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Pantheistic Ideas in Guo Moruo’s The Goddesses and Whitman’s Leaves of Grass
- University of Iowa Press
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Pantheistic Ideas in Guo Moruo’s The Goddesses and Whitman’s Leaves of Grass ou hong The dictionary definition of pantheism is “a doctrine that equates God with the forces and laws of the universe.”1 The twentieth-century Chinese poet Guo Moruo (1892–1978) derived his pantheistic ideas from such a doctrine and wove them into his 1920s collection of poems, The Goddesses. Let me begin by examining the pantheistic ideas in Guo’s poems. 1. Contempt of and Opposition to Idols and Feudal Authority Since God is not a personality but a force that is believed to initiate and represent all in the universe, then God is all, and all is God. To say “all is God” can mean, of course, that there is no God. Such a “sacrilegious” point of view was once held by Spinoza, who is usually regarded as the founder of modern pantheism and a brave challenger of seventeenth-century theology and the authority of God. Spinoza spoke for the rising bourgeoisie in his days and rammed the castle of God with the apparatus of pantheism. Guo Moruo expresses, in a similar manner, his contempt for and opposition to all idols and feudal authority in support of the surging emancipation movement initiated by the May 4th Movement. He exclaims: I worship iconoclasts, worship myself, For I am also an iconoclast! (“I Am an Idolater”)2 Every idol has been struck down before me! Down! Down! Down! I would snap my vocal chords in song! (“Drunken Song under a Flowering Plum Tree,” Wenji 1:62) In such poems as “Sea of Light” and “Bathing at Sea,” we are given intricate descriptions of the joy of a soul freed from idolatry, in sharp contrast to the aversion we feel when idolatry is rampant. 2. Praise of Creative Forces The pantheist holds that there is only one substance, a basic “stuff” that constitutes the entire universe. Substance is absolutely independent of everything, for it is everything. It is infinite and, what is more, self-caused and self-determined. All the bodies in the universe form a chain of causes. For example, the sea we encounter is caused by something else, which in turn is caused by still another something and so on ad infinitum. That is why Guo Moruo describes the Pacific as “Unending creation, unending effort” and also a “picture of power” (“Shouting at the Rim of the World,” Wenji 1:62). For him, the universe is an everlasting source of creative forces. He discovers all around him a world full of life, vigor, dynamism, and grandeur, and he holds communion with it — hence the overwhelming affection for nature he expresses in “Shouting at the Rim of the World,” “Good Morning,” and “Pyramids.” 3. Identification of the Poet’s Self with Nature For Spinoza, all the bodies in the universe and all the ideas taken together form a totality, which is God or substance. Every object in the universe — star, tree, animal, water, wind, stone, even humans — is a part of God or is God. While studying in Japan, Guo Moruo was already given to pantheism, considering nature his “Friend, lover and mother.”3 Out of such a belief, Guo Moruo desires his return to nature and wants to be identified with nature, with objects in the universe. For him, every grass-blade or twig is his brother (“Earth, My Mother,” Wenji 1:69). He sings: The one that is all is born again, The all that is one is born again. We are he, they are I, You are in me and I in you: I am therefore you, You are therefore me. 188 Ou Hong [18.219.86.155] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 22:17 GMT) Fire is you, Fire is I, Fire is he, Fire is fire. (“Nirvana of the Phoenixes,” Wenji 1:41) 4. Advocacy of the Power of an Expanding Ego and the Emancipation of Individualism In The Goddesses, the poet feels almost as omnipotent as God. He stands on the rim of the world, releasing his overflowing energy in wild shouts. He absorbs all the stars and the whole universe and assumes himself to contain the totality of the universe. The world is too small for him. Time cannot bind him. In a twinkle of an eye, he sweeps over both hemispheres, saying “good morning” to various countries and peoples. “I create the dignified mountains and the majestic oceans,” he says...