William Blake wrote four lovely stanzas as a preface to his book-length poem Milton. Set to music by Parry, it is best known today as the hymn "Jerusalem." Here are the first two stanzas:
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!
And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?
Notice that this is all questions. Typically for Blake, he starts us in medias res and he poses questions for which he gives no immediate answers.
The questions here have to do with the legend, popular in Blake's time, that Jesus had come to England as a child. Jesus's uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, was said to be a traveling tin merchant back when tin was extremely valuable. (No serious historian believes this legend today.) Blake doesn't tell us whether Jesus came to England or not, largely because, like any mystical Christian, he is uninterested in the historical Jesus, when he lived, where he traveled, what he looked like, etc.
Blake does give a reply to the questions, which goes:
Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.
So this is not a straight answer. It requires interpretation, and will frustrate those people who think that we shouldn't have to work for our knowledge. In effect, the question is "Did Jesus visit England?" and the answer Blake gives is: "Let us do our best!"
It will seem odd only if one isn't acquainted with the Christian mystical tradition, of which Blake was a part. Though he seems strange to us today, he had deep roots in very old Neoplatonic Christian teachings.
Two examples of the tradition will help: St. Theresa of Avila wrote that "Christ has no body now but yours." In other words, since his ascension, Christ exists in the world only in the persons of his followers. Christ is in the world exactly to the extent that his followers act Christ-like.
And Joachim of Fiore wrote that the world divides into three ages, that of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The first age lasted until Jesus was born, the second until he ascended, and the third began at Pentecost when the Spirit descended to his followers. Now spirit sounds like something magic, but it is not so different from what we talk about when we talk about "school spirit," or acting "in the spirit of Martin Luther King." It isn't like a friendly ghost; it is behaving in the way that a group or individual would have us behave. It is "channeling" that person (to use an analogy) in order to rise to his example.
According to Christian theology, God is the Good. The Form of the Good. God takes no actions, but causes all actions in the world due to the fact that people desire the good. God causes action in the world because people act to move toward the good.
So when asked if Jesus is in England, Blake answers that we should do our best to be Jesus-like. Jesus is in England exactly to the extent that English people embody his spirit. For Blake, Jesus is a state of being. The ideal, completely good state toward which people strive. When we lose our neuroses and our self-hood, when we lose our conflictedness and our narrow-mindedness, and we act completely in his spirit, then Jesus is present.
So the answer to the question "does God have ears?" to any Christian in the mystical tradition, would be, "your ears are God's ears to the extent that you are God-like." And this is true of everyone else's ears, too.
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!
And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?
Notice that this is all questions. Typically for Blake, he starts us in medias res and he poses questions for which he gives no immediate answers.
The questions here have to do with the legend, popular in Blake's time, that Jesus had come to England as a child. Jesus's uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, was said to be a traveling tin merchant back when tin was extremely valuable. (No serious historian believes this legend today.) Blake doesn't tell us whether Jesus came to England or not, largely because, like any mystical Christian, he is uninterested in the historical Jesus, when he lived, where he traveled, what he looked like, etc.
Blake does give a reply to the questions, which goes:
Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.
So this is not a straight answer. It requires interpretation, and will frustrate those people who think that we shouldn't have to work for our knowledge. In effect, the question is "Did Jesus visit England?" and the answer Blake gives is: "Let us do our best!"
It will seem odd only if one isn't acquainted with the Christian mystical tradition, of which Blake was a part. Though he seems strange to us today, he had deep roots in very old Neoplatonic Christian teachings.
Two examples of the tradition will help: St. Theresa of Avila wrote that "Christ has no body now but yours." In other words, since his ascension, Christ exists in the world only in the persons of his followers. Christ is in the world exactly to the extent that his followers act Christ-like.
And Joachim of Fiore wrote that the world divides into three ages, that of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The first age lasted until Jesus was born, the second until he ascended, and the third began at Pentecost when the Spirit descended to his followers. Now spirit sounds like something magic, but it is not so different from what we talk about when we talk about "school spirit," or acting "in the spirit of Martin Luther King." It isn't like a friendly ghost; it is behaving in the way that a group or individual would have us behave. It is "channeling" that person (to use an analogy) in order to rise to his example.
According to Christian theology, God is the Good. The Form of the Good. God takes no actions, but causes all actions in the world due to the fact that people desire the good. God causes action in the world because people act to move toward the good.
So when asked if Jesus is in England, Blake answers that we should do our best to be Jesus-like. Jesus is in England exactly to the extent that English people embody his spirit. For Blake, Jesus is a state of being. The ideal, completely good state toward which people strive. When we lose our neuroses and our self-hood, when we lose our conflictedness and our narrow-mindedness, and we act completely in his spirit, then Jesus is present.
So the answer to the question "does God have ears?" to any Christian in the mystical tradition, would be, "your ears are God's ears to the extent that you are God-like." And this is true of everyone else's ears, too.
