Drawing from The Lion and the Bird by Marianne Dubuc, a tender illustrated story about loyalty and the gift of friendship We weave social threads of our own, a new web of relations and, as many thoughts in succession substantiate themselves, we shall by-and-by stand in a new world of our own creation, and no longer strangers and pilgrims in a traditionary globe. A century and a half before the modern social web, he pens a passage that rings with extraordinary poignancy and prescience today: Let the soul be assured that somewhere in the universe it should rejoin its friend, and it would be content and cheerful alone for a thousand years.įor Emerson, friendship isn’t something that can be willed or forced but, rather, the natural byproduct of our interaction with the world. What is so delicious as a just and firm encounter of two, in a thought, in a feeling? How beautiful, on their approach to this beating heart, the steps and forms of the gifted and the true! The moment we indulge our affections, the earth is metamorphosed there is no winter, and no night all tragedies, all ennuis vanish all duties even nothing fills the proceeding eternity but the forms all radiant of beloved persons. The scholar sits down to write, and all his years of meditation do not furnish him with one good thought or happy expression but it is necessary to write a letter to a friend, and, forthwith, troops of gentle thoughts invest themselves, on every hand, with chosen words.īut beyond the rewards of emotion and intellect lies an even deeper satisfaction - that of the soul: Our intellectual and active powers increase with our affection. More than mere gratification of the heart, however, Emerson celebrates friendship as something that expands and enriches our intellectual landscape: The emotions of benevolence … from the highest degree of passionate love, to the lowest degree of good will, they make the sweetness of life. How many persons we meet in houses, whom we scarcely speak to, whom yet we honor, and who honor us! How many we see in the street, or sit with in church, whom, though silently, we warmly rejoice to be with! Read the language of these wandering eyebeams. Barring all the selfishness that chills like east winds the world, the whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine ether. We have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken.
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In an essay on the subject, found in his altogether soul-expanding Essays and Lectures ( public library | free ebook), Emerson considers the intricate dynamics of friendship, beginning with our often underutilized innate capacities: This delicate dance has been examined by thinkers from Aristotle to Francis Bacon to Thoreau, but none more thoughtfully than by Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803–April 27, 1882).
It’s been argued that friendship is a greater gift than romantic love (though it’s not uncommon for one to turn abruptly into the other), but whatever the case, friendship is certainly one of the most rewarding fruits of life - from the sweetness of childhood friendships to the trickiness of workplace ones.
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