Carl Jung on “William Blake” – Quotations
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I find Blake a tantalizing study, since he has compiled a lot of half- or undigested knowledge in his fantasies. According to my idea, they are an artistic production rather than an authentic representation of unconscious processes. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. 1, Page 513.
Blake’s intuition did not err when he described the two classes of men as “prolific” and “devouring.” Just as, biologically, the two modes of adaptation work equally well and are successful in their own way, so too with the typical attitudes. The one achieves its end by a multiplicity of relationships, the other by monopoly ~Carl Jung, CW 6, Para 559
I am no particular friend of [William] Blake, whom I am always inclined to criticize. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Page 17
“To see a World in a Grain of Sand / And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, / Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand / And Eternity in an hour” (Auguries of Innocence). ~William Blake, The Black Books, Vol. II, Page 185, fn 186
Jung, of course, had never thought of himself as a painter and any voice within himself suggesting that he should become an artist was regarded as the voice of temptation from which he devoutly sought to be delivered. Yet the painting of dreams and visions in the Red Book are not unworthy of comparison with William Blake. ~Laurens van der Post; Jung and the Story of our Time, Page; Jung and the Story of our Time, Page 182
“The happy state is the creative state.” Jung quotes Blake, saying that we feel bliss, ecstasy, “energy as eternal delight.” This gives rise to a “feeling of intense vitality, a new potential.” For God, “life at its most intense, resides in the soul.” Here we feel alive, real, and living creatively. ~Ann Ulanov, Spirit in Jung, Page 41
He who desires and acts not, breeds pestilence. ~William Blake, William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.” – A Jungian Commentary, Page 43
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. ~William Blake, William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.” – A Jungian Commentary, Page 46
Eternity is in love with the productions of time. ~William Blake, William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.” – A Jungian Commentary, Page 51
In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. ~William Blake, William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.” – A Jungian Commentary, Page 51
Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night. ~William Blake, William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.” – A Jungian Commentary, Page 51
Where man is not, nature is barren. ~William Blake, William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.” – A Jungian Commentary, Page 47
The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.
The lust of the goat is the bounty of God.
The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God.
The nakedness of woman is the work of God. ~William Blake, William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.” – A Jungian Commentary, Page 33
The head Sublime, the heart Pathos The genitals Beauty, the hands & feet Proportion. ~William Blake, William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.” – A Jungian Commentary, Page 32
… to give form and rest to what is formless and flowing … to mark off a configured unity from the flowing energy of life, to give form to life. ~Erich Neumann, William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.” – A Jungian Commentary, Page 45
The unconscious is commonly regarded as a sort of incapsulated fragment of our most personal and intimate life-something like what the Bible calls the ‘heart’ and considers the source of all evil thoughts. In the chambers of the heart dwell the wicked blood-spirits, swift anger and sensual weakness. This is how the unconscious looks from the conscious side. Carl Jung, William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.” – A Jungian Commentary, Page 32
.. we may assume that the secret lies not in the quality of the water but in the specific difficulty of obtaining it. The essential feature of this spring is that it unites the highest and the lowest; it is the uroboric circular stream that feeds the depths of the underworld and rises up again to issue from the highest crags. . .. The problem is to capture … the water of this spring symbolizing the stream of vital energy …. Aphrodite regards the task as hopeless, because to her mind the stream of life defies capture, it is eternal movement, eternal change, generation, birth, death. ~Erich Neumann, William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.” – A Jungian Commentary, Page 38
Introverted consciousness doubtless views the external conditions, but it selects the subjective determinants as the decisive ones …. Two persons … see the same object, but they never see it in such a way as to receive two identically similar images of it. Quite apart from the differences in the personal equation and mere organic acuteness, there often exists a radical difference, both in kind and degree, in the psychic assimilation of the perceived image. Whereas the extraverted type refers pre-eminently to that which reaches him from the object, the introvert principally relies upon that which the outer impression constellates in the subject. ~Erich Neumann, William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.” – A Jungian Commentary, Page 46
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