“An improvement in sensual enjoyment”

William Blake

“The ancient tradition that the world will be consumed in fire at the end of six thousand years is true, as I have heard from Hell.

“For the cherub with his flaming sword is hereby commanded to leave his guard at tree of life [in the Garden of Eden], and when he does, the whole creation will be consumed, and appear infinite, and holy whereas it now appears finite & corrupt.

“This will come to pass by an improvement of sensual enjoyment [what Thane called sensual accommodation].

“But first the notion that man has a body distinct from his soul is to be expunged.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is: infinite.

For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ the narrow chinks of his cavern [Plato’s cave].”

― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. Wikipedia

[Interesting point to Prosperos students is the apparent dichotomy between Blake’s advice to improve sensual enjoyment and Translation’s implicit advice to diminish sense testimony.]

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