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Museum The Grave - Page 8 Cromak's arrangement Schiavonetti's Engraving
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"All are equal in the Grave. Wisdom, Power, Valour, Beauty, and Innocence, at the hour of death, alike are impotent and unavailing."
Book - 8 The Descent of Man into the Vale of Death
Pictured above are the eternal unchanging forms of which individuals are manifestations. Man passes through states in which he undergoes changes without altering the Eternal archetype which he represents.
Blake see permanence in two entities: man's individual Soul or Identity, and the archetypal forms which exist as patterns inhabiting Eternity. Blake's Zoas and Emanations are archetypes in Eternity. When the Soul of man (which is permanent or immortal) enters a body (which is temporal and mortal) it assumes a particular archetypal appearance which travels through states in the temporal world.
So Jung can designate Four Functions which are parallel to the Four Zoas of Blake. An individual exemplifies the function which dominates his mental activities. This is not the Identity of the man but the garment in which he is clothed in worldly life. A man, as an Identity, travels through life clothed in his archetypal garment passing through states which are temporal.
The Soul being permanent, is not changed by passing through states but has the opportunity in time & space to be enriched and enhanced by journeying through experience. Eternity is not changed by the Soul leaving and returning but is perfected or completed by the multitude of.alternatives engendered by experience.
Letters, To Hayley, (E 705)
"I hear his [brother Robert's] advice & even now write from his
Dictate--Forgive me for expressing to you my Enthusiasm which I
wish all to partake of Since it is to me a Source of Immortal
Joy even in this world by it I am the companion of Angels. May
you continue to be so more & more & to be more & more perswaded.
that every Mortal loss is an Immortal Gain. The Ruins of Time
builds Mansions in Eternity.--I have also sent A Proof of
Pericles for your Remarks thanking you for the kindness with
which you Express them & feeling heartily your Grief with a
brothers Sympathy
I remain Dear Sir Your humble Servant
WILLIAM BLAKE"
Letters, To Butts, (E 728)
"Accept of my thanks for your kind & heartening Letter You
have Faith in the Endeavours of Me your weak brother & fellow
Disciple. how great must be your faith in our Divine Master. You
are to me a Lesson of Humility while you Exalt me by such
distinguishing commendations. I know that you see certain merits
in me which by Gods Grace shall be made fully apparent & perfect
in Eternity. in the mean time I must not bury the Talents in the
Earth but do my endeavour to live to the Glory of our Lord &
Saviour & I am also grateful to the kind hand that endeavours to
lift me out of despondency even if it lifts me too high--"
Descriptive Catalogue, Number III, (E 532)
"The characters of Chaucer's Pilgrims are the characters
which compose all ages and nations: as one age falls, another
rises, different to mortal sight, but to immortals only the same;
for we see the same characters repeated again and again, in
animals, vegetables, minerals, and in men; nothing new occurs in
identical existence; Accident ever varies, Substance can
never suffer change nor decay.
Of Chaucer's characters, as described in his Canterbury
Tales, some of the names or titles are altered by time, but the
characters themselves for ever remain unaltered, and
consequently they are the
physiognomies or lineaments of universal human life, beyond which
Nature never steps. Names alter, things never alter."
Descriptive Catalogue, Number III, (E 535)
"The principal figure in the next groupe, is the Good
Parson; an Apostle, a real Messenger of Heaven, sent in every
age for its light and its warmth. This man is beloved and
venerated by all, and neglected by all: He serves all, and is
served by none; he is, according to Christ's definition, the
greatest of his age. Yet he is a Poor Parson of a town. Read
Chaucer's description of the Good Parson, and bow the head and
the knee to him, who, in every age sends us such a burning and a
shining light. Search O ye rich and powerful, for these men and
obey their counsel, then shall the golden age return: But
alas! you will not easily distinguish him from the Friar or the
Pardoner, they also are "full solemn men," and their counsel, you
will continue to follow."
Descriptive Catalogue, Number III, (E 536)
"Thus the reader will observe, that
Chaucer makes every one of his characters perfect in his kind,
every one is an Antique Statue; the image of a class, and not of
an imperfect individual."
Milton, Plate 32 [35], (E 132)
"Calling the Human Imagination: which is the Divine Vision & Fruition
In which Man liveth eternally: madness & blasphemy, against
Its own Qualities, which are Servants of Humanity, not Gods or Lords[.]
Distinguish therefore States from Individuals in those States.
States Change: but Individual Identities never change nor cease:
You cannot go to Eternal Death in that which can never Die."
Vision of Last Judgment, Page 76, (E 556)
"These States Exist now Man Passes on but States
remain for Ever he passes thro them like a traveller who may as
well suppose that the places he has passed thro exist no more as
a Man may suppose that the States he has passd thro exist no more
Every Thing is Eternal
[PAGE 79] In Eternity one Thing never Changes into
another Thing Each Identity is Eternal consequently Apuleius's
Golden Ass & Ovids Metamorphosis & others of the like kind are
Fable yet they contain Vision in a Sublime degree being derived
from real Vision in More Ancient Writings[.] Lots Wife
being Changed into Pillar of Salt alludes to the Mortal Body
being renderd a Permanent Statue but not Changed or Transformed
into Another Identity while it retains its own Individuality. A
Man can never become Ass nor Horse some are born with shapes of
Men who may be both but Eternal Identity is one thing & Corporeal
Vegetation is another thing Changing Water into Wine by Jesus &
into Blood by Moses relates to Vegetable Nature also"
Vision of Last Judgment , Page 69, (E 555)
"The Nature of Visionary Fancy or Imagination is very little
Known & the Eternal nature & permanence of its ever Existent
Images is considerd as less permanent than the things of
Vegetative & Generative Nature yet the Oak dies as well as the
Lettuce but Its Eternal Image & Individuality never dies. but
renews by its seed. just the Imaginative Image returns
the seed of Contemplative Thought the Writings of the Prophets
illustrate these conceptions of the Visionary Fancy by their
various sublime & Divine Images as seen in the Worlds of Vision"
.
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