrusts itself between us and Divinity. There is no end to possible sources of interference.
There are some great lines in this post — I love the one about tribunals and about hate and fear being in oneself. We must get our relationship with ourselves right first before we can relate well to others — at least it seems to me that is what he’s saying.
Thanks Verbivore. I love that line too.
J, You’re so kind! And that is so cool that you have distant relations to Emerson! If you’ve not read Emerson before his first book of essays is a nice set up for everything that follows. His book Conduct of Life is my favorite though.
Bikkuri, I think it’s the discipline that’s the hardest. Makes me tired just thinking about it! And there is quite a lot that can get between a person and Divinity, isn’t there? So much temptation…
Dorothy, Emerson is always great with the one liners. He worked hard on them. I agree with you and so would Emerson. If we can our relationships with ourselves right first, the rest will all come that much easier.
[...] Anarchy, Becker-Posner, Awkward Utopia) are about ideas. In that spirit, then, I’d like to re-hash this post from So Many Books: After Emerson builds his moral foundation, we can then understand what he means when he says [...]