Ralph Waldo Emerson said, Òfoolish consistency is the
hobgoblin of little minds.Ó[1]
In order to progress towards my goal of distancing myself from mere
consistency, I am continuously stretching myself to become the most progressive
and effective leader possible.
Throughout the course of this class, I have learned about and enhanced
my leadership vision through research of my role model, Ralph Waldo Emerson,
and his writings, discovery learning in Second Life, discussions about
leadership and diversity, and research and application of the Sympathetic
Imagination.
I chose Ralph Waldo Emerson as my role model because of his
Òliterary contributions and his pivotal role in creating the Transcendental
movement.Ó[2]
Emerson has many qualities that I find worthy of emulating, such as his
leadership, his deep intellect, his ability to understand nature, and his
refusal to conform to the norm. Ralph Waldo EmersonÕs youth greatly influenced
his later life and the leader that he eventually became. RalphÕs father was a Unitarian
minister, and Ralph initially studied to follow in his fatherÕs footsteps. At fourteen years old, Ralph began a
higher education at Harvard University and held his first leadership position
as the freshman student body president.
After his time at the University, Ralph became the pastor at the Second
Unitarian Church in Boston, but soon left the ministry because he lost interest
in the rites of Communion. This
crisis of faith led Ralph to explore the spirituality of the individual and
allowed him to critique traditional religious views in order to form his own
theories about life. Hindu and
Buddhist poetry greatly influenced RalphÕs early writing, and a botanical
exhibition in Paris inspired him to live as a Naturalist. One of his greatest literary influences
came from the German Higher Critics, a group of three German men who analyzed
historical records in search of independent confirmation of the events
described in the Bible. Ralph later led many other revolutionary thinkers,
including Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, and Walt Whitman in their work to
create a new American literature, and succeeded through the formation of the
Transcendental movement, which was the source of inspirations for many literary
achievements of the time. Of all of EmersonÕs accomplishments, I am especially
inspired by the bravery Emerson displayed when he broke from the Unitarian
church to become a writer. Even
though his father was a Unitarian minister and Ralph had just begun his career
as a minister, he chose to spend his life working on what he believed in. I think it shows great boldness to
separate yourself from your church and your family, and it is this boldness
that I would like to acquire and incorporate into my leadership roles.
Emerson; Essays and Lectures
Ralph Waldo EmersonÕs most praised
[3]
accomplishments are the literary pieces he created, and they contain a large
amount of inspiration for my leadership vision. EmersonÕs masterpiece, ÒSelf Reliance,Ó is an essay that
often I look to for guidance. It reminds me that continuing to think in the
same way I have always thought will get me nowhere. In order to grow as a
person and as a leader, I have to force myself to strain the way I view life
and the people who surround me. Emerson also stresses the importance of refusing
to conform to the standards of the current times: ÒWhoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.Ó [4] Although conformity is easy, it is the
people who choose to be different and to stand up for what is uncommon who are
remembered after they are gone. To
become a leader, I must strive to not sit idly by when I feel justice is not
being served or when I feel that truth is being ignored. EmersonÕs lecture on the American
Scholar and his essay titled ÒRepresentative MenÓ both give practical advice on
how to advance in life and describe what makes a successful person. Emerson applauds the Scholar for the
bravery he must exhibit to deal with ideas and warns the Scholar to remain
independent in his thinking and judgment. Plato, Swedenburg, Montagaine, Shakespeare,
Napoleon, and Goethe are included in ÒRepresentative MenÓ as examples of heroes
who Ònever shut their eyes.Ó [5]
Emerson looks up to these men because they were always thinking about the
society and their place in the world. I think it is extremely important to not
only study our own role models, but also the people who influenced their
accomplishments. EmersonÕs
appreciation of Plato and Goethe further inspires me to become a leader, and
displays the importance of drawing on past heroes to help formulate my own
ideas. Much like Emerson did, I
want to use a compilation of role models to create my own identity as a leader.
It is very important to me to keep a role model whose ideas come from a diverse
background, as that is how I would like to form my own opinions. The group of
people that I plan to look to for guidance includes Emerson, Victoria Woodhull,
Bobby Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Buddha, and Betty Friedan.
Working on Second Life
The
virtual world, Second Life, has also helped me to form a more complete
leadership vision for any role I encounter in the future. Although I did not enjoy the time that
I spent working on Second Life, I later realized that I accomplished a lot by
choosing to not let the
video [6] game aspect of the project
defeat me. The frustration I felt
when trying to find clothing that was appropriate to the time in which Emerson
lived, and the difficulty I had when trying to
Snapshot of My Avatar
navigate
through Second Life [7]
taught me a lot about learning. I am used to being told what to read and how to
learn; however, Second Life forced me to explore the virtual world and figure
out for myself how to manipulate my avatar. This direct use of Discovery Learning, while exasperating at
the time, has taught me that it is more rewarding to learn something on my own
than by following explicit instructions.
This new approach to learning will help me in my future roles as a
leader because it will change how I implement new ideas and introduce new
concepts to those around me. If I
am given the role of teaching, I will now be more apt to use the Discovery
Learning method, and if I am put in the role of leading a group of my peers
towards a common goal, I will be less likely to give concrete directions and
more likely to allow those I am leading to use their creativity to identify
solutions on their own. Although I
do not plan on venturing into the virtual world of Second Life again, I do
appreciate that it has helped mold me into a better leader.
Snapshot of Group 2, Discussion 1
The
discussion about leadership that I took part in with other avatars of my
classmateÕs role models taught [8]
me that there are many facets to a true leader. Catherine Chesnokov, the avatar for Catherine Crier, viewed
leadership mainly through actions.
As a state judge for Texas, Crier found leadership opportunities through
the law. She used her place as a
woman in Òa male dominated field; the field of law,Ó [9]
to inspire women and other minority groups. For Catherine, leadership is about understanding other
people and bringing justice to the world around her. This is different than the view of leadership than what
avatar Yukiyoshi brought to the conversation. As a martial arts instructor, he views leadership as the ability
to teach his students the ultimate goal of martial arts, Òthe preservation of
life and the avoidance of violence.Ó [10]
Yukiyoshi uses his skills to lead his students so they will know that violence
should be the absolute last resort when conflicts arise. Wayne Boozehound, the avatar for
Leonardo da Vinci, brought yet another view of leadership into the discussion;
he said Òit is appreciation for the small things and the makeup of the world
around us that should be important.Ó [11]
Every aspect of leadership that was discussed during this conversation in
Second Life has helped me in the ongoing process of creating my leadership
vision. I found all three avatars
especially helpful in discerning what a true leader should do: take action,
promote peace, and recognize beauty in even the most insignificant things.
Snapshot of Group 2, Discussion 2
My
leadership vision has also been enhanced by the discussion of diversity that I
took [12]
part in during Second Life. To be
a leader, a person must be able to understand diversity and appeal to different
groups. As Ralph Waldo Emerson, I
stressed the importance of knowing that although we are all different, every
person is connected on a spiritual level.
The avatar Jessica8 IWish brought up the adversity that she encountered
because of her physical disability.
She taught me that while it can be difficult to be discriminated against
for something like a disability, a true leader will rise above the injustice
and Òprove them wrong.Ó [13]
The avatar Yukiyoshi emphasized his ability as a leader to teach people Òfrom
all walks of life.Ó[14]
This is an important aspect of a leader; we must appeal to a wide base of
people, not just those who are like ourselves. I think that to be a leader we
have to not only understand the basis of diversity but also celebrate the
differences in the people around us.
I have found that a lot of people would like to simply push the
discussion of diversity under the rug, but I think that instead of pretending
like differences do not exist, we should admire the different cultures,
beliefs, appearances, and ideas of the people that surround us. Not only would this world be extremely
boring if everyone was the same, we would also have no progress to make and
nothing to learn; there would be no need for leaders if there were no
diversity.
The process of learning about and using
Sympathetic Imagination has helped me understand how to be a better leader. By attempting to see the world from someone elseÕs point of
view, I am able to understand more completely how some people act and
think. Using Sympathetic
Imagination can be difficult because it is often impossible to identify with
other peopleÕs backgrounds and cultures if I had no prior contact with
them. However, even the endeavor
to appreciate where other people come from breaks up the foolish
Snapshot of my Avatar & Photo of Emerson
[15]
cconsistency that often takes over my mind. Although Second Life was supposed to be a virtual imitation
of the Sympathetic Imagination, I did not feel like I learned about my role
model, Ralph Waldo Emerson, by acting like him during the game. Correct use of the Sympathetic
Imagination is supposed to allow you to Òpenetrate the barrier of space and actually enter into the
object.Ó [16] Simply
changing my avatarÕs features to look like a picture I have of Emerson (adding
wrinkles, turning his hair grey, attempting to dress him in period clothing)
and reciting famous words that he has said does not help me to understand who
he is and why he believed what he did.
My initial research and preparation for writing Project One much better
enabled me to understand Emerson than my time in Second Life did, and through
my knowledge of his youth, his education, and his writings, I can imagine who
he really was. This understanding
of EmersonÕs feelings, or anyoneÕs feelings, is what I take to be the main
focus of the Sympathetic Imagination, and I believe that it is most
appropriately achieved by research of or direct contact with a person, not
pretending to be them in a video game.
Venus de Milo, The Louvre The Eiffel Tower, Paris
The
time that I have spent studying the life and works of Ralph Waldo Emerson has
taught me about who I wish to become in the next few years. I hope to exhibit the same amount of
boldness as Emerson did when defending what I believe in, to inspire those that
I am leading to think for themselves, to celebrate the differences in those
around me in order to lead others towards a more understanding society, and to
find beauty in the natural and built world (such as two of my favorites: Venus de Milo and
[17] 
[18]
the Eiffel Tower).
Although I have encountered some difficulty and frustration during the past few
weeks concerning the use of Second Life as a learning tool, I do think that our
discovery of our role models has helped me towards the goal of creating my
leadership vision. Of all that I
have learned form Emerson, what I would most like to carry with me is his
definition of a Transcendentalist: Ò[they] believe in miraclesÉin inspiration,
and in ecstasy.Ó [19]
That would be a great way to live.
Word Count (excluding
quotes) 2,011
