SELF-RELIANCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2009, 25 August 1892, Page 39

SELF-RELIANCE.

By S. 0. C. This above all : to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.

A great faulb of the present age is the want of independence. Men's minds run too much in a fixed groove. Instead of being free to act and think, they are unconsciously governed by society.

We lack men of originality, who are not afraid of their fellow-men, who are not continually held in restraint by the fear of their fellow- creatures ridiculing or condemning their actions. There is too much hojlowness and sham in the world, too mush striving to please one's neighbours, and in trying to do so self is forgotten. We lose our individuality, and become an indissoluble part of the community, How much more good work and what new ideas might be launched into the worjd bad all men the courage to express their opinions and followed out Emerson's rule — " What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the peopls think." The majority of men nowadays look upon the latter portion of this rule as of more importance by far than the former, and. are afraid to give vent to any novel ideas lest society should mock them. Absurd as it may seem, most men are afraid of each other, and so, to avoid incurring the displeasure of others, we bury our individuality and fall in with the crowd. How many men, when in the zenith of their youth, have felt some spontaneous impression, which for want of self-confidence and fear of ridicule, they have refrained from giving expression to? What if the world jeer at you ? If your impression is wrong you will be corrected, and so 3 ou will gain the truth; but if it turns out after all that you Were right, men will be compelled to respect you in the end. Put more trust in yourself and do not fear public opinion. Suppose Herschel had not had self-confidence when his neighbours said he was clearly going on the road to ruin with his foolish, good-for-nothing star-gazing, because he bad turned his house at Bath into a workshop, with a big lathe in a bedroom, and a carpenter making a telescope tube and stands in the drawing-room that was sacred to his music pupils. Suppose he had been influenced by his neighbours, would the world not have lost one of the greatest astonomers that ever lived ? If you have confidence in yourself others will place confidence in yon. Do not let the desire to please others lead you into the error of agreeing with every opinion you hear. Weigh the subject of conversation in your mind (if it is worth it, if not do not converse upon it), and express your independent views on same. You may rest assured that these will be better appreciated by your friends than would be a simple^acquiscence in everything they say. Emerson, in speaking of this want of courage of one's opinion in the present day, gives us the following : — " We come to wear one cut of face and figure, and acquire by degrees the gentlest assinine expression. There is a mortifying experience in particular, which does not fail to wreak itself also in the general history ; I mean ' the foolish face of praise,' the forced smile wnieh we put on in company where we do not feel at ease in answer to conversation which does not interest us. The muscles, not spontaneously moved, but moved by a low usurping wilfulness, grow tight about the outline of the face with the most disagreeable sensation." Who has not met people of this well meaning but mistaken class, who,' in their desire to appear nice' and please their fiiends, agree with them in every particular 1 We would not, however, go ag far as JJmerspu does when he says* 1 A great man is coming to eat at my house. Ido not ■wish to please him : I wish that he should wish to please me." There is too much selfish* ness in this, Then suppose the great man who is visiting should be of the same mind the meeting would not be very entertaining. They 'could very easily pleaae each other, and still express their conscientious belief, even though their views differed widely, and each might gain information from the other. '

The way to obtain this confidence in our own opinions is by exercising our minds a little more. A man who has a thorough grasp of any subjects can express his ideas confidently on them, and is not afraid of those ideas being discussed. Do not fear adverse criticism. I suppose there has never yet lived a great man who has escaped this. Of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, Macaulay says : — "He was undoubtedly a great man. But his was not a oomplete and well-proportioned greatness. . . . His opinions were unfixed. . . . He was .extremely affected." Of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, the same author says : " His mind was a bundle of inconsistent whims and affectations." And hundreds of similar cases could be cited: tbe mere fact of one becoming prominent by his actions makes him a target for unfavourable criticism. This, however, is no proof that his actions are wrong. Time alone will test their value.