Thursday, September 29, 2011

William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

The voice of the Devil.

All Bibles or sacred codes have been the causes of the following Errors.

1. That Man has two real existing principles Viz: a Body & a Soul.
2. That Energy, call'd Evil, is alone from the Body, & that Reason, call'd Good, is alone from the Soul.
3. That God will torment Man in Eternity for following his Energies.

But the following Contraries to these are True

1. Man has no Body distinct from his Soul for that call'd Body is a portion of Soul discern'd by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age
2. Energy is the only life and is from the Body and Reason is the bound or outward circumference of Energy.
3 Energy is Eternal Delight




Those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained; and the restrainer or reason usurps its place & governs the unwilling.
And being restrain'd it by degrees becomes passive till it is only the shadow of desire.
The history of this is written in Paradise Lost, & the Governor or Reason is call'd Messiah.
And the original Archangel or possessor of the command of the heavenly host, is call'd the Devil or Satan and his children are call'd Sin & Death.
But in the Book of Job Miltons Messiah is call'd Satan.
For this history has been adopted by both parties.
It indeed appear'd to Reason as if Desire was cast out, but the Devil's account is, that the Messiah fell, & formed a heaven of what he stole from the Abyss.


This is shewn in the Gospel, where he prays to the Father to send the comforter or Desire that Reason may have Ideas to build on, the Jehovah of the Bible being no other than he who dwells in flaming fire.
Know that after Christs death, he became Jehovah.
But in Milton; the Father is Destiny, the Son, a Ratio of the five senses, & the Holy-ghost, Vacuum!
Note: The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devils party without knowing it.

William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Fourteen Actors Acting

The flavor of tasting
stands, itself a
cello wrapped in
legs, a smoke or
a drop – this Cave,
this Redhead, Vortex
lips & tongue: release
without a knot
or even a phone!



John Bailes/Kotatsu Roko
Prospect Hill
Tuesday 27 September 2011

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Everyday Zen Sesshin

Everyday Zen Sesshin


Eating lunch in silence
the sound of crisp pickled cucumbers
fills the dining hall;
rain on a tin roof.


For Tenzo Laura



John Bailes/Kotatsu Roko
Santa Sabina Center
San Rafael. California
17 September, 2011


Is grace light standing?
Grace is light,

                             Standing.

Grace
Is
Light
Standing.

John Bailes/Kotatsu Roko
35,000 feet
Tuesday, 20 September 2011, early morning

Flying west to east in the middle of the night I think of John High

Flying west to east in the middle of the night I think of John High


You once wrote, and it is still written and in print too:

“why did you never ask me (if I love you)”.

I say, if I love you, will you ask me, or do you ask you, or do I ask me?

How particular is this asking? 
Is it always or never?

Basking whales roll in the sea slipping through, occasionally eyeballing humans lucky enough to see being seen. 

Most of us do not know our own seeing and especially being seen.

(Maybe there are vague inklings.)

John Berger wrote an entire book, maybe two, “On Looking” and “On Seeing.”

Does one have to look to see?
Does seeing occur only when there are no eyes?
Even when we think we have eyes, no eyes are seeing. 

Always say I love you even if I never ask.

Is grace light standing?
Grace is light,
                  
                             Standing.


I make up everything I say, even me, with a lot of help from my friends, the kindness of strangers, the albino deer, the one-eyed boy, the lake and the mere grain of sand I am.

With love,

John Bailes/Kotatsu Roko
35,000 Feet
Tuesday 20 September 2011, early morning.