A prophet is generally thought of as one who speaks of things before they come into being; as such, he must possess a fundamental knowledge that is really akin to full consciousness itself.

Consciousness in this case is not merely the momentary awareness of random passing experience, nor is it an automatically conditioned form of knowing that may be able to "predict" events within a set mechanical framework. Rather, consciousness - knowing altogether - is the fundamental ground of being, unrestricted by cultural considerations and the limitations of linear, historical patterns of thought.

Actions or statements that issue from this level of being may appear prophetic only within the context of a culture or mentality that has deviated or regressed from the open, timeless condition of being itself; in this respect, being and consciousness, if not synonymous, are mutually defining terms.

A prophet, then, does not look forward in time so much as express that which is timeless.

 

In the prophet's words there are intermingled the qualities of the most ancient as well as seemingly the most futuristic. For the prophet the two are one, since in the mythic realm of unified being such distinctions as "past" and "future" are meaningless.

In a culture as civilized as out own, based as it is almost completely on an historical agenda, the prophet's vision calls the most basic assumptions into question, for its timelessness inevitably undermines values bound by time and history.

When Blake declared, "Empire follows Art & not Vice Versa as Englishmen suppose," he reversed one of the most fundamental assumptions of the present civilization by giving pre-eminence to art.

Jerusalem was written by William Blake from 1804 to 1820, a period during which Britain was at war with Napoleon.

Blake made remarks about the King and the British army which caused him to be tried for sedition in 1804. Jerusalem in many ways is his response.

In Jerusalem, Albion (representing England or Judeo-Christian culture in general) is infected with a 'soul disease' and her 'mountains run with blood' in consequence of war. Religion exists merely to help monarchy and clergy exploit the lower classes. Greed and war have obscured the true message of Christ. If, however, Albion can be reunited with Jerusalem, then all humanity will once again be bound together by the ties of love.

In this sense Jerusalem represents the repressed elements, psychic and terrestrial, upon which the brute male force of our present civilization raises itself. Jerusalem represents the force that Albion, dominated by the false pride of reason, has turned his back upon.

But obviously what Blake meant by art is something far more inclusive and humanly significant than what even the most rabid aesthete in our present culture would mean. In Blake's work art is not merely the embellishment of the things of life but the very energy of life itself. Everything that is life-enhancing, life-furthering, and life-expanding partakes of art, and man's primary duty is to nourish this basic life force. In fact, it could be said that the life force is by nature aesthetic, that is, life-enhancing, whereas that which opposes it is anesthetic, inhibitory and promising of death.

Furthermore, when a society fails to appreciate the full importance of fostering and nourishing the essentially aesthetic life force, it is only because the anesthetic forces of death have taken over the social imagination.

Death occurs when fear accelerates the drive for power and control, cutting off the self-renewing life forces.

"Art degraded, Imagination denied
War govern'd the Nations."

Or, as Blake wrote in the introduction to "Jerusalem,"

Poetry fetter'd Fetters the Human Race
Nations are Destroy'd or Flourish in proportion as
Their Poetry, Painting and Music are Destroy'd or Flourish:
The primeval state of Man was Wisdom, Art and Science."

Wisdom precedes art as art precedes science. Wisdom is consciousness of being itself; it cannot be qualified, conditioned, or defined, for it is intrinsic to being itself. Art is the reflexive state of wisdom; it is the natural and spontaneous expression of being. Science is the way of materially implementing the reflexive state of wisdom. In awakened human consciousness these three form a unified whole. But in our own time science precedes art, and the practice of art precedes the realization of wisdom; and the three are no longer related as a unified system of knowledge. By Blake's terms, the state we live in is the utter reversal of man's natural state...

Whereas communism is merely a mirror-image critique of capitalism, Blake's vision is a critique of the condition that makes both capitalism and communism possible: the loss of imagination, of eternal vision, which has left mankind prey to the petty competitive interest that dominate and divide our planet - materialism, racism, nationalism.

Blake's concern is with man's redemption and return to his true universal state - eternal vision.

 

Chapter 8. Transformative Vision. page 1..2..3..4..5

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