…discussion. So just another angle to throw in here, which is on my mind at the minute, which is the thoughts of William Blake on vision, in fact, on the senses. And interestingly, actually, given what you were just saying there, Blake intuited that touch…

…thoughts of William Blake on vision, in fact, on the senses. And interestingly, actually, given what you were just saying there, Blake intuited that touch might be the most spiritual of the senses. which is kind of interesting because you might think that…

…is kind of interesting because you might think that sight or hearing would be because they seem to be more ethereal, but actually Blake was very keen on touch. He often has feet in his images because he feels that's the place where we participate. or at…

…symbolically touch, shows the direct participation that we have with everything else around us, a bit like that transactional interpretation there. But Blake too, it's very clear that, as he puts it, When you and I look outside a window, we don't look at…

…culturally, there was still a much greater mix of various ways of seeing the world. And so I think one of the things that Blake realised was that older ways of seeing were, what does he put it, a mental fight with new ways of seeing. And in…

…gone longer than we usually do, but I'd like to just bring in one further point actually triggered by your talking about Blake, which is that in the Upanishads, particularly in the Kena Upanishad, there's a wonderful saying which I ponder quite a lot. It…

…just to pick up one strand on that, and it's nice to pick up in this church because this is the church where William Blake was baptized, as many of you probably know. But William Blake, I think, might have something to say, which also Barfield and…

…pick up in this church because this is the church where William Blake was baptized, as many of you probably know. But William Blake, I think, might have something to say, which also Barfield and Lewis and others said similar things, which is that you're…

…is the everyday experience, which is, I think, part of what maybe you were suggesting of the higher worlds amongst us. You know, Blake, it was once remarked about William Blake that when he looked at the sun, he didn't read more into the sun when he…

…is, I think, part of what maybe you were suggesting of the higher worlds amongst us. You know, Blake, it was once remarked about William Blake that when he looked at the sun, he didn't read more into the sun when he saw the whole sort of heavenly host…

…the nature of vision. And I'm talking now about regular vision, like you seeing me now, rather than visionary experiences, William Blake, and so forth. I'm talking about ordinary vision. How do you see? Everyone in this room knows the standard theory.…

…the place of humanity in nature. And this is quite a pressing issue for me at the moment because I'm working on William Blake. And Blake is very clear that human beings do have a particular and distinctive place in nature. And this seems to conflict…

…of humanity in nature. And this is quite a pressing issue for me at the moment because I'm working on William Blake. And Blake is very clear that human beings do have a particular and distinctive place in nature. And this seems to conflict with a lot…

…in the diversity of human religion and so on, be enough? There would always be more. So I guess when I'm thinking back to Blake, that might be another way in which humanity has a role in nature when nature is seen not just as blind process or even…

…way good for the creation um yeah that might bring another dimension into this and I think this is probably closer to what Blake is talking about because Blake for example will in a poem an ecstatic poem will list all sorts of things that he's seeing,…

…um yeah that might bring another dimension into this and I think this is probably closer to what Blake is talking about because Blake for example will in a poem an ecstatic poem will list all sorts of things that he's seeing, both animate and inanimate…

…possibility or consider the possibility that all experience, everything there is, is consciousness clothed in name and form. Remember what William Blake said, every bird that cuts the airy way is an immense world of delight enclosed by the five senses. We…

…the airy way is an immense world of delight enclosed by the five senses. We consider everything and everyone ultimately what Blake called an immense world of delight, consciousness of being. And that everything and everyone is a clothing of consciousness in…

…these energy techniques has lost touch with the real efficacy there, which is the movement of energy. It's the movement of soul. William Blake writing in the 17th and 18th century, 18th and 19th century, rather. So he talked about energy a lot. Energy is…

…of life. And here at last is one for which we can be grateful. And Mark has also recently completed a book entitled William Blake and the Power of the Imagination, which is to be published later this year. Both Rupert and Mark make no secret of the…

…on or not. But I thought I might kick off by thinking about the imagination, partly because I've been thinking a lot about William Blake and the imagination is so central to him. And what interests me about Blake is that He does sense a spiritual crisis…

…because I've been thinking a lot about William Blake and the imagination is so central to him. And what interests me about Blake is that He does sense a spiritual crisis looming. He's a prophet of our times, therefore, writing 200 years ago, but very…

…years ago, but very much with this prescient vision that could see what is now so manifest in our times. But always with Blake, there's the sense that whilst he can see things going wrong, the dark satanic mills, There's a good impulse, a good impetus…

…itself more and more in these constrained ways through these abstractions, through these virtual representations. And so I think that is what Blake feared were getting caught up in this kind of vortex. Now, we both want to come more to how to channel…

…thinking back as well as thinking forwards and, One element certainly for me is what does it mean to be a spectator? William Blake was very alert to the notion of the spectator and speculating. He was born in the 18th century, this time of extraordinary…

…through the 18th into the 19th century and still today to spot these symmetries using the imagination of the sciences yet Blake whilst recognizing that and recognizing its brilliance, remember he always depicts Newton for that to die away, depicts Newton in…

…the perspective, in the dynamism as well. and I'm aware too that there's images over in that corner which are inspired by William Blake and I think this is another thing that Blake could bring that his imagery you wouldn't say it was naturalistic although…

…that there's images over in that corner which are inspired by William Blake and I think this is another thing that Blake could bring that his imagery you wouldn't say it was naturalistic although clearly there's human forms and buildings and landscapes and…

…to see these familiar things but to see the spirit that might be in the familiar things so you know when you see Blake weaving foliage through the words of his poems, for example, clearly there's not a geometric representation there. But there is a kind…

…the nature of vision. And I'm talking now about regular vision, like you seeing me now, rather than visionary experiences, William Blake, and so forth. I'm talking about ordinary vision. How do you see? Everyone in this room knows the standard theory.…