Emerson, who wrote this in his essay "Self-reliance," is simply saying the following: be yourself. Don't worry about what other people are doing. Don't conform. Do what is right for you.
When he says "envy is ignorance," he means that it is a mistake to be jealous of what another person has or is doing. If you envy another person, it means you are ignorant or unaware of the deepest longings of your own soul....
Emerson, who wrote this in his essay "Self-reliance," is simply saying the following: be yourself. Don't worry about what other people are doing. Don't conform. Do what is right for you.
When he says "envy is ignorance," he means that it is a mistake to be jealous of what another person has or is doing. If you envy another person, it means you are ignorant or unaware of the deepest longings of your own soul. What another person has, or is, has nothing to do with what is right for you. Look inside yourself.
Emerson means the same thing when he writes, "imitation is suicide." When you imitate the life another person is leading, you may not being killing your body, but you are killing your soul. Emerson says that every individual is born with his own unique destiny planted in him by a divine power. Figure out what that destiny is. Follow it, no matter what other people say or do.
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