"Every mind has a new compass, a new direction of its own, differencing its genius and aim from every other mind.--We call this specialty the _bias_ of each individual. And none of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone."
If to follow this native bias is the first rule, the second is concentration.--To the bias of the individual mind must be added the most catholic receptivity for the genius of others.
"Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar? It is this: Every man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him."--
"The man whom we have not seen, in whom no regard of self degraded the adorer of the laws,--who by governing himself governed others; sportive in manner, but inexorable in act; who sees longevity in his cause; whose aim is always distinct to him; who is suffered to be himself in society; who carries fate in his eye;--he it is whom we seek, encouraged in every good hour that here or hereafter he shall he found."
What has Emerson to tell us of "Inspiration?"
"I believe that nothing great or lasting can be done except by inspiration, by leaning on the secret augury.--
"How many sources of inspiration can we count? As many as our affinities. But to a practical purpose we may reckon a few of these."
I will enumerate them briefly as he gives them, but not attempting to reproduce his comments on each:--
1. Health. 2. The experience of writing letters. 3. The renewed sensibility which comes after seasons of decay or eclipse of the faculties. 4. The power of the will. 5. Atmospheric causes, especially the influence of morning. 6. Solitary converse with nature. 7. Solitude of itself, like that of a country inn in summer, and of a city hotel in winter. 8. Conversation. 9. New poetry; by which, he says, he means chiefly old poetry that is new to the reader.
"Every book is good to read which sets the reader in a working mood."
What can promise more than an Essay by Emerson on "Immortality"? It is to be feared that many readers will transfer this note of interrogation to the Essay itself. What is the definite belief of Emerson as expressed in this discourse,--what does it mean? We must tack together such sentences as we can find that will stand for an answer:--