Season 4 Podcast 57 Self-Reliance Concept 4 Faith in Self

Season 4 Podcast 57 Self-Reliance Concept 4 Faith in SelfI have selected ten concepts from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay Self-Reliance. Each concept expands the virtues and variations of Self-Reliance or warns of the vices of the ways we forfeit Self Reliance:·      Concept 1: Blind Obedience·      Concept 2: False Charity·      Concept 3: Truth·      Concept 4: Faith ·      Concept 5:  Non-Conformist·      Concept 6: To Thine Own Self Be True·      Concept 7: Self-Reliance·      Concept 8: Character·      Concept 9: God·      Concept 10: SolitudeObviously there is overlap in the ten concepts. For example, Concept 7, Self-Reliance, subsumes all other concepts. It is also clear that faith in self is a primary component of Self-Reliance. Like synonyms each is both a repetition and a variation on the theme. In these ten podcasts, though I may repeat certain quotes from Emerson’s essay, Self-Reliance, for emphasis, I also wish to highlight the variation, thus expanding the theme and pointing out the nuance of each concept. In this Podcast, we shall focus on Concept Four: Faith in Self. “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,—that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost,—and our first thought is rendered back to us by the  trumpets of the Last Judgment.”Consider faith as a three-legged stool. For the stool to stand it must have all three legs. So it is with liberty. There are three levels of faith necessary to sustain liberty in our democratic republic. The loss of any level or leg will cause our liberty to fall.1.     number one is Faith in God, which is addressed in Concept Nine..2.     number two is Faith in Self.3.     number three is Faith in Others. Self-reliance depends upon the perfect balance of all three levels of faith.  However, in this podcast we shall focus primarily on Faith in Self.Faith in Self, otherwise referred to as self-reliance, is essential to a democratic republic or it will turn into a socialist state. People who seek power prey on those who seek guaranteed security. Democracy requires self-reliance, courage, faith, endurance, patience, preparation, hard work, accountability, and individual responsibility. As Emerson said, “It may be safely trusted as proportionate and of good issues, so it be faithfully imparted, but God will not have his work made manifest by cowards.”The possibility of failure is inherent in self-reliance. Only through opposition can growth occur.  It is a law of nature. When citizens start looking to government for entitlements, handouts, bailouts, parity, special privileges, and guaranteed equity, then it spells the end of democracy and the beginning of totalitarianism. The few rule the many. Democracy is built upon the idea so eloquently set forth by Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address: Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.   The right to succeed comes with the right to fail.Faith in others makes a free market possible. We are all children of God and come to earth with special gifts. We may call them talents. In the eyes of God, we are all equal, it is the order of heaven; however, because we have freewill, freedom, liberty, and agency, we have enormous diversity. Diversity of gifts is also essential to a free market system: diversity in wealth, diversity in talent, diversity in skills, diversity in desires, diversity in professions, diversity in education.