The paper discusses Ralph Waldo Emerson's thought in relation to the German "Bildung" tradition. For many, "Bildung" still signifies a valuable achievement of modern educational thought as well as a critical, emancipatory ideal which, frequently in a rather nostalgic manner, is appealed to in order to delineate problematic tendencies of current educational trends. Others, in an at times rather cynical manner, claim that "Bildung" through its successful institutionalization has shaped vital features of our present educational system and has thus served its time and lost its critical potential. When thinking through Emerson's variations on "Bildung" I argue against the nostalgic appeals to "Bildung" that the criticism against it has to be taken seriously. Against the cynical assessment of "Bildung" having run its course, I will hold that with Emerson we can develop the idea of an 'aversive education' as a call for "Bildung" to be turned upon itself, allowing to revive it as a conceptual tool for transformation, drawing particular attention to its political dimension.