The Mysticism Of William Blake

The study of William Blake’s mysticism in the west has been going on for over acentury, but in our country it has not been given due attention. In order to present themystical mind of this poet-mystic, this thesis aims to provide a study on his mysticalthinking, especially on his apprehension of God and man. This study attempts not toexplore a particular “Prophetic Book,” but to synthesize Blake’s singular messages ofGod and man scattered among his works, ranging from verses to letters, or even to someof his paintings. Unlike William Law, an English mystic living in the first half of theeighteenth century, Blake did not leave us any formulated doctrines on the essentialelements of mysticism. Nevertheless, we can still trace the growth of his spiritual life, ormystical life, in a bulk of “mysterious” works he left us.The thesis consists of three chapters. The first chapter is a general survey over theessential characteristics of mysticism. The definition of mysticism, though impossible toexecute, will still be given. Mysticism will be explored from two major perspectives:Mystic Apprehension and Mystic Way. The first is about the means by which mysticsemploy to apprehend the Supreme Reality. These include recollection, Quiet andcontemplation. They are put under the head of Mystic Genius, the abilities particularlycultivated by mystics for a deeper communion with their Object of love. In MysticApprehension we will also discuss over the most controversial phenomenon in one’smystical life that is called Mystic Vision. Despite many warning or even antagonisticvoices made by traditional mystics against this supernatural and supersensualexperience, the mystic of our concern highly acclaims visionary experience, by whichhe put forward his most renowned “Fourfold Vision” theory. The second part of the firstchapter will be searched from the fivefold division of Mystic Way, which was madeclear by Miss Underhill and was later adopted by S. Foster Damon. They areConversion (the Awakening of the Self), Purgation, Illumination, Dark Night of the Soul(the Purification of the Spirit), and Union. Besides the five stages of mystic quest, theauthor will put an additional stage to complete the mystic life. This stage is called Action, or Active Way, which could happen during any stages of the Mystic Way.The second chapter is about Blake’s mystical apprehension of God. Blake mademany names for God, of which the two most attracting and important are Poetic Geniusand Divine Humanity. Being the first original term promoted by Blake, Poetic Geniusremains the guiding principle of his whole life as an artist and mystic. It is not merelythe true faculty of knowing, but the very Source of true knowledge and understanding.For the spiritual man, it is also the first principle of perception. Divine Humanity wasactually put forward by Emmanuel Swedenborg, Blake’s mentor. The conceptionimplies the humanity of God and the divinity of man, providing the possibilities forman’s Union with God, which is the ultimate goal of mystics. Jesus is the best exampleand rabbi of this harmonious God-man relationship. Blake not only passionately taughtus his apprehension of God, but ruthlessly exposed the false god of the Deists. The falsegod is named Urizen, the product of Deism; he is Satan clothed in God’s garments.Those under the control of this false god are actually under the domination of theirreason and five senses. What Blake protested against was not reason proper, but thedomination of reason.The third chapter, divided into two major parts: the natural man and the spiritualman, is of Blake’s divine message of man. The former is a prisoner living under theclaws of Urizen; the latter being one who aspires to be a permanent inhabitant of theworld of eternity and infinity. The world the natural man inhabits is called Ulro built upby his self-centered interests and desires, and his perception of the material world issingle vision, obscured from the Divine Vision, which is the Supreme Reality for Blake.But there is a way for the natural man to escape from the dungeon of Ulro. This way isthrough self-annihilation involving two stages of Mystic Way: Awakening of the RealSelf and Purgation. Three means could be employed for self-annihilation: by volitionalpower, by self-examination or recollection, or by the power of Jesus, which is the spiritof forgiveness of sins.In the spiritual man, the spiritual sensation or imagination, takes the supremecontrol. For him, Poetic Genius is indeed the guiding principle of perception. In the pursuit of his Object of love, the spiritual man will undergo four more stages in regardto his spiritual power. Immediately after he is awakened to the Reality, the materialworld ceases to a dead world of Ulro; it becomes all alive. His vision of the world isdouble vision: the natural world becomes a glass reflecting the eternal world. But hisdesire for a closer relationship with that world of eternity urges him to move to thethreefold vision, to the world of Beulah, where he is enabled to experience eternity.However, Beulah is not the final destination of the longing and travelling soul. BeyondBeulah lies the Garden of Eden. But before he enters into Eden, he must surrender hiswill to the Divine Will. This is an annihilation of his whole person, the process of whichis lengthy, painful and strenuous. It took Blake three years to accomplish it during hisstay in Felpham. The traveller through eternity is now at the Dark Night of the Soul. Ifhe forbears all the perils and darkness of this period, he will be struck by the supremedelight of the fourfold vision, and will be led to the eternal world beyond this world oftime and space. At this point, he is at the Union of God. The traveller is no longer aweary and weak traveller; he is now an inheritor of eternity and infinity.