One of the most important things I have learnt over the past few years is that no person is just one thing. This might sound obvious but in a world where tribalism is in the ascendant and when public discourse is often at a comparable level to caged monkeys throwing their excrement at each other, I think it’s worth exploring what it means to contain multitudes.
In Song of Myself, 51 Walt Whitman writes;
The past and present wilt—I have fill’d them, emptied them.
And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.
Listener up there! what have you to confide to me?
Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,
(Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.)
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Recognising the contradictions in ourselves and being honest about them opens us up to a richer experience than if we remain closed and rigid, binary in our thoughts and our actions. Of late I have been able to acknowledge the pleasure and privilege I have in my work in being able to meet and talk to people from a rich variety of backgrounds and experience. In truth, a few years ago my own prejudices and bias might have got in the way of being able to do that. I have to acknowledge the role our monthly Philosophy group has had in bringing about transformational thinking and the agility to step away from dogmatic positions. If anyone would like to join our ongoing conversation, you can find us here: https://pipsgy.wordpress.com/
Bob Dylan acknowledges Whitman in his song I Contain Multitudes the opening track on his 2020 Rough and Rowdy Ways album. I was lucky enough to see Bob in Hull on October 27th last year. For me it was a significant event for a multitude of reasons. Bob is the artist that has had the most profound effect on my life, having discovered him at age 14 and having been inspired and intrigued by him ever since. At 82 he is now a sage and almost a myth. To be in the same room as him was enough. I had a dream a few days before the gig whereby I was in a concert hall somewhere waiting to see him and he walked past me wearing a huge white hat. He patted me on the head as he walked by and half smiled. The dream is a precious one. The words of the song tell us that Bob is not one thing and that has artistic life has been a flow of change and growth, incorporating experiences and interpreting them in his art.
Walt Whitman and Bob Dylan see the multitudes within, the truth of our being. We are not just one thing. We are of many dimensions and we should rejoice in that and see it as strength. We can debate the purpose and meaning of life endlessly, and we should; our consciousness is a gift we should use. As part of that, we can look within and explore our strange and beautiful contradictions and work on being the best version of ourselves we can be.
I am in an interregnum at the present, between things and I am waiting patiently to see what unfolds. It is comforting to me to know that there is not just one possible road ahead, but many, and whichever one I take will be OK because I have learnt to be free, to not be rigid and fixed.
As spring continues to struggle to arrive (the poor weather is a worry) I hope all beings can enjoy their multitudes and be peaceful with their contradictions.
Josie Moon 