On page 26 of Fearful Symmetry, Frye writes:
"It appears then, then, that there are not only two worlds, but
three: the world of vision, the world of sight and the world of
memory: the world we create, the world we live in and the world we
run away to. The world of memory is an unreal world of reflection
and abstract ideas; the world of sight is the potentially real
world of subjects and objects; the world of vision is the world
of creators and creatures. In the world of memory we see nothing;
in the world of sight we see what we have to see; in the world of
vision we see what we want to see. There are not three different
worlds, as in the religions which speak of a heaven and hell in
addition to ordinary life; they are the egocentric, the ordinary
and the visionary ways of looking at the same world."
British Museum
Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts
|
The world of vision, of creator and creatures, is Blake's world of Imagination; Jung's of Intuition. This is the mental world of which Blake writes and in which he lives. He takes up the sword for mental fight and never puts it down.
Blake is the teacher par excellence who presents his subject,
asks his students to incorporate an understanding of it into their
own thinking and then gives them opportunities to practice the
paradigm of acting which he hopes to teach. The student has not
learned anything experientially until he incorporates an altered
behavior into his range of options.
An aspect to becoming aware of the imaginative dimension in what goes on in the world around us, is finding patterns which enable us to fit together diverse pieces of our experience. If we recognize similar patterns in, for example religion and science, we expand our ability to assimilate a cohesive view rather than multiple limited views. If we look through a different window of perception, if we alter our preconceived assumptions, or back away form emotional involvement, the whole picture may begin to become visible.
When I was trying to catch site of a comet in the sky, I simply
couldn't see it although I knew its location and that it was
visible to the naked eye. I was trying to focus my eyes as if I would
when looking for detail in a picture. When I instead gave up on
seeing the comet and looked at the whole sky, the faint light of
the comet came into view. Our eyes are actually constructed with
special receptors to see faint light as well as receptors for
bright light. Until I 'turned off' the receptors for bright light,
the receptors for dim light couldn't make the comet visible.
Frye and Blake are telling us that we have receptors for peering
into the mental world of vision or imagination. But if our focus
of attention is occupied with sensation, emotion or
rationalization, we miss the fainter light of intuition.
Milton, Plate 1, (E 95)
"I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land."
A Vision of The Last Judgment, (E 555)
For the Year 1810
Additions to Blakes Catalogue of Pictures &c
"This world of Imagination is the World of
Eternity it is the Divine bosom into which we shall all go after
the death of the Vegetated body This World of Imagination is
Infinite & Eternal whereas the world of Generation or Vegetation
is Finite & Temporal There Exist
in that Eternal World the Permanent Realities of Every Thing
which we see are reflected in this Vegetable Glass of Nature
All Things are comprehended in their Eternal Forms in the
Divine body of the Saviour the True Vine of Eternity
The Human Imagination who appeard to Me as Coming to Judgment.
among his Saints & throwing off the Temporal that the Eternal
might be Establishd. around him were seen the Images of
Existences according to a certain order suited to my Imaginative Eye
Here follows the description of the Picture"
No comments:
Post a Comment