“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.”
From time to time one is called upon to face a harsh truth. Unplanned, unexpected, they materialize suddenly, without warning. Because they arrive uninvited, they should be seen as gifts, not harms. They may take different forms.
“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
Being pushed aside by an idea that’s diametrically different from one’s established way of thinking. It’s always worked like this before, surely it has to work like this again. But the mere fact something has worked in the past does not necessarily imply it will continue to work in the future. It may, or it may not.
“Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events.”
Being confronted with the realization that one’s deep-seated beliefs may not only be wrong, but may in fact be seriously detrimental to oneself and others. We hold onto beliefs because we assume them to be true. To stand back and take a hard look almost as if from the point of view of another 
requires objectivity and detachment as well as open-mindedness. There’s habit and inertia to contend with as well.
“Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.”
Being shown an elemental mistake in the facts, evidence, and information. A syllogism, though proper in form, may still generate a false conclusion if one of the premises is shown to be false. If factually incorrect premises are utilized, it doesn’t matter how closely one cleaves to the process of deduction. If the basic facts are wrong, the conclusion drawn will be wrong as well.
“Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions.”
Harsh truths: we tend to avoid them. They are destabilizing, disconcerting. They upset our everyday practices and turn us on edge. We’re not sure, we no longer have certainty, we’re given reason to doubt—these our minds will resist. But in the face of that disruption and disequilibrium there’s opportunity for growth. A good practice to start each year is to ask: What have we been taking for granted? What practices and beliefs do we hold that upon closer inspection are likely unsound or even false? What harsh truths do we finally need to confront?
“Greatness appeals to the future.”
Being lulled into a false sense of security and complacency by comforting narratives that have no basis in reality. Many of our strongest beliefs are bolstering, consoling. Have we genuinely sought out the basis of each belief? Have we placed a degree of pressure on each of them to test out their resiliency and strength?
“And now at last the highest truth on this subject remains unsaid; probably cannot be said; for all that we say is the far-off remembering of the intuition. That thought, by what I can now nearest approach to say it, is this. When good is near you, when you have life in yourself, it is not by any known or accustomed way; you shall not discern the foot-prints of any other; you shall not see the face of man; you shall not hear any name;— the way, the thought, the good, shall be wholly strange and new. It shall exclude example and experience.”
Coming to terms with the truth is never easy. The process of development and change can be disturbing, even painful. Insights that lead to breakthroughs rest firmly on layers of granite, not sand. Though the world is spherical and spins on its axis, the straight line still provides the truest method of measurement. You have witnessed, you have experienced, you have seen—now you must grow.
“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.”
All quotations from Emerson, Self-Reliance, Essays: First Series (1841)
