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Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882

"Representative Men"


Our religion is the love and cherishing of these patrons. The gods of
fable are the shining moments of great men. We run all our vessels
into one mould. Our colossal theologies of Judaism, Christism, Buddhism,
Mahometism, are the necessary and structural action of the human mind.
The student of history is like a man going into a warehouse to buy
cloths or carpets. He fancies he has a new article. If he go to the
factory, he shall find that his new stuff still repeats the scrolls
and rosettes which are found on the interior walls of the pyramids of
Thebes. Our theism is the purification of the human mind. Man can
paint, or make, or think nothing but man. He believes that the great
material elements had their origin from his thought. And our philosophy
finds one essence collected or distributed.
If now we proceed to inquire into the kinds of service we derive from
others, let us be warned of the danger of modern studies, and begin
low enough. We must not contend against love, or deny the substantial
existence of other people. I know not what would happen to us. We have
social strengths.


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