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Much has been written about Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman as prominent writers, but much less research has been done regarding their spirituality, which gave power to the writing of their unique classics.

This award-winning study focusing on the mysticism in the lives and major works of Thoreau and Whitman, two great American literary mystics of the 19th century remedies that. You'll find out:

- How their principal works were inspired by their spiritual revelations and struggles.

- What the deeper meanings are in key passages from Thoreau's classic, "Walden"; and Whitman's provocative and ground-breaking poem, "Song of Myself"

- How their spirituality reflected their very different personalities and characters.

By understanding the wisdom and strengths as well as the faults, and failings of these great men of letters, we can know ourselves better.

As Dr. Chari states in the Foreword:

"At a time like this, Dr. Hourihan performs a valuable service by his courageous reaffirmation of what is of permanent value in the lives and works of two of the most original minds in American literature."

Sujets

mysticism

Spirituality

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Publié par	eBookIt.com
Date de parution	21 février 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781931816137
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0498€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Paul Hourihan
Edited by Anna Hourihan
Foreword by V. K. Chari

Vedantic Shores Press Redding, CA
Published by: Vedantic Shores Press P.O. Box 493100 Redding, CA 96049 info@vedanticshorespress.com http://www.VedanticShoresPress.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any manner, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage retrieval system, without written permission from the Publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
COPYRIGHT © 2004 by Estate of Paul Hourihan, Softcover. COPYRIGHT © 2011 by Estate of Paul Hourihan, Epub Edition.
Cover design by Emily Dawidowicz
Publisher’s Cataloguing-in-Publication (Provided by Quality Books, Inc.)
Hourihan, Paul,
Mysticism in American Literature : Thoreau’s quest and Whitman’s self / Paul Hourihan ; edited by Anna Hourihan.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index and bibliographic references.
LCCN 2003110788
ISBN 1-931816-03-4 [Print edition]
ISBN13 978-1-931816-03-8 [Print edition]
ISBN13 978-1-931816-13-7 [Epub edition]
1. Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862 — Religion. 2. Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892 — Religion. 3. Mysticism in literature. 4. Religion and literature — United States — History — 19th century. I. Title. PS3057.R4H68 2004 810.9’382
QBI03-200751
Contents
Foreword
Author’s Note
Introduction
I – Thoreau’s Quest
Henry David Thoreau
The Quest — Walden
II – Whitman’s Self
Walt Whitman
The “Self” in “Song of Myself”
Epilogue
Notes and References
About the Author
Also by Paul Hourihan
Foreword
This study of Thoreau and Whitman is valuable not only as a critical interpretation, but as a deeply insightful "biography" of these two great minds, in charting which Dr. Hourihan brings to his task a certain inwardness of understanding combined with the force of personal conviction. While the contrasting features of Thoreau’s and Whitman’s temperaments are brought into sharp focus, it is shown that, in their own individual ways, both men had experience, at one time or another, of the ecstasy of being. I agree with his argument that both men were "failed" mystics who could not stabilize their insights. But of course this is so only when we judge them by the highest standards of mystical experience that we know of. The "dual consciousness" or the consciousness of the "I" as a witness ("sakshi" in Vedantic language) did perhaps persist throughout their lives. In Whitman’s case, as Karl Shapiro once wrote:
His leap into the personal infinite, however, saved him from drowning in his Susquehanna.
Unfortunately, in our time, the message of these men is all but forgotten. Thoreau urged his countrymen to simplify their lives and turn their minds to the exploration of the self within. "Simplify, simplify," "Explore thyself," "Be expert in home cosmography," he exhorted them. But his "chanticleer" calls have been swept away by the aggressive commercialism and expansionism of our age. It is equally ironic that Whitman’s cosmic self lies decentered, in tatters amid all the contending idioms and ideologies of modern criticism new nationalism, new historicism, deconstruction, gender politics, and so forth.
At a time like this, Dr. Hourihan performs a valuable service by his courageous reaffirmation of what is of permanent value in the lives and works of two of the most original minds in American literature.
V. K. Chari, Professor Emeritus, Carleton University, and author of Whitman in the Light of Vedantic Mysticism
Author’s Note
Most of the material used for this volume first appeared as lectures in a course on mysticism given some years ago and hence the oral influence that still lingers inevitably in many places.
My deepest gratitude to Anna Hourihan for her editorial assistance in the preparation of this volume.
P.H.
Introduction
Mysticism is an experience of the Truth hence will express itself in countless ways. Literature being one.
Mysticism is described as secret, closed something is encountered unknown to the ordinary intellect, the confrontation of a new mind . . . which was innately there. It is Life it is Consciousness, the self that we experience in Mysticism and then become.
But isn’t Mysticism ineffable? How can we really discuss it, for what it is ? The ultimate samadhi, the higher union with Godhead, is no doubt beyond our power to communicate or grasp. But Mysticism is not only this supernal peak, it has many levels. It is not only the final gnosis, it is thousands of intermediate experiences moments, insights, decisions, epiphanies that come to us along the way. It is a whole way of life, with attitudes, motivations, incentives, assumptions that undergird such an existence.
Life is charged everywhere with mystical possibilities . . . in art, music, science, literature, the world of the intellect. In ordinary life also. Consider our experience of human love at its best how profound, how mystical this experience truly is. How "ineffable" also. Mysticism in Nature, what we call nature-mysticism hardly needs to be mentioned. Or the mysticism of childhood and adolescence, the uncanny intuitions that came to us, captured by William Blake in his quatrain:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour. . . . *
Henry Thoreau and Walt Whitman were both great American writers and were both mystics, but they are instructive for our purpose in certain other ways.
They were born within a two-year period (Thoreau in 1817, Whitman in 1819); they knew and admired the other’s work and met personally in 1856; they came to public notice for the first time (1854-1855) within a year of each other; both were familiar with the Hindu scriptures, and acknowledged R. W. Emerson as their mentor and chief early influence (Thoreau in close continued personal contact, Whitman from a distance through the written word). Historically they stand as two preeminent originals in American literature in their century.
Further, they offer a fascinating study in contrasts. Their personalities and viewpoints are opposite in almost every respect so that in examining them we gain insight into two diametrically opposed alternatives to the life of regeneration.
In both their cases we know much about their inner development as well as their writings. We have their journals and personal letters, which give us a psychological as well as literary approach to them, an understanding of the biography of their minds as well as of their bodies. For us, the writings become an index to the more important matter of their spiritual journey. In their case, and perhaps with every great man, the outer works are only a footnote to the true story that is going on, which is the evolution of his spirit, the gradual manifestation of his true self. If he’s a writer and seeking truth, his works will be revealing milestones along the way, enlightening us about much more than his literary progress.
We should study them in detail.
. . .
Since the focus of the present volume is mysticism, two aspects of Thoreau’s Walden will be passed over. One is its interpretation of Nature. True nature lovers read Walden from that standpoint, which doesn’t much concern us. It seems incidental to the mysticism. Another is the social criticism that flows through everything Thoreau writes. Too much time won’t be spent on that either. This is, again, a phase of his creatureliness. He is aware of evils in the world and criticizes them, just as he is a naturalist, observing trees, lakes and wildlife expressions of his earthly personality, whereby he fills the time with congenial activities or writings, but behind them all is the spiritual theme, the life of the potential mystic, with which we will be mostly concerned.
* From the poem "Auguries of Innocence"
Thoreau’s Quest
__________________________
Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.
- Henry David Thoreau, Walden, “Conclusion”
Henry David Thoreau
Henry Thoreau (1817-1862) is an archetypal figure. We have lived lives like his or will. His is a universal quest pursued with fervent single-mindedness to pluck out from the heart of the universe the secret of its mystery. Alone with no guru (Emerson disappointed him grievously because of his esthetic approach to life), no encouragement.
Thoreau is the grimly serious, impassioned, defiant young man who sets out on a pilgrimage to discover the meaning of life and is determined to let nothing stand in his way. He seeks to achieve perfection.
He becomes a pilgrim to himself to his new self, to the life he has resolved to bring into being. He wants to discover all the possibilities of becoming new-born and to report his findings back to men. As he will do in Walden .
The journals he wrote in his early twenties anticipate the themes and spirit of his famous autobiography and reflect his first stirrings of spiritual hunger. From the outset we note this craving for the transcendental, for mystical knowledge. To begin with, his need for solitude:
I only ask a clean seat. I will build my lodge on the southern slope of some hill and take there the life the gods send me. . . . It will be success if I shall have left myself behind. 1
It is the ego-self, the creature-consciousness, that he recognizes as the enemy. All his short life (he died at 44) he was struggling against it in this sharp, clear knowledge . . . although sometimes, in hating it, he will turn his anger against men and their world.
People seemed to be living, he wrote, but are really dead. Even his once-esteemed mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson, lived a shadow life. As he himself did. He did not exclude himself in the general fall. How can he awake? His two years at Walden was his attempt to awaken himself with his own hands.
. . .
Thoreau had met his fellow Concordian, Emerson, in 1837 when Henry, native to the