Self in Whitman's "Song of Myself" and the Philosophy of Sri ..., Summaries of Philosophy

Download Self in Whitman's "Song of Myself" and the Philosophy of Sri ... and more Summaries Philosophy in PDF only on Docsity! SELF IN WHITMAN'S "SONG OF MYSELF" AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF SRI AUROBINDO A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the School of Humanities Morehead State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Mary Carvell Bragg April 1976 Accepted by the fa cu I ty of the Schoo I of __ J-!_.,'---'-lA..:;;._;;_IM.-""~:;.._;;_ ...... i _,C;....__.1_' C.=----.5...__ __ _ Morehead State University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of A r-f=s Degree. (Director of T hesis) / Master's Committee: (dat e) 2 resistance and spent a year in jail while waiting to be tried for conspiracy, of which he was acquitted. During the confinement he "meditated on the Gita, felt the presence of Krishna and the inspiration of Vivekananda, and resolved to work for the renewed spiritualization of Indian culture."5 He soon expanded his concerns to all human history, and with his background of revolutionary politics and yogic discipline, he went to Pondicherry "to concentrate on the elevation of Indian consciousness through spiritual and psychic forces. ,,5 At twenty-eight he. married a girl about half his age; she died in 1918 after a long separation from him. He supported and worked for the Allies during the Second World War, and died in 1950 after suffering a kidney ailment. His thirty volumes of systematic writing and letters include philosophy, political writings, poetry, drama, and literary criticism. He developed an original and minutely detailed philosophical system based on his own experiences and yogic practices as well as deep scholarship. Because of the experiential basis of his writings, his philosophy is vital, communicative, rich, and comprehensive. McDermott writes that "Sri Aurobindo's is perhaps the only comprehensive philosophical system that issues from spiritual experi­ ence. While many of the great modern Indian spiritual personalities ... have expressed their experience in philosophical terms, none has developed an original and critical philosophical system, including theories of knowledge, existence, the self, natural order, and the aim of life. On the other hand, a few Indian philosophers ... have attempted to develop a comprehensive system, but none surpasses Sri Aurobindo's range of topics, precision of argument, or richness of detail. More significantly, however, Sri Aurobindo's philosophic system is unique in its autobiographical authenticity."7 Sri Aurobindo's teaching begins with the idea that "behind the appearances of the universe there is the reality of a being and a consciousness, a self of all things, one and eternal. All beings are united in that one self and spirit but divided by a certain separa- 5McDermott, op. cit., p. 7. 6 1bid., p. 9. 71bid., pp. 12-13. 3 tivity of consciousness, an ignorance of their true self and reality in the mind, life, and body. It is possible by a certain psychological discipline to remove this veil of separative consciousness and become aware of the true Self., the divinity within us and all."8 This discipline he expressed in his system of Integral Yoga, a combination of practices from ancient yogic systems. Integral Yoga uses simultaneously the ways of knowledge, works, and devotion. Aurobindo's The Synthesis of Yoga maps the way of spiritual development from "the ignorance" through illumination, ascent from the surface life into cosmic consciousness, and a final state of "supramental" existence in which the spirit is brought down into all activities of the individual self. "Song of Myself," as published in the ninth or "Deathbed" edition of !,.eaves of Grass, and Aurobindo's The Synthesis of Yoga are the major works used in this study.9 Both deal with cosmic consciousness and spiritual development; both are solidly in the mystical tradition. Their subject matter is that of mysticism: the nature of God, achieve­ ment of union with God, and obstacles to union. 10 Along with mystics the world over, they cite experience as the means of union, and stress the quality of union and transcen­ dence of the ego.11 Lil<e most mystical writings, theirs is characterised by strong emotion.12 The two works differ in intent, however. Whitman's poem is a celebration­ of "being" on many different levels; its aim is not presentation of a logical and compre­ hensive philosophical.system. Aurobindo's work is philosophical in mode, and outlines an entire system of spiritual development. It is through many common themes of the two works that we shall attempt a fresh reading of "Song of Myself." Chapter 2 deals with Aurobindo's concept of self. It also 8Mc Dermott, op. cit., p. 29. 9As a matter of convenience, "Song of Myself" will be referred to as "SOM" and The Synthesis of Yoga as "SY." 10Hal Bridges, American Mysticism from William James to Zen (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1970), p. 88. 11 Ibid., pp. 2-3. 121bid., p. 5. 4 contains sections on the self's relationship with Deity and the nature of Deity. Chapter 3 is devoted to the nature of the self in the Whitman poem. Self is explored through its many paradoxes, and its relationships with the world, o~her selves, and the Deity. Also included are Whitman's statements on good and evil, the nature of Deity, and the nature of worship. Chapter 4 is a summation of basic concepts held in common by the two authors and traces the thread of spiritual development in "Song of Myself" to its culmination in the highest spiritual state described by Aurobindo. In Chapter 4, two terms from Indian philosophy appear which may need definition: Prakriti and Purusha. Prakriti is "Nature ... the Force that goes forth from the con· scious Soul ... the mechanically active Energy of the Sankhyas."13 Purusha is "An essential being supporting the play of Prakriti; Conscious Soul; the regarding and enjoying Conscious Being; soul; inner being; Being or Self as opposed to Prakriti which is becoming."14 13Aurobindo, The Life Divine, book two (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1973), glossary, p. 22. 141bid., p. 24. 7 Spirit is the crown of universal existence; Matter is its basis; Mind is the link between the two. Spirit is that which is eternal; Mind and Matter are its workings. Spirit is that which is conceala::l and has to be revealed; mind and body are the means by which it seeks to reveal itself (SY, p. 24). Self's Relationship with the Deity The reason for man's terrestrial existence is his part in the progressive descent of the. Spirit into matter. Man unconsciously strives toward this goal; it is the reason for univer­ sal discontent and unrest (SY, p. 50). The true Person in each of us seeks expression of the inner divine self, not separate gratification. As we learn how to allow the Divine to work through us, we also come to recognize that divine working in all other persons, creatures, and things (SY, p. 194). This recognition in turn reinforces the experience of the reality of the inner Self and aids in the removal of the illusory barrier between us and the Divine (SY, p. 99). The world is real, and a partial manifestation of the Divine; it is a partial manifesta­ tion because it is still evolving. Good and evil are a part of this strata of evolution, and are distinct only on this level. As spiritual development takes place and the individual self truly knows the presence of divinity in all events and things, the distinction between good and evil disappears. The petty and vile are then disclosed as part of the divine schema, and opposites revealed as "two poles of One Being, connected by two simul­ taneous currents of energy negative and positive in relation to each other ... their reunion the appointed means for the reconciliation of life's discords and for the dis­ covery of the integral truth .. .'' (SY, pp. 110-111). Man's ordinary state is that of trouble and disorder because the faculties, the instru­ ments of sensation, emotion, action, and enjoyment are dominant and act as the ruling force instead of tools or instruments of a higher power (SY, p. 33). When consciousness is raised, actions are no longer controlled by emotions and personal will; the motivation-­ but not necessarily the action--i; changed.3 When all action is guided by supramental con­ sciousness, evil is seen from a higher level as part of a divine good (SY, p. 181 ) _ I ndivi d­ uals delay the spiritual descent into matter when their Self is unrealised, but eventual 3The Essential Aurobindo, PP- 115-116. 8 cosmic fulfilment is nevertheless inevitable. On the other hand, cosmic fulfilment can be hastened by the spiritual strivings of individuals, and the highest realisation of the indi­ vidual Self lies in participation in the world on the supramental level. Self and Nature of Deity Aurobindo's concept of God is all-inclusive: it embraces the qualities of transcen­ denc.e and immanence;atheism, monotheism, and polytheism; and unity and multiplicity. All are "true" yet all are partial, since the Deity is infinite and in totality beyond man's mental comprehension. All things come from God and are representations of him.4 The integral Yoga aims at abolishing the trnmendous gulf between man and a higher Power through spiritual union (SY, p. 528). While Aurobindo recognizes the validity of the worship of Krishna, Christ, Buddha, or any other religious representation, he finds the worship incomplete until the forms of Krishna, Christ, or Buddha are revealed in us. Otherwise, the Christ or other representation is only "a bridge between man's uncon­ verted state and the revelation of the Divine within him" (SY, pp. 16-17). The Deity can be known only through direct apprehension, not via the intellect or senses; the mind's logical and cognitive habits are useless in the attempt at unification. No written scripture, authority, religion, or philosophical system can be more than an aid, for each is only "a partial expression of the eternal Knowledge ... " (SY, p. 3). Ethics and rules are "temporary constructions founded upon the needs of the ego in its transition from Matter to Spirit" (SY, p. 1~7). Only individual experience of the God­ head has meaning in the cosmic realm; therefore the devotee's experience is more like that of a "path-finder hewing his way through a virgin forest" than that of a pilgrim (SY,p.5). For Aurobindo, life itself is worship, and intensification of man's seeking after unity with God is a concentrated form of worship. Many are the ways that may be followed to this end, but Aurobindo believed that a combination of the paths of works, knowledge, and devotion would bring ~bout the fullest realisation. Thus the body, mind, and emo- 4sy, "The Divine Personality," p. 553 ff. tions can be used together and in accordance with their own natures in the process of spiritual growth (SY, p. 525). 9 Individual spiritual realisation is a high ideal in itself, but by no means the final end of integral Yoga; if so, the result would be nihilism and a final, complete withdrawal from the world. But since the world is real and has a purpose in its existence, just as man does, the devotee of the integral Yoga will not withdraw permanently. He remains in the world as an active participant so that the Divine may be realised through him and the spiritual descent into Matter may be completed (SY, p. 253). 12 'These come to me days and nights and go from me again, /But they are not the Me myself. /Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am." Among the statements of the eternal Self are those in Section 7: "I am not an e~rth nor an adjunct of an earth, /I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and fathol'T)less as myself, /(They do not know how immortal, but I know.)" .Implicit in the catalogs of human experiences is the universal spirit in all manifesta- tions of life. In Section 20 the persona sings: In all people I see myself, none more and not one a barley-corn less, And the good or bad I say of myself I say of them. I know I am solid and sound, ... I know I am deathless, ... I know I am august, ... I exist as I am, that is enough, ... My foothold is tenon'd and mortis'd in granite, I laugh at what you call dissolution, And I know the amplitude of time. (401-421) The witness self, or objective watcher, is another major element in the poem. The first unequivocal statement of the witness soul is in Section 4: Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am, Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary, Looks.down, is erect, or bends an ;irm on an impalpable certain rest, Looking with side-curved head curious what will come next, Both in and out of the game and watching and wondering at it. Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog with linguists and contenders, I have no mockings or arguments, I witness and wait. (75-81) The witness self predominates in Section 8, watching the baby in the cradle, the young­ ster and the red-faced girl turning aside up the bushy hill, the suicide and the many activities and conditions which follow in the passage, but "I mind them or the show or resonance of them--1 come and I depart." In Section 10, the self alternately participates and watches; in Sections 11-13, the witness self is again uppermost. Sections 15 and 16 enumerate various statements of the human condition as viewed by the witness. In 13 Section 22, the witness self brings forth a definitive statement about good and evil: "/ am not the poet of goodness only, I do not decline to be the poet of wickedness also. /What blurt is this about virtue and about vice? /Evil propels me and reform of evil pro­ pels me, I stand indifferent." Section 33's long enumerative passage includes both wit­ ness self and participating individual self. The Goliad massacre and sea-fight tales in Secti,ons 34-36 are narrated by the witness self, A second paradox of the self is that it is both a part of deity and separate from it. Gay Wilson Allen says that Whitman worships the Divinity in each individual self.5 Smith line finds in Whitman that "the Deity is a name for a cosmic evolutionary process, or perhaps a great personality with human personalities existing within Him."6 Section 48 presents a clear statement of this paradox: And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's self is, And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud, And I or you pocketless of a dime may purchase the pick of the earth, And to glance with an eye or show a bean in its pod confounds the learning of all times, And there is no trade or employment but the young man following it may become a hero, And there is no object so soft but it makes a hub for the wheel'd universe, And I say to any man or woman, Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes. And 1 say to mankind, Be not curious about God, For I who am curious about each am not curious about God, (No array of terms can say how much I am at peace about God and about death.) I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least, Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself. 5Gay Wilson Allen, Walt Whitman as Man. Poet, and Legend (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1961 ), pp, 35-36. 6smithline, op. cit., p. 165. Why should I wish to see God better than this day? I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then, 14 In the faces of men and women I see .God, and in my own face in the glass, ... (1271-1285) The self of "Song of Myself" is paradoxical in other ways as well: it is both mutable and immutable; it is both part of and separate from worldly existence; it is both individ­ ual and universal; it is both body and soul; it participates, yet also witnesses. Whitman's presentation of the self on various levels annihilates most of the paradoxes: the self which is a particular manifestation in time is the self that is changeable, part of worldly existence, individual, incarnate in a body, an active participant; the self that is sou! is immutable, separate from material existence, universal, a witness. There is also paradox in the resolution of the problems of relationship of the indi­ vidual self to other individual selves, and of the individual self to the Eternal Self. James E. Miller says that "the paradox is that the fulfillment of selfhood can come only in response to other selves.''7 Guthrie states the riddle as extricating the self out of the self.a Professor Allen says in "Song of Myself," as in other statements of mystical experi­ er:ice, the "subject seems to feel his self being absorbed into a larger or universal Sfilf. Paradoxically, the self shrinks to nothing at the same time it becomes omnipotent in its union with a Higher Self.''9 Paradoxes in Relationships of the Self Nambiar believes that "Leaves of Grass attempts a resolution of the tensions created by rival claims of matter and spirit, body and soul, individual and society.''10 How does Whitman resolve these conflicts? Let us first examine the problem of the body's relationship with the soul. 7James E. Miller, Jr., Start with the Sun: Studies in Cosmic Poetry (Lincoln: Uni- versity of Nebraska Press, 1960), p. 7. Bwilliam Norman Guthrie, op. cit., p. 276. 9Gay Wilson Allen: A Reader's Guide to Walt Whitman. p. 128. 100. K. Nambiar, Walt Whitman and Yoga, p. 143. 17 and love with all men does he attain the mystic union of the soul, with God. Whitman's thought stresses equally the vertical relationship of the individual with God and the hori­ zontal relationship of the individual with his fellow man.''22 The next group of paradoxes centers around the relationship of the individual self to the material world. Just what is the true reality--the material world, or the spiritual worlp? Does the merging of the individual self with the Universal Self require transcen­ dence of the world? How is the problem of good and evil resolved? The material world, like the body, is to Whitman an emanation of the spirit. As the soul receives identity by its body, so it receives identity through materials.23 Section 31 celebrates the spiritual essence and perfection in material things: ' I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars, And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren, And the tree-toad is a chef-d'oeuvre for the highest, And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven, And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery, And the cow crunching with depress'd head surpasses any statue, And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels. (663-669) In Section 21 the poet sings his love for the world-emanation in a flight of soaring ecstasy: I am he that walks with the tender and growing night, I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night. Press close bare-bosom'd night--press close magnetic nourishing night! Night of south winds--night of the large few stars! Still nodding night--mad naked summer night. Smile 0 voluptuous cool-breath'd earth! · Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees! Earth of departed sunset--earth of the mountains misty-topt! Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue! Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river! Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake! Far-swooping elbow'd earth--rich apple-blossom'd earth! Smile, for your lover comes. 22Smithline, op. cit., p. 135. 23Guthrie, op. cit., p. 308. Prodigal, you have given me love--therefore I to you give love! 0 unspeakable passionate love. 18 E. F. Carlisle, in his provocative essay "Walt Whitman: Drama of Identity," notes that the central action of SOM is dialog of the self with the world. He traces this move· ment in the structure: the self moves from a sense of isolation and unitary self to a sense of duality of self and [lQt-self, then finally toward unity and "full mutuality as the self and the world merge or become one."24 Smithline tells us Whitman "asserted that the individual by identifying his soul with all things experienced the Divine Essence itself ... [and] it is only by the interdependence of the Me and the Not-Me that the full realiza­ tion of the individual is possible."25 Because the material is an emanation of Spirit, all things share in the essence; there is no real division between the material and the spiritual. Thus Whitman does not reject the world, for "it is the path, the open road of the soul ... Materialism is true and spiritualism is true. The human body, identity, personality are all divine miracles to be cherished and never ab.ased."26 Does Whitman's view encompass transcendence? A major theme in SOM is the celebrati~n of participation in the world. In Section 18, he says: Vivas to those who have fail'd! And to those whose war-vessels sank in the sea! And to those themselves who sank in the sea! And to all generals that lost eng9g~ments, and all overcome heroes! And the numberless unknown heroes equal to the greatest heroes known! (367-371) Section 33 enumerates the many occupations and conditions of men; there the self as individual becomes a part of each human experience. Worldly experience communicates cosmic truth; therefore he strongly rejects asceticism. Sections 45 and 48 contain unflinching statements about this communication: 24E. F. Carlisle, "Walt Whitman: The Drama of Identity," Criticism, vol. 10, p, 271. 25smithline, op. cit., p. 160. 26Nambiar, op. cit., p. 138. 0 span of youth! ever-push'd elasticity! 0 manhood, balanced, florid and full. My lovers suffocate me, Crowding my lips, thick in the pores of my skin, Jostling me through streets and public halls, coming naked to me at night, Crying by day Ahoy! from the rocks of the river, swinging and chirping over my head, Calling my name from flower-beds, vines, tangled underbrush, Lighting on every moment of my life, Bussing my body with soft balsamic busses, Noiselessly passing handfuls out of their hearts and giving them to be mine. Old age superbly rising! 0 welcome, ineffable grace of dying days! Every condition promulges not only itself, it promulges what grows after and out of itself, And the dark hush promulges as much as any. I open my scuttle at night and see the far-sprinkled systems, And I see multiplied as high as I can cipher edge but the rim fo the farther systems. Wider and wider they spread, expanding, always expanding, Outward and outward and forever outward. (45: 1170-1186) Why should I wish to see God better than this day? I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then, In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass, I find letters from God dropt in the street, and every one is sign'd by God's name, And I leave them where they are, for I !<now that wheresoe'er I go, Others will punctually come for ever and ever. (48: 1283-1288) For Whitman, "every natural furiction is pure and good ... [what we need] is not repression but right stimulation."27 Nevertheless, the poet does communicate certain types of transcendence. Good-· heart has noted in SOM the transcendence of the ego,28 and Carlisle writes of another 27 Guthrie, op. cit., p. 292. 19 28E. Goodheart, The Cult of the Ego (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968), p. 157 .. sequence to each of our acts, good or bad, in the eternal count." Furthermore, "Whit­ man does not reject moral values; what he does reject is the hierarchy of moral values. Evil he accepts as a part of reality. What he strenuously opposed was the ignoring of evil, and the categorizing of evil ... " (p. 146). Denial of the goodness inherent in all objects of creation or experience--including evil--is blasphemy to the poet. ''The notion that there is anything inherently evil or foul in the universe seems to him 'to impugn Creation' ... Growth from good to better is quite sufficient to allow of the full exercise of the will. Evil thus becomes merely the name of a good that has been transcended."38 Guthrie outlines five different senses of evil expressed by Whitman. First, there is "the less good," which is "essentially good, only relatively speaking not good." The second category, the "not good," is treated by Whitman as "non-existent." Next is the "failure to develop from within," which is equivalent to the lack of good. A fourth is "revolt against external laws," which the 22 poet finds "a temporary good"; and the fifth encompasses "pain, defeat, old age, death," all of which are "opportunities for good" and are all actually good. The worst evil is the third category, "failure to develop from within, or 'sloth of soul'" (p. 290). The varied critical evaluations of Whitman's view of good and evil are like the descriptions of an elephant given by the blind Indians after they came in contact, respectively, with a leg, the tail, a tusk. the trunk, an ear, and a side. But Whitman's universe is a whole body, and like the elephant, will not divide into parts. As in the con­ cept of self, many paradoxes in the poet's treatment of good and evil are resolved by his statements on various levels.' Thus, all the critical comments are "true";·as the poet himself says: "Do I contradict myself?/Very well then I contradict myself, I (I am large, I contain multitudes.)" (51 :1324-26). His philosophical ideas will not submit to logical categories and classifications, for he is dealing with eternal essences and with primeval and subliminal reality. He is expressing the inexpressible: "I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world" (52: 132-33). 38Guthrie, op. cit., pp. 280-81. Whitman is able to state contradiction after contradiction without violating the integrity of conception. In Section 3, the poet says: I have heard what the talkers were talking, t~e talk of the begin­ ning and the end, But I do not talk of the beginning or the end. There was never any more inception than there is now, Nor any more youth or age than there is now, And will never be any more perfection than there is now, Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now. (39-43) ........................ Showing the best and dividing it from the worst age vexes age, Knowing the perfect fitness and equanimity of things, while they discuss I am silent, and go bathe and admire myself. (55-56). 23 Section 4 describes events of the world and the individual self's part in them; the witness self bridges the gap between participation of the individual self and separation of the Eternal Self. Trippers and askers surround me, People I meet, the effect upon me of my early life or the ward and city I live in, or the nation, The latest dates, discoveries, inventions, societies, authors old and new, My dinner, dress, associates, looks, compliments, dues, The real or fancied indifference of some man or woman I love, The sickness of one of my folks or of myself, or ill-doing or loss or lack of money, or depressions or exaltations, Battles, the horrors of fratricidaL war, the fever cf doubtful news, the fitful events; · These come to me days and nights and go from me again, But they are not the Me myself. Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am, Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary, Looks down, is erect, or bends an arm on an impalpable certain rest, Looking with side-curved head curious what will come next, Both in and out of the game and watching and wondering at it. Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog with linguists and contenders, I have no mockings or arguments, I witness and wait. The unqualified goodness of living and of dying is celebrated in Section 6, proceeding from the pervasive symbol of the grass, brought in the hands of the child, to the direct statement about death: I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women, And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon out of their laps. What do you think has become of the young and old men? And what (lo you think has become of the women and children? They are alive and well somewhere, The smallest sprout shows there is really no death, And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it, And ceas'd the moment life appear'd. All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, 24 And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier. (121-130) His theme continues into Section 7: Has any one supposed it lucky to be born? I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it. I pass death with the dying and birth with the new-wash' d babe, and am not contain'd between my hat and boots, And peruse manifold objects, no two alike and every one good, The earth good and the stars good, and their adjuncts all good. (131-135), Through the following sections, the individual self experiences worldly events, sor­ rows, and joys; the witness self maintains at the same time an objectivity and perspective of the role of these events in the eternal scheme; and the Eternal Self remains, still and separate, a part of all things and all events. With great compassion, the poet declares: "Have you heard that it was good to gain the day? /I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won. /I beat and pound for the dead, /I blow through my embouchures my loudest and gayest for them" ( 18:363-366). All-­ the wicked and righteous, "The kept-woman, sponger, thief, are hereby invited, /The heavy-lipp'd slave is invited, the venerealee is invited; /There shal I be rio difference between them and the rest" ( 19 :375-377). The poet is definite in his appraisal of one evil in Section 20: "I do not snivel that snivel the world over, /That months are vacuums and the ground but wallow and filth" (394-395). The poet as individual self sets forth his appreciation of animals and animal 27 I reach to the leafy lips, I reach to the polish'd breasts of melons. And as to you Life I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths, (No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before.) (49:1289-98) - And when the self as persona, or the poet, prepares to depart, he says: "The past and present wilt--1 have fill'd them, emptied them, /And proceed to fill my next fold of the future" (51: 1319-20). The theme reaches a conclusion in Section 52: The last scud of day holds back for me, It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow'd wilds, It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk. I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun, I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags. I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. (52: 1333-40) Self and Nature of Deity Whitman's concept of self and its relationship to Deity also is shrouded in paradox from the beginning of the poem to the very end. God is both transcendent and imma­ nent for Whitman; with rapid shifts of level appear alternate views. In Section 3, the poet celebrates the body as personification of deity: "Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty and clean, /Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be less familiar than the rest" (3:57-58). In subsequent lines, the transcendent God immediately appears in the guise of the "hug­ ging and loving bed-fellow" who leaves behind baskets "cover'd with white towels swelling the house with their plenty." The transcendent God descends and becomes a part of the self in the mystical experience described in SectioA 5.39 The same transcendent Deity appears in the Section 6 discussion of the meaning and origin of the grass: "Or I guess it is the hand­ kerchief of the Lord, /A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropt, /Bearing the 39James E. Miller, Jr., "'Song of Myself' as Inverted Mystical Experience," A Critical Guide to Leaves of Grass (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957). 28 owner's name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark, and say whose?" (6: 102-4). In Section 7, the self realizes the immanence of God and swells to cosmic proportions, sounding very much like the Creator of Genesis: "And [I] peruse manifold objects, no two alike and every one good; (The earth good, and the stars good, and their adjuncts all good" (7:134-35). The self as immanent God expresses its immortality, and the transcendent deity stands back to include all of humanity in its plenitude: Every kind for itself and its own, for me mine male and female, For me those that have been boys and that love women, For me the man that is proud and feels how it stings to be slighted, For me the sweet-heart and the old maid, for me mothers and the mothers of mothers, · For me lips that have smiled, eyes that have shed tears, For me children and the begetters of children. Undrape! you are not guilty to me, nor stale nor discarded, I see through the broadcloth and gingham whether or no, And am around, tenacious, acquisitive, tireless, and cannot be shaken away. (7: 139-147) In Section 10, the self becomes a benevolent and sustaining Transcendency, watching the world-play and personally caring for the runaway slave with utmost ten­ derness. The Transcendent watches the butcher-boy, blacksmiths, and the black driver in Sections 12 and 13; but the Negro himself possesses god-like traits: he "holds firmly the reins of his four horses," stands steady plld tall "pois'd on one leg on the string-piece .... ""His glance is calm and commanding" and he has "polish'd and per­ fect limbs" (13:225-228). A transcendent God declares: "I behold the picturesque giant and love him, and I do not stop there,/ I go with the team also" (13:229-30), and once again descends to earth. The poet lists numerous occupations and conditions of life in Section 15; he expresses both transcendence and immanence of God at the close of the section: "And these tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them, /And such as it is to be of these more or less I am, /And of these one and all I weave the song of myself" (15:327-29). The transcendent manifestation watches the world-play in Sections 18 and 19, encour­ aging all participants, victors and conquered, and inviting all to partake of the feast. At the outset of Section 20, the poet acknowledges the transcendent: "Who goes there? 29 hankering, gross, mystical, nude, /How is it I extract strength from the beef I eat?/What is a man anyhow? what am I? what are you?" (20:389-91 ). But almost immediately the immanent is expressed: "Why should I pray?vJiy should_ I venerate and be ceremonious? /Having pried through the strata, analyzed to a hair, counsel'd with doctors and calcu­ lated close, /I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones" (20:398-400). Imma­ nence is the theme of the rest of the section. Both transcendence and immanence are implied in the opening .lines of Section 25: "Dazzling and tremendous how quick the sun-rise would kill me, /If I could not now and always send sun-rise out of me." Immanence is the burden of the beginning of Sec- tion 31: I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars, And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren, And the tree-toad is a chef-d'oeuvre for the highest, And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven, And the narrowest hinge in m'/hand puts to scorn all machinery, And the cow crunching with depress'd head surpasses any statue, And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels. (663-39) After the celebration of the Presence in all things, the self becomes the creation and a cosmic force: "I find I incorporate gneiss, coal, long-threaded moss, fruits, grains, esculent roots.I And am stucco'd with quadrupeds and birds all over, I And have dis­ tanced what is behind me for good reasons, /But call any thing back again when I desire it" (31 :670-73). God is a transcendent manifestation in most of Section 33, a cosmic force standing off and observing the world-play; but with the appearance of the skipper at line 824, God descends to earth, and the self merges with this immanent representation of the Godhead. How the skipper saw the crowded and rudderless wreck of the steam-ship, and Death chasing it up and down the storm, How he knuckled tight and gave not back an inch, and was faith­ ful of days and faithful of nights, And chalk'd in large letters on a board, Be of good cheer. we will not desert you; How he follow'd with them and tack'd with them three days and would not give it up, How he saved the drifting company at last, How the lank loose-gown'd women look'd when boated from the side of their prepared graves, I know I am august, I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood, I see that the elementary laws. never apologize, (I reckon I behave no prouder than the level I plant my house by, after all.) · I exist as I am, that is enough, If no other in the world be aware I sit content, And if each and all be aware I sit content. One world is aware and by far the largest to me, and that is myself, And whether I come to my own to-day or in ten thousand or ten million years, I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can wait. My foothold is tenon'd and mortis'd in granite, I laugh at what you call dissolution, And I know the amplitude of time. (20:398-421) The beginning of Section 31 is a credo, as are Sections 24 and 30 in their entirety. 32 Walt Whitman believed that true knowledge is gained through union with the Self, or God, and not through the senses or intellect. Hence his democratic ideal of the avail­ ability of true knowledge to all persons.40 The poet agreed with Emerson's distrust of logic, argument, and proposition, and both "maintained that intuition was the only way to attain an understanding of reality."4 1 In Section 30 of SOM, Whitman states these views unequivocally: All truths wait in all things, They neither hasten their own delivery nor resist it, They do not need the obstetric forceps of the surgeon, The insignificant is as big to me as any, (What is less or more than a touch?) Logic and sermons never convince, The damp of the night drives deeper into my soul. (Only what proves itself to every man and woman is so, Only what nobody denies is so.) (648-656) 40Malcolm Cowley, "'Song of Myself' and Indian Philosophy," A Century of Whitman Criticism, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1969), p. 32. 41smithline, op. cit., p. 130. 33 From the very start of SOM, Whitman insists upon intuitive knowing on the part of the reader: Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of al I poems, You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions of suns left,) You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on tl1e spectres in books, You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self. (2:33·37) In Section 3, he contemplates the nature of knowing, saying: "To elaborate is no avail, learn'd and unlearn'd feel that it is so. I . .. Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul. /Lack one lacks both, and the unseen is proved by the seen, /Till that becomes unseen and receives proof in its turn" (3:47, 52-54). The final lines of Section 3 express the futility of trying to fit real knowledge, assimilated through mystical experience, into a logical framework: I am satisfied--! see, dance, laugh, sing; As the hugging and loving bed-fellow sleeps at my side through the night, and withdraws at the peep of the day with stealthy tread, Leaving me baskets cover'd with white towels swelling the house with their plenty, Shall I postpone my acceptation and realization and scream at my eyes, That they turn from gazing after and down the road, And forthwith cipher and show me to a cent, Exactly the value of one and exactly the value of two, and which is ahead? (59-65) True knowledge also is communicated through material things and worldly experi­ ence.42 Because the poet accepts for himself and others only knowledge gained through direct emotional experience and intuition, he denies the need for external authority. Smithline says that "Whitman would deny any code of conduct imposed upon the individual by the claim of divine revelation. No institution, no matter what it claims, can teach the individual how to lfve virtuously .... The soul, therefore, 'revolts from 42soM 45; 46:1223-24; 47:1237 tt.; 48; 49. 34 every lesson but its own.' ... [He rejected a morality] based on external authority, and asserted that the individual soul was the only basis for moral truth.''43 Therefore "all established institutions, religions included, are destined !O become outmoded, and to be replaced by new ones, in the course of evolution.''44 All of "Song of Myself" vibrates with affirmation of the reality, power and right· ness of intuitive knowing. Creeds and schools in abeyance, Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten, I harbor for good or bad, I perm it to speak at every hazard, Nature without check with original energy. (1 :10-13) Swiftly arose and spread around me the peace and knowledge that pass all the argument of the earth, And I know that the hand of God is the promise of my own, And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own, And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women my sisters and lovers, And that a kelson of the creation is love, And limitless are leaves stiff or drooping in the fields, And brown ants in the little wells beneath them, And mossy'scabs of the worm fence, heap'd stones, elder, mullein and poke-weed. (5:91-98) · Oxen that rattle the yoke and chain or halt in the leafy shade, what is that you express in your eyes? It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life. My tread scares the wood-drake and wood-duck on my distant and day-long ramble, They rise together, they slowly circle around. I believe in those wing'd purposes, And acknowledge red, yellow, white, playing within me, And consider green and violet and the tufted crown intentional, And do not call the tortoise unworthy because she is not.something else, And the jay in the woods never studied the gamut, yet trills pretty well to me, And the look of the bay mare shames silliness out of me. (13:234-244) 43smithline, op. cit., p. 148. 44lbid., p. 151. 37 section is not horror at the cold-blooded murder of the four hundred and twelve young men or a sense of waste and futility in life; it is the celebration of participation as an exalted form of worship. The young soldiers we·re outm1mbered nine to one, but took nine hundred lives before "they treated for an honorable capitulation, receiv'd writing and seal, gave up their arms and march'd back prisoners of war." The young men were splel)did, alive, and at the height of their powers: They were the glory of the race of rangers, Matchless with horse, rifle, song, supper, courtship, Large, turbulent, generous, handsome, proud, and affectionate, Bearded, sunburnt, drest in the free costume of hunters, Not a single one over thirty years of age. (880-884) In dying, they were even more splendid; not a single one shrank from experience, even from dying a horrible death: None obey'd the command to kneel, Some made a mad and helpless rush, some stood stark and straight, A few fell at once, shot in the temple or heart, the living and dead lay together, The maim'd and mangled dug in the dirt, the new-comers saw them there, Some half-kill'd attempted to crawl away, These were despatch'd with bayonets or batter'd with the blunts of muskets, A youth not seventeen years old seiz'd his assassin till two more came to release him, The three were all torn and cover'd with the boy's blood. (887-894) Participation is a main stream in succeeding sections of SOM. Through active asso­ ciation and identification with all manifestations of the One, the individual self is able to participate and transcend simultaneously. It becomes all things while maintaining its own identity. The end of worship for Whitman is not an uneasy truce with a power out­ side himself. It is knowing God in himself and in all fragments of the creation, a realiza­ tion of unity with the Deity--a realization expressed through the individual as a willing instrument for diyine work. Chapter 4 CONCLUSION The exploration of the concept of self in Aurobindo's The Synthesis of Yoga and Whitman's "Song of Myself" reveals much philosophical correspondence in the two works. The authors make strikingly similar statements about the nature of God and of the self's relationships with God, other selves, and the material world. Both authors believe spiritual evolution inevitable: I do not ask who you are, that is not important to me, You can do nothing and be nothing hut what I will infold you. (SOM, 40: 1001-2) ·There .is no stoppage and never can be stoppage, If I, you, and the worlds, and all beneath or upon their surfaces, were this moment reduced back to a pallid float, it would not avail in the long run, We would surely bring up again where we now stand, 38 And surely go as much farther, and then farther and farther. (SOM, 45: 1190.93) The Sadhaka who has all these aids [knowledge of the truths of realisation, action based on the knowledge, help of a guru, and the instrumentality of time] is sure of his goal. Even a fall will be for him only a means of rising and death a passage towards fulfilment. For once on his path, birth and death become only processes in the devel­ opment of his being and the stages of his journey. (SY, p. 61) Both express faith in the process of individual growth and in the efficacy of time: I do not know what is untried and afterward, But I know it will in its turn prove sufficient, and cannot fail. Each who passes is consider'd, each who stops in consider'd, not a single one can it fail. (SOM, 43: 1121-23) My foothold is tenon'd and mortis'd in granite, I laugh at what you call dissolution, And I know the amplitude of time. (SOM, 20:419-21) Time is the remaining aid needed for the effectivity of the process [of spiritual fulfilment]. Time presents itself to human effort as an enemy or a friend, as a resistance, a medium or an instrument. But always it is really the instrument of the soul. Time is a field of circumstances and forces meeting and working out a resultant progression whose course it measures. (SY, p. 61) · There is agreement on the reason for the creation. Aurobindo says that "all nature is an attempt at a progressive revelation of the concealed Truth, a more and more suc­ cessful reproduction of the divine image" (SY, p. 24). Whitman: "All forces have been 39 steadily employ'd to complete and delight me, /Now on this spot I stand with my robust soul" (SOM, 44: 1167-68). Because of this basic premise, they are in agreement about the importance of activity and participation in the world. - All Aurobindo's major steps toward ultimate spiritual development may be found in "Song of Myself." The importance of the witness function we have traced in some detajl; this function makes possible the progressive surrender of the ego and the self's identification with the One. This progression occurs in three major steps: first, the ego attempts to enter into contact with the Divine [enlightenment]; next, the lower nature prepares to receive the contact and the whole being is consecrated toward becoming a fit receptor for the Divine; and finally, there is a transformation and "utilisation of our transformed humanity as a divine centre in the world" (SY, pp. 41, 52). Underlying SOM is the basic premise of enlightenment; Section 2 expresses both the desire of the ego to enter ·into contact with the Divine and the attempt to prepare the lower nature for the contact: The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the distillation, it is odorless, It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it, I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked, I am mad for it to be in contact with me. (SOM, 2: 17-20) Section 3 (the "hugging nnd loving bedfellow") and Section 5 celebrate the gifts of enlightenment. The final transformation occurs progressively through the remainder of the poem. Spiritual democracy is a constant in the poem; through the experience of spiritual democracy comes the release from ego-sense (SY, p. 238). Sectarianism implies egoistic attachment; for spiritual growt~ we must include all names and other forms of the Deity (SY, p. 59; SOM, 41and43). Aurobindo notes in early stages of spiritual growth that the individual experiences a sense of inner and outer division; with development comes a perception of continuity. The separative sense is liberative, while the unitive aspect is dynamic and effective (SY, pp. 114-115). The sense of separativeness is expressed early in SOM: "Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am, I . .. Both in and out of the game and watching possesses. Or if it has to enlighten, it does not even then seek; it reveals, it illumines" (SY, p. 463). 42 For while the reason proceeds from moment to moment of time and loses and acquires and again loses and again acquires, the gnosis· dominates time in a one view and perpetual power and links past, present and future in their indivis.ible connections, in a single continuous map of knowledge, side by side ... The reason deals with con- stituents and processes and properties ... the gnosis sees the thirig in itself first, pene- trates to its original and eternal nature ... The reason dwells in the diversity and is its prisoner ... the gnosis dwells in the unity and knows by it all the nature of the diver­ sities ... the gnostic sense does not recognise any real division; it does not treat things separately as if they were independent of their true and original oneness ... the gnosis is, sees and lives in the infinite ... [it] is not only light, it is force; it is creative knowl­ edge, it is the self-effective truth of the divine Idea. (SY, pp. 464-65) How does the state of gnosis affect the self? The Supreme above, in him, around, everywhere and the soul dwelling in the Supreme and one with it ... a radiant activity of the divine knowledge, will and joy perfect in the natural action of the Prakriti,--this is the fundamental experience of the mental being transformed and fulfilled and sublimated in the perfection of the gnosis. (SY, p. 467) Gnosis takes the mind's will, desires, pleasures and pains, joys and griefs, and transforms them to their divine counterparts for participation in the divine plan (SY, pp. 474-75). All dualism therefore disappears in the gnostic state: the dual functions of consciousness (Purusha) and force (Prakriti) merge, and the witness function is absorbed in the delight of being, or.Ananda. Then the "luminous governing power ... imposes its self-expressive force on all the action and makes true and radiant and authentic and inevitable every movement and impulse" (SY, pp. 480-81 ). In SOM Section 49 death and life and good and evil have taken their place in the cosmic design: And as to you Death, and you bitter hug of mortality, it is idle to try to alarm me .... And as to you Corpse I think you are good manure, but that does not offend me, I smell the white roses sweet-scented and growing, . I reach to the leafy lips, I reach to the polish'd breasts of melons. And as to you Life I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths, (No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before.) I ascend from the moon, I ascend from the night, I perceive that the ghastly glimmer is noonday sunbeams reflected, And debouch to the steady and central from the offspring great or small. The witness or Purusha has assumed its active sanction of Prakriti, and the dual faces of Brahman become part of a whole: To his work without flinching the accoucheur comes, I see the elder-hand pressing receiving supporting, 43 I recline by the sills of the exquisite flexible doors, And mark the outlet, and mark the relief and escape. (SOM 49:1290-93) The main differences in "Song of Myself" and The Synthesis of Yoga are in mode and intent. Because of the vast and complete philosophical system which Aurobindo builds, he presents minutely detailed arguments which interweave and enlarge through the end of the volume. The nature of the two works leads them to a different emphasis in some areas. Sex is for Whitman a pervasive symbol of life's endless regeneration and growth; the body is the vehicle. Aurobindo considers the body·and matter as a channel for the Divine, but emphasizJs the need for the lower nature to be purified of egoism and desire to become a fit instrument. Aurobindo's method includes the necessity for some self-denial until attachment disappears; then the self-denial loses its field and the soul consciously obeys the will of the Divine (SY, p. 318). Both works have as their object unity with the Deity: Aurobindo presents a minutely detailed map for spiritual development, while Whitman presents us with a vision of spiritual development. Nambiar suggests that "Song of Myself" is an exercise in meditation: "The consciousness of the reader is ego-bound, not cosmic, and while the reader is following close on the heels of Whitman, he too finds his thoughts raised from the accustomed level of consciousness to another of vast amplitude. Reading Whitman becomes an exercise in meditation.''1 Both Aurobindo and Whitman depart from the mainstreams of their traditions and find agreement on the new ground. Aurobindo differs from the Gita's goal of cessation 1o. K. Nambiar, Walt Whitman and Yoga (Bangalore: Jeevan Publications, 1966), p. 127. of birth into the world and stresses the bringing down of the spiritual into the physical world.2 Whitman's emphasis on the importance of participation shows complete agree­ ment. Radhakrishnan says the main tendency of Western thought "is an opposition - . between man and God, where man resists the might of God, steals fire from him in the 44 interests of humanity .''3 Whitman departs from this Western tradition by emphasizing the harmony and mutual completion of man and God, a concept shared by Aurobindo. 2McDermott, op. cit., p. 133. 31ndian Philosophy, v. 1, p. 41. 47 Riepe, Dale. The Philosophy of India and Its Impact on American Thought. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas, 1970. Shapiro, Karl Jay. In Defense of Ignorance. New York: Random House, 1960. Smithline, Arnold. Natural Religion in American Literature. New Haven: College & University Press, 1966. Smuts, Jan Christian. Walt Whitman: A Study in the Evolution of Personalitv. Detroit: ·Wayne State University Press, 1973. Stovall, Floyd, et al. J;lght American Authors: A Review of Research and Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1963. Underhill, Evelyn. Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man's Spiri· tual Consciousness. 11th ed., London: Methuen & Co., Ltd., 1926. Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Eds. Harold W. Blodgett and Sculley Bradley. Compre· hensive Reader's Edition. 1965; rpt. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1968. Zimmer, Heinrich. Philosophies of India. Ed. Joseph Campbell. New York: Pantheon Books, Bollingen Series XXVI, 1951. SELF IN WHITMAN'S "SONG OF MYSELF" A ND THE PHILOSOPHY OF SR I AUROBINDO Mary Carvell Bragg, M.A. Morehead State University, 1976 Di rector of T hesis: __ 'J>_r~·-L~) ..... t"-..... r~&~t!'-5,__~3~~p~!'~/~{r~7-#'v~------- This paper deals with the structure and phi losophic content of Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" viewed through the phi losophy of Sri Aurobindo in The Synthesis of Yoga_. The Aurobindo work describes an entire system of spiritual development which the author calls the integral Yoga. The concept of self is central to Whitman's poem and Aurobindo's volume; it is therefore explored in some depth. A brief chapter on Aurobindo's concept of self, the self's relationship to the Deity, and the nature of Deity forms a background for an explication of "Song of Myself." Whitman's poem is apµroached through paradoxes of the self, the nature of Deity, and the self's relationship with the Dei ty. The paradoxes include the nature of the self, which Whitman presents on various levels, and the fac t that the self is a part of deity, yet separate from it. There are also paradoxes in the self's relationships: body and soul, individual self and the material world, self and Deity. A major strand in " Song of Myself" is the theme of participation. The self accepts all elements of the creation as emanations of the Spirit; to participate and int eract with other expressions of the Deity is an exalted form of worship. Therefore the self remains in the world, and does not attempt to transcend world ly experience, but does attempt to transcend the ego through aid of the witness self. The witness self , an objective and observing function of the mind, .is traced through the poem. The self's rela t ionships with other selves and with the Deity raise questions of the concepts of good and evil and t he poet's views of inequity, injustice, suffering, and death. The contradictory critical evaluations of Whitman's views on these subjects underli ne the paradoxical nature of the material and the poet's treatment of it. By 48 49 following t he appeuance and function of the witness self in the poem, we may see how the self is transformed until it views death and suffering as a part of the magnificent variety of human endeavors and situations. Paradox ex tends to t he rel at ionship of the se lf and the Deity; God is both t ran· scendent and immanent in the poem. The qualities of transcendence and immanence alternate until Section 39, which follows the real ization of the meaning of the cruci­ fixion and resurrection. In this section appears the friendiy and flowi ng savage, or new man who arises from the ashes of common wood; this figure acts as a bridge between the transcendent and immanent. From this poin t the concepts are f used; there is no distinction. Whitman's views on the nature and means of knowing are explored. The Deity is known only through intuition; therefore ideal worst1ip is individual. Participation as a form of worship is the burden of the Goliad massacre in Section 33. The concepts of self in "Song of Myself" and The Synthesis of Yoga revea l many simi larities. Corresponding views incl ude the nature of God and of the self's relat ion· ships with God, other selves and the material world. The writers agree on the reason for the creation, the inevitabili t y of spiritual evolution, and the importance of participati on in the world. All Aurobindo's major steps toward ultimate spiritual development are found in t he poem. The self evolves through !llumination and equalit y (which follows the tran­ scendence of ego) until it enters the highr.st spiritual state: gnosis. At Section 48, where the t ranscendent and immanent are fused, all duality is resolved and the self has moved to the supramental level. The two works differ main ly in mode and intent; both depart from the main­ streams of their philosoph ical traditions.