Ralf Waldo Emerson is an American contemporary intellectual colored by modern philosophy. He is my favorite. Once I presented a piece on Self Reliance by Emerson in a forum which has an intellectual flair. 

Emerson writes: 

“Man is his own star; and the soul that can render an honest and perfect man, commands all light and influences fate.

Nothing for him is early or too late,

Our acts and angles are good or ill,

Our fatal shadows walk by us still.” 

Then this is how I picked up my pen: (also a part of my extended paper on “soul”)  

Emerson picks up the theme of Self Reliance with power of expression, poetic style and the philosophy which is compelling. 

To me, self reliance is not a born virtue, it is learned and earned that builds into the personality that must resonate by action and belief that life is not a challenge but a course, a process, by which one controls one’s destiny. I think about soul and energy as a composite that serves the other. A dead soul is loss of self, a mere physical existence that negative energy has destroyed. Self reliance at that point has no meaning. For the passion to bring the bloom, energy must provide the impetus for growth. That energy can alone conquer the inner struggle, where failure is the final outcome of loss of will and consequent surrender. 

A victory inside is a prelude to the victory out side, because then, there is no fight but mutual acceptance. Human being is born noble and needs noble ideals for healthy growth, thus finding and giving affection. Self strength is the ability to self examine, self criticize. How can you provide justice to other without justice to Self. Only, the harmonization of the soul can lead to discernment and Self reliance.