Leaves of Grass [1856] 22 February, 2008 at 5:08 am
On Valentines day last week I went to buy an alarm clock (how exciting…), and on my way towards home passed through Borders. I asked, as I have asked at numerous bookshops in the past six months or so, if they had a copy of The Holographic Universe in stock. To my surprise, the answer was ‘yes’. Two copies, in fact, “in the astronomy section.” Astronomy?.. Er, okay, sure, that makes sense.
The book had been recommended quite some time ago by a friend, to follow The Alchemist, The Celestine Prophecy and Way of the Peaceful Warrior – in that order. At the time I’d already read Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist (perhaps not so surprising as it is apparently one of the best selling books in history!) generously lent by another friend. Between then and now I read the other two books, both of which I enjoyed thoroughly. (Side note: in grabbing links for the books just now, I discovered that films were released of both The Celestine Prophecy and Way of the Peaceful Warrior in 2006! I’ll have to check these out. Something has also been brewing for The Alchemist since 2003.)
In any case, it is a fascinating book, and whilst reading it I was struck by the familiarity of the title of chapter 4: I Sing the Body Holographic.
The chord struck was with the title of an album by Icarus: I Tweet the Birdy Electric. Why does this name seem even otherwise familiar? What is it a quote from, or reference to? After a little searching I come across references to “I sing the body electric”. That’s probably it! From a poem in Leaves of Grass, first (self-)published by American poet Walt Whitman in 1855, though initially without that line, which was introduced in the second edition in the following year.
It turns out that there is a site – The Walt Whitman Archive – which makes the texts available online, so I went to check it out. The archive has not only transcriptions of the text, but photographs of actual book pages… flipping through the second edition, I arrive at the first poem, Poem of Walt Whitman, an American:
I CELEBRATE myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you.
That sounds familiar! It is certainly in keeping with some of the ideas in The Holographic Universe such as things not really being separate, so I flick back through the book and what do I find? The quote at the beginning of the chapter in Talbot’s book:
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless….—Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”
A-ha! Perhaps not what I was looking for, but certainly that’s where the link is. Song of Myself, by the way, being the original title for Poem of Walt Whitman, an American. Mystery solved! The “every atom” quote is probably in Talbot’s book as well. Or perhaps I’ve just imagined it. :o)
Another strange coincidence, or synchronicity, here is that I Tweet the Birdy Electric was released on a label called ‘Leaf’ (Leaf/Inertia).
In all, so far The Holographic Universe, especially Part I, has been a good read. Find out some more about the idea at Crystalinks. I noted there, in the first paragraph, “Michael Talbot (1953-1992)”, and suddenly realised he probably didn’t get to see much of the reaction from his book, published 1991… sadly Michael Talbot died in 1992 from leukemia at the age of 39. Rest in millions of self-referential, universe-encompassing pieces Mr Talbot.
-G.
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