The first line of the whole thing is “I celebrate myself and sing myself”. Many of the following lines are about self-celebration, almost to the point of arrogance at times. Even so, it’s something I really liked about this text. Whitman expresses satisfaction and contentment with things the way they are, and with himself the way he is. Self-improvement and ambition aren’t things he seems to devote much thought to. Rather, he accepts and appreciates what is, enjoys the present, and lets the world take care of itself.
I like this idea very much, to a certain extent. What is generally thought of as success and accomplishment is, to me, super over-valued. People are always working towards the next best thing, the bigger house, the bigger paycheck, the big accomplishment, wide recognition, whatever. I would much rather hang out on the low rungs of the ladder and be happy doing what I do, than be constantly driven upward by blind ambition. Not that I think people should only reach for the low branches. But I do believe there is such a thing as enough, and that living in obscurity is completely fine, as long you’re happy. In fact, I think that many of the most important, seemingly insignificant things are extremely significant in their obscurity. On the other side of it, I also don’t think it’s acceptable to just float around and be a bum. Some of the people that drive me up the wall are the kinds who won’t even try, and then say, “this is how I am, accept me!” So I guess there’s a happy medium between blind ambition and slackerdom where contentment lies.
Here are some of my favorite tidbits, if any one cares.
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.
…………………………………..
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.
…………………………..
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.
…………………………..
…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…
…………………………
I resist anything better than my own diversity,
Breathe the air but leave plenty after me
And am not stuck up, and am in my place.
(The moth and the fish-eggs are in their place,
The bright suns I see and the dark suns I cannot see are in their place,
The palpable is in its place and the impalpable is in its place.)
…………………………..
I have said that the soul is not more than the body,
And I have said that the body is not more than the soul,
And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one’s self is…
…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.
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.
…………………………………..
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.
…………………………..
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.
…………………………..
…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…
…………………………
I resist anything better than my own diversity,
Breathe the air but leave plenty after me
And am not stuck up, and am in my place.
(The moth and the fish-eggs are in their place,
The bright suns I see and the dark suns I cannot see are in their place,
The palpable is in its place and the impalpable is in its place.)
…………………………..
I have said that the soul is not more than the body,
And I have said that the body is not more than the soul,
And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one’s self is…
…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.
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