Doors

“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.” 

- W. Blake (or maybe Jim Morrison, or maybe Aldous Huxley)


Blake believed that human beings were severely bound in their experience of the true universe by the limitations inherent in their human senses. Due to his own experiences with visions and prophesies he believed he possessed a kind of super-human perceptive capability that allowed him to see deep truths. His "doors of perception" were thrown wide while we were perceiving the world through "narrow chinks" in our own personal "caverns."

Blake's phrase "doors of perception" would, much later, be embraced by Aldous Huxley and other users of psychedelic drugs who claimed they were throwing wide their own doors.


“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite.

- W. Blake (definitely)

Blake's Book of Job

One of Blake's greatest, and commercially successful, pieces of work was his 22-plate set of engravings for the biblical Book of Job. The Book of Job is seriously bonkers and Blake was a perfect fit. Wikipedia has a nice collection of the plates along with some watercolors he did on the same topic.

Intro to Blake

Leo Damrosch's book starts with a bold statement: "William Blake was a creative genius, one of the most original artists and poets who ever lived."

Blake was born in London on November 28, 1757. He was an engraver, painter, and poet. His big thing was he saw visions. He literally saw heavenly hosts, angels, and demons walking around in the waking world. Many thought he was mad and he was described as having enormous eyes.

Selection for Winter 2015