NO NATURAL RELIGION

We saw in a previous post that Blake thought Natural Religion an "Impossible absurdity." Something which calls itself religion and limits perception to sensing and reasoning, has misunderstood the meaning of the concept of religion. Without God religion is absurd. In one of Blake's earliest engraved poems he presents his argument that man sees only himself, not God, if he relies of his senses and his reasoning to provide him with a religion.

There is no Natural Religion, (E 2) 

THERE is NO NATURAL RELIGION
The Author & Printer W Blake
The Argument
Man has no notion of moral
fitness but from Education.
Naturally he is only a nat-
ural organ subject to Sense.
I
 Man cannot naturally Per-
cieve, but through his natural
or bodily organs

As a natural man all data from the exterior world comes through the senses.

II  
Man by his reason-
ing power. can only 
compare & judge of 
what he has already 
perciev'd.

Man's reason can only process what it has received.

III  
From a perception of 
only 3 senses or 3 ele-
ments none could de-
duce a fourth or fifth

Each sense is limited to its own ability to receive data.

IV  
None could have other 
than natural or organic 
thoughts if he had none 
but organic perceptions

Sense perceptions provide only material which can be processed mechanically.

V
Mans desires are 
limited by his percept
ions. none can de
-sire what he has not 

perciev'd

Without the ability to perceive extra-sensory data man is cut off from desire for more.

VI  
The desires & percepti-
ons of man untaught by
any thing but organs of
sense, must be limited 
to objects of sense.

Without desire or additional means of perceptions, man is trapped in a state of 'single vision.'

THERE is NO NATURAL RELIGION [b]
I  
Mans percepti-
ons are not bound-
ed by organs of
perception. he per-
cieves more than
sense (tho' ever 
so acute) can 
discover.

Man's senses provide limited information. However man has the ability to perceive more than the narrow range which his eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin can sense.

II
Reason or the ra-
tio of all we have
already known. is
not the same that 
it shall be when
we know more. 

If we were to depend on reason alone we would not be able to go beyond the limit that reason is able to discern.

[III lacking]
IV  
The bounded is 
loathed by its pos-
sessor.  The same
dull round even
of a univer[s]e would
soon become a
mill with complica-
ted wheels.

Input from outside of a limited system prevents it from becoming a continual repetition of the same events.

V
If the many be-
come the same as
the few, when pos-
sess'd, More! More!
is the cry of a mista
-ken soul, less than
All cannot satisfy 
Man.

Continually treading the same ground cannot satisfy man no matter how often it is repeated.

VI  
If any could de-
sire what he is in-
capable of pos-
sessing, despair must
be his eternal 
lot.

The desire for more than man can access through his senses and reasoning power would lead to a dead end if he were incapable of perceiving more.

VII 
The desire of 
Man being Infi-
nite the possession 
is Infinite & him-
self Infinite

If man is capable of desiring more than his limited faculties provide, he opens himself to achieving a perception of the Infinite through perceiving the Infinite within himself.

Conclusion,   
If it were not for the
Poetic or Prophetic
character. the Philo-
sophic & Experimen-
tal would soon be
at the ratio of all
things & stand still, 
unable to do other 
than repeat the same 
dull round over a-
gain

There is a level of perception which is beyond that which is reached by sensing and reasoning. Poetry and Prophecy are expressions which allow man to reach outside of the static repetition of natural patterns.

Application.
He who sees the In-
finite in all things
sees God.  He who 
sees the Ratio only
sees himself only.

Unless an individual develops the ability to go beyond depending on his own sense perception and reasoning power, he is trapped within himself. Seeing more than the surface - into the depths - will open the way to seeing the Infinite in all things and God.

***

Wikimedia Commons There is No Natural Religion
Plate 6

The presence of God within man provides him with the ability to recognize that Presence. Through that recognition he develops the ability to see as God sees - the Infinite in all things. We are in the process of becoming with God. The whole of creation is an expression of God. As creation recognizes God, God becomes as we are and we as he is. God has chosen to be articulated through his creation. As creation strives to respond to the God which is embodied in it, Man and God become One. 



 

---

John 17
[20] Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
[21] That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
[22] And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
[23] I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Romans 12
[2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Colossians 1
[15] He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation;
[16] for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities -- all things were created through him and for him.
[17] He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
[18] He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.
[19] For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell,
[20] and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 
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