The Sentence in Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self-reliance, which I could not understand.
Hello, everyone.

I've been reading Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote.

In the middle of the book, there is a sentence that reads
"Life only avails, not the having lived. Power ceases in the instant of repose; it resides in the moment of transition from a past to a new state, in the shooting of the gulf, in the darting to an aim. This one fact the world hates, that the soul becomes; for that forever degrades the past, turns all riches to poverty, all reputation to shame, confounds the saint with the rogue, shoves Jesus and Judas equally aside. Why, then, do we prate of self-reliance? Inasmuch as the soul is present, there will be power not confident but agent."

Before the sentence, the book says we should trust ourselves, not conform to society. But why does the book say:
"... there will be power not confident but agent"?

I understood the sentence like this: "the power steming from the present soul makes us acting, not bragging."
Do you think it is reasonable?

Question

The Sentence in Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self-reliance, which I could not understand.
Hello, everyone.

I've been reading Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote.

In the middle of the book, there is a sentence that reads 
"Life only avails, not the having lived. Power ceases in the instant of repose; it resides in the moment of transition from a past to a new state, in the shooting of the gulf, in the darting to an aim. This one fact the world hates, that the soul becomes; for that forever degrades the past, turns all riches to poverty, all reputation to shame, confounds the saint with the rogue, shoves Jesus and Judas equally aside. Why, then, do we prate of self-reliance? Inasmuch as the soul is present, there will be power not confident but agent."

Before the sentence, the book says we should trust ourselves, not conform to society. But why does the book say: 
 "... there will be power not confident but agent"?

I understood the sentence like this: "the power steming from the present soul makes us acting, not bragging."
Do you think it is reasonable?

Answer

I think your auggestions are reasonablep

Agent : acting seems right to me

Confident : bragging seems good also

To be honest it is a very ornate passage. It is impressive but it is not the sort of English that I personally enjoy reading. For me English is at its most powerful when it is clean, terse and sharp. George Orwell is an author that I would recommend if you are interested in that.

Maybe a slightly cleaner way of expressing the sentence, if I have understood it correctly, might be:

"When grounded in the present the soul will manifest itself through actions, not by mere intentions"

Answer

This is quite advanced English, so good work! To me, this sentence means that "We can be powerful, not because we are certain of our future, but because we are in control of ourselves in the present"

Answer

A little bit difficult 😝