Boehme and Blake

Disregarding Milton and Shakespeare Blake may be considered a look-a-like of the man who had lived in an earlier century.

1. Both were raised in comfortable lower middle class families.
    Blake in London,
    Boehme in Goerlitz, Germany.

2. Neither had a formal academic education, but through voracious reading they became highly learned men, particularly in terms of the Perennial Philosophy.

3. Both became apprentices of a respectable trade:

   Boehme of shoe-making,

   Blake of engraving.

4. Both practically lived in the pages of the Bible and gave highly individualistic interpretations of it.

5. Both scorned the conventional religions of their land:

In Germany everyone automatically belonged to the state religion.

In England a multitude of ‘sects’ had risen; the young Blake had flirtations with some of them, but in adultood was committed to none.

6. Both depreciated Reason in favor of Vision.

7. Both married a girl named Catherine/Katarina and lived through periods of poverty.

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More on 5:
From William Law's Boehm; this from The Teutonic Theosopher

"In this my earnest Christian seeking and desire, the gate was opened unto me, so that in one quarter of an hour I saw and knew more than if I had been many years together at an University; at which I did exceedingly admire, and I knew not how it happened to me; and thereupon I turned my heart to praise God for it.

"For I saw and knew the Being of all Beings, the Byss and Abyss; also the eternal generation of the Holy Trinity; the descent, and origin of this world, and of all creatures, through the divine Wisdom; I knew and saw in myself all the three Worlds; namely, the Divine, Angelical, and Paradisical World and then the Dark World, the original of the Nature to the fire; and then thirdly, the external, and visible World, being a Procreation, or External Birth; or as a substance expressed, or spoken forth, from both the internal and spiritual Worlds; and I saw, and knew the whole  working Essence in the evil, and in the good; and the mutual origin, and existence of each of them; and likewise how the fruitful bearing Womb of Eternity brought forth, so that I did not only greatly wonder at it, but did also exceedingly rejoice."

William Law said of Boehme's writings, "The true ground of every doctrine and article of Christian faith and practice is there opened in such a ravishing, amazing depth of clearness of truth and conviction as had never been seen or heard in any age of the Church."

Do you remember how often Blake's pictures had three levels, especially Illustrations of The Book of Job.
Blake used 'Gates' often in his poetry.
Both men used 'time' with great freedom. 

For Blake there was a corresponding three fold category of Heaven, Hell and Beulah or of Eternity, Ulro, and regenerated Beulah.

Another  corresponding triad was Jerusalem, Rahab, and Tirzah.

Blake and Boehme

Blake and Boehme

In a letter to a friend and supporter, John Flaxman Blake had this to say:

"Now my lot in the Heavens is this; Milton lovd me in childhood &
   shewd me his face
Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, but Shakespeare in riper years
    gave me his hand
Paracelsus & Behmen appeard to me."

Of all the sources of Blake's inspiration Boehme (whom he spelled 

Behmen) was the one whose style (and values perhaps) most resembled 

his own. It would pay great dividends for any Blake student to 

give close attention to his work.  There's a multitude of close 

correspondence between the poetry and thought of the two 

Visionaries.

About 30 years older than Milton Jacob Boehme had a number of 

English followers; the Behmenites were said to be absorbed into 

the Society of Friends.  

 "“Jacob Behmont’s Books were the chief books that the
Quakers bought, for there is the Principle or Foundation of their
Religion.” A Looking Glass for George Fox, 1667, p. 5 

Many of Blake's visions resemble those of the German shoe maker.

Blake had no children; Boehme six. Blake's poetry was ignored for 

the most part; Boehme's writing led to persecution. Sir Isaac 

Newton thought that his theory of gravitation was inspired by 

something Boehme.

Blake read the English translation of Rev. William Law, four 

voumes between 1764 and 1781 (when Blake was 24); and in Plate 22

of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell we read:

 "Any man of mechanical talents may from the writings of 

Paracelsus or Jacob Behmen, produce ten thousand volume of equal

value with Swedenborg's..."

"What influenced Blake most in [Behmen's writings] was Behmen's 

aanalysis of the psyche and the interaction of it's parts.  There 

....are three worlds: the Dark Fire-World, (Hell or the 

Subconscious). Above is the Light World (Heaven) (Read Damon page

40 for the rest of this quote.)

Going on "Heaven and Hell are essential to each other; they exist

simultaneously in God....The third World is the Outer World of 

Nature. (Damon of pages 39-41 has a comprehensive and excellent

write up on Boehme.)

Blake and Boehme

In a letter to a friend and supporter, John Flaxman Blake had this to say:

"Now my lot in the Heavens is this; Milton lovd me in childhood &
   shewd me his face
Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, but Shakespeare in riper years
    gave me his hand
Paracelsus & Behmen appeard to me."

Of all the sources of Blake's inspiration Boehme (whom he spelled 

Behmen) was the one whose style (and values perhaps) most resembled 

his own. It would pay great dividends for any Blake student to 

give close attention to his work.  There's a multitude of close 

correspondence between the poetry and thought of the two 

Visionaries.

About 30 years older than Milton Jacob Boehme had a number of 

English followers; the Behmenites were said to be absorbed into 

the Society of Friends.  

 "“Jacob Behmont’s Books were the chief books that the
Quakers bought, for there is the Principle or Foundation of their
Religion.” A Looking Glass for George Fox, 1667, p. 5 

Many of Blake's visions resemble those of the German shoe maker.

Blake had no children; Boehme six. Blake's poetry was ignored for 

the most part; Boehme's writing led to persecution. Sir Isaac 

Newton thought that his theory of gravitation was inspired by 

something Boehme.

Blake read the English translation of Rev. William Law, four 

voumes between 1764 and 1781 (when Blake was 24); and in Plate 22

of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell we read:

 "Any man of mechanical talents may from the writings of 

Paracelsus or Jacob Behmen, produce ten thousand volume of equal

value with Swedenborg's..."

"What influenced Blake most in [Behmen's writings] was Behmen's 

aanalysis of the psyche and the interaction of it's parts.  There 

....are three worlds: the Dark Fire-World, (Hell or the 

Subconscious). Above is the Light World (Heaven) (Read Damon page

40 for the rest of this quote.)

Going on "Heaven and Hell are essential to each other; they exist

simultaneously in God....The third World is the Outer World of 

Nature. (Damon of pages 39-41 has a comprehensive and excellent

write up on Boehme.)

Boehme

In a letter to a friend and supporter, John Flaxman Blake had this to say:
"Now my lot in the Heavens is this; 
Milton lovd me in childhood and shewd me his face 
Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, 
but Shakespeare in riper years gave me his hand 
Paracelsus and Behmen appeard to me."    

Of all the sources of Blake's inspiration Boehme (whom he spelled  Behmen) was the one whose style (and values perhaps) most resembled  his own. It would pay great dividends for any Blake student to  give close attention to his work. There's a multitude of close  correspondence between the poetry and thought of the two  Visionaries. 

About 30 years older than Milton Jacob Boehme had a number of 

English followers; the Behmenites were said to be absorbed into 

the Society of Friends.  

 "“Jacob Behmont’s Books were the chief books that the
Quakers bought, for there is the Principle or Foundation of their
Religion.” A Looking Glass for George Fox, 1667, p. 5 

Many of Blake's visions resemble those of the German shoe maker.

Blake had no children; Boehme six. Blake's poetry was ignored for 

the most part; Boehme's writing led to persecution. Sir Isaac 

Newton thought that his theory of gravitation was inspired by 

something Boehme.

Blake read the English translation of Rev. William Law, four 

voumes between 1764 and 1781 (when Blake was 24); and in Plate 22

of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell we read:

 "Any man of mechanical talents may from the writings of 

Paracelsus or Jacob Behmen, produce ten thousand volume of equal

value with Swedenborg's..."

"What influenced Blake most in [Behmen's writings] was Behmen's 

aanalysis of the psyche and the interaction of it's parts.  There 

....are three worlds: the Dark Fire-World, (Hell or the 

Subconscious). Above is the Light World (Heaven) (Read Damon page

40 for the rest of this quote.)

Going on "Heaven and Hell are essential to each other; they exist

simultaneously in God....The third World is the Outer World of 

Nature. (Damon of pages 39-41 has a comprehensive and excellent

write up on Boehme.)

Blake and Boehme

In a letter to a friend and supporter, John Flaxman Blake had this to say:

"Now my lot in the Heavens is this; Milton lovd me in childhood &
   shewd me his face
Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, but Shakespeare in riper years
    gave me his hand
Paracelsus & Behmen appeard to me."

Of all the sources of Blake's inspiration Boehme (whom he spelled 

Behmen) was the one whose style (and values perhaps) most resembled 

his own. It would pay great dividends for any Blake student to 

give close attention to his work.  There's a multitude of close 

correspondence between the poetry and thought of the two 

Visionaries.

About 30 years older than Milton Jacob Boehme had a number of 

English followers; the Behmenites were said to be absorbed into 

the Society of Friends.  

 "“Jacob Behmont’s Books were the chief books that the
Quakers bought, for there is the Principle or Foundation of their
Religion.” A Looking Glass for George Fox, 1667, p. 5 

Many of Blake's visions resemble those of the German shoe maker.

Blake had no children; Boehme six. Blake's poetry was ignored for 

the most part; Boehme's writing led to persecution. Sir Isaac 

Newton thought that his theory of gravitation was inspired by 

something Boehme.

Blake read the English translation of Rev. William Law, four 

voumes between 1764 and 1781 (when Blake was 24); and in Plate 22

of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell we read:

 "Any man of mechanical talents may from the writings of 

Paracelsus or Jacob Behmen, produce ten thousand volume of equal

value with Swedenborg's..."

"What influenced Blake most in [Behmen's writings] was Behmen's 

aanalysis of the psyche and the interaction of it's parts.  There 

....are three worlds: the Dark Fire-World, (Hell or the 

Subconscious). Above is the Light World (Heaven) (Read Damon page

40 for the rest of this quote.)

Going on "Heaven and Hell are essential to each other; they exist

simultaneously in God....The third World is the Outer World of 

Nature. (Damon of pages 39-41 has a comprehensive and excellent

write up on Boehme.)

plate 51

Plate 51

For a better image try the Blake Archive Works (Firefox won't do that right now).
This picture separates the two halves of Jerusalem (Plate 100 is of the same type.)

On page 330 of Erdman's The Illuminated Blake instead of making his own notes he
extensively quoted page 397 of Lesnick's Forms; here are some extracts:

'Stones of fire' is mentioned near the end of Plate 49 and in the Prologues of Gates of Paradise 'To the Sexes':
"Mutual Forgiveness of each Vice 
Such are the Gates of Paradise 
Against the Accusers chief desire 
Who walkd among the Stones of Fire"

From Plate 49:
"Learn therefore O Sisters to distinguish the Eternal Human
That walks about among the stones of fire in bliss & woe
Alternate! from those States or Worlds in which the Spirit travels:
This is the only means to Forgiveness of Enemies[.]

The following two lines indicate that the speaker is a fallen one:

"Therefore remove from Albion these terrible Surfaces
And let wild seas & rocks close up Jerusalem away.."

In Lesnick's words, "This vision of the stones of fire...that must be removed is the center of the poem". Removing the vision, one falls.

Several prints of this plate title it Vala, Hyle and Scofield.
The spiked crown make Vala the whore queen. She is slumping and holding her head.
Hyle is a smaller version; Scofield is slumped, walking in chains.




 

Plate 52

|The Spiritual States of
|the Soul are all Eternal
Rahab is an | To the Deists. |Distinguish between the
Eternal State | |Man, & his present State

He never can be a Friend to the Human Race who is the Preacher
of Natural Morality or Natural Religion. he is a flatterer who
means to betray, to perpetuate Tyrant Pride & the Laws of that
Babylon which he foresees shall shortly be destroyed, with the
Spiritual and not the Natural Sword: He is in the State named
Rahab: which State must be put off before he can be the Friend of
Man.
You O Deists profess yourselves the Enemies of Christianity:
and you are so: you are also the Enemies of the Human Race & of
Universal Nature. Man is born a Spectre or Satan & is altogether
an Evil, & requires a New Selfhood continually & must continually
be changed into his direct Contrary. But your Greek Philosophy
(which is a remnant of Druidism) teaches that Man is Righteous in
his Vegetated Spectre: an Opinion of fatal & accursed consequence
to Man, as the Ancients saw plainly by Revelation to the intire
abrogation of

- 200 -

Experimental Theory. and many believed what they saw, and
Prophecied of Jesus.
Man must & will have Some Religion; if he has not the Religion
of Jesus, he will have the Religion of Satan, & will erect the
Synagogue of Satan. calling the Prince of this World, God; and
destroying all who do not worship Satan under the Name of God.
Will any one say: Where are those who worship Satan under the
Name of God! Where are they? Listen! Every Religion that Preaches
Vengeance for Sins the Religion of the Enemy & Avenger; and not
the Forgiver of Sin, and their God is Satan, Named by the Divine
Name Your Religion O Deists: Deism, is the Worship of the God
of this World by the means of what you call Natural Religion and
Natural Philosophy, and of Natural Morality or
Self-Righteousness, the Selfish Virtues of the Natural Heart.
This was the Religion of the Pharisees who murderd Jesus. Deism
is the same & ends in the same.
Voltaire Rousseau Gibbon Hume. charge the Spiritually Religious
with Hypocrisy! but how a Monk or a Methodist either, can be a
Hypocrite: I cannot concieve. We are Men of like passions with
others & pretend not to be holier than others: therefore, when a
Religious Man falls into Sin, he ought not to be calld a
Hypocrite: this title is more properly to be given to a Player
who falls into Sin; whose profession is Virtue & Morality & the
making Men Self-Righteous. Foote in calling Whitefield,
Hypocrite: was himself one: for Whitefield pretended not to be
holier than others: but confessed his Sins before all the World;
Voltaire! Rousseau! You cannot escape my charge that you are
Pharisees & Hypocrites, for you are constantly talking of the
Virtues of the Human Heart, and particularly of your own, that
you may accuse others & especially the Religious, whose errors,
you by this display of pretended Virtue, chiefly design to
expose. Rousseau thought Men Good by Nature; he found them Evil
& found no friend. Friendship cannot exist without Forgiveness
of Sins continually. The Book written by Rousseau calld his
Confessions is an apology & cloke for his sin & not a confession.
But you also charge the poor Monks & Religious with being the
causes of War: while you acquit & flatter the Alexanders &
Caesars, the Lewis's & Fredericks: who alone are its causes & its
actors. But the Religion of Jesus, Forgiveness of Sin, can never
be the cause of a War nor of a single Martyrdom.
Those who Martyr others or who cause War are Deists, but never
can be Forgivers of Sin. The Glory of Christianity is, To
Conquer by Forgiveness. All the Destruction therefore, in
Christian Europe has arisen from Deism, which is Natural
Religion.

I saw a Monk of Charlemaine
Arise before my sight
I talkd with the Grey Monk as we stood

Plate 52

In beams of infernal light

- 201 -

Gibbon arose with a lash of steel
And Voltaire with a wracking wheel
The Schools in clouds of learning rolld
Arose with War in iron & gold.

Thou lazy Monk they sound afar
In vain condemning glorious War
And in your Cell you shall ever dwell
Rise War & bind him in his Cell.

The blood. red ran from the Grey Monks side
His hands & feet were wounded wide
His body bent, his arms & knees
Like to the roots of ancient trees

When Satan first the black bow bent
And the Moral Law from the Gospel rent
He forgd the Law into a Sword
And spilld the blood of mercys Lord.

Titus! Constantine! Charlemaine!
O Voltaire! Rousseau! Gibbon! Vain
Your Grecian Mocks & Roman Sword
Against this image of his Lord!

For a Tear is an Intellectual thing;
And a Sigh is the Sword of an Angel King
And the bitter groan of a Martyrs woe
Is an Arrow from the Almighties Bow!

(Erdman 200-202)

Plate 50

Plate 50

Therefore remove from Albion these terrible Surfaces
And let wild seas & rocks close up Jerusalem away from
PLATE 50
The Atlantic Mountains where Giants dwelt in Intellect;
Now given to stony Druids, and Allegoric Generation
To the Twelve Gods of Asia, the Spectres of those who Sleep:
Sway'd by a Providence oppos'd to the Divine Lord Jesus:
A murderous Providence! A Creation that groans, living on Death.
Where Fish & Bird & Beast & Man & Tree & Metal & Stone
Live by Devouring, going into Eternal Death continually:
Albion is now possess'd by the War of Blood! the Sacrifice
Of envy Albion is become, and his Emanation cast out:
Come Lord Jesus, Lamb of God descend! for if; O Lord!
If thou hadst been here, our brother Albion had not died.
Arise sisters! Go ye & meet the Lord, while I remain--
Behold the foggy mornings of the Dead on Albions cliffs!
Ye know that if the Emanation remains in them:
She will become an Eternal Death, an Avenger of Sin
A Self-righteousness: the proud Virgin-Harlot! Mother of War!
And we also & all Beulah, consume beneath Albions curse.
So Erin spoke to the Daughters of Beulah. Shuddering
With their wings they sat in the Furnace, in a night
Of stars, for all the Sons of Albion appeard distant stars,
Ascending and descending into Albions sea of death.
And Erins lovely Bow enclos'd the Wheels of Albions Sons.

Expanding on wing, the Daughters of Beulah replied in sweet
response

Come O thou Lamb of God and take away the remembrance of Sin
To Sin & to hide the Sin in sweet deceit. is lovely!!
To Sin in the open face of day is cruel & pitiless! But
To record the Sin for a reproach: to let the Sun go down
In a remembrance of the Sin: is a Woe & a Horror!
A brooder of an Evil Day, and a Sun rising in blood
Come then O Lamb of God and take away the remembrance of Sin
End of Chap. 2
(Erdman 199-200)

Notes:

"The Atlantic Mountains where Giants dwelt in Intellect;"
Blake referred here to the time of yore before the cataclysmic Flood.

Jerusalem was closed up from it by "the Spectres of those who Sleep:"

"A murderous Providence! A Creation that groans, living on Death."
All this is a cogent description of the Fall (Creation came after the Fall). 

"Albion is now possess'd by the War of Blood! the Sacrifice
Of envy Albion is become, and his Emanation cast out:"

"Come Lord Jesus, Lamb of God descend! for if; O Lord!
If thou hadst been here, our brother Albion had not died.
Arise sisters! Go ye & meet the Lord,"

This sentence is completely biblical. It refers of course to
the story of Lazarus and his sisters (Mary and Martha)
(Luke 10:38-42), a prelude to the first 'resurrection'

This paragraph is ascribed to Erin, speaking to the Daughters of Beulah.

"Erin, the ancient name of Ireland, is the western most of the British Isles."
Damon

 They respond: "take away the remembrance of Sin" stated twice.

"to let the Sun go down
In a remembrance of the Sin: is a Woe & a Horror!"
That homely adage is seen in the lower right of the picture as a small arc
sinking into a black sea (Erdman p.329.
Like most of Blake's pictures, this one shows many things to many people.
Erdman saw two crowned heads, but Morton Paley showed a third one with a crown.
One obvious interpretation might be three zoas, the middle one Urizen,
the other two pensive with their head on their hand.
Above I see a veiled Vala. I'm completely unable to give any reasoned
interpretation of it, although Plate 51 is said to be related.

Plate 48

Therefore I write Albions last words. Hope is banish'd from me.

PLATE 48
These were his last words, and the merciful Saviour in his arms
Reciev'd him, in the arms of tender mercy and repos'd
The pale limbs of his Eternal Individuality
Upon the Rock of Ages. Then, surrounded with a Cloud:
In silence the Divine Lord builded with immortal labour,         
Of gold & jewels a sublime Ornament, a Couch of repose,
With Sixteen pillars: canopied with emblems & written verse.
Spiritual Verse, order'd & measur'd, from whence, time shall
     reveal.
The Five books of the Decologue, the books of Joshua & Judges,
Samuel, a double book & Kings, a double book, the Psalms &
     Prophets 
The Four-fold Gospel, and the Revelations everlasting
Eternity groan'd. & was troubled, at the image of Eternal Death!

Beneath the bottoms of the Graves, which is Earths central joint,
There is a place where Contrarieties are equally true:
(To protect from the Giant blows in the sports of intellect,     
Thunder in the midst of kindness, & love that kills its beloved:
Because Death is for a period, and they renew tenfold.)
From this sweet Place Maternal Love awoke Jerusalem

With pangs she forsook Beulah's pleasant lovely shadowy Universe
Where no dispute can come; created for those who Sleep.          

Weeping was in all Beulah, and all the Daughters of Beulah
Wept for their Sister the Daughter of Albion, Jerusalem:
When out of Beulah the Emanation of the Sleeper descended
With solemn mourning out of Beulahs moony shades and hills:
Within the Human Heart, whose Gates closed with solemn sound.   

And this the manner of the terrible Separation
The Emanations of the grievously afflicted Friends of Albion
Concenter in one Female form an Aged pensive Woman.
Astonish'd! lovely! embracing the sublime shade: the Daughters 
     of Beulah
Beheld her with wonder! With awful hands she took                
A Moment of Time, drawing it out with many tears & afflictions
And many sorrows: oblique across the Atlantic Vale
Which is the Vale of Rephaim dreadful from East to West,
Where the Human Harvest waves abundant in the beams of Eden
Into a Rainbow of jewels and gold, a mild Reflection from        
Albions dread Tomb. Eight thousand and five hundred years
In its extension. Every two hundred years has a door to Eden
She also took an Atom of Space, with dire pain opening it a
     Center
Into Beulah: trembling the Daughters of Beulah dried
Her tears. she ardent embrac'd her sorrows. occupied in labours  
Of sublime mercy in Rephaims Vale. Perusing Albions Tomb
She sat: she walk'd among the ornaments solemn mourning.
The Daughters attended her shudderings, wiping the death sweat
Los also saw her in his seventh Furnace, he also terrified
Saw the finger of God go forth upon his seventh Furnace:         
Away from the Starry Wheels to prepare Jerusalem a place.
When with a dreadful groan the Emanation mild of Albion.
Burst from his bosom in the Tomb like a pale snowy cloud,
Female and lovely, struggling to put off the Human form
Writhing in pain. The Daughters of Beulah in kind arms reciev'd  
Jerusalem: weeping over her among the Spaces of Erin,
In the Ends of Beulah, where the Dead wail night & day.

And thus Erin spoke to the Daughters of Beulah, in soft tears

Albion the Vortex of the Dead! Albion the Generous!
Albion the mildest son of Heaven! The Place of Holy Sacrifice! 
Where Friends Die for each other: will become the Place,
Of Murder, & Unforgiving, Never-awaking Sacrifice of Enemies
The Children must be sacrific'd! (a horror never known
Till now in Beulah.) unless a Refuge can be found
To hide them from the wrath of Albions Law that freezes sore     
Upon his Sons & Daughters, self-exiled from his bosom

Draw ye Jerusalem away from Albions Mountains
To give a Place for Redemption, let Sihon and Og
Remove Eastward to Bashan and Gilead, and leave

PLATE 49
The secret coverts of Albion & the hidden places of America

(Erdman 196-7) 

*************************************************************
 Notes:

Plate 48 starts with 'the merciful Saviour in his arms
Reciev'd him [Albion] and set him on the Rock of Ages coming from Isaiah 26:3, 
'everlasting Rock.'

     Rock is very persuasive in the Bible and in Blake:
When the Children in the wilderness from Egypt moaned because of lack of water, 

Moses angrily struck a rock, from which came 'everlasting water'  God penalized 
him for that lapse by prohibiting from from entering the Promised Land.

This is an example of the ambiguous way Blake (an the Bible as well) dealt with 
the events of the O.T.

The Divine Lord is working (timelessly) before Abraham or Moses: "Before Abraham 
was I am" was spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of John. (Many Bible students 
believe that Jesus was reported to have said he existed before Abraham; however 
a better idea (IMO) was that 'I am' was used elsewhere as a name for God. 
the books of the Bible: "from whence, time shall reveal. The Five books of the 
Decologue", etc. This is a step down from Heaven to earth (from the Eternal to 
the temporal).

Like so many of these posts Blake gives an alternation: heaven, fall to earth 
("I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven") (Luke 10:18; memorialized by 
Milton in Paradise Lost.)

"Eternity groan'd....at the image of Eternal Death!" we understand 'Eternal 
Death' to mean being born (from Heaven to 'this vale of tears'.

"a place where Contrarieties are equally true:" which is to say 'Beulah', the 
first in man's descent from Heaven.

   And on and on and on he goes.