John Dunn

Beulah

In William Blake’s mythology, there is a place called Beulah, which the Innocent might say resembles the traditional idea of Heaven. The Innocent are wrong of course. It differs from the traditional heaven in that it is a temporary place of rest, not a final destination. It is a place in which the do-nothing dumb masses might find contentment. Here the danger lies.

From Beulah, one can be tempted by the followers of Urizen to go down to Generation, the realm of birth and death, a sub-human world, driven by instinct.

Above is Eden: not the peace that passes understanding or the saints’ everlasting rest, but an active strife of contraries that reflects the dynamism of human nature. Eden experiences a kind of warfare, but spiritual warfare that is creative and constructive.

Creativity and constructive…Only God and man can create something from nothing. The imagination and creativity are related to the First Creator. William Blake considered the human Imagination to be God.

© John Dunn.