The Transforming Power of Self and Love

When we look upon a scene in nature, there’s a sense of harmony. All of these objects of beauty in one scene come together to impress upon us a feeling of calm and understanding. This is expressed in Wordsworth’s ‘Lines Composed a Few Miles From Tintern Abbey. Reflecting on his experience with nature, “Do I behold steep and lofty cliffs, that on a wild secluded scene impress thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect the landscape with the quiet on the sky.” In one picture we have a calm quiet sky as the backdrop behind steep and wild cliffs. These forms of beauty are so opposite and yet they connect with each other to produce a unified scene. It isn’t harsh on the eyes, but connected in its diversity. He goes on to say that this connected harmony in nature frees him from the bodily restrictions and allows him to actively pursue diversity, as it is expressed in nature. This realization occurs because nature lightens his mood to the extent that he becomes completely feeling. No longer bound to think about societal expectations, he “becomes a living soul.” Wordsworth is describing his ability to transform. The ability to let go of everything society has constructed allows you to be laid open. This desire to be open to all experiences suggests that everything in nature is positive. Wordsworth says, “neither evil tongues, rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all the dreary intercourse of daily life, shall e’er prevail against us, or disturb our cheerful faith, that all which we behold is full of blessing.” If everything in life is full of blessing then selfishness, judgment, and unkindness must be the opposite of nature. This might suggest that we create these elements ourselves. What makes them so opposite to the harmony in nature is that they all reflect restriction. Judgment and unkindness can prevent one from feeling open to any possible choice. They’re the expression of a person’s active selfishness.

Blake alludes to the danger of restricting nature in his poem, Earth’s Answer. In what I believe to be a religious reference, he says, “Selfish father of men, cruel, jealous, selfish fear!...Selfish! Vain! Eternal! Bane! That free Love with bondage bound.” Again we see the worth selfish. In this religious context, this selfishness is infused by fear. Those familiar with any of the popular monotheistic religions knows that the god is often a jealous god. His laws bind his followers to love him and turn away from anything that could make him less important. The followers could be so consumed with love, as Blake suggests, that they give up their active nature, their ability to experience diversity. He contrasts this mindset with what is found in nature: “Does spring hide its joy when buds and blossoms grow?” Nature supports and shows off its development. If one was to follow in the steps of nature as Wordsworth and Blake suggest, they would actively seek to develop. If religion is a contrast, then restriction is a form of passivity.

Is being passive always unproductive? Emily Dickinson suggests that our soul is both active and passive when she writes, “The Soul selects her own Society-then-shuts the door-to her divine majority-present no more.” In this line Dickinson acknowledges that we have a unique center often referred to as the soul. This contradicts the idea that we are merely mounds of clay to be transformed by nature as Wordsworth suggests. Not only do we have a soul, but its direction is so strong that among a society of a ‘divine majority’, she picks one. She goes on to say, “unmoved-she notes the Chariots-pausing at her low Gate- unmoved-an Emperor be kneeling upon her mat.” Her defense isn’t high, but a low gate. An emperor has come kneeling before her feet and she feels nothing because her soul is passive enough to where it can’t be completely transformed. Like Wordsworth and Blake, Dickinson notes the divinity in nature, but also suggests that humans have a center that keeps them uniquely focused. Finding truth is both active and passive. Dickinson makes it clear that the soul is strong, but also that it chooses it’s own society. Just as there is meaning in all beautiful forms of nature, there’s individual meaning in what we’re naturally drawn to.

Walt Whitman in the Song of Myself also acknowledges a uniqueness in individuals. He says, “Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am, stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary…both in and out of the game and watching and wondering at it.” He says that he’s being pulled by different opinions and perspectives, but still stands unitary. It effects him to a point because he’s ‘in the game’, but also leaves him unchanged as he’s ‘wondering and watching at it.’ By watching, Whitman attempts to learn from the diverse opinions and maintains is active role to develop, but does so in an individual way. According to Whitman, our transformations are unique contributions to truth in nature. We’re ‘nature without check with original energy.’ He says, “I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul…the first I graft and increase upon myself, the latter I translate into a new tongue.” He takes the earthly, ‘body’ experiences and adds them to himself and when he transforms he doesn’t just become the new experience, but an experience that has been altered by his unique perspective, or what Dickinson would call a soul.

Why is it important that we are both active and passive in our transformation? According to Whitman this answer is two-fold. As we’ve noted, nature is in perfect harmony. Harmony can also be thought of as understanding. This quality is needed if one is to unite all objects of diversity. Can we really be considered diverse if we’re only imitating others? Our passiveness that allows us to maintain our individuality combined with opening ourselves to the individuality of others creates a truly unique transformation. If this diversity promotes a need to develop understanding, then our willingness to be open also suggests a feeling of love for all forms of life. In this regard, our individuality and desire to develop our core through transformation unites us in love. Whitman writes, “Unscrew the lock from the doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs! Whoever degrades another degrades me, and whatever is done or said returns at last to me.” This expresses the idea that we should be open to each others differences because we all are the same in the way that we can all transform into anything. Diversity lies inside of us, and our interactions unique individuals helps us to learn more about ourselves. Following this idea, love is the most natural feeling we can express towards forms of life because we are the same.

If it’s important to keep the regard for human life as Whitman does, then we can further this regard by acknowledging our immortality. He extends this idea when he writes, “ Has anyone 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-washed babe, and am not contained between my hat and boots.” By making death and life equal, he suggests that both are irrelevant. Whitman shares with Wordsworth the importance of being open to all experiences. If this makes you a living soul, then you wouldn’t be ‘contained’ in any physical form. This idea suggests that life is immortal. Whitman can transform by relating to the experiences of death and birth, and thus surpass them. The activity, or use of his mind allows him to do this and not merely be restricted to his current state. He is opening himself up to all experiences and to develop himself, the elements that are already inside of him. Finally he says, “I am not the earth of the adjunct of an earth, I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and fathomless as myself.” By keeping himself free from restrictions, he becomes ‘the companion of people.’ Understanding leads to a love for all people on earth, but believing you are no longer bound to physical restrictions suggests that your soul will live on forever. This is possible if we think about the harmony of nature. If everything is united, that includes our life force, our soul. The impression we leave on this earth never dies away, even if our body does. After all of the interactions we’ve had on earth, our impression has been made. This is why it’s important to open to development through transformation because it leads to a world united in love and understanding. Just as a positive impression can affect future life, so can a negative one.

If we think back to Blake’s fear of stagnation, that merely passive role through life can hurt not those in the present, but also hinder the development of future generations. He suggests in his poem ‘The Sick Rose’ that the all-consuming love, similar to the religious love expressed in ‘Earth’s Answer’ can kill individuality and the ability to transform, both passive and active parts of one’s being. As written, “O Rose, thou art sick. The invisible worm that flies in the night in the howling storm has found out thy bed of crimson joy and his dark secret love does thy life destroy.” A rose is often a symbol of protected beauty as the thorns protect it from being plucked. The invisible worm, a symbol for passionate love, doesn’t approach the rose from the ground where it’s protected, but flies above in a howling storm. This adversity only strengthens the passion behind the worm’s intent to consume the beautiful rose. This worm, often a sign of death, secretly destroys the flower. Because it’s invisible, it is unaware that it’s dying. When love is so passionate that it requires all of your time and leaves you selfless, there isn’t any time for oneself. You’ve given it over to your passionate love. You’ve been consumed and this takes away any chance for development. If this is true then loving in moderation so that understanding is attained can preserve oneself, but crossing the line into passionate love will end all development and result in death.

If excessive love kills development, than our individual journeys are supposed to be taken alone. This could explain why we have a unique center that can never be fully changed. Our focus is supposed to be individual. This allows us to develop without repeating another’s contribution. Life is naturally upward moving and developing. This would explain the lament in the Earth’s Answer. Whitman would agree when he said, “Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you, You must travel it for yourself.” Because the soul keeps one’s individuality in tact, every journey will and should be experienced differently. This passive transformation produces development.

Dickinson would likely agree that our individuality is important to maintain since she introduced the topic in this paper, but she doesn’t see passionate love as necessarily leading to a loss of self. First, finding the harmony in differences leads to a deeper understanding of truth. With our natural differences it’s not likely that one will never be shocked. Lessons can be difficult to learn, but the shock is something that’s remembered. She writes, “ There’s a certain slant of light…heavenly hurt, it gives us- we can find no scar, but internal difference where the meanings, are.” Messages that object to our individuality and shake our core to such an extent that it described as a type of divine pain is important source of truth if one believes that nature is in perfect harmony. The conflict isn’t necessarily bad, but it highlights a lack of understanding, and when the storm inside is settled one has uncovered a significant truth. This wouldn’t have happened without being exposed to diversity in an intimate way. Not only is the light painful, but it’s also slanted. The slant represents a unique perspective. Just as these four authors have established the uniqueness in all forms of life, so are conflicts likely to occur and they’ll improve our understanding. These painful interactions will challenge one’s core to understand how diversity can truly be connected by understanding. After attaining this understanding, is one truly able to love. This love leads to transformation.

This leads to the second point Dickinson makes about transforming through love. One can love passionately love without killing the soul, if it’s a decision that naturally comes from the soul. “The Soul selects her own Society- then-shuts the door.” Dickinson is saying that the soul naturally does what Blake and Whitman advise not to do: shuts the door. The soul isn’t just shutting a door though. It’s choosing ‘One’. The soul is doing the choosing and remaining active. It’s also following its natural desire where the unique perspective lies. Unlike Blake’s example of religion, the soul in Dickinson’s example is completely aware of the divinity around her and still feels drawn to a certain other. It selects its own society as if it can see itself in the other soul. This is an interesting association. This active decision of the passive self has committed to what some would call a soulmate. This is a very passionate love and as Dickinson said, excludes all others. Because she can see herself in the other, there’s a connection. This connection isn’t free from diversity but it unites to create the deepest kind of transformation: one formed between two free and open individuals who have been united by passionate love. All other forms of divinity won’t disappear, but they’ll become less important. The majority of the focus will be given to developing this new relationship: a relationship that makes both individuals selfless, thus truly creating a new self. In this relationship, diversity, like a slant of light, will merge together and create a transformation that will truly leave a unique impression among future generations. Uniting two souls by love that transforms into new individual is the most drastic and positive development one could hope to attain in a lifetime.