Whitman's Mysticism and the Concept of Body and Soul in 'Song of Myself': Which is more important to Whitman-the soul or the body?

As a devotee of Transcendentalism, Whitman also believes in mysticism. As we go through his 'Song of Myself', we find that he gives lot of emphasis on mystical experiences. Mysticism is not really a coherent philosophy of life, but more a temper of mind. A mystic’s vision is intuitive. It feels the presence of a divine reality behind and within the ordinary world of sense perception. He feels that God and the supreme soul animating all things are identical. He sees an essential identity of Being between Man, Nature and God. Song of Myself has several mystical undercurrents in this sense.

Whitman’s mystical experience of his self comes through various stages. The first stage may be termed the “Awakening of self,” the second the “Purification of self.” Purification involves an acceptance of the body and all its functions. This acceptance reflects the poet’s goal to achieve mystical experience through physical reality. This is an opposition to the Puritanical view of purification through mortification of the flesh. Whitman philosophizes that the self can be purified not through purgation but through the acceptance of the physical. The mystical experience paves the way for the merging of physical reality with a universal reality.

For this very reason, we cannot call Whitman a pure mystic in the sense of oriental mysticism. He is not a praying man. Like all mystics he believes in the existence of the soul, in the existence of divine spirit, in the immortality of the human soul and in the capacity of a human being to establish communication between spirit and Divine spirit. But he differs from the traditional mystic. He declares that he sings of the body as much as of the soul. He feels that spiritual communication is possible without sacrificing the flesh.

When we call Whitman a mystic, then obviously the question arises on which he gives more emphasis, body or soul?  As we have already discussed he is different from the oriental mystics. Like oriental mystics he does not give over emphasis on soul. Rather to him both the soul and body are equally important.  Whitman himself makes it clear that  “the soul is not more than the body,” just as “the body is not more than the soul.” God is not even more important than one’s self. The poet asks man not to be “curious about God,” because God is everywhere and in everything. He says;

“ In the faces of men and women I see God, God in my own face in the glass.”

Whitman does not reject the material world or body. He seeks the spiritual through the material. He does not subscribe, to the belief that objects are illusive. There is no tendency on the part of the soul to leave this world for good. We see the soul is trying to play a significant role in the administration of this world of scenes, sights, sounds etc. He does not deny the achievements of science and materialism. In section 23 of “Songs of Myself” he says

Human for positive science!

Long live exact demonstration!