"Enemies of the Human Race." William Blake on how to know God

[@Shaun-i2m]

A superbly clear and deeply resonant talk Mark, Thankyou so much.

[@verdiwyld]

Wow. Beautiful, inspiring words in these times. Am looking forward to them sinking into my being and to reading Vala, just downloaded. Thank you 💖

[@recursive4794]

Nice summary of some key points about Blake, thank you. Despite his eccentricities and obscurities I keep coming back to him after first encountering him when young. He tends to be a bit neglected these days and rarely mentioned on Christian youtube so I am grateful you are redressing that.

[@TheChurchofBreadandCheese]

I am Roman Catholic, heavily read daily St Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross and St Paul of the Cross which helps a lot with the spirituality. Good stuff.

[@normaodenthal8009]

Thank you for this wonderful presentation on Blake, who has always been a favourite of mine. Deism is, indeed, the precursor of atheism, since it pushed God so far away that the divine was all but absent from life. So, you are absolutely right; deism is the greatest misperception and misrepresentation of who God is, no doubt largely due to our idolisation of the left brain, rational mind which, as Ian McGilchrist has stated, is a case of the emissary usurping the master. Blake’s poetry and intuitions about the divine are a good way to reconnect with the divine and bring enchantment back to the world. Thank you for correcting this deficiency of our understanding and helping to bring God back a bit closer to us and the natural world.

[@ElizabethMohr]

Humbly engaging the transcendant by means of the imminent; good counsel indeed, and altogether refreshing. I've been wishing to look more closely at Blake's work for some time; thank you for setting out this clear sighted point of entry.

[@marcopivetta7796]

excellent. thank you. Blake is a spring of inteligent and eloquent thought, beauty, art and pious faith. He was a great man.

[@Marjorie-yt7pb]

Wonderfully eloquent ! Thank you so much😊

[@lauriethompson740]

Excellent, thanks for that! It reminds me that I need to dust of my 'complete Blake' from the bookshelf where its been since I was a teenager, but never fully engaged with. In terms of the 'mystical in the western tradition' another flavour of it is the one I grew up with, Quakerism, sometimes referred to as 'the mystical egalitarians'. I also read the other day that a few of the Greek Byzantine churches switched to being under the Pope at some point, and hence still make up a section of that church, and thus I presume are still more 'orthodox in character', and perhaps have influenced some 'voices in Catholicism'? On a personal note, lovely to speak to you the other night a the Theos discussion, that evening certainly set some 'hares running' in my internal spiritual dialogue!

[@ralphjenkins1507]

Interesting. I enjoy your podcasts and writings.

[@MasoudJohnAzizi]

God = Consciousness = Awareness. 🙏

[@naturelover1284]

Beautiful I was raised Catholic and then have an arts degree and I feel so not understood by the world and then being a woman trying to educate yourself and better yourself and not just be part of someone else

[@ramyafennell4615]

This is truly lovely thank you. I wonder if we were to replace the word God....with Consciousness...wouldn't that bring Blake to fore in the current exploration for the source of attention and awareness. He sounds like a non dualist to me. Creator and Creation are not two.

[@RocketKirchner]

Blake as Christian mystic is analogous to Pascals Night of Fire and Kierkegaard’s subjective divine passion rejecting objective certainty . Muggeridge deals with this connection .

[@edwardlulofs444]

Good video, thanks.

[@irreadings]

Dr. Vernon, you may very well enjoy reading Christos Yannaras' "Against religion". It's a philosophical text about Eastern Orthodox Christianity and how institutionalization and legalism (much reminding of Urizen) actually corrupts Christianity, which in reality has nothing to do with "Moral Virtue". Just sharing something I think you might like. Love your content. Keep it up

[@MasoudJohnAzizi]

"The holy Spirit of God needs no religion or culture". -Rumi

[@Barklord]

I think it's just great to believe your God is the best God. What could be the harm? My godmother once said, *"Our* God is an awesome God." And by that, she meant that other people's God(s) just don't quite measure up. She was also a public middle school teacher and a very humble Protestant racist.

[@hexagondun]

Thank you for this. Quick question: how do we know that Blake read Teresa of Avila? Thanks! 🙏

[@PlatosPodcasts]

Reports of conversations plus she's mentioned in his works.

[@hexagondun]

@@PlatosPodcasts thank you for the response!

[@sashahynds4917]

When will your book be available?

[@byzantinedeacon]

I think Blake would have made a great hesychast.

[@ramyafennell4615]

Furthermore...non dualism as an expression of 'essence' can embrace dualistic theology and God, through recognition of the noblest attrubutes...would that have satisfied Blakes concerns about non theism.

[@robertjan002]

I thought Blake was a kook, or so I might have been taught, a bit mad, writing quaint nursery rhymes for grown ups, and quite wonderful watercolours, and then it turns out he was a spiritual genius.