Emerson’s address “The Celebration of the Intellect” was delivered to the students of Tufts College on July 10, 1861. The Civil War had begun and the Union was doing well, making Northerners optimistic that the war would not last long. The address was delivered eleven days before Bull Run, a disastrous battle for the Union army which was routed and forced to retreat to Washington, D.C. I mention this because in the address Emerson tells the young men at Tufts:
Against the heroism of soldiers I set the heroism of scholars, which consists in ignoring the other. You shall not put up in your Academy the statue of Caesar or Pompey…but of Archimedes, of Milton, of Newton
He encourages them to stay at college in the realm of “the majesty of reason” and not rush off with swords to the “boyish strife of passion.” Of course Emerson later changes his tune, but this remains as evidence to his and the North’s general attitude at the beginning of the war.
The address as published in A Natural History of the Intellect is not the complete text of the original address. An editor’s note remarks that it is incomplete as it had ben mined for other essays such as “American Scholar.” The original must have really been something, but what remains is rather thin and only mildly interesting. He touches on Talent, Instinct, Will, and Genius, ideas he has previously expanded on. He does not say anything new about them, only brings the concepts into a little better focus for me in relation to his earlier lectures.
What I found most of note in this address is Emerson’s idea of what a college should be:
I conceive that a college should have no mean ambition, but should aim at a reverent discipline and invitation of the soul, that here, if nowhere else in the world, genius should find its home…The College should hold the profound thought, and the Church the great heart to which the nation should turn, and these two should be counterbalancing to the bad politics and the selfish trade.
Emerson dreams of college as being a place where Truth and Beauty are taught and where good minds go to learn and explore in order to be of service to their fellow humans. It is not learning for the sake of learning, but learning for the sake of humanity.
A lovely ideal, yes? But Emerson was all too aware, even in his day, that this is not what college was. He knew that the college system answered to the City, that real thought was rare, that young men needed to be classed and employed and often went to college out of ambition, that the college had to show results, that “a little violence must be done to private genius to accomplish this.” And so it often happens that the best scholar, the one “for whom colleges exist,” who resists the system and does not succumb to the “violence” finds himself a stranger there. But Emerson believes, and takes comfort in knowing, that if a scholar really has genius, he will find his own way in spite of everything being against him.
At the end of the address Emerson offers this advice:
Keep the intellect sacred. Revere it. Give all to it. Its oracles countervail all…Go sit with the Hermit in you, who knows more than you do. You will find life enhanced, and doors opened to grander entertainments…Do what you can do.
Hard advice to follow especially in anti-intellectual America where anyone with half a brain is made to feel embarrassed for it. I like the idea of sitting with my inner Hermit. I wonder if Emerson was aware of the Tarot and The Hermit card? It fits so well with his own Hermit image and with much of what he says in this and other essays. We would all do well to make regular and frequent visits to our inner Hermit.
Next week’s Emerson: “Country Life”
Ironically some of us who explore the hermit in us now do it on the world wide web. That is revolutionary and empowering. As is keeping the intellect sacred in cyberspace.
I like this as it makes me think of my own college. I have to say that for all my general mistrust and suspicion, Cambridge colleges are places where principle and learning really are more important than anything else and where the ideals of knowledge generation within the community are paramount. That being said, it doesn’t always stop the discussions at governing body meetings degenerating into arguments over new curtains and chairs!
I was musing on this country’s dislike of intellect myself yesterday. I try very hard to cultivate my inner hermit.
Paul, yes indeed, the web is a great place for hermits
Litlove, curtains and chairs are very important matters not to be taken lightly
Cambridge sounds like a wonderful place. I am sure there must be places like it in the US, but I fear that these days of major research institutions fighting for corporate sponsorship and a huge emphasis on college football often leaves programs in the humanities struggling for money and students.
bibliophylia, I wonder if it has to do with our idea of equality? Being all equal, no one is allowed to be smarter than anyone else. Yay for the inner hermit!
I love this… yes, our hermits need cultivating and time ought to be spent with the little wise old sage that lives inside us. It’s so difficult when our dominant culture directly clashes with this! I feel like certain areas in our culture are starting to recognize this and space is being made and encouraged, but I have little hope that Society at large will make any major changes anytime soon…
But our little society can!
I will say this: our colleges may not live up to these ideals, but there are communities within those colleges that do, and I don’t think a student who honestly wishes to get an outstanding education and engage these ideas will be unable to do so in American university–most professors that I’ve encountered will bend over backwards for those students who show a real capacity and desire for the material.
The problem, of course, is sitting in a classroom and putting up with the clowns who don’t care about ideas. You won’t get the nurturing in class so much as outside of class, if you know where to find it.
I agree with J.D. — it’s possible to find Emerson’s ideal in American colleges, but you have to look in the right places and for the right people, and carve out your own niche. That’s probably true anywhere, actually.
Daphne, society is very intrusive, isn’t it? I agree that there are certain areas of the culture that are recognizing the need for solitude and retreat. Of course, cynical me says commercial culture has realized it too and wants to make sure that when you have your solitary time you do it with all the right equipment and exactly the right style.
JD, yes, you are right, there are colleges with enclaves that approach Emerson’s ideal. And to the determined student an excellent education is always available. But I don’t think it should take so much work to ensure a good education. The problem is, as you say, the clowns in the classroom. Emerson would be declared elitist I’m sure because he would say those clowns shouldn’t be allowed to be there. I can’t go that far, but I do think our educational system needs some work.
Dorothy, it is there, I agree, but not for the majority. I think it would be nice if the ideal was the norm. What a difference it would make in the culture at large.