Allen’s analysis of William Blake’s “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” – continues from here
AG: “The most sublime act is to set another before you.” – (To put somebody in front of you – the Bodhisattva Path, give up your own eternity, Nirvana, for the sake of another person’s enlightenment. In other words, abandon any notion of skipping town and getting to Nirvana, and stick around with the minute particulars to serve other people).
“If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.” – (There’s our favorite again. Does that always work? Lots of fools persist in their follow and die drunk on the deathbed, wind up on the methadone, wind up taking the methadone treatment or, mumble mumble, wander through (Robert) Crumb cartoons (as a) meth-head, (as) meth-freaks.
Peter Orlovsky: What does he mean when he says it here, then.
AG: Well, they didn’t have methadone or methedrine then in those days. They didn’t have the synthetics.
Peter Orlovsky: Oh, is there a “fool” in the dictionary? [Editorial note – S. Foster Damon’s Blake Dictionary]
AG: Well, there would be th … yeah, I think there would be a “fool” in the dictionary. Did you get anything from “eternity” or from “time”?
Peter Orlovsky: Yes. [Peter notes Damon] – “Eternity is what always is, the reality underlying all temporal phenomena, the N-U-N-C stans of St. Thomas Aquinas..”
AG: Nunc stans.
Peter Orlovsky: What does that mean?
AG: Nothing standing below or above. Or nothing beyond.
Peter Orlovsky: [continues reading] “It is vulgarly supposed to be an endless prolongation of Time, to being in the future; it is instead the annihilation of Time, which is limited to this temporal world; in short, Eternity is the real Now.” Then it continues, Allen..
AG: Yes. Let’s see. Let’s see if we got anything in… he uses “Eternity” in lots and lots of different places, that’s true. Let’s see if I can find anything relating to… [Allen, likewise consults Damon] – Well, “Blake’s great task, therefore, was “to open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes of Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought, into Eternity ever expanding in the Bosom of God, which is the Human Imagination.” He uses “eternity” throughout Jerusalem, Milton, and most of his prophetic books have some mention of it, but I think when we get to Jerusalem we’ll examine it.
“Eternity exists and all things exist in eternity.” – Okay.
“Folly is the cloke of knavery.” – “Folly is the cloke of knavery.” In other words, somebody is really being mean. “Folly is the cloke of knavery.” Very good.