Blake's God

Do you realize that everyone has his own God?
A vision of God! that's all anyone has, their
vision of God. Apparently the vision of God
that most people have is a 'mean God', a God
who will send you to hell if you don't obey him.
Good Christians seem to believe that in spite
of the loving vision that Jesus gave us.

Not so for Blake; at least not for the mature
Blake. As a youth? Perhaps. His early poems
focused on negative images, images of
restraint; the angels restrained us; so Blake
chose to belong to the Devil's party; he
rebelled against a 'thou shalt not' God (look
at The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.)

He called God Old Nobodaddy; he came to
believe that Urizen represented God; he had
Urizen to say just that. Three times in Night
1, page 12 of The Four Zoas he said I am God .

The mature Blake wrote in his Comments on A Vision of the Last Judgment (Erdman 565):

"Thinking as I do that the Creator
of this world is a cruel being, and
being a worshipper of Christ, I have to
say: "the Son! oh how unlike the Father":
First God Almighty comes with a thump on
the head; then J.C. comes with a balm
to heal it."

For Blake the Son had become God; he
perceived Forgiveness as the greatest
gift we have from him. After his conversion
that was his chief theme and his way of
salvation.

Christ Offers to Redeem Man

If you would like to pursue this subject a bit
further click on Blake's thoughts on God.

If you have a question or comment click here.