ETERNITY'S SUN RISE

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Plate 11

Appearances are deceiving. Beneath the surface is the reality which determines the import of what appears to be. For this reason we are responsible for knowing how to act in whatever circumstance is presented. We learn to act in accordance not with the appearance but with the underlying reality. The Angel perceives one reality and responds accordingly. To the Devil the situation appears opposite because his mind processes what he sees differently.

Blake could see from the perspective of both that of the Angel and the Devil and so avoided being trapped in either the Night or the Day. In his mind he discerned the fluctuations which brought together the knowledge which came from his unconscious and his conscious mind. He knew that Reason, Emotion, Sensation and Imagination contributed to understanding.

In the poem Joy & Woe Blake indicated that both perspectives are valid if they are rightly known and integrated into one fabric.

Songs and Ballads, from Notebook, (E 470)
         "Eternity

He who binds to himself a joy           
Does the winged life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies    
Lives in eternity's sun rise            
               *                        
I heard an Angel singing
When the day was springing                                      
Mercy Pity Peace                        
Is the worlds release

Thus he sung all day                         
Over the new mown hay
Till the sun went down
And haycocks looked brown

I heard a Devil curse
Over the heath & the furze                
Mercy could be no more
If there was nobody poor

And pity no more could be
If all were as happy as we
At his curse the sun went down          
And the heavens gave a frown

Down pourd the heavy rain               
Over the new reapd grain
And Miseries increase                   
Is Mercy Pity Peace               
               *
Silent Silent Night
Quench the holy light
Of thy torches bright

For possessd of Day
Thousand spirits stray         
That sweet joys betray

Why should joys be sweet
Used with deceit
Nor with sorrows meet

But an honest joy               
Does itself destroy
For a harlot coy"

Auguries on Innocence, (E 491)
"It is right it should be so 
Man was made for Joy & Woe
And when this we rightly know
Thro the World we safely go
Joy & Woe are woven fine
A Clothing for the soul divine 
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine
The Babe is more than swadling Bands
Throughout all these Human Lands"

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