Patience is a Virtue

"I know that the world I converse with in the city and in the farms, is not the world I think. I observe that difference and shall observe it. One day, I shall know the value and law of this discrepance. But I have not found that much was gained by manipular attempts to realize the world of thought. Many eager persons successively make an experiment in this way, and make themselves ridiculous. They acquire democratic manners, they foam at the mouth, they hate and deny. Worse, I observe, that, in the history of mankind, there is never a solitary example of success, — taking their own tests of success. I say this polemically, or in reply to the inquiry, why not realize your world? But far be from me the despair which prejudges the law by a paltry empiricism, — since there never was a right endeavor, but it succeeded. Patience and patience, we shall win at the last. We must be very suspicious of the deceptions of the element of time. It takes a good deal of time to eat or to sleep, or to earn a hundred dollars, and a very little time to entertain a hope and an insight which becomes the light of our life. We dress our garden, eat our dinners, discuss the household with our wives, and these things make no impression, are forgotten next week; but in the solitude to which every man is always returning, he has a sanity and revelations, which in his passage into new worlds he will carry with him. Never mind the ridicule, never mind the defeat: up again, old heart! — it seems to say, — there is victory yet for all justice; and the true romance which the world exists to realize, will be the transformation of genius into practical power."

For me, personally, Emerson’s best performance with his text is the final paragraph of “Experience.” Throughout the essay he lures his readers in with his thoughts and arguments, and in fact, there were many passages that struck me. The way in which he elaborates his text with counterarguments and examples forces his readers to consider his notions, relate them to their own experiences, and form their own opinions based on what they read. This just goes back to what it means to be a true scholar, and Emerson’s views on using books and others’ thoughts not as a way of life, but as a springboard for one’s own inspiration. In this final paragraph, it seems to me that Emerson, though clearly willing to tell the world his thoughts, admits that he does not actually know the value of life as he thinks he knows it. While Emerson himself is on a quest to understand the “world of thought,” he recognizes that only patience and time will reveal all. Throughout this text, Emerson pulls us along, intriguing us with his seemingly all-knowing insights and answers. Just then, in the very last paragraph of his essay, he reveals himself as ordinary. He seems to relate himself to regular people, those who “dress our garden, eat our dinners, discuss the household with our wives, and these things make no impression, are forgotten next week.” However, he goes on to say, “But in the solitude to which every man is still returning, he has a sanity and revelations, which in his passage into new worlds he will carry with him.” Here, Emerson reminds his readers that philosophers are humans, too. We all must go through the monotony of daily life paying little or no attention to tasks such as those aforementioned. However, we all return to our thoughts and are able to dwell on them no matter how much time has passed since last doing so. It is an intrinsic part of human nature to attempt to answer questions. Emerson, a great philosopher, seems to be admitting here that he must remember to surrender himself to the power of time, for it is only time that will reveal the answers of itself. He says, “I know that the world I converse with in the city and in the farms, is not the world I think…. One day, I shall know the value and law of this discrepance.” For now all he can do is be patient and simply pose beliefs and opinions on what appears to be true based on his experiences right now; he cannot manipulate his way through life to seek answers or truth or to alter or predict experiences, which is a timeless lesson, or a source of inspiration, for all of us.