Allen Ginsberg on William Blake continues from here
AG: (continuing with) “A Memorable Fancy” – (So now he explains what he means by that – that choosing forms of worship from poetic tales) “(B)ut my senses discovered the infinite in every thing “. “But my senses..” “But my senses discovered the infinite in everything, And as I was then persuaded and remained confirmed, that the voice of honest indignation is the voice of God, I cared not for consequences but wrote” – (So that’s just unimpeded spontaneous declaration, courage, confidence, trust in his own imagination. So, Blake says, “Okay, then, if that’s the way – “Then I asked, “Does a firm persuasion that a thing is so, make it so?” – He replied, “All poets believe that it does, and in ages of imagination this firm persuasion removed mountains, but many are not capable of firm persuasion of anything. ” but many are not capable of firm persuasion of anything – (that’s pretty good). That’s sort of an interesting thing in there, like, again, in relation to Buddhist practice in relation to a form persuasion of devotion to the teacher or interest in the guru, or a path, or meditation, or anything like that, the… That question of “firm persuasion” rises in.. does a “firm persuasion” let a thing itself make itself? That’s something everybody faces that’s involved in any kind of.. psychoanalysis, or introspective.. or poetry, actually ( I mean how do you get up.. how do you get up the courage to act on your imagination? – or even your senses? – or your emotional experiences ?(entrust your own emotions).. okay “Then Ezekial said, “The philosophy of the East… (that’s us folks! – here we are with it – that’s very interesting that he referred to it, in a nice way, friendly) – “The philosophy of the East taught the first principles of human perception – some nations held one principle for the origin & some another; we of Israel taught that the Poetic Genius (as you now call it) was the first principle and all the others merely derivative, which was the cause of our despising the Priests & Philosophers of other countries, and prophecying that all Gods would at last be proved to originate in ours & to be the tributaries of the POETIC GENIUS…” – (So he’s asserting poetry above the Gods, or , that is to say, he’s asserting that all Gods reside in the human breast and when we make them up, we project them, and sothe human Albion – whole man – is the inventor of the scheme. “It was this that our great poet King David desired so fervently & invokes so pathetic’ly, saying by this he conquers enemies & governs kingdoms…” (Well, so forth…) There’s another line.. I’m not going to cover the whole thing as there’s too much here and it’s getting on toward nine (o’clock).. “I (also) asked Isaiah what made him go naked and barefoot three years. He answered, the same that made our friend Diogenes the Grecian. I then asked Ezekial why he eat dung…” – (Well, actually, if you want to know, that, it’s Isaiah 20, if you want to check that out – that he went naked and barefoot) – “I then asked Ezekial why he eat dung.” – (that’s a nice one – “why he eat dung”, “why he eat dung” – I asked Ezekiel, period, Why he eat dung?” – a mis-spelling? or what? – It sounds good though. I like it that way. I prefer it that way. How does it look on the page here?) – “”I asked Ezekiel, period, why he eat dung?” – And then he changes it. “and lay so..” “I asked Ezekiel, why he eat dung?” – “I asked Ezekiel why he eat dung” is all blue, “and lay so long on his right and left side”, greenish-yellow. “and lay so long on his right and left side. He answered, “The desire of raising other men into a perception of the Infinite. This the North American tribes practice. And is he honest who resists his genius or conscience, only for the sake of present ease and gratification” – (I asked Peter (Orlovsky) why he goes around in a thin shirt in the sub-zero weather? – He said “This is what the North American tribes practice.” Was he honest or only “resisting his genius or conscience for the sake of present ease and gratification”. Okay.
to be continued
Audio for the above can be he heard – here , beginning at approximately eighty-two-and-three-quarter minutes in and concluding at approximately eighty-eight-and-a-quarter minutes in