“We have war, injustice, and unhappiness
because our way of life is founded on mistaken beliefs.”
This quotation by William Blake set me thinking and distracted me from my actual project: I wanted to write an essay on a poem. But during my work I, fortunately, ended up in a chaos of philosophical questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? Is our universe only a dust particle of something larger? Is there a force guiding us? Who or what is God?
From time immemorial, people have been racking their brains over these ageless and puzzling questions, and I doubt whether we are able to provide convincing responses to them. Someone who might give us a wise answer is William Blake (1757–1827). He is considered to be the first major Romantic poet, and a central theme of his works is religion (e.g. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Book of Urizen). Admittedly, there is no easy access to Blake because he is one of the most obscure and inscrutable poets. Nevertheless, I would like to make the daring attempt to uncover the secrets of Blake’s religious mysticism. For this reason, I will discuss one of his first works There Is No Natural Religion (1788).
My design is to make this essay accessible to a wide readership, especially to those who have so far avoided profoundly dealing with a particular topic: religion. I also had no serious interest in religion at all – until I started to learn Arabic. Once you have mastered “Allah’s difficult but most ornate language”, you have got a completely different outlook on the world. Beside this, I felt an urgent personal need to deal with the concept of faith in greater detail. This has in part something to do with the changing idea and role of religion in the 21st century. Unfortunately, a number of armed conflicts have been provoked grounded on disagreements between several religious groups, and since September 11 people fear that a potential third world war will be a war of religions, a war between cultures. So this subject is of utmost relevance to the current events.
I hope to provide a vivid, comprehensible and, above all, stimulating and entertaining essay. Keywords that I put in italics serve as a guide through our discussion. So let’s begin and explore the (still) unknown spheres of religion. William Blake will give us a hand.
Table of Contents
1. Preface
2. Basic Concepts
3. The Image of God
4. Blake and the Deists
5. There Is No Natural Religion
6. Blake and the Church
7. Final Remarks
Research Goals and Key Topics
This academic paper explores the religious mysticism of the Romantic poet William Blake, aiming to uncover his unique perspective on divinity, human perception, and the established church. By analyzing Blake's foundational work, There Is No Natural Religion, the paper examines the tension between rationalism and imagination, questioning the role of organized religion in the context of human nature and societal equity.
- Exploration of William Blake's religious philosophy and mysticism.
- Distinction between philosophical concepts: atheism, agnosticism, deism, and theism.
- Critique of deistic "natural religion" and the limitations of human reason.
- The role of the "sixth sense," imagination, and intuition in spiritual perception.
- Social commentary on the Church's influence during the Industrial Revolution.
Excerpt from the Book
4. Blake and the Deists
According to the Blake Dictionary, Deism, or Natural Religion is a “fashionable philosophy of the Age of Reason, attempt[ing] to make religion intellectually respectable by the application of common sense, [...] a religion made by historians, sociologists, and economics, not by the religious, the metaphysicians, or mystics” (Damon 1988, 100). As we can consider, Blake to be a mystic and visionary, he, understandably, fought Deism. He did not rely on human reason alone. He tried to discern objects that are beyond human understanding – by using one specific faculty: imagination. But is that possible? Was Blake probably a special kind of human species? In order to find answers to this question we have to look at what happened in his early life:
At the age of four, William Blake has a vision of God. Later he sees a tree full of angels in a field. When he is 30, his 19-year-old brother Robert dies of consumption. At the moment of his death, Blake sees Robert’s spirit ascending through the ceiling, clapping its hands for joy (cf. Johnson/Grant 1979, pp. xxviii). One year later, in 1788, Blake produces his first work in illuminated printing There Is No Natural Religion – denying “the common eighteenth-century liberal idea that God can be approached through Nature” (ibid., 12). Blake criticized the deists for their blindness to deeper life because they considered reason to be the man’s supreme faculty. Therefore they were unable to “see” God.
Summary of Chapters
1. Preface: The author introduces the motivation behind studying William Blake, emphasizing the shift from a planned poetry analysis to a broader inquiry into philosophical and religious questions.
2. Basic Concepts: This chapter defines fundamental religious terms—atheism, agnosticism, deism, and theism—to establish a framework for analyzing Blake’s work.
3. The Image of God: The text explores the human tendency to anthropomorphize the divine, questioning the origins of individual images of God and their relationship to human imagination.
4. Blake and the Deists: This section investigates Blake’s opposition to the Age of Reason's focus on logic, highlighting his reliance on visions and imagination to perceive the spiritual realm.
5. There Is No Natural Religion: A detailed discussion of Blake’s 1788 work, focusing on how he challenges the idea that nature and reason alone are sufficient to understand the infinite.
6. Blake and the Church: The author examines Blake’s critique of the institutionalized Church, particularly in his poem "London," which highlights social injustice and the limitations of traditional religious authority.
7. Final Remarks: The concluding chapter summarizes Blake’s legacy, suggesting that his focus on intuition and the infinite remains a relevant counter-perspective to purely materialist worldviews.
Keywords
William Blake, Religion, Romanticism, Deism, Theism, Imagination, Natural Religion, Mysticism, Intuition, Sixth Sense, London, Social Commentary, Philosophy, Divine, Enlightenment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary objective of this paper?
The paper aims to investigate William Blake's religious mysticism and his critique of the Enlightenment-era philosophy of "natural religion," focusing on how his works encourage moving beyond pure reason.
Which key concepts are explored in the introductory chapter?
The text establishes clear definitions for atheism, agnosticism, deism, and theism to help the reader distinguish between different approaches to belief in a supernatural power.
How does Blake differ from the Deists of his time?
While the Deists emphasized reason, common sense, and the separation of God from the mechanics of the universe, Blake championed the power of imagination and direct vision as the true gateway to understanding the divine.
What methodology does the author use to analyze Blake?
The author uses a literary and philosophical approach, cross-referencing dictionary definitions with Blake’s aphorisms and personal experiences, such as his childhood visions.
What does the paper argue regarding the Church?
The author argues that while Blake viewed the institutionalized Church as a corrupt force complicit in social injustices, the Church still serves a functional role as a potential moral counterweight in society.
What role does the "sixth sense" play in the author's analysis?
The "sixth sense" is equated with intuition and extrasensory perception, which the author posits as essential for accessing knowledge that the standard five senses cannot reach.
How does the author interpret Blake's poem "London"?
The poem is interpreted as a scathing piece of social criticism, where the author highlights how the Church and State together created a landscape of spiritual and physical bondage for the working class.
Why does the author consider Blake's definition of "real" to be unique?
The author notes that Blake uses the word "real" in an unconventional way, often referring to things that are not physically present but exist within the imagination or the spiritual dimension.
- Quote paper
- Steffen Laaß (Author), 2004, William Blake - a literary figure to approach religion, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/70852
