The Ethics of Oneness: Emerson, Whitman, and the Bhagavad Gita by Jeremy Engels (review)

In his deeply personal yet academically rigorous book, The Ethics of Oneness: Emerson, Whitman, and the Bhagavad Gita, Jeremy Engels takes up the task of describing and critiquing the quintessential U.S. American philosophies of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman. Though much ink has been spilled over these two philosophers, there are two features of Engels approach to their description and critique that make it unique when compared with other books that delve into the history of Indian philosophy’s influence on these American philosophers. Engels’ purpose is not simply to recount the history, but rather to explicate Emerson and Whitman’s philosophies in light of that history in a way that makes them relevant to addressing the problems of contemporary American life. In this respect, the book is akin to the simultaneously scholarly and personal works of John Kaag.

The first feature, as evidenced by the subtitle, is his description of their philosophies in deliberate recognition of the historical influence the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gītā has had in their formation. Engels describes Emersonianism and Whitmanism as philosophies born out of rich cross-cultural dialogue--directly in the former case and somewhat indirectly in the latter. The Gītā, of course, is a multidimensional text. Cognizant of this, Engels makes clear that what he is most interested in are the Gītā’s philosophy of oneness (ekatva) and yoga; more narrowly, he’s interested in tracing the historical influence of these philosophies on Emersonianism and Whitmanism. Engels emphasizes that he is not, in this book, interested in the Gītā’s philosophy of dharma. Dharma was the focus of neither Emerson’s or Whitman’s interest. Given this focal interest in oneness and yoga, Engels describes Emersonianism and Whitmanism as “long-forgotten” philosophies of oneness that he is recovering (p. 9), and also argues that both of their philosophies of oneness offer distinctive U.S. American forms of yoga--what he calls “communication as yoga”--that are worthy of more recognition in histories of yoga in the US.

The second unique feature of Engels’ approach to Emerson and Whitman’s philosophies of oneness is the way he critiques them. As Engels rightly notes, oneness has been called “the perennial philosophy,” (p. 8, emphasis added) and a “perennial” temptation among perennial philosophers inspired by Aldous Huxley’s classic, Perennial Philosophy, is to gloss over the differences between the variety of particular philosophies of oneness and emphasize only what they (purportedly) hold in common. In other words, there is a temptation to describe distinct philosophies of oneness simply as expressions of a singular perennial philosophy. Engels’ approach resists this temptation. This is because one of his book’s central themes is that subtle differences in the language and rhetoric we use to articulate and disseminate philosophies of oneness have a profound effect on “what it means to live a life committed to oneness” (p. 60). In other words, it has a profound effect on what shape yoga takes. They are differences that make a difference, and it is in virtue of the latter practical differences that Engels critiques and evaluates the Gītā’s, Emerson’s, and Whitman’s distinctive philosophies of oneness. He thus takes a distinctively pragmatist--of William James’s variety--approach (p. 11) to critique. Though all three philosophies are undoubtedly philosophies of oneness, because they all have distinct practical implications, Engels is careful to emphasize that Emerson’s philosophy of oneness is not identical to the Gītā’s, nor is Whitman’s identical to Emerson’s. Ultimately, it is on the basis of these practical differences--differences in the shape that yoga takes--that Engels argues Whitman’s philosophy of oneness is best. Its yoga provides the best alternative to contemporary neo-liberal individualism and the best metaphysical foundation for a truly egalitarian form of democratic practice capable of countering...