Self-possession

Essays — First Series primary

Emerson continues, saying mutual peace and respect come only when each person stands for the whole world in dialogue; friendship should be approached with silence, waiting, and self-belonging rather than forced arrangements.

self-possession vitiates, in my judgment, the entire relation. There can never be deep peace between two spirits, never mutual respect, until in their dialogue each stands for the whole world. What is so great as friendship, let us carry with what grandeur of spirit we can. Let us be silent,—so we may hear the whisper of the gods. Let us not interfere. Who set you to cast about what you should say to the select soul…