Emerson writes "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." In writing this, Emerson is stating that every person reaches a point (if pursuing knowledge) where they figure out that their thoughts are just as important as everyone else's thoughts. In fact, others' thoughts are in a way toxic to the thought process, restraining the mind from reaching its true ability. No bit of intellectual benefit extracted from outside sources can compare to the benefit of searching one's own thoughts and knowledge, thus depending on others' philosophy can lead one to become intellectually handicapped, unable to discern their own thoughts. It is by working one's own "plot of ground" in the mind that allows them to truly form their personal grasp of understanding.
P.S. I commented on Francesca's post.
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