“Self-trust is the essence of heroism.” Ralph Waldo Emerson – Self-Trust

Transcript

Introduction: 0:00 

Hello, Steve and Dan Fouts here. We’re veteran educators from Illinois who’ve  created the Teach Different podcast to model how to have unforgettable  conversations using a super simple 3-step method and quotes from the world’s great thinkers. This method works with students of all ages, in all types of classrooms, and in online or face-to-face environments. So, if  you’re a teacher, administrator, social emotional learning specialist, or anybody who loves the art of conversations, you’ve come to the right place.  

Dan Fouts: 0:36 

Well, hello everybody. Welcome to the Teach Different podcast. This week we have a very interesting quote from American transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson. His quote is on trust and heroism. We’re going to get to his quote in a minute, but first we’ll review The Teach Different method for conversation. We introduce the quote, then we talk about what Emerson meant by this really provocative quote on trust and heroism, then about halfway through, we’ll share some other perspectives, what we call the counterclaim. We wrap up with an essential question to keep us thinking about what we talked about today. 

So welcome, everybody. Let’s begin with his quote on trust and heroism, “Self-trust is the essence of heroism.”  This comes from one of his 1841 essays that was called heroism. “Self-trust is the essence of heroism.” Would anyone like to weigh in with their thoughts?

Josh Flug: 2:20 – Claim

Well, this is Josh Flug. I’m a Spanish teacher at Chanhassen High School in Chanhassen, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities. I teach Spanish 3 in  AP Spanish. At the 3 level, we don’t have many opportunities to discuss things as deeply as this in the language, but it’s something maybe we could use. But, before I get into that, what I was thinking he was saying here is that belief in oneself gives us the tools we need to do something heroic. I could expand on that a little bit later, but that’s the basic thought that I had. 

Dan Fouts: 3:00 

I like that, a belief in oneself.  Emerson, as a transcendentalist philosopher in  American literature, was all about relying on yourself. Is your thinking about the world, what you can count on, what makes you happy, and what makes you fulfilled? It all starts with a trust of the self.  It’s interesting that he says it’s a heroic act.  What do you guys think about him calling it heroic? He’s almost admitting that it’s very difficult to trust yourself. Do you guys have the same read on that? 

Joanna Wassillie: 3:50 

Hi, I’m Joanna. I am a seventh through 12th grade Language Arts and Social Studies teacher in a small school, in the Bering Strait School District in Alaska.  I teach mainly social studies, but I teach a little bit of everything. I was thinking about the whole transcendentalism aspect of this. When I think of transcendentalists, they seem to be really big on awareness and the natural innate awareness that people can have. When he says self-trust is the essence of heroism, I think a  transcendentalist view would be that we have it within us. It’s an innate part of who we are. When we have self-trust we believe that it’s there already, and we just have to believe in what we already have.

Steve Fouts: 4:54 

I really like that as a way to think about this, Joanna. It’s something innate in us. If we want to be our best selves, if we want to be heroes, then we have to get in  touch with that. If we live our lives for other people, or if we’re always worried about what other people think about us, then we’re relying on other people for our own self-concept and our own confidence. We’re definitely not heroes, and we’re not living our best life. I like the way you put it. I think that’s what he’s conveying, the importance of what we already have inside. 

Josh Flug: 5:44 

I agree. If you’re going to take action, then you have to take action with what you’ve got at that time. That may be something from experience or that may be your own personal experience. All we really know are the things that we have experienced. At some point, you have to take action. That’s where heroism comes from. In my mind, you can be planful about it, like a firefighter gets into a career where they’re going to do heroic things, for example, but in the moment, you have to take action. For me, there’s an element of action here with heroism. 

Joanna Wassillie: 6:25 

I was just thinking of that. I don’t know if it’s the semantics of the word heroism that’s really tripping me up, but I’m wondering how much of this was meant to be a state of mind or a state of being heroic? Or, is he focusing on acting out on heroism? Does it have to be acted out in order for it to be considered heroism? I was sort of stuck wondering at what point does it stop being an essence inside of us and become an actual recognizable act? Do we need to act out on it for it to be heroism? I’m hung up on the action part.

Josh Flug: 7:14 

So, in essence, stoicism can be a form of heroism, enduring something. Maybe you’re not taking an action, but it’s how you react to something. 

Dan Fouts: 7:27 

A state of mind is the heroism of it, not necessarily action. I never thought about it that way. My mind is going back to last week’s conversation on Rosa Parks. She took action by not giving up her seat on the bus. She had to have a certain level of self-trust in order to do that. But, then that’s thinking that the action has to be part of the heroism. I think this conversation on self-trust could be used in the curriculum for the Rosa Parks Montgomery Bus Boycott as a starter, before you begin the lesson about the actions of civil rights leaders that require self-trust. 

Steve Fouts: 8:23 

You’ve all made me think that Ralph Waldo Emerson might have thought a hero could live on a mountain alone. You don’t have to be a superhero, saving the day and interacting with people. You could literally be a hero if you believed in it. I don’t know if I agree with that, but I’m trying to do justice to his quote here. How do you think the students would take to a quote like this? How would they understand self-trust and heroism? I think those are the big words. How would they react to this? 

Joanna Wassillie: 9:16 

With my students, when they think of self-trust, they tend to want to know where the boundaries are. They want to know the limits, and what’s in it for them or what are the conditions. If we say you have to trust yourself, they’ll have to know under what conditions. Is it dangerous? Is it set up where I might lose something? For them there’s always a qualitative aspect to the way they tend to look at things. How will things change if I don’t  succeed? What will I end up losing? They wouldn’t focus on what it takes to have self-trust. I really get that. It’s a very transcendentalist way to focus on something. You have to be self-aware to be self-trusting. 

Steve Fouts: 10:21 

It would probably be easier to ask them, what does a hero mean to you? What’s a hero? I think students would react to that question. It’s a  little bit closer to a superhero, then Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote. That’s my  guess. I don’t know, because I’ve never thought of asking a student what a hero is, to describe what that is. But, I think that would be important to know and a way to get to the claim that he’s making. It would help you decide whether you agree or disagree with it. 

Josh Flug: 11:07 

I posed that question to my students. I’m recalling now that I asked them who do you admire? I think to some degree, that is a hero aspect and might be a way to get at it too, without taking away the hero term. Why do you admire this person or why do you find them heroic? Some kids talked about a parent or someone who has sacrificed something in their lives to benefit them, or to benefit others. They want to model themselves after this person, understanding that they have given some things up to make things better for other people. 

Dan Fouts: 11:53 

So, in that sense, Josh, do you think your students would focus less on the self aspect of heroism and more on the serving of others or sacrificing for others?

Josh Flug: 12:08 

Well, it does call that into question for me. It’s one of the questions I wrote down. Who decides what is heroic? Is it what other people observe someone else doing, or do I do something and say I just did something heroic? Who makes that determination? It’s a question that I need to wrestle with. I didn’t quite answer your question. 

Dan Fouts: 12:36 

So is what you’re saying then, Josh, who is defining heroism? If it’s defined by the individual, then, back to Joanna’s suggestion, maybe it’s a state of mind that you determine for yourself.  You have your own definition of heroism. But, if it’s defined by other people, then that’s different.  Maybe they have to look at your actions in order to then say you’re a hero. 

Joanna Wassillie: 13:07 

My second thought is when you talk about who decides, it makes me think of  the first part of the quote. Instead of saying self-trust, he could have easily said self-confidence. Which would be easier for someone to say, yes, heroes are self-confident. But, he said self-trust, which makes it totally different to me in how I’m looking at it and defining it. But I would like to see what happens with my students when we exchange the words, and how the nuances of the semantics change how we look at something and define it. I could see myself exchanging confidence for trust and saying, okay, how much does this change the semantics? 

Steve Fouts: 14:00 

That’s a great thought experiment. Whenever you can bring it down to the level that the students are more used to,  you get more engagement, at least in the beginning. Joanna, I feel like you might have moved us closer to the counterclaim with your idea of replacing a word to understand the meaning of this claim. What is another perspective that is believable or credible that would call into question what Emerson is trying to say about self-trust, or about heroism? What is a counterclaim to this? 

Joanna Wassillie: 14:50 – Counterclaim

I guess the easiest one might be that you could be a hero without having self-trust. You could be an accidental hero, somebody who bumbles into doing something that other people say, oh, wow, that was really brave of you to do that. 

Dan Fouts: 15:08 

Interesting. Back to the state of mind versus action. If you think of it as an action,  then you might bumble into a situation and actually do something that would be  considered heroic. 

Josh Flug: 15:22 

That takes me back to a movie called “Hero.” Did anybody see that movie with  Dustin Hoffman? He is on a plane that is going down, and crashes. He saves all these people, but he’s really doing it because he’s trying to help himself. He’s an accidental hero. The movie is about the theme of heroism, and how he bumbles into it. He is the opposite of a person who is heroic, and he did not intend to be one. But, he also didn’t take credit for it. So, in a way, he did become her rock. Sorry, if I spoiled the movie for people, but it’s like 25-30 years old. I think part of  the counterclaim could be, is it more heroic if you don’t trust yourself, and yet you still act? 

Dan Fouts: 16:21 

In other words, you take a risk or a chance when you might not have the confidence and trust in yourself. You say, to heck with this, I’m going to try this anyway, because it’s more important to do this than it is to fixate on the fact that I’m afraid. 

Josh Flug: 16:42 

Right, that is what I’m saying. But, I also think that in a way it supports Emerson’s quote, because you trust your instinct, values or morals to make that choice. So, maybe you don’t trust your abilities or whether you can pull it off. But there is another element that you are trusting, 

Dan Fouts: 17:04 

Emerson would have liked that comeback, Josh. 

Joanna Wassillie: 17:08 

So basically you’re saying that he would be all for that “to thine own self be true” approach to heroism. If you do that, everything will be great.  Everything will work out the way it’s meant to, because we are innately good, and we will innately do the right thing, if we could only trust in that. I do need help with  getting to the counterclaim part. 

Josh Flug: 17:35 

Maybe one element of a counterclaim could be, can a collective group be heroic,  not just one individual. Can we be emboldened to take heroic action by the actions of others around us? I’m thinking of marches, protests, or black lives matter. People finding strength and voice in numbers, and being able to make change that way and do something heroic, knowing that it could be something that could be problematic for them. 

Dan Fouts: 18:14 

That made me think of when I taught American history.  In a battle, the whole idea of heroism is that you’re relying on your comrades. You’re relying on the group, and not just on yourself. There’s something larger that you’re plugging into. It’s giving you the courage and the wherewithal to endure. I’m trying to go with your idea, Josh, by applying it to a battle. 

Josh Flug: 18:55 

Yeah, I think that makes sense. That’s another good example. I think a comeback would be that you can’t have that collective if the individual won’t take that first step to join. 

Joanna Wassillie: 19:10 

I just realized that I’m having a very different understanding of this quote. I come from a culture that is very group oriented, you’re always thinking of the collective good, what is best for the community. That’s how our people survive. If we hunt together, then we will have enough food and we’ll be able to feed everyone. We’re a very group-oriented type of people. It’s a lot harder for my students to  think of breaking away from the group. It’s so ingrained in us that we need to cooperate. I think I finally realized that they struggle with some of the scenarios I lay before them, because it goes so much against our cultural practices and philosophies. 

Dan Fouts: 20:06 

Do you think having your students engage with Emerson’s quote would be good for them to see the individual perspective, not just the collective? 

Joanna Wassillie: 20:21 

I have wonderful, individually strong students. Students who like to be individual. But, when they think of things being done for heroic reasons, they tend to think of that as being a group thing. For them, it would be really unusual to think of someone not wanting to be good and do the group thing. They’re sort of sheltered up here, living the way we do. I’ve been trying to talk about Black Lives Matter and the growth in hate crimes against certain groups, and it’s been really hard to explain it to some of them or for them to realize the true horrific pain and violence that is being inflicted upon people. They just don’t see it here in a village of 225 people. 

Steve Fouts: 21:27 

Joanna, what if you asked them, who are your heroes? What kinds of things do you think they would say? 

Joanna Wassillie: 21:39 

I went over some of it last year with my middle schoolers, and I got some really good answers. They said their parents, some of them chose their grandmothers or their grandfathers for providing for their families, or their dad for going out and weathering storms and the ocean to bring food back home. They do have a lot of local examples of heroism. I very rarely got answers from a national or international level. I think it was harder for them to think that far out. It’s really good to have these conversations, because when I get them when they’re in high school, and we want to look at epics, and what is the heroic journey, they need to be able to think in a really broad way of what makes a hero. Focusing on the essence of heroism, and what it is through quotes like this will be really useful for them. Not only in looking at history, but looking at anything in language arts. 

Steve Fouts: 23:01 

Yeah, I think the word hero is a rich word for a conversation with students of any age. It’s a good hitching post for a quote like this. Self-trust is a little bit of a deeper dive. What does that mean?

Dan Fouts: 23:20 – Essential Question

Yeah, because the heroism question, who are your heroes, reveals the values of your students. It reveals who they are as  people. It’s a great question for getting to know your students. That makes me think this might be a really good conversation at the beginning of the year, to explore the idea of what is a hero. If that’s the angle you want to take. 

Well, this has been really interesting. Thank you, everybody for a really invigorating conversation. I think we’re walking away with some ideas on how we might use this kind of conversation with our students. Whether we think about the idea of self-trust, the individual focus, or on the collective. Then we also have the question, what is a hero? Maybe one essential question that can come from this is what makes somebody a hero?  

Postscript: 24:26 

Thanks, everybody. We hope you’re walking away feeling energized by some great ideas, and are confident that conversations like this are possible. It’s just a little bit of planning and a three-step method. Make sure you visit our Conversation Library and try out some conversations we have ready for you. Don’t forget to teach different with conversations and make a difference every day.