Blake absorbed ideas from everywhere, but he didn't accept them uncritically. He was a synthesizer. He wanted to figure out things for himself. He didn't mind sharing his insights with others, but he didn't expect others to accept them without thinking about them.
He would expect the same of us - that we 'hunt' for ideas, that we evaluate and sift through them, that we form our ideas into a valid system of thought, and that we share them with others.
A Descriptive Catalog, Page 44, (E 544)
"Tell me the Acts, O historian, and leave me to reason upon them as I please; away with your reasoning and your rubbish. All that is not action is not [P 45] worth reading. Tell me the What; I do not want you to tell me the Why, and the How; I can find that out myself, as well as you can, and I will not be fooled by you into opinions, that you please to impose, to disbelieve what you think improbable or impossible. His opinions, who does not see spiritual agency, is not worth any man's reading; he who rejects a fact because it is improbable, must reject all History and retain doubts only."
"left the path of ease"
Showing posts with label Blake's purpose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blake's purpose. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Blake's Purpose
1. "Would to God that all the Lord's people were prophets"; Blake quoted this verse at the end of the Preface to Milton. (It was quoted from (Numbers 11:29).)
This is very close to Blake's primary purpose. What
did Blake mean by 'prophet': a person who has a vision
and who shares it.
2. "What it will be Questiond When the Sun rises do you not see a round Disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea O no no I see an Innumerable company of the Heavenly host crying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty" (Vision of the Last Judgment E566)
Now what in the world does this mean? Read the
things: not the corporeal, but the visionary.
The Task of Los is to "transform the round glob into living forms." (Erdman)
3. Look also at the end of Marriage of Heaven and Hell:
"Everything that lives is holy". How do you read that?
I think by holy he means the visionary, the Beyond
accompaniment or source of everything material -- such
as the sun.
Look at what immediately follows the 'Holy,Holy,Holy
passage:
"I question not my Corporeal or Vegetative Eye any
more than I would Question a Window concerning a
Sight; I look thro it & not with it."
As Above, so Below Hermeticism? you bet. Actually
the idea goes way, way back in Greek thought.
4. Here's another indicator of Blake's purpose. In his
visionary meeting with Ezekiel he asked the old prophet
why he did certain very extravagant things: Ezekiel's
answer (and Blake's) was "the desire of raising other
men into a perception of the infinite;"
So we may think materially (with the 'Vegetative Eye'),
or we may envision. These are the two contraries!
What is your vision?
This is very close to Blake's primary purpose. What
did Blake mean by 'prophet': a person who has a vision
and who shares it.
2. "What it will be Questiond When the Sun rises do you not see a round Disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea O no no I see an Innumerable company of the Heavenly host crying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty" (Vision of the Last Judgment E566)
Now what in the world does this mean? Read the
things: not the corporeal, but the visionary.
The Task of Los is to "transform the round glob into living forms." (Erdman)
3. Look also at the end of Marriage of Heaven and Hell:
"Everything that lives is holy". How do you read that?
I think by holy he means the visionary, the Beyond
accompaniment or source of everything material -- such
as the sun.
Look at what immediately follows the 'Holy,Holy,Holy
passage:
"I question not my Corporeal or Vegetative Eye any
more than I would Question a Window concerning a
Sight; I look thro it & not with it."
As Above, so Below Hermeticism? you bet. Actually
the idea goes way, way back in Greek thought.
4. Here's another indicator of Blake's purpose. In his
visionary meeting with Ezekiel he asked the old prophet
why he did certain very extravagant things: Ezekiel's
answer (and Blake's) was "the desire of raising other
men into a perception of the infinite;"
So we may think materially (with the 'Vegetative Eye'),
or we may envision. These are the two contraries!
What is your vision?
Blake's Purpose
1. "Would to God that all the Lord's people were prophets"; Blake quoted this verse at the end of the Preface to Milton. (It was quoted from (Numbers 11:29).)
This is very close to Blake's primary purpose. What
did Blake mean by 'prophet': a person who has a vision
and who shares it.
2. "What it will be Questiond When the Sun rises do you not see a round Disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea O no no I see an Innumerable company of the Heavenly host crying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty" (Vision of the Last Judgment E566)
Now what in the world does this mean? Read the
things: not the corporeal, but the visionary.
The Task of Los is to "transform the round glob into living forms." (Erdman)
3. Look also at the end of Marriage of Heaven and Hell:
"Everything that lives is holy". How do you read that?
I think by holy he means the visionary, the Beyond
accompaniment or source of everything material -- such
as the sun.
Look at what immediately follows the 'Holy,Holy,Holy
passage:
"I question not my Corporeal or Vegetative Eye any
more than I would Question a Window concerning a
Sight; I look thro it & not with it."
As Above, so Below Hermeticism? you bet. Actually
the idea goes way, way back in Greek thought.
4. Here's another indicator of Blake's purpose. In his
visionary meeting with Ezekiel he asked the old prophet
why he did certain very extravagant things: Ezekiel's
answer (and Blake's) was "the desire of raising other
men into a perception of the infinite;"
So we may think materially (with the 'Vegetative Eye'),
or we may envision. These are the two contraries!
What is your vision?
This is very close to Blake's primary purpose. What
did Blake mean by 'prophet': a person who has a vision
and who shares it.
2. "What it will be Questiond When the Sun rises do you not see a round Disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea O no no I see an Innumerable company of the Heavenly host crying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty" (Vision of the Last Judgment E566)
Now what in the world does this mean? Read the
things: not the corporeal, but the visionary.
The Task of Los is to "transform the round glob into living forms." (Erdman)
3. Look also at the end of Marriage of Heaven and Hell:
"Everything that lives is holy". How do you read that?
I think by holy he means the visionary, the Beyond
accompaniment or source of everything material -- such
as the sun.
Look at what immediately follows the 'Holy,Holy,Holy
passage:
"I question not my Corporeal or Vegetative Eye any
more than I would Question a Window concerning a
Sight; I look thro it & not with it."
As Above, so Below Hermeticism? you bet. Actually
the idea goes way, way back in Greek thought.
4. Here's another indicator of Blake's purpose. In his
visionary meeting with Ezekiel he asked the old prophet
why he did certain very extravagant things: Ezekiel's
answer (and Blake's) was "the desire of raising other
men into a perception of the infinite;"
So we may think materially (with the 'Vegetative Eye'),
or we may envision. These are the two contraries!
What is your vision?
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