Where Individuals Place Themselves in Society

On pages 24 and 25 of Self-Reliance Ralph Waldo Emerson states, "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."  He is saying that one does not need to "fit in" to be a contributing member of society, but rather the opposite; the less understanding people have of you, the greater amount of potential one may have to succeed in life.  According to Emerson, to be too much a part of society is to lose oneself among the rest.  This does not mean that one should make it a point to separate oneself from the rest of society.  One can live and even thrive in any environment alongside a multitude of other people, but to be sucked into one constant state of thought leads one to leave creativity and individuality behind.  To live as a conformist is to live someone else's life.  Be who you want to be, and no other.