UNCONSCIOUS

Sea of Unconsciousness

The aspect of the psyche which is hidden, buried and unknown is spoken of as the unconscious. It is unknown but not unknowable. Although the gate is closed to enter the unconscious; the gate for unconscious content to come out is not entirely closed. Much of what Blake has written about in his poetry has come from his unconscious.

One of the Four Zoas is mentioned less frequently than the others - Urthona - and when he is mentioned his name is frequently prefixed by the word dark. He has a manifestation in the outer world who is named Los, but as an Eternal he seems to play a lessor role. He is dark for Blake because he is in the unconscious. As he enters consciousness his forms and activities become a part of the world of consciousness.

Jung called Reason and Feeling the rational functions; Sensation and Intuition were called irrational. Blake has Tharmas and Urthona working together to repel the advances of Urizen into Urthona's territory. I have spoken of Tharmas (Blake's image for the physical body or senses) functioning as the Id, Urthona can be seen as functioning as the Intuition. Both reside in man's unconscious.

Here is an account of Urizen's attempt to invade the territory of Urthona, Four Zoas : Night VI, Page 74, (E 350):

"And now he came into the Abhorred world of Dark Urthona
By Providence divine conducted not bent from his own will
Lest death Eternal should be the result for the Will cannot be
violated
Into the doleful vales where no tree grew nor river flowd
Nor man nor beast nor creeping thing nor sun nor cloud nor star
Still he with his globe of fire immense in his venturous hand
Bore on thro the Affrighted vales ascending & descending
Oerwearied or in cumbrous flight he venturd oer dark rifts
Or down dark precipices or climbd with pain and labour huge
Till he beheld the world of Los from the Peaked rock of Urthona
And heard the howling of red Orc distincter & distincter"

Urizen fails to occupy Urthona's territory. Later near the end of the Four Zoas, Urthona resumes his work which had been interrupted as he fell from Eternity with Urizen and Luvah. The association between Urthona and Tharmas continues.
___________
Four Zoas: Night IX, PAGE 138 (E 405)

"Then Dark Urthona took the Corn out of the Stores of Urizen'
He ground it in his rumbling Mills Terrible the distress
Of all the Nations of Earth ground in the Mills of Urthona
In his hand Tharmas takes the Storms. he turns the whirlwind
Loose
Upon the wheels the stormy seas howl at his dread command
And Eddying fierce rejoice in the fierce agitation of the wheels
Of Dark Urthona Thunders Earthquakes Fires Water floods
Rejoice to one another loud their voices shake the Abyss
Their dread forms tending the dire mills The grey hoar frost
was there
And his pale wife the aged Snow they watch over the fires
They build the Ovens of Urthona Nature in darkness groans
And Men are bound to sullen contemplations in the night
Restless they turn on beds of sorrow. in their inmost brain
Feeling the crushing Wheels they rise they write the bitter words
Of Stern Philosophy & knead the bread of knowledge with
tears & groans

Such are the works of Dark Urthona Tharmas sifted the corn
Urthona made the Bread of Ages & he placed it
In golden & in silver baskets in heavens of precious stone
And then took his repose in Winter in the night of Time"

As the Four Zoas ends it is Urthona who is the image of the restored and unified psyche. He is strong and undivided residing as always in man's 'inmost brain' after providing 'bread for the ages' from the 'distress of the nations.'

PAGE 139
"Urthona is arisen in his strength no longer now
Divided from Enitharmon no longer the Spectre Los
Where is the Spectre of Prophecy where the delusive Phantom
Departed & Urthona rises from the ruinous walls
In all his ancient strength to form the golden armour of science
For intellectual War The war of swords departed now
The dark Religions are departed & sweet Science reigns"

LOS, LUVAH & URIZEN

Labor of Los

Quoting from A BLAKE DICTIONARY, S. Foster Damon, Introduction, Page XI:

"Every sect is self-limited, whereas Truth is Universal. Instead of any religion, Blake wanted the truth - the whole truth including all errors, life including death, the soul including the body, the world of mind including the world of matter, the profound discoveries of the mystics reconciled with the scoffing of the skeptics, heaven and hell married and working together, and in the ultimate heart, Man eternally in the arms of God."

The puzzle of the shift in relationship between Luvah and Urizen deserves careful consideration. Neither Urizen nor Luvah had an indisputable claim to the horses of light or the dominant position they represented; that should should have fallen to Urthona whose 'Vehicular Form' is Los. (Percival refers to Urthona as the 'essential' man.)

The struggle among Urizen, Luvah and Los occupies Blake's imagination. The conflict may be interpreted internally. In Blake's myth either reason or emotion is frequently firmly in control of the psyche. The balance between them shifts as they negotiate and seize power. Sometimes reason is recognized as the higher function and emotion is at the service of reason (or visa versa). Disasters ensue as each function tries to eliminate the other. The higher function, inspiration or Los, eventually succeeds in wresting power and reconstructing the psyche.

Often it is easier to observe the operation of the functions externally before we can recognize them internally. Blake's portrayal of the 4Zs may show us aspects of ourselves we do not already recognize. Likewise, we are more likely to identify another person under the domination of one aspect of the psyche (suppressing the expression of the others), before we can see the same thing in ourselves. But to have it brought to our attention either by reading Blake, or by observing associates consistently and unconsciously coming under the dominion of reason or emotion, may encourage us to deal with unconscious forces which are controlling us. (So too, these imbalances are visible in societal behaviors.)

In The Four Zoas, Night Four, Blake portrays a violent confrontation between Urizen and Los. Urizen is subdued but the cost to Los is high. Los has come under the dominion of his lower nature, expressing revenge, wrath and cruelty, and having taken on the characteristics of the entity whom he was trying to eliminate .

FZ4-53.11; (E335)
"The lovely female howld & Urizen beneath deep groand
Deadly between the hammers beating grateful to the Ears
Of Los. absorbd in dire revenge he drank with joy the cries
Of Enitharmon & the groans of Urizen fuel for his wrath
And for his pity secret feeding on thoughts of cruelty

The Spectre wept at his dire labours"

FZ4-53.21; E336
"And thus began the binding of Urizen day & night in fear
Circling round the dark Demon with howlings dismay & sharp
blightings
The Prophet of Eternity beat on his iron links & links of brass
And as he beat round the hurtling Demon. terrified at the Shapes
Enslavd humanity put on he became what he beheld"

Some scholars have suggested that the portrayal of this type of situation in The Four Zoas led to Blake's abandonment of the writing of the book. In Blake's later poetry, the solution to the problems between Los and Urizen comes through recognition of error, forgiveness, anniliation of the Selfhood, and restoration of Brotherhood.

The unity of the psyche - allowing each function to play its ordained role is the goal toward which Blake directed his readers.

LOS, LUVAH & URIZEN

Labor of Los

Quoting from A BLAKE DICTIONARY, S. Foster Damon, Introduction, Page XI:

"Every sect is self-limited, whereas Truth is Universal. Instead of any religion, Blake wanted the truth - the whole truth including all errors, life including death, the soul including the body, the world of mind including the world of matter, the profound discoveries of the mystics reconciled with the scoffing of the skeptics, heaven and hell married and working together, and in the ultimate heart, Man eternally in the arms of God."

The puzzle of the shift in relationship between Luvah and Urizen deserves careful consideration. Neither Urizen nor Luvah had an indisputable claim to the horses of light or the dominant position they represented; that should should have fallen to Urthona whose 'Vehicular Form' is Los. (Percival refers to Urthona as the 'essential' man.)

The struggle among Urizen, Luvah and Los occupies Blake's imagination. The conflict may be interpreted internally. In Blake's myth either reason or emotion is frequently firmly in control of the psyche. The balance between them shifts as they negotiate and seize power. Sometimes reason is recognized as the higher function and emotion is at the service of reason (or visa versa). Disasters ensue as each function tries to eliminate the other. The higher function, inspiration or Los, eventually succeeds in wresting power and reconstructing the psyche.

Often it is easier to observe the operation of the functions externally before we can recognize them internally. Blake's portrayal of the 4Zs may show us aspects of ourselves we do not already recognize. Likewise, we are more likely to identify another person under the domination of one aspect of the psyche (suppressing the expression of the others), before we can see the same thing in ourselves. But to have it brought to our attention either by reading Blake, or by observing associates consistently and unconsciously coming under the dominion of reason or emotion, may encourage us to deal with unconscious forces which are controlling us. (So too, these imbalances are visible in societal behaviors.)

In The Four Zoas, Night Four, Blake portrays a violent confrontation between Urizen and Los. Urizen is subdued but the cost to Los is high. Los has come under the dominion of his lower nature, expressing revenge, wrath and cruelty, and having taken on the characteristics of the entity whom he was trying to eliminate .

FZ4-53.11; (E335)
"The lovely female howld & Urizen beneath deep groand
Deadly between the hammers beating grateful to the Ears
Of Los. absorbd in dire revenge he drank with joy the cries
Of Enitharmon & the groans of Urizen fuel for his wrath
And for his pity secret feeding on thoughts of cruelty

The Spectre wept at his dire labours"

FZ4-53.21; E336
"And thus began the binding of Urizen day & night in fear
Circling round the dark Demon with howlings dismay & sharp
blightings
The Prophet of Eternity beat on his iron links & links of brass
And as he beat round the hurtling Demon. terrified at the Shapes
Enslavd humanity put on he became what he beheld"

Some scholars have suggested that the portrayal of this type of situation in The Four Zoas led to Blake's abandonment of the writing of the book. In Blake's later poetry, the solution to the problems between Los and Urizen comes through recognition of error, forgiveness, anniliation of the Selfhood, and restoration of Brotherhood.

The unity of the psyche - allowing each function to play its ordained role is the goal toward which Blake directed his readers.

FALLEN ZOAS

Albion in His Fallen State

Before Los initiates the process of restoring Albion to the
Humanity Divine, each of the four Zoas has fallen to the
point that his outlook is totally opposite to his role in eternity.

Jerusalem, Plate 38, (E184)

"They [the Four Zoas] saw their Wheels rising up poisonous against Albion
Urizen, cold & scientific: Luvah, pitying & weeping
Tharmas, indolent & sullen: Urthona, doubting & despairing
Victims to one another & dreadfully plotting against each other
To prevent Albion walking about in the Four Complexions."

Urizen, meant to be the active intellect involving itself in interfacing with information and developing understanding of relationships, has become cold and detached. He has reduced interactions to measurements, and objective descriptions from his frozen mind.

Luvah, meant to be the source of empathy and delight through the expression of emotional attachments, has been reduced to regret and depression. The spontaneous outpouring of approval or disapproval no longer flows from his detached heart.

Tharmas, meant to be energetic and active, involved in giving outer expression to inner dynamics, is passive and lifeless. The energy which should be generated through sensory perception and the impetus to create life is not flowing in his lethargic body.

Urthona, meant to be faith and vision, the connective function which holds together disparate parts, has lost the 'blessed assurance' and fallen into a dark pit of isolation. The connection of the body with the wholeness of purposeful living finds no expression without imagination.

One's greatest gifts can turn into one's worst liabilities if not recognized as gifts and put to work in the service of the giver. The Zoas will recover their gifts as Albion is restored to Eternity through the work of Jesus and Los.

FALLEN ZOAS

Albion in His Fallen State

Before Los initiates the process of restoring Albion to the
Humanity Divine, each of the four Zoas has fallen to the
point that his outlook is totally opposite to his role in eternity.

Jerusalem, Plate 38, (E184)

"They [the Four Zoas] saw their Wheels rising up poisonous against Albion
Urizen, cold & scientific: Luvah, pitying & weeping
Tharmas, indolent & sullen: Urthona, doubting & despairing
Victims to one another & dreadfully plotting against each other
To prevent Albion walking about in the Four Complexions."

Urizen, meant to be the active intellect involving itself in interfacing with information and developing understanding of relationships, has become cold and detached. He has reduced interactions to measurements, and objective descriptions from his frozen mind.

Luvah, meant to be the source of empathy and delight through the expression of emotional attachments, has been reduced to regret and depression. The spontaneous outpouring of approval or disapproval no longer flows from his detached heart.

Tharmas, meant to be energetic and active, involved in giving outer expression to inner dynamics, is passive and lifeless. The energy which should be generated through sensory perception and the impetus to create life is not flowing in his lethargic body.

Urthona, meant to be faith and vision, the connective function which holds together disparate parts, has lost the 'blessed assurance' and fallen into a dark pit of isolation. The connection of the body with the wholeness of purposeful living finds no expression without imagination.

One's greatest gifts can turn into one's worst liabilities if not recognized as gifts and put to work in the service of the giver. The Zoas will recover their gifts as Albion is restored to Eternity through the work of Jesus and Los.

ENITHARMON & LOS

Each of the Four Zoas seems to have constant problems with his Emanation/wife/Anima. Tharmas endlessly follows his wife Enion who has withdrawn from him and continually flees. Urizen expels his wife Ahania because she confronts him with unpleasant truth. Luvah's wife Vala thwarts and obscures all he tries to do. Los the regent for Urthona, has a mixed relationship with Enitharmon, his sister/wife who is the only Emanation to take on mortal, vegetated form (Damon page 124.)

A reason for the Emanations causing trouble for their males may be that they see themselves as having been 'dealt weak hands.' They compensate by attempting to dominate by underhanded techniques, such as jealousy, withholding affection, withdrawing, secrecy, allying with the enemy and other devious methods.

The weakness of the positions of the Emanations results from their being associated with materiality. For Blake spirituality is the ideal state, the goal toward which all activity should lead. Unfortunately the route to the spiritual must go through the material. So the Emanations represent aspects of materiality through which man must pass as he recovers from the fall which divided him and separated him from Eternity. As aspects of a struggle, the Emanations are the means of gaining experience.

Enitharmon and Los

On Plate 85 of Jerusalem, Blake incorporates a picture of Los and Enitharman working together, a pleasant enough scene until we look more closely. Notice the sun, a male symbol, on Enitharmon's side of the picture; the moon a female symbol on Los's side. The two characters look in opposite directions (division), and Enitharmon has her back turned to us (secrecy.) The vines which Enitharmon holds are attached to Los in the area of heart and loins. Los's star is traveling away from him rather than toward him. Their knees are touching so there is still communication. Los, time, and Enitharmon, space, are intended to work together but they are at cross purposes. She wants to extend in space expanding materiality; he to foster spirituality as a function of time or prophecy.

Percival, in Circle of Destiny has this to say about the masculine and feminine relationship: "'Mental things alone are real' - this is the basic Blakean philosophy. Nature must be explained by man, body by soul. Form is the gift of inspiration. Moral good emanates spontaneously from brotherhood. The spiritual life, however you look at it, is rooted firmly in the energetic masculine. The unspiritual life is built upon the passive feminine."

The differences between Los and Enitharmon are overcome. From Percival again: "Deliverance will come only when the feminine emotions forego their separate identity as Good, and become the spontaneous expression of the imaginative mind."

Near the end of the Four Zoas we find Los and Enitharmon, not at odds but together pursuing the work of Eternity, (The Four Zoas, Eighth Night, 114.30, E385):
"And Los & Enitharmon took the Body of the Lamb Down from the Cross & placd it in a Sepulcher which Los had hewn For himself in the Rock of Eternity trembling & in despair Jerusalem wept over the Sepulcher two thousand Years"

ENITHARMON & LOS

Each of the Four Zoas seems to have constant problems with his Emanation/wife/Anima. Tharmas endlessly follows his wife Enion who has withdrawn from him and continually flees. Urizen expels his wife Ahania because she confronts him with unpleasant truth. Luvah's wife Vala thwarts and obscures all he tries to do. Los the regent for Urthona, has a mixed relationship with Enitharmon, his sister/wife who is the only Emanation to take on mortal, vegetated form (Damon page 124.)

A reason for the Emanations causing trouble for their males may be that they see themselves as having been 'dealt weak hands.' They compensate by attempting to dominate by underhanded techniques, such as jealousy, withholding affection, withdrawing, secrecy, allying with the enemy and other devious methods.

The weakness of the positions of the Emanations results from their being associated with materiality. For Blake spirituality is the ideal state, the goal toward which all activity should lead. Unfortunately the route to the spiritual must go through the material. So the Emanations represent aspects of materiality through which man must pass as he recovers from the fall which divided him and separated him from Eternity. As aspects of a struggle, the Emanations are the means of gaining experience.

Enitharmon and Los

On Plate 85 of Jerusalem, Blake incorporates a picture of Los and Enitharman working together, a pleasant enough scene until we look more closely. Notice the sun, a male symbol, on Enitharmon's side of the picture; the moon a female symbol on Los's side. The two characters look in opposite directions (division), and Enitharmon has her back turned to us (secrecy.) The vines which Enitharmon holds are attached to Los in the area of heart and loins. Los's star is traveling away from him rather than toward him. Their knees are touching so there is still communication. Los, time, and Enitharmon, space, are intended to work together but they are at cross purposes. She wants to extend in space expanding materiality; he to foster spirituality as a function of time or prophecy.

Percival, in Circle of Destiny has this to say about the masculine and feminine relationship: "'Mental things alone are real' - this is the basic Blakean philosophy. Nature must be explained by man, body by soul. Form is the gift of inspiration. Moral good emanates spontaneously from brotherhood. The spiritual life, however you look at it, is rooted firmly in the energetic masculine. The unspiritual life is built upon the passive feminine."

The differences between Los and Enitharmon are overcome. From Percival again: "Deliverance will come only when the feminine emotions forego their separate identity as Good, and become the spontaneous expression of the imaginative mind."

Near the end of the Four Zoas we find Los and Enitharmon, not at odds but together pursuing the work of Eternity, (The Four Zoas, Eighth Night, 114.30, E385):
"And Los & Enitharmon took the Body of the Lamb Down from the Cross & placd it in a Sepulcher which Los had hewn For himself in the Rock of Eternity trembling & in despair Jerusalem wept over the Sepulcher two thousand Years"

URIZEN REPENTS

Repentance

Four Zoas, Night Nine, PAGE 121 (E391):
 
"Urizen wept in the dark deep anxious his Scaly form
To reassume the human & he wept in the dark deep

Saying O that I had never drank the wine nor eat the bread
Of dark mortality nor cast my view into futurity nor turnd
My back darkning the present clouding with a cloud               
And building arches high & cities turrets & towers & domes
whose smoke destroyd the pleasant gardens & whose running 
     Kennels
Chokd the bright rivers burdning with my Ships the angry deep
Thro Chaos seeking for delight & in spaces remote
Seeking the Eternal which is always present to the wise          
Seeking for pleasure which unsought falls round the infants path
And on the fleeces of mild flocks who neither care nor labour
But I the labourer of ages whose unwearied hands
Are thus deformd with hardness with the sword & with the spear
And with the Chisel & the mallet I whose labours vast            
Order the nations separating family by family
Alone enjoy not   I alone in misery supreme
Ungratified give all my joy unto this Luvah & Vala
Then Go O dark futurity I will cast thee forth from these
Heavens of my brain nor will I look upon futurity more
I cast futurity away & turn my back upon that void
Which I have made for lo futurity is in this moment
Let Orc consume let Tharmas rage let dark Urthona give
All strength to Los & Enitharmon & let Los self-cursd
Rend down this fabric as a wall ruind & family extinct           
Rage Orc Rage Tharmas Urizen no longer curbs your rage"

Urizen resolves to reassume the human form - the spiritual.   

He is sorry:

1. He ever experienced physicality,

2. sought to see or control the future which by right belongs to
 Urthona,

3. distorted the view of present,

4. created a religion of materiality,

5. made the destructive, oppressive economic system,

6. sought distant satisfactions instead of those at hand,

7. failed to recognize the God Within,

8. neglected simple pleasures,

9. divided one from another,

10. used force to engender conformity.

He recognizes that these failings are internal ('in my brain'). He
sees that 'futurity is in this moment.' He relinquishes claim to any
achievements as my own. He recognize the role of each Zoa.

As a result of his repentance: (E391)
"Into the fires Then glorious bright Exulting in his joy          
He sounding rose into the heavens in naked majesty
In radiant Youth."
______________________________________________

URIZEN REPENTS

Repentance

Four Zoas, Night Nine, PAGE 121 (E391):
 
"Urizen wept in the dark deep anxious his Scaly form
To reassume the human & he wept in the dark deep

Saying O that I had never drank the wine nor eat the bread
Of dark mortality nor cast my view into futurity nor turnd
My back darkning the present clouding with a cloud               
And building arches high & cities turrets & towers & domes
whose smoke destroyd the pleasant gardens & whose running 
     Kennels
Chokd the bright rivers burdning with my Ships the angry deep
Thro Chaos seeking for delight & in spaces remote
Seeking the Eternal which is always present to the wise          
Seeking for pleasure which unsought falls round the infants path
And on the fleeces of mild flocks who neither care nor labour
But I the labourer of ages whose unwearied hands
Are thus deformd with hardness with the sword & with the spear
And with the Chisel & the mallet I whose labours vast            
Order the nations separating family by family
Alone enjoy not   I alone in misery supreme
Ungratified give all my joy unto this Luvah & Vala
Then Go O dark futurity I will cast thee forth from these
Heavens of my brain nor will I look upon futurity more
I cast futurity away & turn my back upon that void
Which I have made for lo futurity is in this moment
Let Orc consume let Tharmas rage let dark Urthona give
All strength to Los & Enitharmon & let Los self-cursd
Rend down this fabric as a wall ruind & family extinct           
Rage Orc Rage Tharmas Urizen no longer curbs your rage"

Urizen resolves to reassume the human form - the spiritual.   

He is sorry:

1. He ever experienced physicality,

2. sought to see or control the future which by right belongs to
 Urthona,

3. distorted the view of present,

4. created a religion of materiality,

5. made the destructive, oppressive economic system,

6. sought distant satisfactions instead of those at hand,

7. failed to recognize the God Within,

8. neglected simple pleasures,

9. divided one from another,

10. used force to engender conformity.

He recognizes that these failings are internal ('in my brain'). He
sees that 'futurity is in this moment.' He relinquishes claim to any
achievements as my own. He recognize the role of each Zoa.

As a result of his repentance: (E391)
"Into the fires Then glorious bright Exulting in his joy          
He sounding rose into the heavens in naked majesty
In radiant Youth."
______________________________________________

THARMAS & THE ID

The psychic energy of humans is said to come from the Id, the instinctual first principal which allows the infant to survive. In Freud's system the Superego and Ego are built on that fundamental structure of the psyche. Later developments of the psyche limit the expression of the Id, but it would be disastrous if the Id were completely suppressed for that would leave no energy with which to fuel the operation of other aspects of the psyche.

So it is with Blake's Tharmas. As the body, he is the Zoa who is the source of energy. In MHH 4 Blake says "Energy is the only life, and is from the body."

In the Sixth Night of the Four Zoas, we find Urizen wandering through the unsatisfactory world he has created. Urizen is weakened; Urthona occupies a throne in a world of solid darkness; the east, Luvah's realm, is a void. Tharmas, however is full of energy rolling his billows in ceaseless eddies as he seeks his Emanation Enion. Desiring death Tharmas bargains with Urizen : The Four Zoas, Night Six, 69.10; E346

"That I in vain in various paths have sought but still I live
The Body of Man is given to me I seek in vain to destroy
For still it surges forth in fish & monsters of the deeps
And in these monstrous forms I Live in an Eternal woe
And thou O Urizen art falln never to be deliverd
Withhold thy light from me for ever & I will withhold
From thee thy food so shall we cease to be & all our sorrows
End & the Eternal Man no more renew beneath our power"  

The function of Urizen is to produce light which he can provide to the other Zoas; it is up to Tharmas to provide the food or energy which the other Zoas are now lacking. Urizen has other ideas, so the bargain is not made nor could it be, because the Eternal Man will be renewed.

Tharmas threatens to starve Urizen in this passage: The Four Zoas, Night Six, 69.21; E 346

"Thou shalt pursue me but in vain till starvd upon the void
Thou hangst a dried skin shrunk up weak wailing in the wind
So Tharmas spoke but Urizen replied not."

Urizen makes this threat concerning Tharmas: The Four Zoas, Night Six, 68.22; E345

"I will give Chains of dark ignorance & cords of twisted self
conceit
And whips of stern repentance & food of stubborn obstinacy
That they may curse Tharmas their God & Los his adopted son"

So this is an explanation for the energy of Los; the alliance between Tharmas and Los gives Los the tremendous creative energy which he expends producing children, building cities and seeking to provide the conditions which will result in regeneration.

Blake as the 'vehicular form of Los' very likely tapped into the Id as instinctive energy to fuel his prolific output. His libido enjoyed a satisfying sexual relationship in his marriage to Catherine. The physical nature of his artistic activities involved his body in functioning as it should. The 'Tharmas' in him was not neglected but engaged as an essential partner, ready to provide energy for Blake's pursuits.

Enion, Enitharmon, Los and Tharmas

THARMAS & THE ID

The psychic energy of humans is said to come from the Id, the instinctual first principal which allows the infant to survive. In Freud's system the Superego and Ego are built on that fundamental structure of the psyche. Later developments of the psyche limit the expression of the Id, but it would be disastrous if the Id were completely suppressed for that would leave no energy with which to fuel the operation of other aspects of the psyche.

So it is with Blake's Tharmas. As the body, he is the Zoa who is the source of energy. In MHH 4 Blake says "Energy is the only life, and is from the body."

In the Sixth Night of the Four Zoas, we find Urizen wandering through the unsatisfactory world he has created. Urizen is weakened; Urthona occupies a throne in a world of solid darkness; the east, Luvah's realm, is a void. Tharmas, however is full of energy rolling his billows in ceaseless eddies as he seeks his Emanation Enion. Desiring death Tharmas bargains with Urizen : The Four Zoas, Night Six, 69.10; E346

"That I in vain in various paths have sought but still I live  
The Body of Man is given to me I seek in vain to destroy
For still it surges forth in fish & monsters of the deeps
And in these monstrous forms I Live in an Eternal woe
And thou O Urizen art falln never to be deliverd
Withhold thy light from me for ever & I will withhold         
From thee thy food so shall we cease to be & all our sorrows
End & the Eternal Man no more renew beneath our power"  

The function of Urizen is to produce light which he can provide to the other Zoas; it is up to Tharmas to provide the food or energy which the other Zoas are now lacking. Urizen has other ideas, so the bargain is not made nor could it be, because the Eternal Man will be renewed.

Tharmas threatens to starve Urizen in this passage: The Four Zoas, Night Six, 69.21; E346

"Thou shalt pursue me but in vain till starvd upon the void
Thou hangst a dried skin shrunk up weak wailing in the wind
So Tharmas spoke but Urizen replied not."

Urizen makes this threat concerning Tharmas: The Four Zoas, Night Six, 68.22; E345

"I will give
Chains of dark ignorance & cords of twisted self conceit
And whips of stern repentance & food of stubborn obstinacy
That they may curse Tharmas their God & Los his adopted son"

So this is an explanation for the energy of Los; the alliance between Tharmas and Los gives Los the tremendous creative energy which he expends producing children, building cities and seeking to provide the conditions which will result in regeneration.

Blake as the 'vehicular form of Los' very likely tapped into the Id as instinctive energy to fuel his prolific output. His libido enjoyed a satisfying sexual relationship in his marriage to Catherine. The physical nature of his artistic activities involved his body in functioning as it should. The 'Tharmas' in him was not neglected but engaged as an essential partner, ready to provide energy for Blake's pursuits.

Enion, Enitharmon, Los and Tharmas
____________________________________________________________________

Orc for the Unlearned

Blake has many characters; to understand Blake we need to become acquainted with his characters.  One good way to do that is to put his name on the Concordance; then review the occurrences of the name.  This will give you at least an introductory acquaintance with the character.

The first occurrence of Orc per se is in America, a Prophecy, 1.1; E51 with:
"The shadowy daughter of Urthona stood before red Orc."  If you read America you might conclude that Orc was a symbol or icon of Revolution.

"The red flames of Orc," pictured on America Plate 10.   

He was that, but as Blake's corpus progresses, we find that Orc was other things as well -- many other things in fact.

Los, through his emanation, Enitharmon, gave birth to Orc, his first born.  (This is not a matter of a human birth, but a figure of speech, as if
the Boston Teaparty gave birth to the American Revolution.)

But Blake carried the figure further; he described an archetypal father and son suffering under the Oedipus complex.  Los, out of jealously, took Orc to the top of a mountain and chained him there to a large rock.  What in the world is Blake trying to say?  Your guess, but I might think he's expressing his disenchantment with Revolution.

As a youth Blake, like a lot of Brits, was a fervent (American) patriot.  Likewise the French Revolution until the guillotine became common; disillusionment struck and Blake took off his red cap.He also wrote a poem expressing more pointedly his feelings about the matter:

"The hand of Vengeance found the bed
To which the Purple Tyrant fled;
The iron hand crush'd the Tyrant's head
And became a Tyrant in his stead."

If you have  access to Damon's Blake Dictionary, you may find much more data on Orc  than this humble post can provide.

Good luck and let me know what you think.

Orc for the Unlearned

Blake has many characters; to understand Blake we need to become acquainted with his characters.  One good way to do that is to put his name on the Concordance; then review the occurrences of the name.  This will give you at least an introductory acquaintance with the character.

The first occurrence of Orc per se is in America, a Prophecy, 1.1; E51 with:
"The shadowy daughter of Urthona stood before red Orc."  If you read America you might conclude that Orc was a symbol or icon of Revolution.

"The red flames of Orc," pictured on America Plate 10.   

He was that, but as Blake's corpus progresses, we find that Orc was other things as well -- many other things in fact.

Los, through his emanation, Enitharmon, gave birth to Orc, his first born.  (This is not a matter of a human birth, but a figure of speech, as if
the Boston Teaparty gave birth to the American Revolution.)

But Blake carried the figure further; he described an archetypal father and son suffering under the Oedipus complex.  Los, out of jealously, took Orc to the top of a mountain and chained him there to a large rock.  What in the world is Blake trying to say?  Your guess, but I might think he's expressing his disenchantment with Revolution.

As a youth Blake, like a lot of Brits, was a fervent (American) patriot.  Likewise the French Revolution until the guillotine became common; disillusionment struck and Blake took off his red cap.He also wrote a poem expressing more pointedly his feelings about the matter:

"The hand of Vengeance found the bed
To which the Purple Tyrant fled;
The iron hand crush'd the Tyrant's head
And became a Tyrant in his stead."

If you have  access to Damon's Blake Dictionary, you may find much more data on Orc  than this humble post can provide.

Good luck and let me know what you think.

WHY RAM HORN'D?

.
Perhaps it is inevitable that archetypal images appear in many settings with varied associations. The archetype of the shepherd and the sheep fits that description. In Blake the shepherd recurs as a metaphor for more than one of his characters; for instance, Tharmas is the shepherd, just as Urthona is the blacksmith, Urizen is the plowman and Luvah is the weaver. The ram, and the lion also appear as protectors of the fold the role usually assigned to the shepherd.

In Night Nine of the Four Zoas which is a culmination of the myth of the fall and division of Albion and his redemption and reunification, there is a passage amidst some of his loveliest poetic images, of the ram in that protective role. This passage deals not with Tharmas but with Luvah and his emanation Vala.

Plate 128.25-27
"So spoke the Sinless Soul & laid her head on the downy fleece
Of a curld Ram who stretchd himself in sleep beside his mistress
And soft sleep fell upon her eyelids in the silent noon of day"

For more of the passage in the Four Zoas click below.
4z's Night Nine go to 126.36, page 396

The poetic image of Vala asleep beside the ram recalls a visual image from America, A Prophecy, a scene of great peace and pastoral beauty. This image is ironically in the midst of an account of outbreak of revolution, the activity of Orc who is best known as Los's son.

Click below for links to the picture.
Asleep Beside the Ram
or
try this one.

This brings us to the poem from which Larry named this blog. In a letter to his friend Thomas Butts, Blake enclosed a poem know as 'My First Vision of Light.'

" ...And I heard his voice Mild
Saying This is My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold
Who awakest from sleep
On the sides of the Deep
On the Mountains around
The roarings resound
Of the lion & wolf
The loud sea & deep gulf
These are guards of My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold"

Here Blake himself becomes the 'Ram hornd with Gold' and identifies his 'fold' and the protective elements around it. It is a transforming experience for him, encouraging him to overcome the temptation to write for a popular audience and henceforth to speak only from the internal, eternal Imagination.

Letter to Thomas Butts

WHY RAM HORN'D?

.
Perhaps it is inevitable that archetypal images appear in many settings with varied associations. The archetype of the shepherd and the sheep fits that description. In Blake the shepherd recurs as a metaphor for more than one of his characters; for instance, Tharmas is the shepherd, just as Urthona is the blacksmith, Urizen is the plowman and Luvah is the weaver. The ram, and the lion also appear as protectors of the fold the role usually assigned to the shepherd.

In Night Nine of the Four Zoas which is a culmination of the myth of the fall and division of Albion and his redemption and reunification, there is a passage amidst some of his loveliest poetic images, of the ram in that protective role. This passage deals not with Tharmas but with Luvah and his emanation Vala.

Plate 128.25-27
"So spoke the Sinless Soul & laid her head on the downy fleece
Of a curld Ram who stretchd himself in sleep beside his mistress
And soft sleep fell upon her eyelids in the silent noon of day"

For more of the passage in the Four Zoas click below.
4z's Night Nine go to 126.36, page 396

The poetic image of Vala asleep beside the ram recalls a visual image from America, A Prophecy, a scene of great peace and pastoral beauty. This image is ironically in the midst of an account of outbreak of revolution, the activity of Orc who is best known as Los's son.

Click below for links to the picture.
Asleep Beside the Ram
or
try this one.

This brings us to the poem from which Larry named this blog. In a letter to his friend Thomas Butts, Blake enclosed a poem know as 'My First Vision of Light.'

" ...And I heard his voice Mild
Saying This is My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold
Who awakest from sleep
On the sides of the Deep
On the Mountains around
The roarings resound
Of the lion & wolf
The loud sea & deep gulf
These are guards of My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold"

Here Blake himself becomes the 'Ram hornd with Gold' and identifies his 'fold' and the protective elements around it. It is a transforming experience for him, encouraging him to overcome the temptation to write for a popular audience and henceforth to speak only from the internal, eternal Imagination.

Letter to Thomas Butts

Jung and Blake

Records show a strange congruence between the development and psyche of these two men:

Blake saw the face of God in his window at four.
Jung dreamed of a giant turd dropping from heaven on the cathedral at four.
Both men had a critical attitude toward conventional Christianity; note Blake's "Nobodaddy" and Jung's departure from several generations of ministers on both sides of his family, and of course the 'turd dream'.

Both men were primarily visionaries and poets although Jung of course carefully disguised himself from those roles.

In particular you will note a strange coincidence regarding one extremely critical vision: Blake's four zoas and Jung's four functions. The functions appear to relate positively to the zoas:

Tharmas may be related to Sensation.
Luvah to Feeling.
Urizen to Thinking.
Los to Intuition.

How did this come about? We know that Jung had read Blake.
Rightly or wrongly he never gave Blake credit for the functions. To do that might have given away his mask as a scientist.

In studying the two men we note a close resemblance between poetic (and graphic) vision and scientific discovery. Blake was certainly not (much of) a scientist, and Jung was more of a visionary than he cared to acknowledge.

He came closest in Memories, Dreams, and Reflections, written in his 80's and published posthumously. By that time he didn't care!

Four Zoas - 2

"Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Blake wrote this verse in Greek at the beginning of The Four Zoas. Sure enough in the thousands of words that follow he does (and we do) exactly that. The principalities and powers are within us. Our lives are made up of these wrestlings.

"Los was the fourth immortal starry one, & in the Earth Of a bright Universe Empery attended day & night Days & nights of revolving joy, Urthona was his name".

The fourth one! In Bloom's commentary in the back of Erdman, he points to an analogy between Los, the 'fourth immortal starry one' and the fourth one in the fiery furnace of the book of Daniel, "the form of the fourth is like the Son of God" (Daniel 3:25).

Los is the most hopeful of the Zoas - imaginative, intuitive, closely analogous to the Son of God, although his career in The Four Zoas is torturous, frequently destructive before becoming creative.

Blake started with a summary description of
Los, but then he 'began with parent power -- Tharmas.
As we read Blake we constantly encounter seeming contradiction of this sort. He began with Los, but then he began with Tharmas. Did he do that to confuse us? to provoke us into the use of our own imagination? Who knows?

Four Zoas - 2

"Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Blake wrote this verse in Greek at the beginning of The Four Zoas. Sure enough in the thousands of words that follow he does (and we do) exactly that. The principalities and powers are within us. Our lives are made up of these wrestlings.

"Los was the fourth immortal starry one, & in the Earth Of a bright Universe Empery attended day & night Days & nights of revolving joy, Urthona was his name".

The fourth one! In Bloom's commentary in the back of Erdman, he points to an analogy between Los, the 'fourth immortal starry one' and the fourth one in the fiery furnace of the book of Daniel, "the form of the fourth is like the Son of God" (Daniel 3:25).

Los is the most hopeful of the Zoas - imaginative, intuitive, closely analogous to the Son of God, although his career in The Four Zoas is torturous, frequently destructive before becoming creative.

Blake started with a summary description of
Los, but then he 'began with parent power -- Tharmas.
As we read Blake we constantly encounter seeming contradiction of this sort. He began with Los, but then he began with Tharmas. Did he do that to confuse us? to provoke us into the use of our own imagination? Who knows?

The Four Zoas

A Subjective Reading
A Personal Experience

(A valued friend put me on to a discussion of 4Z found
on pages 203-32 of Blake's Sublime Allegory. Most
[or all?] of this post derives from that essay: On Reading the Four Zoas by Mary Lynn Johnson and Brian Wilkie. Hopefully there may be other posts to come on 4Z.)

"...we want most to encourage the sort of visceral and
personal response to this deeply introspective poem
that we believe Blake demands of his readers." (203)

"...we must recognize that the movement of the poem...yields its meaning in proportion to our
willingness to examine what happens within us."

After those lines on the first page the writers proceed
with a cursory statement of the plot; that's revealed
in the first page of 4Z:

"Four Mighty Ones are in every Man;
a Perfect Unity
(John XVII c. 21 & 22 & 23 v)

Cannot Exist. but from the Universal
Brotherhood of Eden
(John I c. 14. v)

The Universal Man. To Whom be
Glory Evermore Amen"
(John I c. 14. v)

The Universal Man of course is Albion-- representing
an eternal Great Britain, representing the people of
the world in Eternity, representing the perfect you.

"Albion looks up, rises from the rock in just wrath and is about to walk 'into the Heavens'" (Erdman)

The "Four Mighty Ones" (the four Zoas) are Tharmas,
Urthona, Urizen, and Luvah. Blake "begins with
Tharmas..", but before the "beginning " he tell us about
Los (the worldly version of Urthona), "Urthona was his
name", who represents here all the Zoas, in Eternity
with "days and nights of revolving joy", then the plot
is announced:

"His fall into Division & his Resurrection to Unity His
fall into the Generation of Decay & Death & his
Regeneration by the Resurrection from the dead."

It's the old, old story everyone can read in the Bible;
In 4Z Blake gave us his version of it -- one of course
of many.

The Four Zoas

A Subjective Reading
A Personal Experience

(A valued friend put me on to a discussion of 4Z found
on pages 203-32 of Blake's Sublime Allegory. Most
[or all?] of this post derives from that essay: On Reading the Four Zoas by Mary Lynn Johnson and Brian Wilkie. Hopefully there may be other posts to come on 4Z.)

"...we want most to encourage the sort of visceral and
personal response to this deeply introspective poem
that we believe Blake demands of his readers." (203)

"...we must recognize that the movement of the poem...yields its meaning in proportion to our
willingness to examine what happens within us."

After those lines on the first page the writers proceed
with a cursory statement of the plot; that's revealed
in the first page of 4Z:

"Four Mighty Ones are in every Man;
a Perfect Unity
(John XVII c. 21 & 22 & 23 v)

Cannot Exist. but from the Universal
Brotherhood of Eden
(John I c. 14. v)

The Universal Man. To Whom be
Glory Evermore Amen"
(John I c. 14. v)

The Universal Man of course is Albion-- representing
an eternal Great Britain, representing the people of
the world in Eternity, representing the perfect you.

"Albion looks up, rises from the rock in just wrath and is about to walk 'into the Heavens'" (Erdman)

The "Four Mighty Ones" (the four Zoas) are Tharmas,
Urthona, Urizen, and Luvah. Blake "begins with
Tharmas..", but before the "beginning " he tell us about
Los (the worldly version of Urthona), "Urthona was his
name", who represents here all the Zoas, in Eternity
with "days and nights of revolving joy", then the plot
is announced:

"His fall into Division & his Resurrection to Unity His
fall into the Generation of Decay & Death & his
Regeneration by the Resurrection from the dead."

It's the old, old story everyone can read in the Bible;
In 4Z Blake gave us his version of it -- one of course
of many.