Walt Whitman's ideas on the concept of Self as a philosophical topic are very broad, yet simple. He basically says that everybody is equal, or almost the same person, because of the relation back to Christian times. Since God is in him, then he is me, and if he is me, then I am you. I am beginning to understand these concepts, but I still have a different view on this idea of Self. I read a story one time that really sparked my intrigue in topics such as these. The story essentially said that once you die, you go to Heaven, and God is waiting for you there. He tells you that you will be reincarnated and that you have lived many past lives. How many past lives you wonder? Well he goes on to say that you are fundamentally a part of everything living on Earth, and time pretty much ceases to exist. In other words, you are God's lone child. After I read this, it really rocked my world. According to religious teaching throughout my entire life, this seems a little absurd, but it makes me wonder. It sort of sheds new light on this whole idea of Self and who one person really is. Looking around in the world today, I can almost see a piece of me in everybody. It is very strange, but it truly does relate back to Whitman's ideas of everybody being literally the same. Maybe that is what Whitman ultimately meant when he says that since God is a part of us, we are all his children and the same. This personal radical idea of self related to Whitman makes a lot of sense now that I really start to think about it. All people's personality traits are so complex because they all come from a previous life they have lived. Or maybe it is just these characteristics that shape each person, and we are not all one person. It is a mind boggling topic to ponder.
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