JACOB'S LADDER

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Jacob's Ladder

Genesis 28

[10] And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. 

[11] And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

[12] And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

[13] And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

[14] And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

[15] And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

[16] And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

[17] And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

[18] And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.

[19] And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

[20] And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

[21] So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:

[22] And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. 

 

The Movement Between Heaven and Earth: William Blake's Image of Jacob's Ladder

 Conversation with Iain McGilchrist

 Auguries of Innocence, (E 490)

 "To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour"

The image Blake created of Jacob's Ladder is an invitation to see not with the eye but through the eye. But in seeing through the eye Blake was following in the footsteps of the author of the book of Genesis who provided the account of Jacob's dream. And the author of Genesis was recounting an incident from the experience of Jacob who had traveled the journey and had remembered his dream.

Since Blake read the Bible using his imagination, not with the words but through the words, he knew more about the experience of Jacob than he read in the words of Genesis. Through the visual image which he created Blake was able to convey to Iain McGilchrist aspects of Jacob's dreaming which related to the subject which most interested McGilchrist - the functioning of man's bicameral brain. 

Perhaps all of our experience in this journey through life is an invitation to see more, to simultaneously be of earth and heaven, of time and eternity, and of consciousness of the 'minute particulars' and the total reality.

Jerusalem, Plate 91, (E 251) 

"I have tried to make friends by corporeal gifts but have only    
Made enemies: I never made friends but by spiritual gifts;
By severe contentions of friendship & the burning fire of thought.
He would see the Divinity must see him in his Children
One first, in friendship & love; then a Divine Family, & in the midst
Jesus will appear; so he who wishes to see a Vision; a perfect Whole        
Must see it in its Minute Particulars;"

Auguries of Innocence, (E 492) 

"We are led to Believe a Lie 
When we see not Thro the Eye"