Hobgoblins, Politicians and Pomposity, Oh My!

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul simply has nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words and to-morrow speak what to-morrow things in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said to-day. - 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' - Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.

I've heard/read the above quotations before (though the passage is usually distilled to the first and last sentences), and they're fine and all, but there is a troubling aspect to them as well.

Emerson is not saying people should change their opinions willy-nilly, depending on whatever they might be feeling at any given moment. He is not inveighing against consistent thought on the whole, but against a small-minded consistency for the sake of being consistent, for fear of not being able to explain yourself when others say, "But on such-and-such a date you said this." Consider modern politicians and their endless dances to avoid being caught in such a situation in the first place, and their awkward responses when they cannot ("I voted against it before I voted for it!"...what a schmoo). There is nothing wrong with examined consistency, just as there is nothing wrong with examined, honest variance (perhaps I should say there should be nothing wrong with it, since wide swaths of the population seem to feel otherwise. Not that that was the only reason for Kerry's loss). It is the underlying motivation which accounts for an individual's greatness, or lack thereof. One can easily picture people changing their beliefs every day, according to the prevailing currents of thought around them, and then quoting Emerson to justify themselves. Such actions are the consequence of mental laziness, of minds seeking justification for their own weakness, cloaking themselves in arrogance and pompousness. I mean, who the hell would quote Emerson today?

To be passionate, to be honest, to be sincere and empathetic; these are the things which Emerson asks of us. Yet how many of us, through misguided vanity, believe we are that which we are not?