Drinking In Emerson

The last two years have been full of taking Emerson breaks.  Not coffee or tea breaks, well maybe those to, but taking time by myself to sit quietly and ingest Ralph Waldo Emerson. My favorite is of his essays is Self Reliance.  Many years ago, maybe ten, I took a trip to Concord Massachusetts and toured Emerson’s home where I touched his black robe when no one was looking.  I am not sure what I expected to happen, it wasn’t like Jesus touching the hem of the woman’s garment, but I touched it none-the-less and for a moment breathed deeply.  In my imagination I was indulging in an energy transfusion. I went on to take a “Transcendentalist Tour” and was the only one who showed up, which meant I had a history professor turned tour guide all to myself.  Did you know the Transcendentalists believe God is an inner experience and connected with through intuition?  This, now, commonly held belief was revolutionary at the time. Concord was a hotbed of...

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