The+Transcendentalists

Inspired by Emerson's //Self-Reliance//

In Emerson’s //Self-Reliance// he says “Imitation is Suicide”. What does this actually mean? Everyone has different opinions and perspectives on life but imitation is suicide explains how one can find themselves not being the person they originally wanted to be. Many people in life today are afraid to be themselves because of what others think. In life, you constantly have people telling you what to do and basically try to run your life their way. Once you start opening your life to others you find yourself lost in a made up world you didn’t know could ever exist because all you are worried about is fitting in with the rest of the world.

“Society in conspiracy against manhood of every one of its members” was written in Self-Reliance by Emerson. We go through life going through the motions. We follow what everyone thinks is right and are too afraid to stand out from the rest of the world. Society has everyone’s lives planned out whether they know it or not. Society doesn’t want us going out of system from past generations. It wants everyone to live the life that it wants and not what we want. In general most people go to school, then go to college, get a job, get married and buy a nice fancy house. Society wants everyone perfect and life just isn’t like that. We are human and are not all perfect that is not how God wanted us to live. No one tells you, you have to go to college right after school then get a job right away or even get married. Break away from being just another face in the crowd and do things the way you want them to be done. Be the person you know you want to be, not the person society tells you to be.

As we mentioned God wanted us to live life to the fullest and make the best of it. You only live once and you must accept life the no matter what way it is thrown at you and life will get better. He put us here for a reason; he all gave us something we excel at whether someone excels at sports or someone who excels in academics. No one in the world is alike no matter what the situation is. He made us all special and unique in our own way to fulfill the responsibilities and duties of ourselves. If we choose not to use our individuality for the right reasons who are we? If we choose to follow in everyone’s footsteps and not take the risk of standing out from the rest of the world, we have become a false identity to the world. Therefore, your individuality is all gone and it changes your life from being real to a false pretense.

The previous subjects are all based on “Imitation to Suicide”. The definition of imitation is the act of copying. The definition of suicide is to kill yourself. Now when Emerson wrote this he didn’t literally mean kill yourself. He means that the act of imitation someone else can cost you your own identity. If you lived in someone else shoes your whole life you are not going to be able to who you are. You may find yourself one day asking yourself who am I? What is my role? What am I doing? By following in someone else’s shoes and living their life you lose your identity and the personal you. You miss out on all the things YOU loved whether it was the way you dressed, or what you liked to do. But when reality hits you, you do not know what to do because all your life you’ve been trying to be a person you’re not.

In Conclusion “Imitation is Suicide” actually means more that what it is actually saying. Live life the way you want to live it, and make the best out of it always. Be the real person you want to be and not just some false pretense, because sooner or later you will find yourself lost amongst the other pretenders in the world. Do what you want and not what others want. Just be yourself and live the way you want to live. It will make a difference in the long run, and that is what will separate yourself from being known as you or pretender.

“ Meant To Live”  1. "We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? Somewhere we live inside Somewhere we live inside We were meant to live for so much more Have we lost ourselves? Somewhere we live inside" - Switch foot written by: Jonathan Foreman and Timothy David Foreman In "meant to live", switchfoot is portraying to us that we are to live for so much more than what we actually do live for. It also explains how one can find themselves because there is a someone in everyone you just have to find yourself, because in society people are to worried about doing what society is telling them and people become lost and when they wind up not happy they try finding themselves from being lost. “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” I'd like to see them spend a week Livin' life out on the street I don't think they would survive If they could spend a day or two Walking in someone else's shoes I think they'd stumble and they fall (they would fall, fall) - Good Charlotte written by: Benjamin Combs and Joel Combs

In this verse of “Lifestyles of the rich and famous” Good Charlotte is trying to explain being rich and famous always doesn’t make someone happy. Being famous and rich you have the ability to have other people do your work for you. They then miss out on the basic needs of life and wouldn’t be able to survive living a normal lifestyle without all there materialistic needs.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; msoansilanguage: EN-US; msoasciithemefont: minor-latin; msobidifontfamily: 'Times New Roman'; msobidilanguage: AR-SA; msobidithemefont: minor-bidi; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msofareastlanguage: EN-US; msofareastthemefont: minor-latin; msohansithemefont: minor-latin; msotabcount: 1;"> “ American Idiot” Welcome to a new kind of tension. All across the alien nation. Where Everything isn't meant to be okay. Television dreams of tomorrow. We're not the ones who're meant to follow. Well that's enough to argue.” -  Greenday written by: Billie Joe, Michael Pritchard, and Frank Wright In “American Idiot” Greenday is saying be a rebel and don't support things just because TV and internet tell you to, and that is what society wants us to do. Its saying be yourself and think things over for yourself, and dare to stand out from the rest of the world instead of following society and what it wants you to do.