MISUSE OF MONEY

Wikipedia Commons 

Illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy

Simoniac Pope

Acts 8

[7] For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.
[8] And there was great joy in that city.
[9] But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:
[10] To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.
[11] And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
[12] But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
[13] Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
[14] Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:
[15] Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:
[16] (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
[17] Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
[18] And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
[19] Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
[20] But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
[21] Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
[22] Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
[23] For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
[24] Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.
[25] And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

Dante - Inferno -- Canto XIX -- Simoniacs, Pope Nicholas III  

     "O Simon Magus! O miserable lot

     Who take the things of God that ought to be
     Wedded to goodness and in your greediness
     Adulterate them into gold and silver!

...

25 The soles of both feet blazed all on fire;
     The leg-joints wriggled uncontrollably:
     They would have snapped any rope or tether.
     Just as a flame on anything that’s oily
     Spreads only on the object’s outer surface,
30 So did this fire move from heel to toe.
    "Who is that sinner, master, who suffers so,
     Writhing more than any of his comrades,"
     I asked, "the one the redder flame licks dry?"

...

     And my kind master did not put me down
     From his side till he’d brought me to the hole 

45 Of the sinner who shed tears with his shanks.
     "O whatever you are, sorrowful soul,
      Planted like a stake with your top downward,"
      I started out, "say something, if you can."
      I stood there like a friar hearing confession

...

      Then Virgil spoke up, "Tell him right away,
      ‘I am not he, I’m not the one you think!’ "
      And I replied as I had been instructed.
      At this the spirit twisted both feet wildly;
 65 Then, sighing deeply, with a voice in tears,
       He asked, "What, then, do you demand of me?
      "If to know who I am has so compelled you
      That you continued down this bank, then know
      Once I was vested in the papal mantle,
70 "And truly I was a son of the she-bear,
      So avid to advance my cubs that up there
      I pocketed the money and here, myself.

...

      I do not know if now I grew too brash,
      But I replied to him in the same measure,
90 "Well, then, tell me: how costly was the treasure
     "That our Lord demanded of Saint Peter
     Before he gave the keys into his keeping?
     Surely he said only ‘Follow me.’
     "Nor did Peter or the rest take gold

...

      honestly believe my guide was pleased,
      So contented was his look while he kept listening
      To the sound of these true-spoken words.
      At that he took me within both his arms
125 And, when he held me wholly to his breast,
     Climbed up the path that he had once come down.
     Nor did he weary of clasping me to himself,
     But carried me to the crest of the arch
     That crosses from the fourth to the fifth causeway.
130 Here he gently set down his heavy load,"  

Blake saw that money should not be a factor in deciding the value of spiritual things. He did not allow his need for money determine how he spent his time or his resources which were used to produce his art. Because his Art was the expression of his Imagination which epitomized his Identity as a Spiritual Being, he freely used his time and energy to produce it. The effort which went into composing, engraving, and coloring the color copy of Jerusalem was a labor of his love for truth, beauty and the Divine Humanity.

Jerusalem, Plate 61, (E 212)

"Saying, Doth Jehovah Forgive a 

Debt only on condition that it shall Be Payed? 

Doth he Forgive Pollution only on conditions of Purity 

That Debt is not Forgiven! That Pollution is not Forgiven 

Such is the Forgiveness of the Gods, the Moral Virtues of the 

Heathen, whose tender Mercies are Cruelty. But Jehovahs Salvation 

Is without Money & without Price, in the Continual Forgiveness of Sins 

In the Perpetual Mutual Sacrifice in Great Eternity! for behold! 

There is none that liveth & Sinneth not! And this is the Covenant 

Of Jehovah: If you Forgive one-another, so shall Jehovah Forgive You: 

That He Himself may Dwell among You. Fear not then to take 

To thee Mary thy Wife, for she is with Child by the Holy Ghost"

 

Laocoon, (E 274)

"Christianity is Art & not Money 

Money is its Curse"

Laocoon, (E 275)
"The True Christian Charity not dependent on Money (the lifes
     blood of Poor Families) that is on Caesar or Empire or
     Natural Religion
For every Pleasure Money Is Useless

Money, which is The Great Satan or Reason the Root of Good & Evil
     In The Accusation of Sin"

Annotations to Thornton, (E 668) 

"Give us the Bread that is our due & Right by taking away 

Money or a Price or Tax upon what is Common to all in thy Kingdom"

Milton, Plate 13 [14], (E 107)

"The Bard replied. I am Inspired! I know it is Truth! for I Sing
Plate 14 [15]
According to the inspiration of the Poetic Genius
Who is the eternal all-protecting Divine Humanity
To whom be Glory & Power & Dominion Evermore Amen

Inscriptions, Illustrations to Dante, (E 690) 

"It seems as if Dantes supreme Good was something Superior to
the Father or Jesus for if he gives his rain to
the Evil & the Good & his Sun to the just & the Unjust He could
never have Builded Dantes Hell nor the Hell of the Bible neither
in the way our Parsons explain it   It must have been originally
Formed by the Devil Himself & So I understand it to have been

     Whatever Book is for Vengeance for Sin & whatever Book is
Against the Forgiveness of Sins is not of the Father but of Satan
the Accuser & Father of Hell"

BEING & BECOMING

Wikipedia Commons

Angel of Revelation

Revelation 10

[5] And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
[6] And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
[7] But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

___________________________________________

Being is not confined to time and space. Being is the Eternal nature of man, his Form Divine. It is his substance and is permanent.

On the contrary man is Becoming when he passes through states while he journeys through life in a physical body. Blake teaches people to be aware of states which are transient, and Individual Identity which can never die. 

These are terms which Blake uses to describe the two conditions of Being and Becoming:

Eternal Human vs States or Worlds

Infinite vs Apparent surfaces

Substance vs Shadow

Permanent vs Passing 

Substance vs Accident

Human Form Divine vs Mortal clay

Jerusalem, Plate 49, (E 199) 

"Iniquity must be imputed only           
To the State they are enterd into that they may be deliverd:
Satan is the State of Death, & not a Human existence:
But Luvah is named Satan, because he has enterd that State.
A World where Man is by Nature the enemy of Man
Because the Evil is Created into a State. that Men               
May be deliverd time after time evermore. Amen.
Learn therefore O Sisters to distinguish the Eternal Human
That walks about among the stones of fire in bliss & woe
Alternate! from those States or Worlds in which the Spirit travels:
This is the only means to Forgiveness of Enemies[.]              
Therefore remove from Albion these terrible Surfaces
And let wild seas & rocks close up Jerusalem away from
Plate 50
The Atlantic Mountains where Giants dwelt in Intellect;
Now given to stony Druids, and Allegoric Generation
To the Twelve Gods of Asia, the Spectres of those who Sleep:
Sway'd by a Providence oppos'd to the Divine Lord Jesus:
A murderous Providence! A Creation that groans, living on Death. 

Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Plate 14, (E 39)

But first the notion that man has a body distinct from his
soul, is to  be expunged; this I shall do, by printing in the
infernal method, by corrosives, which in Hell are salutary and
medicinal, melting apparent surfaces away, and displaying the
infinite which was hid. 

Visions of Daughters of Albion, Plate 3, (E 47)

Then Theotormon broke his silence. and he answered.

Tell me what is the night or day to one o'erflowd with woe?
Tell me what is a thought? & of what substance is it made?
Tell me what is a joy? & in what gardens do joys grow?
And in what rivers swim the sorrows? and upon what mountains     
PLATE 4
Wave shadows of discontent? and in what houses dwell the wretched
Drunken with woe forgotten. and shut up from cold despair.

Tell me where dwell the thoughts forgotten till thou call them forth
Tell me where dwell the joys of old! & where the ancient loves?
And when will they renew again & the night of oblivion past?

Jerusalem, Plate 9 , (E 152) 

"And this is the manner of the Sons of Albion in their strength
They take the Two Contraries which are calld Qualities, with which
Every Substance is clothed, they name them Good & Evil
From them they make an Abstract, which is a Negation             
Not only of the Substance from which it is derived
A murderer of its own Body: but also a murderer
Of every Divine Member: it is the Reasoning Power
An Abstract objecting power, that Negatives every thing
This is the Spectre of Man: the Holy Reasoning Power             
And in its Holiness is closed the Abomination of Desolation  

Jerusalem, Plate 13, (E 157)

"Los walks round the walls night and day.             

He views the City of Golgonooza, & its smaller Cities:
The Looms & Mills & Prisons & Work-houses of Og & Anak:
The Amalekite: the Canaanite: the Moabite: the Egyptian:
And all that has existed in the space of six thousand years:
Permanent, & not lost not lost nor vanishd, & every little act,  
Word, work, & wish, that has existed, all remaining still
In those Churches ever consuming & ever building by the Spectres
Of all the inhabitants of Earth wailing to be Created:
Shadowy to those who dwell not in them, meer possibilities:
But to those who enter into them they seem the only substances   
For every thing exists & not one sigh nor smile nor tear,
Plate 14
One hair nor particle of dust, not one can pass away."

Jerusalem, Plate 71, (E 224)

"The Starry Heavens all were fled from the mighty limbs of Albion
Plate 71
And above Albions Land was seen the Heavenly Canaan
As the Substance is to the Shadow: and above Albions Twelve Sons
Were seen Jerusalems Sons: and all the Twelve Tribes spreading
Over Albion. As the Soul is to the Body, so Jerusalems Sons,
Are to the Sons of Albion: and Jerusalem is Albions Emanation    
What is Above is Within, for every-thing in Eternity is translucent:
The Circumference is Within: Without, is formed the Selfish Center
And the Circumference still expands going forward to Eternity.
And the Center has Eternal States! these States we now explore."

On Homers Poetry, (E 269)

  "It is the same with the Moral of a whole Poem as with the Moral
Goodness
of its parts Unity & Morality, are secondary considerations &
belong to Philosophy & not to Poetry, to Exception & not to Rule,
to Accident & not to Substance. the Ancients calld it eating of
the tree of good & evil."

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 86, (E 368)
"Los furious answerd. Spectre horrible thy words astound my Ear
With irresistible conviction I feel I am not one of those 
Who when convincd can still persist. tho furious.controllable
By Reasons power. Even I already feel a World within
Opening its gates & in it all the real substances
Of which these in the outward World are shadows which pass away
Come then into my Bosom & in thy shadowy arms bring with thee   
My lovely Enitharmon. I will quell my fury & teach
Peace to the Soul of dark revenge & repentance to Cruelty

So spoke Los & Embracing Enitharmon & the Spectre"

Descriptive Catalogue, (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." 

Jerusalem, Plate 27, (E 173)

 "He witherd up the Human Form,
By laws of sacrifice for sin:
  Till it became a Mortal Worm:    
But O! translucent all within.

  The Divine Vision still was seen
Still was the Human Form, Divine
  Weeping in weak & mortal clay
O Jesus still the Form was thine.      

  And thine the Human Face & thine
The Human Hands & Feet & Breath
  Entering thro' the Gates of Birth
And passing thro' the Gates of Death" 

Milton, Plate 32 [35], (E 132)

"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." 

INTERLUDE

First posted November 2018.

Yale Center for British Art
America
Plate 9

Larry wrote this in his Journal in January 1985:

"Four Zoas Night IX - reading a passage from Vala's interlude, I am charmed with the language. I realize that much of Blake's attraction to me is as an escape from the sordid world, a pleasant world like great music - with very little relationship to the rest of life. That passage, owing much to the myth of Cupid and Psyche and to the biblical Song of Solomon shows Blake as teller of tales, as bearer of the culture of the millennia. That is so foreign to our heedless, blind, 20th century consciousness. It is a form of transcendence, and an approach to the immortality for which Vala longs; a bright airy world of limitless dimensions.

Los is that prophet who walks walks up and down 6000 years allowing time and space for such moments to occur and to be made permanent in the Body and the Spirit."  

In November 2018 Ellie added:

When we read the Old Testament or Blake's Prophecies we find many disturbing passages. We may be inclined to close the book to avoid subjecting ourselves to the negative feelings engendered by reading of struggles among competing individuals or entities. Were it not for the hope of finding gems of truth and beauty embedded in the mire of confusion and dissension we may not read on.

One on Larry's favorite expressions was, "The Bible is all poetry, and poetry is the highest form of truth." Like the Bible, Blake's writing (even the prose) is poetry. It is not to be taken literally but metaphorically. It points to truth which is beyond expression. Blake's God availed himself of the opportunity to begin again repeatedly. We might follow that lead and begin again when reading gets rough.

Jerusalem, Plate 75, (E 230)
"For Los in Six Thousand Years walks up & down continually
That not one Moment of Time be lost & every revolution
Of Space he makes permanent in Bowlahoola & Cathedron."

Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 128, (E 397) 
"So spoke the Sinless Soul & laid her head on the downy fleece 
Of a curld Ram who stretchd himself in sleep beside his mistress
And soft sleep fell upon her eyelids in the silent noon of day

Then Luvah passed by & saw the sinless Soul
And said   Let a pleasant house arise to be the dwelling place
Of this immortal Spirit growing in lower Paradise 

He spoke & pillars were builded & walls as white as ivory
The grass she slept upon was pavd with pavement as of pearl
Beneath her rose a downy bed & a cieling coverd all

Vala awoke. When in the pleasant gates of sleep I enterd
I saw my Luvah like a spirit stand in the bright air 
Round him stood spirits like me who reard me a bright house
And here I see thee house remain in my most pleasant world
Page 129 
My Luvah smild I kneeled down he laid his hand on my head
And when he laid his hand upon me from the gates of sleep I came
Into this bodily house to tend my flocks in my pleasant garden

So saying she arose & walked round her beautiful house
And then from her white door she lookd to see her bleating lambs 
But her flocks were gone up from beneath the trees into the hills

I see the hand that leadeth me doth also lead my flocks
She went up to her flocks & turned oft to see her shining house
She stopd to drink of the clear spring & eat the grapes & apples

She bore the fruits in her lap she gatherd flowers for her bosom
She called to her flocks saying follow me O my flocks

They followd her to the silent valley beneath the spreading trees
And on the rivers margin she ungirded her golden girdle
She stood in the river & viewd herself within the watry glass
And her bright hair was wet with the waters She rose up from the river
And as she rose her Eyes were opend to the world of waters"

Letters, To Butts, (E 713)

     "In his beams of bright gold
     Like dross purgd away
     All my mire & my clay
     Soft consumd in delight
     In his bosom sun bright
     I remaind.  Soft he smild
     And I heard his voice Mild
     Saying This is My Fold
     O thou Ram hornd with gold
     Who awakest from sleep
     On the sides of the Deep
     On the Mountains around
     The roarings resound
     Of the lion & wolf
     The loud sea & deep gulf
     These are guards of My Fold
     O thou Ram hornd with gold
     And the voice faded mild
     I remaind as a Child
     All I ever had known
     Before me bright Shone" 

Song of Solomon
Chapter 2
[8] The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
[9] My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.
[10] My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
[11] For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
[12] The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
[13] The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
[14] O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
[15] Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
[16] My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
[17] Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

 

SLEEP OF DEATH

British Museum

Descent into Death

At the entrance of the cavern of many chambers stands an angel with a lighted candle for comfort and guidance. Behind her we see a stream of people on their way to the opening, including those entering the sleep of death and those who are already asleep. In the uppermost chamber is a man whose spirit is leaving his body as his beloved rejoices. On the stair below the angel is a woman carrying an infant to a chamber where it will sleep. To her right  a group who await awakening at the completion of their  journey lie peacefully in a tomb. In the center are two figures who are alone: a strong, young man rushing down the stair, and a bent old man seeking a place to rest. Traveling downward is a mother leading three children - one sobbing - to their appointed chamber. An old couple look into a room where a young couple - perhaps their younger selves - recline. In the lower left chamber lies a male body and three female figures - two mourning the death of the body and one rejoicing at the release of the spirit. 

Earlier post.

---

In Lilith by George MacDonald there is an echo of Blake's poetic understanding of awakening from the sleep of death. Before souls can fully awake MacDonald's characters go to the house of death where they sleep to be healed in order to awake to life. None goes to the house of death who wish to die, "for no one can die who does not long to live." As stated in the Prayer of St Francis "it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life." 

Lilith, Page 217:

"There Lilith is the bed I have prepared for you!"

She glanced at her daughter lying before her like a statue carved in semi-transparent alabaster, and shuddered from head to foot. "How cold it is," she murmured. 

"You will soon enough find comfort in the cold." answered Adam. 

"Promises to the dying are easy!" she said. 

"But I know it: I too have slept. I am dead!"

"I believed you dead long ago, but I see you alive!"

"More alive than you know, or are able to understand. I was scarce alive when you first knew me. I have slept, and am now awake; I am dead, and live indeed!" 

---

Thel, Plate 1, (E 3)

"O life of this our spring! why fades the lotus of the water?
Why fade these children of the spring? born but to smile & fall.
Ah! Thel is like a watry bow. and like a parting cloud.
Like a reflection in a glass. like shadows in the water.
Like dreams of infants. like a smile upon an infants face,       
Like the doves voice, like transient day, like music in the air;
Ah! gentle may I lay me down, and gentle rest my head.          
And gentle sleep the sleep of death. and gentle hear the voice 
Of him that walketh in the garden in the evening time." 

Jerusalem, Plate 14, (E 158)

"Enitharmon is a vegetated mortal Wife of Los:
His Emanation, yet his Wife till the sleep of death is past."

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

"Albion must Sleep
The Sleep of Death, till the Man of Sin & Repentance be reveald."

Jerusalem, Plate 77, (E 233) 

"England! awake! awake! awake!
  Jerusalem thy Sister calls!
Why wilt thou sleep the sleep of death?
  And close her from thy ancient walls."

Four Zoas, Night II, Page 23, (E 313)

"Rising upon his Couch of Death Albion beheld his Sons
Turning his Eyes outward to Self. losing the Divine Vision
Albion calld Urizen & said. Behold these sickning Spheres  
Whence is this Voice of Enion that soundeth in my Porches  
Take thou possession! take this Scepter! go forth in my might    
For I am weary, & must sleep in the dark sleep of Death    
Thy brother Luvah hath smitten me but pity thou his youth  
Tho thou hast not pitid my Age   O Urizen Prince of Light" 

IDENTITY IN JERUSALEM

First posted March 2011

Karl Kroeber's chapter in Blake's Sublime Allegory, Essays on The Four Zoas, Milton, & Jerusalem, Edited by Stuart Curran & Joseph Anthony Wittreich, Jr. is titled Delivering Jerusalem. As have many before and after him, he is conveying his understanding of Jerusalem in order to make it more accessible to the reader. His idea is that Blake attempts to lead us on a journey inward in order to recover our 'identity' which is hidden from us by the fall into multiplicity.

Quotes from Kroeber on Blake's Jerusalem:

"It's 'plot' is the commonplace act of falling into sleep and awakening. Sleep is our chief means of natural regeneration. Falling asleep is a process of detaching oneself from one's ordinary 'identity,' what Blake calls 'selfhood,' what today we call one's sense of one's role. In this respect, at least, sleep is a temporary 'death' containing within it the potentiality of new life." (Page 354)

"From the opening of the prophecy, Albion's death is presented as part of a process of potential regeneration, because his salvation lies within himself:..." (Page 354)

"Jerusalem records a journey, a passage from disintegration to integration. But it is a journey inward...
"The first and most important 'figure' to be separated after the original division of Albion and Jesus is Los, the artificer, the impulse of divine energy toward Regeneration which prevents Albion from slipping into annihilation, nonentity. But Los exists as a separate entity only because of Albion's fall; and all that Los does, in one sense, is the reverse of true nobility and divinity. ...what he creates is the consolidation of error. Los is creative spirit struggling in a fallen cosmos, therefore admirable; but his creativity - 'Striving with Systems to deliver Individuals from those Systems' - is almost a parody of Christ's creativity, which makes reality out of 'nothing,' truth out of delusion." (Page 355)

So the difficulty of living in this world is first the illusion that this world (which we construct) is the true world and not a mask of the Eternal world which underlies, encloses, supersedes, and permeates it. Next is the illusion that what we know as 'ourselves' is our true identity and is able to perceive what we are, what the world is and what reality is. Further we work under the illusion that we can 'fix' things by continuing to do the same things that have contributed to creating the illusions.

" Blake's limits are not impassable boundaries...but critical points, equivalent to thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit for water. Contracted to Adam, mankind attains the possibility of the redeeming Christ. Reaching the limit of 'Opakeness' which is Satan, man attains the possibility of total luminescence, Lucifer, complete emanative power, the power of giving forth light instead of casting shadows, making spectres...Only then are we freed from the inhibiting pressure of those 'systems' external to us which contract and darken individuality into Selfhood." (Page 358)

"To fall is to enslave oneself to seemings, to have one' individual identity devoured by a multiplex, illusory Selfhood." (Page 359)

"...imagination, the awakened intellect, passes beyond the limits of seeming to what truly is." (Page 363)
...
"The total movement of Jerusalem from division through death and sexuality to civil integration is the process of 'identifying' Albion's Emanation, Jerusalem. What the process confirms is that we CAN re-establish our true identity, attain true livingness. 'Identity' means primarily, being oneself and not another." (Page 365)

Although Kroeber never mentions psychological processes or Jungian Analysis, one may see strong parallels to the process of Indivuation (which results in the formation of the Self) in the process described by Kroeber. The liberation of the identity as in Blake, or of the Self as in Jung may be seen as the life work of each individual striving for entry into Eternity.

Jerusalem, Plate 60, (E 209)
"within the Furnaces the Divine Vision appeard

On Albions hills: often walking from the Furnaces in clouds
And flames among the Druid Temples & the Starry Wheels
Gatherd Jerusalems Children in his arms & bore them like
A Shepherd in the night of Albion which overspread all the Earth

I gave thee liberty and life O lovely Jerusalem
And thou hast bound me down upon the Stems of Vegetation"

New York Public Library

Milton

Plate 46 

Pictured on the final plate of Milton with the words 'To go forth to the Great Harvest & Vintage of Nations', is the image of the liberated female shedding the dark garment of Selfhood (Erdman). The 'Stems of Vegetation' on either side draw us to a culminating point in Jerusalem where the Divine Vision has appeared in the Furnace of Los, gathered Jerusalem's children, and announced that he has given 'liberty and life' which have been bound down on 'stems of vegetation.' But the 'Great Harvest & Vintage' will be accomplished.

 

As Karl Kroeber says, "we CAN re-establish our true identity, attain true livingness."


Blake's Sublime Allegory, Essays on The Four Zoas, Milton, & Jerusalem. 

JACOB'S LADDER

British Museum

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.

As Jacob sleeps and dreams, resting his head upon a stone, he watches angels spiraling toward heaven on a staircase. But the traffic on the stair goes in both directions. Jacob is being transported to heaven, and heaven is descending into his brain. By Jacob listening and responding the place where he lies becomes a gate to heaven.  

Milton, Plate 28 [30], (E 126)

"And every Hour has a bright golden Gate carved with skill.
And every Day & Night, has Walls of brass & Gates of adamant,
Shining like precious stones & ornamented with appropriate signs:"

Jerusalem, Plate 34 [38],(E 181)

"There is in Albion a Gate of precious stones and gold            
Seen only by Emanations, by vegetations viewless,
Bending across the road of Oxford Street; it from Hyde Park
To Tyburns deathful shades, admits the wandering souls
Of multitudes who die from Earth: this Gate cannot be found
PLATE 35 [39]
By Satans Watch-fiends tho' they search numbering every grain
Of sand on Earth every night, they never find this Gate.
It is the Gate of Los. Withoutside is the Mill, intricate, dreadful" 

Listen as Ian McGilchrist responds to Blake's image of Jacob's Ladder. 

Descriptive Catalogue, (E 543)

"All these things are written in Eden.  
The artist is an inhabitant of that happy country, and if 
every thing goes on as it has begun, the world of vegetation 
and generation may expect to be opened again to Heaven, 
through Eden, as it was in the beginning." 

Vision of Last Judgment, (E 556) 

"Moses & Abraham are not here meant but the States Signified by
those Names the Individuals being representatives or Visions of
those States as they were reveald to Mortal Man in the Series of
Divine Revelations. as they are written in the Bible these
various States I have seen in my Imagination when distant they
appear as One Man but as you approach they appear
Multitudes of Nations.  Abraham hovers above his posterity which
appear as Multitudes of Children ascending from the Earth
surrounded by Stars as it was said As the Stars of Heaven for
Multitude   Jacob & his Twelve Sons hover beneath
the feet of Abraham & recieve their children from the Earth" 

Vision of Last Judgment, (E 561)

"The Cloud that opens rolling apart before the throne &
before the New Heaven & the New Earth is Composed of Various
Groupes of Figures particularly the Four Living Creatures
mentiond in Revelations as Surrounding the Throne these I suppose
to have the chief agency in removing the 
old heavens & the old Earth to make way for the New Heaven & the
New Earth to descend from the throne of God & of the Lamb." 

Vision of Last Judgment, (E 561)

"Around the Throne Heaven is opend & the Nature of
Eternal Things Displayd All Springing from the Divine Humanity
All beams from him Because as he himself has said All
dwells in him He is the Bread & the Wine he is the Water of
Life" 

Vision of Last Judgment, (E 566) 

"I assert for My self that I do
not behold the Outward Creation & that to me it is hindrance &
not Action it is as the Dirt upon my feet No part of Me. What it
will be Questiond When the Sun rises  do  you  not  see  a  round 
Disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea O no no I see an Innumerable
company of the Heavenly host crying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord
God Almighty I question not my Corporeal or Vegetative Eye any
more than I would Question a Window concerning a Sight I look
thro it & not with it."  

Letters, To Butts, (E 724) 

"The Thing I
have most at Heart! more than life or all that seems to make life
comfortable without.  Is the Interest of True Religion & Science
& whenever any thing appears to affect that Interest. (Especially
if I myself omit any duty to my Station as a
Soldier of Christ) It gives me the greatest of torments, I am not
ashamed afraid or averse to tell You what Ought to be Told.  That
I am under the direction of Messengers from Heaven Daily &
Nightly but the nature of such things is not as some suppose.
without trouble or care." 

Letters, To Hayley, (E 740)

"love & gratitude the two
angels who stand at heavens gate  ever open  ever inviting guests
to the marriage   O foolish Philosophy! Gratitude is Heaven
itself there could be no heaven without Gratitude" 

 

BURNING BUSH

Victoria & Albert Museum

Moses and the Burning Bush

The shepherd Moses has led his flock out of the desert to Horab the mountain of God. In Blake's picture Moses turns his face to his right side. He holds a scroll in his right hand. Beside his right side is a ram. His attention is focused on the bush which burns and is not consumed. The right side of the picture is bright while the left side of the picture is darkened by an overhanging tree of the type which Blake used to represent error. Blake saw two sides to Moses.

Moses listens as the voice of God addresses him from the burning bush calling him by name. Moses is receptive to God's call and responds, "Here am I." 

The voice of God tells Moses that he is to go to the Pharaoh in order to deliver his people "out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land." Moses continues the conversation with God. His reluctance is overcome when God assures him that he will be with him.

Exodus 3:12

And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

Although Blake considered Moses a great prophet and an instrument of God, in Blake's estimation Moses entered into error on two accounts. First in promulgating the ten commands which intended to impose standards of morality. Blake says "Moses beheld upon Mount Sinai forms of dark delusion" (Song of Los, E 67). In Blake's opinion Jesus who was "all virtue,and acted from impulse, not from rules", violated in spirit every one of the ten Commandments. It was not the failure to follow the Law that offended Blake but the attempt to uniformly impose an absolute morality which perverted the "fiery joy" of life "to ten commands"(America, E 54). 

Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Plate 22, (E 43) 

"if Jesus Christ is the
greatest man, you ought to love him in the greatest degree; now
hear how he has given his sanction to the law of ten
commandments: did he not mock at the sabbath, and so mock the
sabbaths God? murder those who were murderd because of him? turn
away the law from the woman taken in adultery? steal the labor of
others to support him? bear false witness when he omitted making
a defence before Pilate? covet when he pray'd for his disciples,
and when he bid them shake off the dust of their feet against
such as refused to lodge them? I tell you, no virtue can exist
without breaking these ten commandments: Jesus was all virtue,
and acted from impulse: not from rules."

The second great error of Moses was massacring the nations who occupied Canaan before the Israelites arrived. "God never makes one man murder another nor one nation...To Extirpate a nation by means of another nation is as wicked as to destroy an individual. (Annotations to Watson, E 641) 

Exodus 3

[1] Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

[2] And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
[3] And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
[4] And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
[5] And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
[6] Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
[7] And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
[8] And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
[9] Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
[10] Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
[11] And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
[12] And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
[13] And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
[14] And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
[15] And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. 

 

Letters, To Trusler, (E 702)

"The wisest of the Ancients considerd what is not too Explicit as the fittest for Instruction because it rouzes the faculties to act. I name Moses Solomon Esop Homer Plato"

Annotations to Watson, (E 617) 

"Of what consequence is it whether Moses wrote the Pentateuch
or no.  If Paine trifles in some of his objections it is folly to
confute him so seriously in them & leave his more material ones
unanswered  Public Records as If Public Records were True 
     *Impossible for the facts are such as none but the actor
could tell, if it is True Moses & none but he could write it
unless we allow it to be Poetry & that poetry inspired 
     [P 16] If historical facts can be written by inspiration
Miltons Paradise Lost is as true as Genesis. or Exodus. but the
Evidence is nothing for how can he who writes what he has neither
seen nor heard of. be an Evidence of The Truth of his history"

Annotations to Watson,(E 618) 

"I cannot concieve the Divinity of the <books in the> Bible
to consist either in who they were written by or at what time or
in the historical evidence which may be all false in the eyes of
one man & true in the eyes of another but in the Sentiments &
Examples which whether true or Parabolic are Equally useful as
Examples given to us of the perverseness of some & its consequent
evil & the honesty of others & its consequent good  This sense of
the Bible is equally true to all & equally plain to all. none can
doubt the impression which he recieves from a book of Examples. 
If he is good he will abhor wickedness in David or Abraham if he
is wicked he will make their wickedness an excuse for his & so he
would do by any other book."

Thanks to A Blake Dictionary by S. Foster Damon, page 286.