GENESIS III

While working with the passage in the Four Zoas (click on page number) which was the basis for my two posts on Genesis, I became more aware of the way Blake speaks at various levels and about multiple realities simultaneously. In shifting the context and the characters as the narrative develops, Blake encourages us to think at different levels of abstraction, and at different levels of spiritual consciousness. I became aware that in talking of Los and Enitharmon, Blake was speaking at the level of creation of the 'Divine Family' which we may consider the archetypes. When we think of the processes in terms of Adam and Eve, the first parents, we are thinking about the origin of the human race, a biological process in which spirits became embodied. The creative process which William and Catherine engaged in, creating art, was the mental/spiritual process of creating images, imagining or creating ideas to represent unseen realities. There may be another level implied as well. If wrath and pity are the original materials with which the human mind has to work, we are seeing the psyche being created as the Zoas, the 'functions' through which it will be expressed.

New York Public Library

Milton

Plate 32

To help us visualize his world and its occupants, Blake gave us this diagram of his Four Zoas, Satan, Adam, the Egg (of Consciousness ?), the Earth (surrounding Adam) and the Fiery Circle.

This table helps me visualize the various levels of creation.

Los and Enitharmon---create the divine family---archetypes.
Adam and Eve---create the human race---embodiments
William and Catherine---create art---images
Wrath and Pity---create psyche---Zoas