Harvey Bellin (1944–2021)

Despite a long-held interest in Blake's critique of rational epistemology, I never acquired a comprehensive (even merely general) understanding of his overall outlook. This collection of essays is persuasive in arguing that an outline of Swedenborgian thought is prerequisite to any clear understanding of Blake and his work, whether poetry or illustration.

Generally, my sense now is that Swedenborg strongly shaped Blake's terminology and in specific instances served as a platform for mounting a critique. However: Swedenborg was not the source of Blake's outlook or principles, rather Blake found in Swedenborg's ideas equivalents of his own, or ideas provocative of other insights. If unfamiliar with the relevant Swedenborgian position, it's often difficult to make sense of Blake's own position, serving as both rebuttal and corrective. For all that, though, it seems equally clear that Blake's overall position is not consistently Swedenborgian, that Blake's visions lent themselves to a Magpie-like approach in gathering images and terms most likely to capture Blake's own sense. Blake seems less concerned with developing a consistent system for his ideas, than in best capturing them at the time. A familiarity with Swedenborg, then, is likely to prove crucial for understanding many specific instances of Blake's ideas, but other instances will have nothing whatsoever to do with Swedenborgian thought (and could easily be contradictory).

● Like Swedenborg, Blake posits a spiritual Cause for every material Object. Humans are spiritual souls in material bodies, and the material world is capable of instructing us in our spiritual development. As when a facial expression faithfully represents the mood of the person before us, so may material things correspond to spiritual states not observable to our eyes. Understood properly, these correspondences can be used to read the Bible, or interpret our dreams, or elsewise better know ourselves and the world.
● Like Swedenborg, Blake's experienced intense visions over most of his adult life, visions which inspired his thinking and creative work.
● Like Swedenborg, Blake used Christian terminology and often meant something significantly different than did the Pope or other Christian creeds. Mark when Blake's use of a familiar term seems misplaced, and remark when usage seems to follow orthodoxy (I suspect it seldom does excepting the most trivial sense).

Amplification of these tenets await a second reading, and further reading beyond the essays here.

//

Opposition is True Friendship was published under auspices of the Swedenborg Foundation. A solid decision on their part, Swedenborg appears to be a perspective lost to contemporary culture, with links to Jung (in approach) and Blake (influence). Editors provide a short precis to each essay.… (mehr)