Harvard vs. Emerson

Considering Emerson just took the most precious moment of hundreds of grads and turned it into a rant about Christianity is impressive. Besides the fact that he believes that it is a dying religion, Emerson goes on to criticize how preachers (the students he is directly speaking to) are taught wrong (by the school he is standing in). I find it uplifting that an outsider like Emerson at the time has the courage to deliver this speech without restraint when he should be saying "congrats! here comes the rest of your life!" Learning by experience is something that I strongly believe in and try to live my life by. When Emerson says that preachers should teach from experience, it cannot get anymore personal. A preacher should be someone you can relate to and are not afraid to talk to, and being personable is the only way to reach that connection. He goes slightly overboard by ranting about attending church and how the attendees in the pews could have a better sermon, but he gets his point across. Obviously when you go to Divinity School graduation and criticize the religion, the way of preaching, teaching styles etc. you are going to disliked. But someone had to say it, it was about time. There are few and far between men that he quotes saying how that dislike going to church, but no one has explicitly said it. These men might be what Emerson praises, men that do not imitate and rise above the normal everyday merits and influence. As he puts it, you cannot go beyond you example if you imitate. You should want to excel more the merits that most people are satisfied with. You should influence, become a role model that others, someone to look up to. Someone that church goes want to attend your sermons and want to talk to. He also calls these people the few interviews that come along. They say what we want to say or do what we want to do and basically light the fire within ourselves. Consequently, what all preachers want are to worshiped as god is, and if you are that interviewer/man you will be praised. Instead of how the "dead" religion of christianity previously did it, instead of demanding respect, you will earn it. To conclude, and I suppose in his way of impassioning the students, Emerson wants these new preachers going out into the world to innovate. Instead of creating a new religion, use tools existing to redefine and improve and recreate. He wants to see that man/interviewer see the world as a mirror of the soul and the rounding of a circle. Emerson does the unheard of, but is inspirational to someone like me that is critical of religion. Barred from harvard for 30 years was most definitely worth it.