Isle of Skye

Be brave and true to yourself. Put your heart into your work. Do these things with sincerity and you come nearer to being what you truly are: A singular expression of all existence — a genius, a creator, a redeemer, a healer, a teacher, a force for good in the world. Trust yourself — not your petty self, but that Self you touch in blissful solitude on quiet walks in the mountains, that Self you feel when you are at your highest best. Completely accept your current situation — the place and time you live in. Accept it and make something magnificent with it. There is no better time. There is nothing to wish for. Genius and wisdom arise when you see that the source of existence is in your heart and works through your hands. You are not a victim of life. You have a destiny, a part to play in this awesome universal battle between good and evil. Look at children. They trust their own impression. They haven't learned to calculate how many people oppose their purposes and so they don't...

"Good painters don't paint like this. But I paint like this." And it's okay to paint the way you paint because imitation is suicide. It is unbelievably hot today: it's now almost 9 pm and it's positively sweltering. Oh, how I miss the London weather, rain and all. The London summer is good for someone like myself, it's the winter that drags me down. And I'm not going to ever be one of those types of people who can spend 6 months here and six months there. Forget the fact that I'm dirt poor, it wouldn't be environmentally sound at all. So Rogerian theory tells us to be who we are, not to please others, not as we 'ought' to be. Be the fluid process of who we are in this moment and embrace all the contradictions this being entails. That's almost exactly what Emerson is saying in his essay. Be who you are in the moment, forgetting all of who you were before. But, what happens when you are trying to be 'in the moment of being...

On Self Reliance Ralph Waldo Emerson THE OTHER DAY, I read some original statements written by a famous painter. Whenever I read something truly original, I get a feeling. That feeling is far more valuable than the statements themselves. The feeling fills me with a recognition of a profound truth: That genius is simply to "believe your own thought." "To believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all [people]." Speak what is true for you, and it will almost always resonate in others. The voice in your own mind is so familiar to you that you give it no respect. Instead, you give too much weight to the thought of others — your neighbors, your teachers, or some great thinker from the past. But what makes great thinkers great is that they didn't disregard their own thought. They expressed what they truly thought; they listened to their own voice. You must learn to detect the light that shines from within and pay it more respect than ...