Blakeism: a superficial interpretation of Blake's Ideas

One of the primary themes running through Blake's philosophy is the concept of Individual Self-Determination. I could use the word 'freedom' instead but I get the sense that the meaning of that particular word has been devalued by a millenia of rhetorical abuse. Individual self-determination implies that the individual strives to manifest itself in a fluid and natural manner and that any existing social system or hierarchy which constrains or redirects human nature is in itself unnatural and destined to be a target for rebellion.

Blake's rebellious sentiments often reacted against the three evil systems: The Church; The State; & The Family.

Virtually any artist whose work has touched on man's relationship to society has inevitiably involved a critique of the human world's imperfections, but Blake's proto-anarchistic spirit comes across as more broad and sweeping than most. I am tempted to presume that Blake's frustration with the 'control-system apparatus' of State Government (as William Burroughs might describe it) would be self-evident enough to require a minimum of explanation.

Blake's attitude to organized religion, while equally dismissive, suggests some interesting implications:
A simplistic overview of western society sees the Protestant Reformation evolve as a reaction against the corruption of the decadent Roman Catholic Hierarchy. This reaction was given force by the idealistic hope that the reformation would somehow empower people, but the unfortunate result was centuries of bloody religious wars (which in my personal opinion were often simply personal political power struggles conducted under a superficial smokescreen of doctrinal justification). Ironically, in the reaction against Catholic decadence the restrictions demanded of personal morality in some Protestant sects such as Calvinism dictated even more conservative suppressions of individual behavior than had been previously tolerated.

The alternative suggested to this whole mess was the scientific atheism of the Enlightenment as proposed by the intellectuals of new 'Age of Reason'. This radical approach to religion tended to go in tandem with radical political views: demands for social reform as well as the abolition of monarchy, the kind of sentiments which if expressed without discretion obviously provoked a violent response from the existing monarchies . Unfortunately, the attempted practical application of a radical atheist government in France ended in chaos, but modified forms were adapted with somewhat more success by American rebels. Like many intellectuals Blake wrote in praise of the French and American revolutions, and like many of them he discretely began to limit the distribution of these documents in light of the bad publicity generated by the French 'Reign of Terror'.

In England at that time political and religious liberals and radicals were loosely described as 'Free-Thinkers', a sub-culture which Blake was associated with. He had met Thomas Paine, the social philosopher who drafted 'The Rights of Man' and helped to inspire the American Revolution, and he had also met Mary Wollstonecraft, author of the definitive work of proto-feminism 'A Vindication of the Rights of Women'. However, the interesting thing about this situation is that while Blake was sympathetic to their politics he was opposed to their atheism, a contradiction which reportedly made for some lively debates at their free-thinking tea parties. In documents such as 'A Vision of The Daughters of Albion' Blake comes across as an early sympathetic advocate of feminist liberation, while at other times his comments on gender and sexual duality appear to revert to somewhat less progressive views of human nature.

Since Blake was antagonistic towards both atheism as well as organized religions, the focus of his powerful spiritual beliefs were of course intensely individualistic. When Blake was young he was intrigued by a religious sect following the ideals of the Christian mystic Emanuel Sweedenborg, whose fairly loose interpretation of Christianity was highly amorphous, freely borrowing elements from Rosicrucian polytheism as well as various abstract scientific and philosophical concepts (and later was a big influence on the work of Rudolph Steiner). When Blake stated pantheistically that "All religions are as one" he displayed a fairly ecuminical and tolerant attitude towards a diversity of spiritual philosophy and doctrine, one which hardened into an antagonism if any particular doctrine hardened into dogma. Blake eventually abandoned the Sweedenborgians in disgust when they began to shed their casual cultlike status and started to adopt the trappings of organized religion such as vestments and reliquary. We could note that Blake probably never set foot in a church in his life after his marriage.

Blake passionately believed in spirituality as a personal process effected by unmediated discourse with the divine, a process which we presume was enabled by his ability to perceive angels. He believed that the existence of a priesthood whose function was to interpret theology for the masses actually was a perversion of spiritually which ultimately separated man from god. Protestant theologians made much the same criticisms of Catholicism and proposed their reforms and restraints as a solution to this problem, which sadly did not succeed in Blake's view. Blake was an ardent advocate of hedonism, and preached unrestrained sensual indulgence, but ironically Blake himself was noted for a modest personal life charictarised by hard work, faithfulness to his wife, and moderate social drinking. We presume that as a self-determinist he pursued his personal choice and found adequate stimulation from his fertile imagination and the spiritual diversion of conversation with angels, rather than the licentiousness he allowed for others. .

What Calvanist and Catholic dogma have in common is an emphasis on restraining personal morality and sensuality: They seek control over human reproductive tendencies. This control system ties into an assertion of power by the clergy over the laity, and which suggests that the corrupting influence of this power ultimately leads organized religion to more closely associate with that other dominant control system, the state.

I could suggest that if Blake were reading the New Testament he might interpret Jesus' comment: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" as being a rebuke to those who would use an obsession with personal morality as a means of enforcing conformity. Likewise, Jesus' attacks on the Pharisees focused on their involvement in commercial/political power brokering and their hypocritical display of concern with petty moral issues as a reinforcement of that power. When Jesus drove the vendors from the temple he was in sense advocating a form of 'separation of church and state' (commerce).

Blake firmly believed in Jesus' comment that "love of money is the root of all evil", which he paraphrased as: "Where any thought of money exists there cannot be art, only war". Of course like any small businessman or struggling artist he was obsessed with making enough to survive, and even desperate in his persistent and unsuccessful efforts to find a wider audience for his work... but to be charitiable I presume that his self-promotion was motivated more from a desire to share his artistic vision rather than from base greed.

Of course, these comments are mere interpretation. Like any good theologian Blake had a comprehensive grasp of the Bible but very much interpreted it to serve his purposes, which just happened to diverge greatly from the intentions of most other theologians. I could quip that when Blake read the Bible he tended to skip over Leviticus. If we glance at the theological metaphor of the 'holy trinity' Blake might presume that the function of the 'son' was to usurp the 'father' rather than merely spread his word.



Very much the individualist but deeply influenced by the Bible as well as John Milton, I could say that Blake's epic documents were in a sense his personal attempts to re-write the Bible, inspired by John Milton's 'Paradise Lost', itself a re-interpretation of the Book of Genesis. Blake sometimes retold classic Biblical tales such as Job, but often diverged to create a new cast of characters which acted out Biblical themes of divine power stuggle involving damnation and redemption. These characters often also displayed the stylistic attributes of the Classic Greek Gods, despite Blake's disparaging comments about some of his contemporaries displaying a faddish interest in Hellenicism.

These epics invariably refer back to the elemental power struggle inevitably waged within that primeval control system: the family. The eternal conflicts waged in his stories are consistently inter-generational in nature: a quasi-Freudian Father-figure verses the Son, the father representing a metaphor for authority and control, and the son a metaphor for rebellion and energy. This classic template had always been evident from Zeus overthrowing Cronus; Siddartha adbandoning his family; Jesus' complaint of "Father, why do you persecute me?"; and extending onwards through Neil Diamond's interpretation of 'The Jazz Singer'.

While it is clear that Blake is in contempt of the authoritarian control apparatus, the system's practitioners are not always depicted in a purely malevolent light, they often reappear in a somewhat more compassionate vein as the pathetic victims of the very systems they dominate. As well, we see the struggle by the underdog to assert self-determination as a test of will and an empowering process in itself, a struggle which ideally should lead to maturity and understanding... that is, when it doesn't lead to either domination and ultimate corruption, or defeat and misery.



Blake often plays around with our presumptions about morality, and while his reflections of good and evil are extremely vividly coloured it would be quite misleading to presume that they are merely simplistic. Blake is subtle enough to flicker his moral facets and provide insights into the perspectives that manipulate us into making judgements about what we presume 'good' and 'evil' might be, and his transitions of emphasis and shading draw critical attention to our presumptions. This is other major theme in Blake's work: a preoccupation with the duality of man's inner nature.

For someone who appears to be so passionate about what he likes and doesn't like we encounter a mercurial shifting of tone within Blake's sharply drawn dualties. Blake implies that that which we might describe as 'evil' is perhaps not as bad as it might seem: he views the destructive impulse in human nature as the natural counterbalance which imparts energy, definition and value to the creative impulse. We see these oddly twisting sentiments played out in his 'Songs of Innocence and Experience' where he seems to imply the relative desirability of either state of being while suggesting seeds of doubt within each argument alternately. I daresay that while Blake was certainly not directly influenced by Eastern Philosophy he seemed to have intutively re-iterated the concepts underlying the Taoist 'Yin & Yang' dualism metaphor. At times Blake almost pre-echoes some of Neitzche's ideas regarding the 'ressentiment' of the so-called 'slave' morality. An interesting contemporary commentary on our negative presumptions about these energetic ideas of evil can be found in Howard Bloom's book 'The Lucifer Principle'.

This also indicates the root of the problem with authoritarian heirarchical systems. A reliance on a misguided rationalist objectification of good and evil leads to a clearly determined static line between what constitutes good and evil, and of course, the 'we' are inevitably on the 'good' side of the line and anyone who isn't us is invariably 'evil' and must be destroyed... and the tragic application of this concept results in Totalitarian government, and the continued pursuit of these unbalanced forms of justification unfortunately make themselves felt in many imperfect manifestations of current political thought.

Blake expressed a distrust of pure scientific rationalism, which he viewed as a form of superstition in its own right. This did not imply that he objected to scientific research, enquiry or experimentation, what he really objected to was the false sense of objective detachment, the abstraction of knowledge. He was both impressed and repelled by the genius of Issac Newton, an individual in pursuit of the perfect self-delusion, for whether he was referring to either concrete or metaphoric elements in his work Blake was passionate about the subjective value of his ideas. While Blake himself displayed an admirable technological dexterity in his exploration of printing techniques his sceptical attitude towards the functions and aims of the 'sceptical' scientific establishment in itself would make for a bracing critique in our current age of slavish scientific/technological fetishization.


Bill Blake was a mystic. Northrop Frye might argue with this comment, as in his interpretation Blake would be described as a 'visionary' rather than a 'mystic', but I rely upon a looser definition of the word. Mysticism for me implies a sweeping submergence within the totality of the universe, the interconnectedness of all things. Perhaps the proper word to describe this phenonmenon is 'synesthesia', but as I have warned I suffer from the unfortunate tendency to use these words loosely. Properly speaking, mysticism defines knowledge which is not meant to be known or understood or expressed in words, as in the Catholic doctrine of the transubstantiation, for in the transference of the flesh and blood of Christ, a concept which is meant to be accepted rather than comprehended, we approach the frontiers of states of consciousness where the application of language begins to be rendered useless. The mention of synesthesia also sometimes leads to questions about the function of certain pharmakopia in this process. In my personal opinion, defining insights are invartiably hard won, and artifical inspirations have the potential to extract an intangible cost upon the psyche.

In any event it may be prudent of me to restrain these synesthetic speculations on the duality of reality and metaphor as they have the potential to devolve into a Taoistic dragon chasing its tail in defiance of coherent language. The original subtitle of my lecture was: 'Romantic Mysticism or Mystic Romanticism?', the product of hours of philosophic meditation, the insights of which have regrettably failed to conform to a functioning comprehensive articulate structure.


One somewhat odd incident occured during the course of the TSA lecture when an audience member appeared to be upset when someone asked the question: Was Blake a Schizophrenic? Perhaps it was unfortunately phrased in relation to Blake's argumentative nature, and while it sometimes appears that individuals who are sadly stigmatized by the medical profession's narrow diagnosis of this classification might understandably react with frustration, I would prefer to view Blake's querolousness as a simple manifestation of his critical questioning of commonplace assumptions.

I do not claim to be an expert on clinical Schizophrenic psychology, but my personal feelings on this subject are influenced by the controversial book 'The Origins of Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind' by neurologist Julian Jaynes. This work interprets the schizophrenic phenomenon as a process of innovation in the evolution of the human brain and the development of language, one which often manifests itself in spiritual passion.

All artists, poets, mystics, prophets, radicals, fanatics, schizophrenics and dreamers either propose or inhabit alternate realities to the monoculture of reality dictated to us by society, which in its more oppressive manifestations tend to be unsympathetic to proposed alternatives to the accepted order of things, blind to the possibly dualistic suggestion that these alien concepts which it views as a threat have the potential in the long run to enhance the depth and vibrancy of society as a whole... a theme explored as well by the visionary American writer Philip K. Dick.


The Emulation of William Blake

There are certain aspects of Blake's career which would make a desirable model for artists and creative thinkers in our age to emulate. I would not really recommend that we try to manifest his argumentative nature, though a touch of critical thinking doesn't hurt. In my opinion the interesting thing about him was the manner in which he operated a step removed from the scope of society's fashions, maintaining a more or less functional living for most if not all of his career, and tirelessly pursuing an intuitive and comprehensive overriding creative construct, never hesitating to draw deeply from the ocean of universal consciousness. The joy and affirmation of the intuitive aspect of his process is one we should be so lucky to taste.


The Inspiration of William Blake

The composition of this essay was motivated by neither commercial gain nor the intent of a passing grade in an institute of learning, a fact which I presume Bill himself might have approved of. This was motiveted purely by self-interest, and this text constitutes the basic essentials with some variation of a free lecture which I gave at the Toronto School of Art on April 5th 2002. As a result I have felt free to disregard the annoyance of providing exhaustive footnotes and cross-references, although if you have any particular issues regarding the veracity of my factual datum or my personal interpretations please feel free to email me and I might respond if I find your query amusing.

A show of appreciation is in order for the T.S.A. for hosting this event, and many many many thanks to the ever-suave Mssr.Thomas Hendry for his dedicated work in co-presenting this lecture, his insightful demonstration of Blake's printing methods, and his adroit contributions to the overall narrative flow of the commentary at those moments when I would become self-conflicted by mental strife.

Many of the details regarding Blake's life & work were freely adapted by me from Peter Ackroyd's excellent biography 'Blake', which is, really, the book you wanna read if you are in any way interested in grasping a comprehensive overview of Blake's life and work... but if instead you just wanna read a really intense novel which deeply resonates on the overall intent of Blake's spirit and as well providing a stunning story, then we recommend Ackroyd's sublime innovative fiction novel: 'The English Music'. Innumerable thanks to my gal the lovely and talented Ms. Mikki Bikki for providing me with these texts.

'The Inspiration of William Blake' is the title of a recording by Jah Wobble which features several of Blake's poems profoundly declaimed in Jah's crisp authentic Cockney accent, set to some truly inspiring music. This musician's career began by providing the intense dub-oriented bass-lines for former punker Johnny (Rotton) Lydon's experimental ensemble, Public Image Ltd; after a few years departure from the music scene during which Wobble literally 'went underground' as an announcer for the London Tube System he came out of retirement to work with people like Brian Eno and then eventually record this masterpiece. Mr.Wobble's thoughtful liner notes for this album clarified much of my interpretation of Blake's philosophy. My innumerable thanks to the lovely and talented artists Ms.H.Farrell and Mssr.S.Naylor for introducing this work to us. It should be noted that the cover sleeve of both the Ackroyd book and the Wobble recording feature a reproduction of Blake's painting 'Good and Evil Angels Struggling for the Soul of A Child', a selection which seems to capture the essence of Blake's fascination with duality.

The defining impetus for this project came about almost by chance upon a Thursday meeting of the '5LG' Artist's Social Club a couple of years ago. At some point late in the course of the evening my associates Mssr.Thomas Campbell and Mssr.Gene Threndyle endeavoured to sing these words:

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the Holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

...the solemn churning of this lugbrious High Anglican Anthem dredged up fond Catholic childhood memories of... listening to Emerson Lake & Palmer's appropriately untrenchent progressive-rock rendition of Sir. Hubert Parry's arrangement of that which sensitive choir directors might describe as an 'old war-horse' echoed with a touch of Monty Pythonesque finesse.

But to his great credit Sir Hubert's solidly defined melody is absolutley sing-able as well as memorable. After hearing this the dang song started sprouting up everywhere. Billy Bragg trotted out what in my opinion appeared to be the most authentic and soulfully socialistic version of these utopian lyrics arranged for solo voice and piano. Proto-punk/dadaist Mark E.Smith of The Fall interpreted a suitably cryptic version. The somewhat more literate than average metal-head Bruce Dickenson (formerly of Judas Priest) has performed this song as well as several other Blake poems set to his own music, Judy Collins has apparently done a version, and I must confess I have not yet even heard Vangelis' soundtrack to the Academy award winning movie whose title was inspired by this song... & of course The Floyd stole the riff to use on 'Wish You were Here'.

One of the most interesting recent versions of this song came about as a conceptual project by the contemporary English experimental artist Damien Hirst, who is perhaps best known for his Turner award winning scupltures utilizing animal parts and formaldehyde. In this case Hirst collaborated with comedian Keith Allen and musician Alex James (of Blur) to form a cheeky novelty act called 'Fat Les' which arranged a suitably bombastic interpretation utilizing no less than seven full choirs for that literally authentic 'cast of thousands' choral effect. This song was chosen as the theme song to represent the English Euro Soccer Team campaign in the 2000 Championship, despite some criticism which ironically dismissed this song for its stogy reputation as an archaic altarpiece of the Anglican Church, a dispute presumably made by individuals who had never tweaked to the possible radical utopian slant of these words. As part of their P.R. effort they commissioned numerous posters on the London Transit System, thus encouraging various soccer fans & hooligans to memorize and chant words of transcendant social revelation rather than your typical tribal conflict fare, in my mind a most delicious bit of final irony.


previous page: Blakeology

Some Blakean Links:

A Comprehensive Page of Blake Links:
http://www.betatesters.com/penn/blake.htm

The Toronto School of Art:
http://www.tsa-art.ca/

Jah Wobble:
http://www.30hertzrecords.com

Blake's Printing Techniques in detail:
http://www.vu.union.edu/~blake/artisan.html

Blake Interactive at the Tate Gallery:
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/blakeinteractive/

Blake's relevance to the modern world:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/5599/BLAKE.HTM

Fat Les & Jerusalem:
http://www.blurtalk.com/interview2.asp?int=27