"Trust thyself. Every heart vibrates to that iron string." (Emerson.) A cornerstone of simplicity is self-reliance, and simplicity is the practical antidote to the suffocating complexity fueled by modern, communications technology.

A new study at UC San Diego reports the average intake per person in the USA in 2008 was "33.8 gigabytes of information and 100,000 words per day." A gigabyte is a billion bytes. No wonder people feel bombarded, if not trampled, by the confused jabbering of men.

There is some benefit in jabbering, of course. But the over-looked downside of complexity is that it leads to living second-hand living. The incessant drumbeat of should-dos, should-bes, and just plain noise that rolls over one from every direction, 24/7, makes it difficult to know thyself. Little can be heard above the din. So, by default, we do as and what we are told and sold by others.

"Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation. But of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession. What I must do is all that concerns me; not what people think." (Emerson)

It is very easy to be a spectator of, rather than a participant in, life. It is possible today to side step reality, to avoid loving or hating or making difficult choices and taking risks. All one has to do is dwell in the wannabe, fantasy world concocted by corporations, including media companies. They provide "life" via secondary sources. One watches or listens, rather than does. The technical name for this is living "vicariously," an adverb defined as living one's life through the feelings or actions of others, for example, through celebrities, reality shows, sports teams, and mindless chatter, even from peers, that substitutes for thinking on one's own.

The Grey Twilight
At the opposite end of the how-to-live spectrum is the gold standard set by President Theodore Roosevelt in a 1899 Chicago speech: "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

Feasting on external messages reflects a want of self-reliance, an "infirmity of will" in Emerson's words. As the current UC San Diego study points out, the steady diet of bytes is many, many, many times the amount people's ancestors could assimilate. Technology has outrun evolution, a human's capacity to digest.

Eric Sevareid, a major CBS news journalist from 1939 to 1977, forecasted what is happening today: "The bigger the information media, the less courage and freedom they allow. Bigness means weakness."

Just what is self-reliance? Is it autonomy? Rugged individualism? Independence? A useful, colloquial definition is: Standing on one's own two feet. Autonomy, yes: standing with no props or crutches. Individualism, yes: rugged or smooth. Independence, yes: One's own two feet." And self-reliance denotes action.
"The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck." But... "The virtue in most request is conformity." "There is really no insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose." (Emerson)

How to Cultivate Self-Reliance

Take a Chance
Remember the first time you rode a two-wheel bike down a street? After perhaps weeks of practicing with training wheels or someone holding the seat, walking beside you, there came a moment when you were soloing. You didn't tip to one side; you and your bike continued ahead, unified with the forces of nature. A new world unfolded for you; you were on your own.

The life journey is full of other such potential firsts. By definition, each involves some risk of failure. To shun firsts is to not live.

Relinquish Superficial Friendships
Social networking is the latest big thing. In this, its early stages, such networking is based on quantity, not quality. But quality is the thing.
Consider the proverb: "Tell me who's your friend and I'll tell you who you are." The self in self-reliance is a cumulative work in process. "I am having a party and inviting my 300 closest friends" is fanciful, at least.

Friendships of substance require an investment of time and energy-and these are always limited. That's why people periodically prune their address books and Christmas card lists. Doing so is OK. A recent birthday card from a friend put the situation this way:

There comes a time in your life when you realize:
Who matters, who never did, who won't anymore, and who always will.
So don't worry about people from your past. There is a reason why they didn't make it to your future.

Empty the Closet
Henry David Thoreau, fourteen years younger than Emerson, was a contemporary in building the consciousness and values of America during the very formative 1800s following Lewis & Clark's gate-opening expedition to the Pacific in 1805. Thoreau was the leadoff man for simplicity: "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can let alone."

Nouns-people, places, and things-weigh you down. They add complexity, clutter. "Our life is frittered away with detail. Simplify, simplify."


(c)2010 Steven C. Brandt