Critical Emersonianism

Learning to trust Emerson is not easy, particularly when one has observed how smoothly his aphorisms fit into the self-justifying patter of the capitalist, of the Neo-Con. Certainly those lines are wrenched from their context--but still...It is clear that the Concord Sage's wisdom cuts more than one way.

When he tells us that if we but find the oldest and deepest part of ourselves we cannot go wrong--we want to believe him. For this is the ancient gnostic gospel that whispers to us from we know not where. But how many monsters have we witnessed do just that--trust the "oldest and deepest part" of themselves and, in the process, inflict untold suffering and ruin upon the innocent?

And what exactly is the "oldest and deepest part," and how shall we know it? And how can we be certain that it is trustworthy?

The true Emersonian--the Emersonian worthy of the name--is critical. Here we may look to someone like Ralph Waldo Ellison as a model and a guide. Ellison was an Emersonian with eyes wide open. He embraced his namesake, even as he acted to correct the deficiencies of his insular, white American world.