image without illusion

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Image without Illusion: Emerson's View of the ScholarAuthor(s): Lloyd P. WilliamsSource: Peabody Journal of Education, Vol. 39, No. 6 (May, 1962), pp. 334-340Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1490087Accessed: 24/11/2010 06:57

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I m a g e W it h o u t Illusion-EmersonV i e w o f t h e S c h o l a r

LLOYD P. WILLIAMSThe University of Oklahoma

IWhensubjected o fair appraisal,therecan be no doubtthat RalphWaldoEmerson's ich contributiono American ntellectualhistoryhasdone much to help us achievematurity. Amongthe many subjectstowhich he broughta clear andundeceivedmind was that of the scholar-his characteristics nd his functions. Depictingthe attributesandduties of the scholar with incisive simplicity,Emersonputs many ofus who teach to shame for our failure to recognizeand to challengethe banalism and the trivialism of the age.With a forthrightnessthat distresses the fainthearted,Emersonenumerates he characteristics f the genuine scholar. And they areseveral. In the first instance he scholar must be willing to work. Hewho does not serve an apprenticeship, wherein he learns the secrets of

labor, can never become a master. All intellectual endeavor is de-manding and the youthful, aspiring scholar is well advised to under-stand that the maintenance of a family involves a drain upon strengthso great as to disqualify one for serious intellectual accomplishment(MR, I, 230). Scholarship must, therefore, come before family; sweatmust come before comfort and the luxuries of life; toil is the key tosuccess and he who would achieve it must "not refuse to bear the yokein his youth . . ." (LE, I, 175). The scholar must understand that"labor, iron labor, is for him" (G, VIII, 295).

Of equal importance, the scholar must be heroic. He must under-stand that heroism can take many forms, and although it is difficult toachieve, it is no less available to the scholar in the quiet of a studythan to the sailor on the high seas. There is heroism in the life of thescholar when he singles out his task, sticks to it, and thinks his ownhigh thoughts (G, VIII, 288). "Heroism," first published with the

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Essays in 1841, restatesthe self-reliancethesis in a differentframe-workbut frequently n more poetic language. Toward he end of theessay, Emersonpointstheway onceagainfor those,includingscholars,who would find peace yet who wouldbe heroic. PostulatedEmerson,"I see not any road of perfectpeace which a man can walk, but afterthe counsel of his own bosom. Let him quit too muchassociation, ethimgo homemuch,andestablishhimselfin thosecourseshe approves"(I, 247).

Further,the scholar must be indifferent o the lure of popularity,to the seductiveappeal of materialpossessions. He mustgive up forgoodand all the idea that whatthe mass of menthinkshould influencehim. The mass of men are incapableof guessingwhat a great manis up to. Naivelyto yield to publicpressure,uncritically o take theirvalues, is the sure road to mediocrity (A, X, 62-3). At the full tideof fame Emersondelivered an address, "The Scholar" (not to beconfusedwith his famounsPhi Beta Kappa oration, "The AmericanScholar,"deliverednine years before), at the Universityof Virginia.Herein he warnedus of whatthe scholarmust bear. The trainingofthe scholar should emphasizepatience-necessarily so-for financialneglect, psychological solation,exhaustion, rustration,and overt in-sult frequentlyawait the man who devotes his life disinterestedly otruth and to letters. The scholar must, therefore,learn to "ride atanchorand vanquishevery enemywhomhis small arms cannotreach,by the grandresistanceof submission,of ceasingto do" (X, 271-2).In youthfulAmerica,to find shades of thoughtanticipatingGandhi'sdoctrineof non-resistance,he suspensionof activity, as well as ananticipationof Veblen's more acidulously enunciatedtheory of the"conscientiouswithdrawalof support," s refreshing.

In addition,the scholarmustcherish solitude. He mustnot foreverbe hankeringafter the crowd,fearful of being alone; ratherhe mustlove long momentsof quiet isolationwhereinhis embryonic houghtshave time to flowerand to crystallize. That the scholar must workalone is powerfully stated in one of Emerson'sfinest essays. Thescholar, he observed, ". . . must be a solitary, laborious, modest, andcharitable soul. He must embrace solitude as a bride. He must havehis glees and his glooms alone. His own estimate must be measure

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enough,his own praise rewardenoughfor him. And why must thestudentbe solitaryand silent? That he may becomeacquaintedwithhis thought. If he pines in a lonely place, hankeringfor the crowd,for display, he is not in the lonely place; his heart is in the market;he does not see; he does not hear; he does not think. But go cherishyour soul; expel companions;set your habits to a life of solitude;thenwill the facultiesrise fair and full within. . ." (LE, 168). Thehistorical record is abundant estimony hat greatmen-Plato, Archi-medes, Newton,and Miltonto cite a few-live apartfrom the crowdbut on occasioncome into it with a messagethat enriches the vapidfatuityof the existenceof the massesand encourages he disconsolate.Not only mustthe scholarhave solitude,but also the wise teacherwillsee to it thathis pupils learn to be alone and develophabits of livingandthinkingconducive o the solitary,reflective ife. Writingwith anunnaturalsarcasm,but with typical frankness,Emersonsuggeststhatif the universityservesno otheruseful functionat least it providesthestudentwith a room and a fire separatefrom the incessantand dis-ruptivechaosof collegiatelife (C, VI, 150).

Finally, the scholarmust be both brave and free. Paradoxically,Emerson saw freedom as both a condition and a consequenceofscholarship.Oneyear to the day after his Phi BetaKappaaddress,heexpressedthis latter sentiment n his Journals. Recordedthe thirty-five-year-oldEmerson,"I am convinced hat if a man will be a truescholarhe shall haveperfectfreedom"(5, 31). The formersentimentis expressedwhen he says, "it is the primary duty of the man ofletters to securehis independence" ML, 240). The man who wouldbe a scholarmustbe not only free but also brave. He mustbe brave,for fear is but the productof ignorance. No limitationshouldbe ad-mittedby the scholaruponhis thoughtand speechsave that whichheimposesupon himself. If a limitationis not the naturalproductof ascholar'sconstitution, hen it should be resisted. The scholar's classis not a protectedone, and the scholarhimself must not thinkthatbyavoidingissues and controversy r by placinghis head in the sandhecansurvive. Behavior o conceivedcanlead to nothingbutan illusory,temporarypeace (AS, 104). And the courage to live comes frombeing a spiritual person. The scholarwho has only literary weapons

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at his disposalis vulnerable."Memory,practical alent,goodmanners,temper, ion-courage re all goodthings." Butthey mustbe accountedsuperficial f the scholar is not spiritual (J, 7, 76-7).

IISpeaking at DartmouthCollege in 1838, Emerson identified thefortunateman, the man honoredby the Muses, as the scholar. ForEmerson, he scholarwasthe favoriteof both heaven andearth,happyabove all men, and the most excellent representativeof his country(LE, 151). How can we further delineate the scholar? He is a man

engagedin thinking;he is not one who reflectsthe thoughtof others,but one who does his own basic thinking (AS, I, 85-6). Necessarilyreflection s a more basic obligationthan action,but no true scholarcan isolate himself from the communityor from his fellow men. Foras Emersondrives homethepoint,the scholarmust be a manof actioneven thoughactionis subordinate o thought(95).What function is this honoredman, the scholar,to perform? Ad-dressing he Phi BetaKappasocietyof Harvard n 1837, he contendedthe scholar must cheerhis fellow man, he must raise his moral tone,he mustbe a guide to mankindby showingwhat is fact in the sea ofappearance.The sameyearhe noted in his Journal(4, 281) essential-ly the same ideas. WroteEmersonof the scholar'sfunction: "He hasan officeto performin Society. What is it? To arouse the intellect;to keepit erectandsound;to keep admirationn the hearts of people;to keep the eye open upon its spiritualaims. How shall he renderthis service? By beinga soul among hosethingswithwhichhe deals."By such action educationfulfills one of its principal aims-makingthe individualprevailover the vicissitudesof circumstanceJ, 5, 441).

Jesus, affirmsEmerson,may be taken as an excellent and trueteacher,for he does what every real teachermust necessarilydo-he leads us to ourselves,he helps us see the divinity of the self.Further, he trueteacherresists the temptation,open to men who maystrategically nfluence he lives of others,to place himselfbetween hestudentand the student'sself-awareness C, X, 99). The true teacherwill not be one to deny God,but ratherwill be one whosespeechandbehavioratteststhe fact that God exists as a manifestpower in the

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universe. He will show us that God is a reality, not a past dream; hewill show us that God speaks now, that he is not one who has spokennever to speak again (DSA, I, 142). A caution is in order. Themature Emerson never considered God in theistic terms. Numerousreferences can be cited to demonstrate this point. Perhaps the mostincisive is from his Journals, written after the death of his first wife,Ellen Louisa Tucker, and during a time when he was reflecting par-ticularly upon the meaning of tragedy in human existence. ObservedEmerson, ". .. I cannot find, when I explore my own consciousness,any truth in saying that God is a person, but the reverse. I feel thatthere is some profanity in saying, He is personal. To represent himas an individual is to shut him out of my consciousness" (4, 405).True teachers are our intimate guides, who also serve to measureour progress. As each of us passes from one lower level of develop-ment to the next higher level, his teachers come more clearly into per-spective, we are then ready to shed them for newer and richer minds.Such are the uses of poets, priests, and philosophers; such the "Usesof Great Men" generally (IV, 37). Self-reliance characterizes notonly the great man but also the great teacher. Emerson's recurringthesis that the great do not imitate necessarily applies to the teacher.The great teacher will not be led astray by imitation but will keep tothe facts. He carries his students from particulars to universals, fromthe immediate to the long range. He introduces them to facts butalways with the intention of minimizing himself so that the fact mayreveal richer and broader experience. No truly great teacher everlets himself personally become a burden to the students he instructs(TML, XII, 182). The real teacher is one of high caliber and superiormentality, who makes himself as the Greeks understood, expendable.He is one who can communicatehimself not by words but by being andby doing. (SL, 144). So oriented, the teacher will bring humility tohis task and will then not overrate what he can do. He will not assumethat he alone is capable of transmittingknowledge. He will realize thathis principal function is that of provoking his students to reflectiveself-dependence. Emerson develops this idea in one of his most in-cisive yet typically Emersonian observations, "Meantime, whilst thedoors of the temple stand open, night and day, before every man, and

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the oracles of this truthcease never; it is guardedby one sterncon-dition; this, namely;it is an intuition. It cannotbe receivedat secondhand. Truly speaking, it is not instructionbut provocation, hat Ican receive from anothersoul" (DSA, I, 126). Here is the very heartof Emerson'seducationalthought. The teacher must provoke thestudent into intellectualindependence,he must provokethe studentso that reliance upon intuitionbecomes habitual and confidenceinit is unshaken. Instructionmay, therefore,be nothingmore than amatterof mechanics-tuition; real education s foundeduponintuition.The functionof educationand scholarship n generalis simply thefunction of the particularscholar writ large. Amongstthe myriadpossibilities, hetrue teachermakesmensee theirrealworthandmakesthemscornthemselves or immoral action (Su, VII, 291). For muchtoo long utilitarianismhas dominatededucation.Educationexists notonly to makepractitioners f the arts and the sciencesbut also to makegood men. Writingin clear terms,but in a spirit alien to the modernpragmatictemper,Emersoneloquentlystates the purposeof formallearningin his delightfullyhereticalessay, "Education":"The greatobjectof Educationshould be commensuratewith the objectof life.It shouldbe a moral one; to teach self-trust:to inspirethe youthfulman with an interestin himself; with a curiosity touchinghis ownnature;to acquainthim with the resourcesof his mind, and to teachhim that there is all his strength,and to inflamewith a piety towardsthe Grand Mind in which he lives. Thus would educationconspirewith the Devine Providence" X, 134). Broadlyconceived,the officeof education s the cultivationof the individualwill (Co, VII, 259).Emersonvividly understood he Greek idea thatcultureeducates ongbefore contemporary nthropologists oughtto pre-empt he "cultureconcept." He realized that individuals rightly employing their in-fluence will enhancesensibilities to the point that moral sentimentwill inspirenot only our principlesbut the law itself (P, III, 195-6).So educated, the individuals of one class will cease to envy thepresumedbenefitsof those in another class (C, VI, 139), and eachwill see thateducationhas the relentlesspurposeof habituatingall tolive with higherthoughts.Thuseachwill think of himself as a bene-factorto the humanracenot a mereunderling(FRA, XI, 389). That

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