LAST JUDGMENT 2

 Previously posted Jan 2021

Wikipedia Commons
Michelangelo's Last Judgment
Detail of Jesus

On Page 148 of Golgoonoza Kathleen Raine explains the background of the culture in which Michelangelo worked on his image of the Last Judgment. His Jesus was the product of the religious mindset of Renaissance Italy in which he lived. The Reformation was underway but Jesus was still perceived a figure of wrath not mercy.

"The vision of the Apocalypse was for Michelangelo and for his time rather one of terror and of this world's ruin rather than of spiritual resurrection. So it has remained in the imagination of Christendom as a whole, and so it must be always for this secular world, whose foundations are to be shaken and overthrown. That Michelangelo's figure of Jesus comes rather as a figure of wrath than of serenity clearly reflects Michelangelo's own political bitterness at the Roman See.

...Michelangelo's vision considers the great event from the standpoint of this world."

National Gallery of Art Washington DC
Last Judgment

c 1809
Pen and Ink

Reine tells us on Page 149 of Golgonooza of the contrary perspective of Blake in presenting the Son of God. "Jesus is less a supreme ruler than a permeating presence, the heart of the great circulation of human figures ascending and descending in unbroken flow from the heavens down to the hells, and again rising upwards into the heavens.

...Blake's Jesus is not so much an individual as the heart of the light which emanates from a divine center."

---

There are several images of the Last Judgment by Blake which still exist including a drawing and watercolor images . He worked on a large image said to include "upwards of one thousand figures" in "exquisite finishing" until the end of his life but it is untraced since 1848. (Stranger from Paradise, G. E. Bentley, Jr, Page 355)

The image in the National Gallery is closest to the description which Blake wrote in a letter to his friend Ozias Humphry.

---

The Design of The Last Judgment, (E 552)

          "To Ozias Humphry Esqre

     The Design of The Last Judgment which I have completed by
your recommendation [under a fortunate star] for The
Countess of Egremont [by a happy accident] it is
necessary to give some account of & its various parts ought to be
described for the accomodation of those who give it the honor of
attention
     Christ seated on the Throne of judgment [The Heavens in
Clouds rolling before him & around him] before his feet &
around him the heavens in clouds are rolling like a scroll ready
to be consumed in the fires of the Angels who descend  
with the Four Trumpets sounding to
the Four Winds
     Beneath  Earth is convulsed with the labours
of the Resurrection--in the Caverns of the Earth is the Dragon
with Seven heads & ten Horns chained by two Angels & above his
Cavern on the Earths Surface is the Harlot siezed & bound by
two Angels with chains while her Palaces are falling
into ruins & her councellors & warriors are
descending into the Abyss in wailing & despair
     Hell opens beneath the Harlots seat on the left hand into
which the Wicked are descending [while others rise from their
Craves on the brink of the Pit]
     The right hand of the Design is appropriated to the
Resurrection of the Just the left hand of the Design is
appropriated to the Resurrection & Fall of the Wicked

     Immediately before the Throne of Christ is Adam & Eve
kneeling in humiliation as representatives of the whole Human
Race   Abraham & Moses kneel on each side beneath them from the
cloud on which Eve kneels [ & beneath Moses & from the Tables
of Stone which utter lightnings] is seen Satan wound round
by the Serpent & falling headlong the Pharisees appear on the
left hand pleading their own righteousness before the Throne of
Christ & before the Book of Death which is opend on clouds by two
Angels & many groupes of Figures are falling from before the
Throne & from before the Sea of Fire which flows before the steps
of the Throne on which is seen the seven Lamps of
the Almighty burning before the Throne many Figures chained &
bound together & in various attitudes of Despair & Horror fall
thro the air & some are scourged by Spirits with flames of fire
into the Abyss of Hell which opens [to recieve them]
beneath on the left hand of the Harlots Seat where others are
howling & [descending into the flames & in the act of]
dragging each other into Hell & in contending in
fighting with each other on the brink of
Perdition
     Before the Throne of Christ on the Right hand the Just in
humiliation & in exultation rise thro the Air with their Children
& Families some of whom are bowing before the Book of Life which
is opend on clouds by two
Angels many groupes arise in 
exultation among them is a Figure crownd with Stars & the Moon
beneath her feet with six infants around her She represents the
Christian Church   Green hills appear beneath with
the Graves of the Blessed which are seen bursting with their
births of immortality Parents & Children Wives & Husbands embrace
& arise together & in exulting attitudes of great joy tell each
other that the New Jerusalem is ready to descend upon Earth they
arise upon the Air rejoicing others newly awakend from the Grave
stand upon the Earth embracing. & shouting to the Lamb who cometh
in the Clouds in Power & great Glory
     The Whole upper part of the Design is a View of Heaven
opened around the Throne of Christ in the Cloud which rolls away
are the Four Living Creatures filled with Eyes attended by the
Seven Angels with the Seven Vials of the Wrath of God & above
these  Seven Angels with the Seven Trumpets
these compose the Cloud which by its rolling
away displays the opening seats of the Blessed on the right &
left of which are seen the Four & Twenty Elders seated on Thrones
to Judge the Dead
     Behind the Seat & Throne of Christ appears
the Tabernacle with its Veil opened & the Candlestick
on the right the Table with the Shew bread on the left & in
[the] midst is the Cross in place of the Ark [with
the two] Cherubim bowing over it
     On the Right hand of the Throne of Christ is Baptism On
the left is the Lords Supper the two introducers
into Eternal Life    Women with Infants approach the Figure of an
aged Apostle which represents

Baptism & on the left hand the Lords Supper is administerd by
Angels from the hands of another  Apostle these
kneel on each side of the Throne which is surrounded by a Glory
many Infants appear in the Glory
representing the Eternal Creation flowing from the Divine
Humanity in Jesus who opens the Scroll of Judgment upon his knees
before the Living & the Dead
     Such is the Design which you my Dear Sir have been the cause
of my producing & which but for you might have slept till the
Last Judgment

                                                 WILLIAM BLAKE
[18 January 1808] Feby 1808"

____________________________________________________

Revelation 21
[1] And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
[2] And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
[3] And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
[4] And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
[5] And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new

LAST JUDGMENT

 Previously posted Jan 2021

Wikipedia Commons

Michelangelo

Last Judgment

Sistine Chapel

Wikimedia Commons 
The Vision of the Last Judgment
Petworth House, The National Trust

William Blake and Michelangelo each created images of the Last Judgment. Despite Blake's admiration for Michelangelo, he interpreted the scene in a different style to portray different content. Michelangelo's primary art was his sculpting which influenced his painting. Blake was trained as an engraver which determined the way that he painted.

Michelangelo's figures have bulk and weight while Blake's are light and flowing. The physical body is displayed by Michelangelo, the ethereal body by Blake. The image of Jesus shown by Michelangelo is that of a human man in the center of the drama. Blake's Jesus is clothed in light and reigns in heaven removed from the earthly activity. 

Kathleen Raine in Golgonooza: City of Imagination states that "in comparing Blake's Vision of the Last Judgment with that of Michelangelo - to whom Blake was so obviously and so deeply indebted - we are comparing a historical and ecclesiastical with a mystical understanding of the Apocalypse. As we compare the works of these two great Christian artists, each totally dedicated to the religion they professed, we discover that the many differences of overall conception and of detail do correspond to differences in each 'according to the situation he holds.'"(Page 145)

Vision of the Last Judgment, (E 554)
"The Last Judgment when all those are Cast away who trouble
Religion with Questions concerning Good & Evil or Eating of the
Tree of those Knowledges or Reasonings which hinder the Vision of
God turning all into a Consuming fire    Imaginative Art &
Science & all Intellectual Gifts all the Gifts of the Holy Ghost
are lookd upon as of no use & only Contention
remains to Man   then the Last Judgment begins & its Vision is seen
by the Imaginative Eye of Every one according to the
situation he holds
    The Last Judgment is not Fable or Allegory
but Vision"

Descriptive Catalogue, (E 544)
 "Poetry as it exists
now on earth, in the various remains of ancient authors, Music as
it exists in old tunes or melodies, Painting and Sculpture as it
exists in the remains of Antiquity and in the works of more
modern genius, is Inspiration, and cannot be surpassed; it is
perfect and eternal.  Milton, Shakspeare, Michael Angelo, Rafael,
the finest specimens of Ancient Sculpture and Painting, and
Architecture, Gothic, Grecian, Hindoo and Egyptian, are the
extent of the human mind.  The human mind cannot go beyond the
gift of God, the Holy Ghost.  To suppose that Art can go beyond
the finest specimens of Art that are now in the world, is not
knowing what Art is; it is being blind to the gifts of the
spirit."

WITNESS TO THE LIGHT

First posted April 2022 

Milton, Plate 10 [11], (E 104)

"Every thing in Eternity shines by its own Internal light: but thou
Darkenest every Internal light with the arrows of thy quiver
Bound up in the horns of jealousy to a deadly fading Moon
And Ocalythron binds the Sun into a Jealous Globe
That every thing is fixd Opake without Internal light         

So Los lamented over Satan, who triumphant divided the Nations"

Jerusalem, PLATE 54, (E 203)
"In Great Eternity, every particular Form gives forth or Emanates
Its own peculiar Light, & the Form is the Divine Vision
And the Light is his Garment This is Jerusalem in every Man
A Tent & Tabernacle of Mutual Forgiveness Male & Female Clothings.
And Jerusalem is called Liberty among the Children of Albion" 

Four Zoas, Night V, Page 61,  (E 341)
"His eyes the lights of his large soul contract or else expand
Contracted they behold the secrets of the infinite mountains
The veins of gold & silver & the hidden things of Vala          
Whatever grows from its pure bud or breathes a fragrant soul
Expanded they behold the terrors of the Sun & Moon
The Elemental Planets & the orbs of eccentric fire"

Letters, To Hayley, (E 756)
"Suddenly,
on the day after visiting the Truchsessian Gallery of pictures, I
was again enlightened with the light I enjoyed in my youth, and
which has for exactly twenty years been closed from me as by a
door and by window-shutters.  Consequently I can, with
confidence, promise you ocular demonstration of my altered state
on the plates I am now engraving after Romney, whose spiritual
aid has not a little conduced to my restoration to the light of
Art.

---

A clear account of seeing not an objective thing but the intrinsic reality which underlies surface appearance is found in Robert Pirsig's novel Lila. Pirsig named the philosophy of Phaedrus Dynamic Quality. The exterior static constructs of the left brain fail to provide the flexible perspective which recognizes goodness as it appears in all its aspects.

Robert Pirsig's second novel: read Lila as pdf 

Passage from the end of chapter 26:

"Once when Phaedrus was standing in one of the galleries of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, he saw on one wall a huge painting of the Buddha and nearby were some paintings of Christian saints. He noticed again something he had thought about before. Although the Buddhists and Christians had no historic contact with one another they both painted halos. The halos weren't the same size. The Buddhists painted great big ones, sometimes surrounding the person's whole body, while the Christian ones were smaller and in back of the person's head or over it. It seemed to mean the two religions weren't copying one another or they would have made the halos the same size. But they were both painting something they were seeing separately, which implied that that 'something' they were  painting had a real, independent existence.

Then as Phaedrus was thinking this he noticed one painting in the corner and thought, There. What the others are just painting symbolically he is actually showing. They're seeing it second-hand. He's seeing it first hand.

It was a painting of Christ with no halo at all. But the clouds in the sky behind his head were slightly lighter near his head than farther away. And the sky near his head was lighter too. That was all. But that was the real illumination, no objective thing at all, just a shift in intensity of light. Phaedru stepped up to the canvas to read the name-plate at the bottom. It was El Greco again.

Our culture immunizes us against giving much importance to all this because the light has no 'objective' reality. That means it's just some 'subjective' and therefore unreal phenomenon. In a Metaphysics of Quality, however, this light is important because it often appears associated with undefined auspiciousness, that is, with Dynamic Quality. It signals a Dynamic intrusion upon a static situation. When there is a letting go of static patterns the light occurs. It is often accompanied by a feeling of relaxation because static patterns have been jarred loose. He thought it was probably the light that infants see when their world is still fresh and whole, before consciousness differentiates it into patterns; a light into which everything fades at death. Accounts of people who have had a 'near death experience' have referred to this 'white light' as something very beautiful and compelling from which they didn't want to return. The light would occur during the breakup of the static patterns of the person's intellect as it returned into the pure Dynamic Quality from which it had emerged in infancy.

During Phaedrus' time of insanity when he had wandered freely outside the limits of cultural reality, this light had been a valued companion, pointing out things to him that he would otherwise have missed, appearing at an event his rational thought had indicated was unimportant, but which he would later discover had been more important than he had known. Other times it had occurred at events he could not figure out the importance of, but which had left him wondering.

He saw it once on a small kitten. After that for a long time the kitten followed him wherever he went and he wondered if the kitten saw it too.

He had seen it once around a tiger in a zoo. The tiger had suddenly looked at him with what seemed like surprise and had come over to the bars for a closer look. Then the illumination began to appear around the tiger's face. That was all. Afterward, that experience associated itself with William Blake's 'Tiger! Tiger! burning bright.'

The eyes had blazed with what seemed to be inner light."

 

---

Matthew 17 

[1] And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

[2] And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 

[3] And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. 

Luke 11
[33] No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.
[34] The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
[35] Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
[36] If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

John 5
[33] Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.
[34] But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.
[35] He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
[36] But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.

Acts 26

[12] Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

[13] At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.

[14] And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 

[15] And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

John 8

[12] Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

 

John 1

[4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
[5] And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
[6] There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
[7] The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
[8] He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
[9] That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

John 20

[11] But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

[12] And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
[13] And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

BURNING BRIGHT

 First posted April 2018

Wikimedia Commons
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Copy Z, Plate 45
The Little Vagabond

Larry and I have written very little about Blake's Tyger although it is Blake's best known and perhaps most provocative poem. It may also contain his most influential thought and message. In Robert Persig's Lila we find an instance of the content of The Tyger not being referenced directly, but by association entering the consciousness of a larger dimension.   

Like Blake, Persig in his book was attempting to provide an opening to a consciousness beyond the habitual frame in which we ordinarily operate. Pirsig's reference to Blake's Tyger in association with perceptions of exterior light in unexpected situations, is a portent of receiving the inner transforming light.

If we reflect on the methods by which we receive light we may focus first on the light from distant objects which we receive through our physical eyes. Second might be the enlightenment which we experience in our minds when we break into new insight about a person, object, situation or idea. Third is consciousness of the light itself when it spreads its illumination in some unusual or intense fashion. Pirsig wrote of experiencing the light as it radiated from an object or person or event of peculiar significance. Blake's experience in the Truchsessian Gallery enhanced his ability to see more clearly in the external world because his inner light was intensified. Pirsig used the the internal generation of light by Blake's Tyger as symbolic of transformation taking place in the psyche.    

Lila by Robert Pirsig, Page 339:

"During Phaedrus' time of insanity when he wandered freely outside the limits of cultural reality, this light had been a valued companion, pointing out things to him that he would otherwise have missed, appearing at an event his rational thought had indicated was unimportant, but which he later discovered had been more important than he had known. Often it had occurred at events he could not figure out the importance of, but had left him wondering.

He saw it once on a small kitten. After that for a long time the kitten followed him wherever he went and he wondered if the kitten saw it too.

He had seen it once around a tiger at the zoo. The tiger had suddenly looked at him with what seemed like surprise and had come over to the bars for a closer look. The the illumination began to appear around the tiger's face. That was all. Afterward, that experience associated itself with William Blake's 'Tiger! Tiger! burning bright.'

The eyes had blazed with what seemed to be inner light."

Letters, To Hayley, (E 756)
"Suddenly,
on the day after visiting the Truchsessian Gallery of pictures, I
was again enlightened with the light I enjoyed in my youth, and
which has for exactly twenty years been closed from me as by a
door and by window-shutters."

Milton, Plate 1, (E 95)
  "And did the Countenance Divine,             
     Shine forth upon our clouded hills?"

Milton, Plate 5, (E 98)
"And this is the manner of the Daughters of Albion in their beauty
Every one is threefold in Head & Heart & Reins, & every one
Has three Gates into the Three Heavens of Beulah which shine
Translucent in their Foreheads & their Bosoms & their Loins
Surrounded with fires unapproachable: but whom they please
They take up into their Heavens in  intoxicating  delight" 

Milton, Plate 10, (E 104)
"Every thing in Eternity shines by its own Internal light: but thou
Darkenest every Internal light with the arrows of thy quiver
Bound up in the borns of jealousy to a deadly fading Moon
And Ocalythron binds the Sun into a Jealous Globe
That every thing is fixd Opake without Internal light"  

Jerusalem, Plate 19, (E 164)
"Where once he sat he weary walks in misery and pain:
His Giant beauty and perfection fallen into dust:
Till from within his witherd breast grown narrow with his woes:
The corn is turn'd to thistles & the apples into poison:         
The birds of song to murderous crows, his joys to bitter groans!
The voices of children in his tents, to cries of helpless infants!
And self-exiled from the face of light & shine of morning,
In the dark world a narrow house! he wanders up and down,
Seeking for rest and finding none! and hidden far within,        
His Eon weeping in the cold and desolated Earth.

All his Affections now appear withoutside:   

So Los lamented over Satan, who triumphant divided the Nations"

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 81, (E 357)
"Thy roses that expanded in the face of glowing morn
Page 82 
Hid in a little silken veil scarce breathe & faintly shine
Thy lilies that gave light what time the morning looked forth
Hid in the Vales faintly lament & no one hears their voice"

Songs and Ballads, (E 477)
"Mock on Mock on Voltaire Rousseau
Mock on Mock on! tis all in vain!
You throw the sand against the wind
And the wind blows it back again

And every sand becomes a Gem                          
Reflected in the beams divine
Blown back they blind the mocking Eye 
But still in Israels paths they shine

The Atoms of Democritus
And Newtons Particles of light          
Are sands upon the Red sea shore
Where Israels tents do shine so bright"

Songs and Ballads, From Notebook, (E 480)
"My Designs unchangd remain      
Time may rage but rage in vain
For above Times troubled Fountains
On the Great Atlantic Mountains
In my Golden House on high
There they Shine Eternally"     

Auguries of Innocence, (E 492)
"Every Night & every Morn
Some to Misery are Born 
Every Morn & every Night
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to Endless Night
We are led to Believe a Lie 
When we see not Thro the Eye 
Which was Born in a Night to perish in a Night
When the Soul Slept in Beams of Light
God Appears & God is Light
To those poor Souls who dwell in Night 
But does a Human Form Display
To those who Dwell in Realms of day"

Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Plate 42, (E 24)
"The Tyger.                         

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.       
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?           
On what wings dare he aspire?     
What the hand, dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
 
What the hammer? what the chain, 
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,       
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!               

When the stars threw down their spears   
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?          
Did he who made the Lamb make thee? 

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:                        
What immortal hand or eye,                     
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?"  

Matthew 17
[1] And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
[2] And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
[3] And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
[4] Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
[5] While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
[6] And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
[7] And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
[8] And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.

Heaven and Hell

Posted March 2019 

Wikimedia Commons
Original in Fitzwilliam Museum
Illustrations to Paradise Regained 
Satan tempts Christ with the Kingdoms of the Earth

This is an extract from Chapter Four (FAITH) of Ram Horn'd With Gold by Larry Clayton.

Heaven and Hell

       Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? (Isaiah 33:14)
   
 No one knows of the Beyond. Still men throughout history have seen visions of it. These visions have informed their faith and galvanized them to the words and deeds by which they have lived. Look now at Blake's visions of Heaven and Hell:

       For Isaiah (and Blake) 'everlasting burnings' had connotations opposite to those of conventional thinking.Indeed throughout the Bible fire symbolizes God more often than the Devil: "our God is a consuming fire". Note also the burning bush seen by Moses and the forks of flame at Pentecost. In Eden every bush burns and flaming tongues fill the air; Blake referred to them as burning arrows of thought.

       Blake's eternity, both here and hereafter, is characterized by two intense activities, War and Hunting (Milton: Plate 35:2), "the Two Fountains of the River of Life". Both are intellectual in nature and aimed at growth into Truth. In this world they have been prostituted into "corporeal war" and the killing of the innocent. War and Hunting of course exhaust the eternals, so periodic rest is provided in what might be called Lower Heaven; Blake called it Beulah:

"There is from Great Eternity a mild & pleasant rest Nam'd Beulah, a soft Moony Universe, feminine, lovely, Pure, mild & Gentle, given in Mercy to those who sleep, Eternally created by the Lamb of God around, On all sides, within & without the Universal Man."
       4Z (Night 1 5:29-31)

       Blake tells us relatively little about Eden, but in his larger poems he had a lot to say about Beulah. He described it as a sort of way station between Eden and Ulro, which we might roughly translate as this vale of tears. Two way traffic passes through Beulah. Those who reach it from Ulro are in good shape and headed for something better. Those coming from the other direction are also okay for the moment but in deadly peril if they go farther.

       We could also call Ulro "this world". In a sense "this world" is as close to the conventional hell as Blake got. In Blake as in the Bible, especially in Paul, "this world" has a technical meaning. It does not mean the present stage of life as opposed to a heavenly (or hellish) existence beyond physical death. Basically "this world" means a level of consciousness that sees only the material, which Blake called the corporeal. Ulro is the state in which "Reality was forgot, and the Vanities of Time and Space only Remembered and called Reality" (Vision of the Last Judgment; Erdman 555; his comments on an astounding canvas; it concerns Revelation 20:11-15).

       Ulro, Blake's hell, denotes a form of blindness or sleep, from which one may awaken:

 "Of the Sleep of Ulro! and of
the passage through Eternal Death! 
and of the awaking to Eternal Life..." (Jerusalem Chapter One) 

       This is his theme, Blake tells us. Students of the New Testament know that sleep and waking are thoroughly biblical figures for the spiritual realities which concerned Blake here. He envisioned Eternal Death as the fallenness of "this world" through which we pass before "awaking to Eternal Life". Blake thus saw hell as man's fallen state before the coming of Jesus to awaken us and set us free.

       The biblical writers as they are generally understood had not adequately grasped the fullness of Jesus' power to rescue mankind totally from the darkness which Blake called Eternal Death. They wrote most of the New Testament in a time of persecution. In their effort to stiffen the spine of the believer in the face of that persecution they retreated into a degree of thralldom to the Old Testament God of Wrath, in the spirit of Jonathan Edwards' sermon,"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God".

       One can readily understand why the worldly ecclesiastics who followed Peter and Paul picked up on the angry God. All too often he became their primary weapon; the image of hell is the ultimate form of coercion. Blake made no such mistake, probably because of the ten years which he had spent confronting and subduing that "shadow from his wearied intellect", years of suffering, but it turned to glory.

"Albion walkd on the steps of fire before his Halls
And Vala walkd with him in dreams of soft deluding slumber.
He looked up & saw the Prince of Light with splendor faded       
Then Albion ascended mourning into the porches of his Palace
Above him rose a Shadow from his wearied intellect:
Of living gold, pure, perfect, holy: in white linen pure he hoverd
A sweet entrancing self-delusion a watry vision of Albion
Soft exulting in existence; all the Man absorbing!"

(Jerusalem, Plate 43 [29], Erdman 191)  

       In those years he laid to rest the Punisher who has afflicted the minds of believers through the centuries, but he retained the creative possibility which represents the best of the Christian faith. The rationalists and deists had thrown out both and confined us to Ulro, which today threatens to engulf mankind. The reader must decide for himself whose hell is most real--the place of unending punishment or the sleep from which man may awaken.