The essay's dominant mood is inspirational. Emerson was a minister, and while he uses the essay to work through complicated personal thoughts and feelings, he also uses it to instruct readers in how to live happier, more fulfilling lives. One clear example is midway through the essay, when he advocates for the cultivation of little "moments":
Since our office is with moments, let us husband them. Five minutes of to-day are worth as much to me, as five minutes in the next millennium. Let us be poised, and wise, and our own, to-day. Let us treat the men and women well: treat them as if they were real: perhaps they are.
Emerson has described moments as colored beads that we collect throughout our lives. As a whole, these beads make up our life's experience and determine the perspective through which we see the world. Many experiences happen to us, such as the loss of Emerson's son. Here, Emerson flips the script. Because all we have is moments, he urges readers, "let us husband them." "Husband" is an agricultural term referring to the cultivation and breeding of plants and animals. He wants readers to take it upon themselves to make the moments they want to collect. This way, instead of waiting forever to find out the kind of life we will have, we can shape our own life.
Emerson has also suggested that our only concept of reality comes from our subjective experience; there may be no such thing as objective reality, and we can't ever know another person because they have their own reality. This point could leave readers with a profound feeling of isolation. Instead, here Emerson suggests that we might as well treat others with kindness because, for all we know, they could be real. Emerson is using principles from Stoicism and Skepticism to create a sense of hope in the reader. Stoicism holds that virtuous behavior alone is enough to have a good life. Skepticism, meanwhile, holds that we can never really know anything. Emerson tells readers that behaving virtuously toward other people, no matter how little we know about them, will ultimately make our lives better.
