“It is easy to live for others; everybody does. I call on you to live for yourselves.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
For a long time I couldn’t understand that quote by Emerson. Emerson has always been one of my true heroes, but what is he saying here? Be selfish? Self-obsessed? Narcissistic?
Then I got it. He was NOT saying “don’t serve and love and contribute” to others. He was saying don’t live for them….for their approval, to please them, to win them over and derive my sense of worth from their opinion of me. I got it. Live for me, from me, from the kingdom of heaven within. Like the wise man said.
Steve
