Archetypes
Anyone interested in archetypes should read William Blake. His poetry is a blend of the visual image and printed word. He saw past the image to it's inspiration. He used the Biblical imagery in psychological terms. In fact, he viewed the whole universe in those terms. Though he predated Jung, his work EXPLAINS Jung's.
"Terrific ragd the Eternal Wheels of intellect terrific ragd
The living creatures of the wheels in the Wars of Eternal Life
But perverse rolld the wheels of Urizen and Luvah back reversd
Downwards and outwards consuming in the wars of Eternal Death" William Blake, Vala
The following are excerpts from A Blake Dictionary (Read the section on Behmen for the basis of Blake's system.):
‘These beasts are the same four “living creatures” which Ezekiel beheld on the river Chebar. They have complicated eyed wheels within wheels, which revolve independently, and act as the chariot of the Deity.’ Blake identified them with the four fundamental aspects of Man:
his body (Tharmas-west)
his reason (Urizen-south)
his emotions (Luvah-east)
his imagination (Urthona-north)
‘These aspects are Jung’s fourfold analysis of man. Blake named them and assigned them compass points. They are “the Four Eternal Senses of Man”, “the four Rivers of the Water of Life”:
“West flow’d the Parent Sense, the Tongue,
South stood the Nerves of the Eye,
East, in Rivers of bliss, the Nerves of the Expansive Nostrils,
North stood the labyrinthine Ear”
‘As Man was made in the image of God, his Zoas are reflections of the divine aspects:
Tharmas the Shepard is a mirroring of God the Father;
Urizen, the aspect of Divinity which falls, becomes the equivalent of the Devil.
Luvah, in whose robes of blood Jesus (universal Imagination) descends, corresponds to the Son;
Urthona-Los, the fount of inspiration, is the Holy Ghost; ’
‘“ I heard the mild and holy voice saying ‘O light, spring up and shine’ and I sprang up from the deep. He gave me a silver scepter [of love], and crown’d me a golden crown [of reason], and said ‘Go forth and guide my Son who wanders on the ocean.’”
‘The co-eternal Zoas emerge into this world in a counter-clockwise cycle. The trouble began when Emotions usurped the place of Reason: they “clouded rage” and “change their situations in Universal Man”; they “rush around on all sides in dire ruin”; they turn their wheels against man and against each other.’
‘“I went not forth: I hid myself in black clouds of my wrath; I call’d the stars around my feet in the night of councils dark; the stars threw down their spears and fled naked away. We fell.”’
‘Tharmas splits from his feminine portion who now wanders formless in the void, from Innocence to Experience (puberty), and becomes the debased material body, the five senses.
Urizen splits and becomes the Dragon, losing all human form. His emanation becomes Sin.
Luvah splits to become Orc (revolt--repressed love turns to war), the Serpent in Eden. His feminine portion becomes the Shadowy Female (nature, who is also Natural Religion).
Urthona (the Creative Imagination of the Individual), becomes Los. His feminine portion becomes a Shadow; Los sinks as the Spectre of Urthona, into the subconscious.’
‘Looking deep within himself, man perceives his four Zoas now chaotic:
in the West (Tharmas’ place) a world of raging Waters (materialism)
in the South (Urizen‘s place) remains a burning fire (of Orc)
in the East (Luvah‘s place) is a void
in the North (Urthona‘s place) a solid, unfathomable, without end’
‘In this fallen world:
Tharmas has gone outward to the Circumference (the body)
Urizen has rizen to the Zenith (the head)
Luvah has sunk to the Center (the heart)
Urthona has disappeared into the Nadir (the subconscious)’
‘But in Eternity, the Zoas take their original places:
Tharmas, the Earth, or the world of the Senses, in the West
Urizen, the Stars of Reason, in the South
Luvah, the Moon of the Emotions, in the East
Urthona, the Sun of the Imagination, in the North’
‘Thus in the well-balanced man, the Imagination and Reason are cooperating contraries; so are Love and Lust.’
According to Blake (Jerusalem) the separate sexes do not exist in Eternity, as each Individual has already absorbed and integrated his feminine portion:
[316] All Eternity shuddered at the sight
[317] Of the first female now separate
[324] ‘Spread a Tent, with strong curtains around them
[325] ‘Let cords and stake bind in them Void
[326] ‘That Eternals may no more behold them'
[336] Eternity shudder‘d when they saw
[337] Man begetting his likeness
[338] On his own divided image.
[359] The Eternals their tent finished
[363] A shriek ran thro’ Eternity
[364] And a paralytic stroke
[365] At the birth of the Human shadow
[369] The Eternals closed the tent
[370] They beat down the stakes the cords
[371] Stretch’d for a work of eternity:
[372] No more Los beheld Eternity
Behmen placed the Imagination as man's central power. It is the creative force. All things are generated out of the Imagination. According to Blake, the Creative Imagination, which kept the Divine Vision in times of trouble, never materializes in Time and disappeared into the Nadir, the subconscious. A recent discovery discloses that while we are speaking consciously, there is also a parallel subconscious dialogue that is reversed to the forward one and can be heard subconsciously. It doesn't matter if you are speaking to yourself or someone else. This phenomenon occurs whenever anyone says anything.
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