PUT OFF MORTALITY [107]

British Library
Four Zoas Manuscript
Page 107

Four Zoas, Night VIII, Page 106, (E 382)
"No longer now Erect the King of Light outstretchd in fury
Lashes his tail in the wild deep his Eyelids like the Sun 
Arising in his pride enlighten all the Grizly deeps
His scales transparent give forth light like windows of the morning
His neck flames with wrath & majesty he lashes the Abyss 
Beating the Desarts & the rocks the desarts feel his power
They shake their slumbers off. They wave in awful fear
Calling the Lion & the Tyger the horse & the wild Stag
PAGE 111 [107] 
The Elephant the wolf the Bear the Lamia the Satyr
His Eyelids give their light around his folding tail aspires
Among the stars the Earth & all the Abysses feel h[i]s fury  
When as the snow covers the mountain oft petrific hardness
Covers the deeps at his vast fury mo[a]ning in his rock      
Hardens the Lion & the Bear trembling in the Solid mountain
They view the light & wonder crying out in terrible existence
Up bound the wild stag & the horse behold the King of Pride

Oft doth his Eye emerge from the Abyss into the realms
Of his Eternal day & memory strives to augment his ruthfulness 
Then weeping he descends in wrath drawing all things in his fury
Into obedience to his will & now he finds in vain
That not of his own power he bore the human form erect
Nor of his own will gave his Laws in times of Everlasting
For now fierce Orc in wrath & fury rises into the heavens 
A King of wrath & fury a dark enraged horror
And Urizen repentant forgets his wisdom in the abyss      
In forms of priesthood in the dark delusions of repentance
Repining in his heart & spirit that Orc reignd over all
And that his wisdom servd but to augment the indefinite lust 

Then Tharmas & Urthona felt the stony stupor rise
Into their limbs Urthona shot forth a Vast Fibrous form
Tharmas like a pillar of sand rolld round by the whirlwind
An animated Pillar rolling round & round in incessant rage

Los felt the stony stupor & his head rolld down beneath 
Into the Abysses of his bosom the vessels of his blood
Dart forth upon the wind in pipes writhing about in the Abyss
And Enitharmon pale & cold in milky juices flowd
Into a form of Vegetation living having a voice
Moving in rootlike fibres trembling in fear upon the Earth 

And Tharmas gave his Power to Los Urthona gave his strength
Into the youthful prophet for the Love of Enitharmon
And of the nameless Shadowy female in the nether deep
And for the dread of the dark terrors of Orc & Urizen

Thus in a living Death the nameless shadow all things bound 
All mortal things made permanent that they may be put off
Time after time by the Divine Lamb who died for all
And all in him died. & he put off all mortality
PAGE 122 [108] 
Tharmas on high rode furious thro the afflicted worlds 
Pursuing the Vain Shadow of Hope fleeing from identity
In abstract false Expanses that he may not hear the Voice
Of Ahania wailing on the winds in vain he flies for still
The voice incessant calls on all the children of Men" 

Wiki Commons
Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts

Poetry is written not in words but in images: the evanescent thread that moves through the words from mind to mind. Blake, on page 107, is allowing us to witness the collapse of Urizen. The sleeping man dreamt of the rise and fall of entities which inhabit his mind and are projected outward onto a world which he called real. Blake saw the process of solidifying things into mortal forms as essential to casting off mistaken perceptions. The example of Christ who put off mortality to assume immortality is the paradigm for dying to error in order to live in truth.


 

To be born again is to put off mortality: to be born not to flesh or blood or self-will but to consciousness of the Word of God being with you, dwelling in you and acting through you. Although at this point Urizen had not been born again, he had come to the realization:

"That not of his own power he bore the human form erect 
Nor of his own will gave his Laws in times of Everlasting".

The transformation of Urizen became possible when he knew that it was not his own strength and wisdom that sustained him.      

John 1
[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[2] The same was in the beginning with God.
[3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
[4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
[5] And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
...
[12] But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
[13] Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

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