MARK'S MYTH

American mythology: The Journey of Leisure k 

Leisure was panicky. Democracy, under the influence of his evil 

sons, Politics, Pomposity, and Timidity had siezed power from the
noblest or the goddesses, Liberty. Leisure was one of Liberty's sons and
his brothers were either in far off places trying to subdue the forces of
Polities or had already been overcome. Politics had terrorized
Timidity into drugging Reliance into a long, deep sleep. Leisure had no
one to turn to for help in rescuing Liberty, although his brother Reverence
had advised him to search for their father.

Lewis, a mortal faithful to Reverence, rushed into the glade wherein
Leisure resided. He informed Leisure that servants of Democracy were
approaching the glade to capture him, for Politics had convinced Democracy
that Leisure was on the side of Reverence in his fight against the
Politico-Democratic Government. Leisure was left with no choice.
He must flee from the grounds of the Palace of Liberty for his own freedom.
Having never taken the time to study geography, he had to ask Levis where
Reverence was so that he could join him in his fight to overcome the 

interference of Politics. Lewis informed him that Reverence was in the 

east battling the Terrorists. "Keep to the woods, for they are safer,” he advised
moments before the entry of Politics himself. Leisure fled down the mountain
along the eastern road.

In the woods at the bottom of the mountains he met two lumberjacks, 

named Science and Conformity. He asked them what they were doing.

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Science replied that we're chopping down trees so that a new factory for

Industry could be built. Conformity corrected that he was working just be-cause he had been told to. As they appeared harmless, Leisure 

asked how he could get to the forces of Reverence. 
“Don't know why you would want to see him, but I will be 
glad to give you the meager assistance that I can. Science is always
ready to further Progress," answered Science. "You should 
go to the city just outside the woods and ask Capitol for funds 
for your expedition. If he approves, then you should continue 
to Industry to hire workers and gather equipment for your journey." 
"Thank you very much," said Leisure with his kindest smile. 

He then took his leave and strolled along the path toward the city. 
At the gates his errand was asked and he replied that he 
wanted funds so that he could join Reverence. A few days later 
he received the answer that Capitol had no funds available for 
that endeavor. Politics forbid it. Leisure turned dejectedly away. 
As he lacked anywhere else to go, he decided to proceed to Industry. 

As he entered Industry he was met by an official of the Chamber of 
Congress who gave him the guided grand tour of "The Noble City of 
Industry? Leisure tried to act impressed but it all seemed to be a lot 
of work to him. The smoke and squalor oppressed him and he longed 
to breathe fresh air in the woods just outside of the metropolis. 
But his friend from the Chamber of Commerce warned him to forget 
the woods and watch T.V. for his entertainment. He said that those 
were the woods of Reverence. He shuddered. No one was allowed to 
go there. 
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Leisure would not remain in Industry a moment longer so they put him on the road to the Air Force Base, because they wanted to have him imprisoned, for they were suspicious of his interest in the woods.

Leisure rambled unconcernedly along the road toward the Air Force Base. The land was barren and desolate there, and he could see a sign rar ahead. As he walked, he listened to the howl of the jets landing and taking off. When he got to the sign, he read "Top Secret. No one allowed beyond this point except Military personnel or people on official business for Politics." Leisure turned resignedly aside and followed a road pointed out by a bright neon sign with a waving arm and a mechanical voice which constantly repeated "Progress!

At the thriving town of Progress, Leisure found people working on the development of the latest automobiles, nuclear weapons, and the Politico-Democratic Government Bureaucracy (P.D.G.B.) equipment under the personal supervision or Pomposity. A huge sign proclaimed that the Organization for World Peace Headquarters (0.V.B.H.) was in the basement of the Outlawed Weapons Manufac- turing Company and International Armory Building (O.W.M.C.I.A.B.). Leisure wandered about the city and accidentally blundered into the Medicinal Research Adifice (M.R.E.). This was very dangerous on his part, as at that time the International Humanistic Society (I.H.S.) was undergoing experiments with newly created diseases on specimens from a governmental Asylum for the Insane and Mentally Incapacitated (A.I.M.I.). Leisure was informed of his danger and then placed in quarantine for six weeks.

When he was released, he was given a pass to the Air Force
(The card said that it was a Base for an official check-up.

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Medicinal Examination for the Determination of Physical and MentalHealth and it was signed by Pomposity himself.) 

At the Base after his Examination, he was sent to the recruiting office, wherehe became an Involuntary Recruit. (Drafting had been abolished by the I.H.S.)
After four hours of training he was put on a train to the Front, where a large

offensive was planned to 

take place in seven days. Leisure was bewildered, but his questions 
were answered eight days later when he was informed that he would 
arrive at the Terrorist Camp about three hours after the train 
left the Air Force Base. So this is what the Politico-Democratic 
Government does with taxes, he thought. 

After an eight hour train ride, the recruits disembarked. 
Seeing his chance for escape, Leisure stepped over no man's land 
into the Camp of Reverence. He was immediately apprehended as a 
spy and taken to see Reverence, who immediately recognized his brother.
Leisure was joyfully greeted and after he had bathed 
and eaten and slept, Reverence told him that they had long given 
up hope for him as it was now three months since Lewis had told 
him of his danger from Politics. Leisure apologized that he had 
failed to follow Lewis' advice about keeping to the woods. "That 
explains all," said Reverence. "You have just journeyed through 
the land or Bureaucracy, the heart of the country under the evil 
influence of Politics." 

Leisured thanked Reverence kindly for his brotherliness and 
inquired if there was anything he could do to help rescue their 
mother Liberty. Reverence told him that he would have to make a 
hazardous journey to their brother Discipline, who would give him 

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a medicine that would reawaken Reliance.

Reliance must be awakened, for he was the only person who knew where the twins, Independence and Individualism, were hiding from persecution by Democracy. They were the only sons of Liberty that knew where their noble father resided. Leisure agreed to do these things and left promptly. 

Discipline's home was on the other side of the land of the Terrorists, and Leisure had to cross that awful land to get to Discipline more quickly. He was captured by two terrorists, but he quickly escaped when they got into an argument on who would get to torture bin. He easily found Discipline's home and acquired the vial or medicine from him. He hurried to the dwelling of Reliance and placed the bottle under Reliance's nose.

Reliance awoke with a start and asked for breakfast. Leisure gave him a crumbly biscuit that was in his pocket and asked desperately for the address or the twins. Reliance told him to go due south and into the woods or Reverence. There, he would find an extraordinary home from which he might hear Creativity, the sons of Individualism and Independence, playing the flute. They then bid each other farewell and parted sorrowfully, for they had been very close when they were children. 

Leisure carefully followed the directions and soon arrived at the fabulous home of Individualism and Independence. It was so beautiful that he longed to stay, but the twins reminded him that their brothers were counting on him to find their father. Leisure learned that he should follow a path leading to the east and not to stop to admire the beauty of the landscape. 

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Presently, Leisure came to a glade, where sat a tall, noble man with a strong, proud, but compassionate face. Leisure sauntered up to him and introduced himself and started to explain his errand. But the man beamed in recognition and hugged him fondly. 

"Not since you were a very young child have I seen you, my son," 

he said softly in his strong but tender voice. 

Leisure knelt before him. "So thou art my father." 

 

"Yes, my son. And why have you journeyed so far and long?" 

"I came to find you and ask for your help in rescuing mother," stated Leisure. 

"And that I will," said the Knight, as he buckled on his great sword. 

"But I had one other purpose for my quest. I had a great desire to discover the identity of my father," said Leisure. 

The Knight laughed. "I, the father or Individualism, Independence, Reliance, Reverence and Leisure, and the servant of the Lady Liberty, am America." 

And Leisure felt a surge of confidence that good would return to the world, for he knew in his heart that with America, anything was possible. 

*********************

Mark wrote this when he was about 14 years old.

LARRY'S BLAKE

 Copied from Google Docs

Oct 29, 2010 Ram Horn'd with Gold A Blake Hypertext Commentary Edited by Larry Clayton (lclay3@earthlink.net) FOREWORD        PRIMER Bio    Style    Poetry    Faith    God    Bible    Church    Sex   Myth Chap10 (Drag the right border in or out as much as you want to.)     all interpreters of Blake have their own viewpoint about his work:      The graphically inclined of course tend to focus on that facet.      Politically conscious students of Blake may likely come up with something likeProphet Against Empire.      A specialist in literature might write something in the vein of Fearful Symmetry.      Then we have biographers:      and encylopedists.     Spiritually minded folk may see something in Blake that the materially minded are apt to miss. John Middleton Murry's William Blake belongs to the first group; his book had a great influence on the writing of Ram Horn'd with Gold. **************************************************     This website introduces Blake's thought with primary emphasis on its spiritual dimension. Recent Blake literature has come largely from secular interpreters. The religious community for the most part have totally ignored Blake. Nevertheless he was a profoundly spiritual man.     This introduction to Blake focuses on his spiritual life as expressed in his aesthetics, politics, and psychology. Contents CHAPTER ONE in a short biographical sketch recounts those events which largely determined the shape of his career. It also gives the first thumbnail outline of his work. CHAPTER TWO provides the reader with some of the basic equipment he will need to begin to read Blake with comprehension. CHAPTER THREE Some simpler Blake poetry (Simple only in the sense that some meaning readily emerges.) CHAPTER Four interprets Blake's faith as it developed through the circumstances of his life. My distinctive view of that development includes a change of direction or attitude toward Christ in Blake's early forties. CHAPTER Five traces Blake's struggle with God through the early images of Nobodaddy, Father of Jealousy, Urizen, and the God of this World, to his "first Vision of Light" and the resulting commitment to what he called (among other things) Jesus the Imagination. CHAPTER Six explains Blake's understanding of the Bible, his primary source. Blake cast light on biblical ideas, and conversely the Bible explains Blake. Redemption history, the struggle between Jehovah and Astarte, the symbology of Ezekiel and Revelation are some of the topics dealt with. (If you want a quick introduction to the relationship between Blake poetry and the Bible go here.) CHAPTER Seven details Blake's relationship to the established church, his view of church history, his attitude as a dissenter against a state church and other forms of inauthentic authority, his relationship to Quakers, Methodists, and Deists as well as his personal associations, seen imaginatively as a religious community. CHAPTER Eight treats Blake's sexuality, his attitudes toward prevailing sexual mores, his incorporation of biblical viewpoints toward sex, especially in the symbology of the heterodox tradition. CHAPTER Nine describes the development of the mythology that forms the framework of Blake's major works.     The primary sources for this work of course were Blake's poetry and pictures and the Bible. The most significant secondary sources were Northrup Frye's Fearful Symmetry, Milton Percival's Circle of Destiny, Kathleen Raine's Blake and Tradition, and C.G. Jung's Memories, Dreams, and Reflections.     I have no special academic qualifications in this field. My real qualifications are a lifetime commitment both to the Christian faith in general and to William Blake's expression of it in particular. Judging from the literature those qualifications must be close to unique among writers. ************************************** FOREWORD I give you the end of a golden string, Only wind it into a ball, It will lead you in at Heaven's gate Built in Jerusalem's wall. (Plate 77 of Jerusalem)     Late 18th Century Europe existed in a state of rapid transition from medievalism to modernity. The old arrangement of society, a divinely ordained king, a land owning aristocracy, and a marriage of Church and State came increasingly under the attacks of political, economic, and religious progressives. The American Revolution pointed toward the outcome of the struggle. In Europe the decisive event came with the French Revolution and its aftermath.     William Blake lived through those stirring times. His work has great significance as political commentary. Now two centuries later its spiritual dimension has assumed even greater moment. Blake participated passionately in the social and political debates of the day, although few contemporaries heard his voice. It is his place in the spiritual dialogue that exercises the greatest fascination and will probably endure when the other dimensions of his thought have passed into the dust of time. Blake radically redefined the Christian faith and offered to his own and later generations a religious perspective that takes fully into account the corruptions of the past and the psychological sophistication of the future.     It was during Blake's age that religious faith in Europe began to lose its grip upon the minds of men. His generation saw the final breakdown of the Medieval Synthesis and the triumphant emergence of the Age of Reason. He participated in a decisive battle of the eternal war between conservative religionists and liberal rationalists. Though without the bloodshed of earlier days, it was a conflict in which quarter was neither given nor expected. The battle pitted the community of faith, which in the 18th Century suffered an eclipse, against the rationalists, critical men of great brilliance. But none of the rationalists surpassed the brilliance of William Blake, a critical man of faith; their contribution to modern thought had its day; we are still far from catching up with his.     In the battle between faith and reason Blake occupied a unique middle ground. On one hand he constantly attacked an oppressive politico-religious establishment; on the other he just as steadfastly defended a spiritual orientation against the rationalists. This meant for Blake a lifetime engagement on two fronts.     This book describes and explores the various dimensions of Blake's vision of Christianity. One overriding consideration determined that vision: Blake saw freedom as the primary and ultimate value. The attitudes he expressed toward all institutions, his evaluation of them, the comments he made about them with his poetry and pictures, all these things were determined by the institution's relationship to that supreme value of freedom. He believed from the depths of his being that coercion in any form is the primary evil. It outweighs and in fact negates any benefit that an established religion may afford. Blake believed that regardless of his professed faith, the leader who uses coercion thereby shows himself to be a follower of the God of this World, the Tempter with whom Jesus dealt in the wilderness.     As a religious thinker Blake customarily receives the designation of radical Protestant. The seeds of his protest go back far beyond Luther. In his day a more common term was dissenter. Blake protested against and dissented from the authority of the orthodox Christian tradition. We can best understand Blake as a thinker, as a Christian, and as a man in terms of this dissent from orthodoxy. His intellectual life in many ways summarized the history of Christian dissent. His art evoked and drew upon the earlier occurrences of dissent through the centuries.     Blake defined God in terms of vision. Every man has his own vision of God, and no two are exactly alike. Blake spent much of his time and energy describing the superstitious images of God embraced by men in his day as in our own. With his usual extravagant language he was capable of saying something like 'their God is a devil'. He's referring to their vision, their image of God. Think for a moment about the vision of God of the Inquisitors, of for that matter of Bin Laden. Their God gloried in blood, but not my God, Blake's or yours!     Jesus was an obvious dissenter from the orthodox tradition into which he was born. He blithely ignored many of the requirements of respectable Judaism. He repeatedly violated the Sabbath. He felt perfectly free to initiate conversation with unfamiliar women, a gigantic taboo; in fact he spent hours with disreputable characters of both sexes. He ate without washing his hands. All these acts seriously violated the laws of his religious tradition. In 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' Blake claimed that Jesus broke all of the ten commandments and "was all virtue, and acted from impulse, not from rules" (See Chapter Five ). Going beyond mere dissent Jesus attacked the established religious leaders. He called them whited sepulchers, poked fun at them, and encouraged all sorts of insubordination among their followers. Worst of all he set himself up as an alternative authority. In all these ways he directly challenged the religious leaders and provoked them to bring about his execution as a revolutionist.     Jesus perceived death as the ultimate authority or power of the world. On behalf of his ideals and with spiritual power he challenged death, and according to the Christian faith he defeated it; he conquered death. In the words of Paul he "abolished death". Blake understood this in a more existential way than do most Christians. One of his primary themes, running from the very beginning of his poetry until the last day of his life, was the redefinition of death in accordance with the Christian gospel.