I ran across the following Ralph Waldo Emerson quote today while listening to an audio recording of his classic, Self Reliance. I've included a video of an excellent audio reading of the book directly below the quote. My impression is that this quote captured Emerson's own experience and impression of Going Alone. I know that he spent much time alone in the wild near his home in Concord, Massachusetts and I suspect he had his own share of encounters with the absence I call The Great Indifference.
"When good is near you, when you have life in yourself, it is not by any known or accustomed way; you shall not discern the foot-prints of any other; you shall not see the face of man; you shall not hear any name; the way, the thought, the good, shall be wholly strange and new. It shall exclude example and experience."
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.
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