[Essay] [Emerson's self-reliance] There will be power not confident but agent.

[nury4u]

Hello, everyone.

I've been reading Self-reliance Emerson wrote.

In the middle of the book, there is a sentence that:
"Inasmuch as the soul is present, there will be power not confident but agent."

Before the sentence, the book says we should trust ourself, not conform to society.
But why does the book say suddenly "there will be power not confident but agent"?

I understood the sentenc such as: as long as the soul in within you, you will have acting power, not confident power.
Does it contradict the opinion that we should thrust ourself ?
Or, does the sentence have any different meaning, not what I understood?

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello, everyone.

I've been reading Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson. [STRIKE]wrote.[/STRIKE]

In the middle of the book, there is a sentence that reads "Inasmuch as the soul is present, there will be power not confident but agent."

Before the sentence, the book says we should trust [STRIKE]ourself[/STRIKE] ourselves, not conform to society. But why does the book say suddenly "... there will be power not confident but agent"?

I understood the sentence [STRIKE]such as[/STRIKE] like this: As long as the soul [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] is within you, you will have acting power, not confident power.Does it contradict the opinion that we should [STRIKE]thrust[/STRIKE] trust [STRIKE]ourself[/STRIKE] ourselves or (no comma here) does the sentence have [STRIKE]any[/STRIKE] a different meaning? [STRIKE]not what I understood?[/STRIKE]

Please note my corrections above.

I'll be honest - I have absolutely no idea what the sentence means!

 

[Tarheel]

I don't see how a piece of writing can happen suddenly.

 

[nury4u]

The paragraph including the sentence above is as follows:
Life only avails, not the having lived. Power ceases in the instant of repose; it resides in the moment of transition from a past to a new state, in the shooting of the gulf, in the darting to an aim. This one fact the world hates, that the soul becomes; for that forever degrades the past, turns all riches to poverty, all reputation to shame, confounds the saint with the rogue, shoves Jesus and Judas equally aside. Why, then, do we prate of self-reliance? Inasmuch as the soul is present, there will be power not confident but agent.

For me, the sentence means that "the power steming from the present soul makes us acting, not bragging."
Do you think it is reasonable?

 

[Tarheel]

No. I see it this way:

The power is not confident. It just is.

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