Pantheism is the idea that God exists in all the matter of the universe: everything that exists is a manifestation or embodiment of the divine. In this view of the universe, everything is sacred.

In "Song of Myself," Whitman uses a universal "I" that represents not just him as an individual but him as a representation of all humanity, interconnected with the entire universe. In everything he sees a piece of himself: in a rock, in building, in a tree, in a Black man, in a blacksmith, in a Native American. We are all part of and expressions of the same godhead. He states in "Song of Myself" that he finds himself in "every object." He also writes in this poem:

In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass ...

This exuberant embrace of all experience, all people, and all things as part of himself and part of the divine infuses "Song of Myself" with joy and inclusivity. It has led to Whitman being a labelled a poet who erases the dualism between self and other and between body and spirit. The poem erases any idea of placing the body (the material) above the soul or the soul above the body, stating:

the soul is not more than the body ... the body is not more than the soul

This inclusion of everything as part of the godhead and therefore to be celebrated made the poem shocking and daring for its time period, as it dealt openly and in a positive way with sexuality and the human body.