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It sounds a lot like the ‘Lord of the Rings’ with the neaderthals as the Orcs, the tiny hominids in Indonesia as the Hobbits and our ancestors as the measley humans.
William Blake is one Greatest spiritual poets in the english language. Unlike Rumi, Hafiz or Kabir, and all the Chinese Taoist & Zen poets his work has the advantage of being approachable to English speakers in the original language. In fact in 1894 a group of Oxford scholars felt so strongly about the value of western and especially english poetry for spiritual inspiration that they created there own Sufi order, the Blaketashi Darwishes to promote the idea. Some of the text from their FAQ:
What are the origins of the Blaketashi Darwishes?
Legend has it that the Blaketashi Darwishes (pronounced Black-tashi Dar-wishes) were founded by a group of seven Oxford professors in 1894. These professors, which included the grandson of William Hazlitt, had met in the prior years with famed explorer and Sufi Sir Richard Burton, during which time many features of the Eastern philosophy were discussed. In 1894, there was a collective realization that much of what Burton had brought back to England, once it was de-rated from its linguistic and cultural context, was in fact little different from the utterances of the English romantic poets. Seeing in Sir Richard a foreshadow of things to come in the approaching 20th century, the Blaketashi Darwishes were established in order that “Englishmen should no longer be driven to go native when perfectly serviceable English spiritual materials go unexamined.”
What is the mission of the Blaketashi Darwish organization?
The Blaketashi Darwishes are a non-denominational, universal expression of Western Sufism, based upon principles and the spiritual realization of our putative founder, William Blake. The mission of the Blaketashi Darwish is the active fostering of spiritual growth, on a personal and a collective basis, using the gems of Western spirituality as a source of contemplation and reflection. Ultimately, the Blaketashi Darwish seeks the enlightenment of Western society as a whole.
Is the Sufism of the Blaketashi Darwish only directed at the West?
The Sufism of the Blaketashi Darwish is a native product of Western civilizations, and is naturally addressed to persons raised in a Western culture. Its spiritual reference works were written by Western poets and artists, who are our saints and masters. As the works to which we address our attentions were written, in relatively recent times, by members of our own culture, in our own languages, they have a unique ability to have an appropriate spiritual impact on Western individuals.
How can it be said that your poets are your saints?
Something which was learned from Burton was that, in the East, the great saint and the great poet were often the same person. Further, we also learned that the ability to create great poetry was often a key sign of sanctity. The Blaketashis came to the understanding that many of the English poets who were only considered poets, were, in fact, saints. To demonstrate this point, allow us to quote from the Forward to the works of William Blake, written by David Perkins of Harvard, (1967):
Born in London on November 28th, 1757, Blake was the second son of a well-to-do hosier. From childhood, the world was to him visionary. As he walked through the streets of the city or the green fields he saw angels and talked with spirits, and in later years he always spoke of his paintings as copied from the visionary world and of his poetry as having been dictated to him. In the earliest of these visitations, when he was four years old, God looked through the window at him and set him screaming. When he was eight or ten he saw a tree filled with angels, bright wings shining from every bough .. In later years the world would think him mad, so far as his work and existence were known at all. But from Blakes point of view, the world was mad, with its anxiety and bloodshed, its cruelty and repressive morality, and selfish lovelessness .. A root cause of our warped civilization is a failure of imagination, an inability to even conceive nature and society other than as they now appear. To Blake such passivity seemed a slavish bowing down so unnecessary and desperately mistaken that one could hardly understand it. His poetry and painting are a lifetimes effort to explain how this passivity comes about and how it can be changed. As he puts it “My Work is an Endeavor to Restore what the Ancients calld the Golden Age.”
The Blaketashis view the sainthood of Blake to be self-apparent.
In what ways are the Blaketashis similar, and in what ways are they different from other Sufis?
The Blaketashis primary concern is the inner life of man, and in that concern it is aligned with Sufis of all times and all cultures. The Blaketashis share certain similarities with other Western expressions of Sufism in regards to its universalism, liberality of spirit, and use of Western cultural motifs in order to convey perennial truths. In this regard, certain casual similarities may be observed between the Blaketashis and the Sufi Order of Pir Vilayat, the Threshold Society of Edmund Helminski, and of course, the work of Idries Shah. The Blaketashis are Western and are not primarily Moslem, and while certain of these characteristics are different from the Sufic expressions of the East, we consider the apparent distance between these expressions to be largely a matter of superficialities. On a conceptual basis, the Blaketashi understanding of innovation, which is based on the writings of both Blake and Hegel, provides an important difference between the Blaketashi and other Sufi groups. The Blaketashi views progression as the raison d’etre of human history.
And innovation requires, at least in a quiet, gentlemanly sense, conflict. “Without Contraries there is no Progression, ” says William Blake. “Opposition is true Friendship.” The Blaketashi, set, as he or she is within the democratic matrix of Western culture, is a firm advocate of innovation and progression in all matters physical and intellectual, but especially in religious and spiritual matters. While Moslems often seem quite suspect of innovation, the Blaketashi applauds all creative steps, both successful and unsuccessful. This respect of innovation, which is a key feature of Western culture, is believed to be an important difference in the relative robustness of Western versus Eastern cultures. The Blaketashis believe that the carry-over of this bias against innovation into Western expressions of Sufism, from its Moslem roots, has ham-strung the efforts of many modern Sufic exponents, who have been trying, with limited success, to make a meaningful contribution to the improvement of the inner life of Western man.
Peace.
Greg.Hi Trunk,
I bought it on DVD a while back form Pacific Tao (www.pacifictao.com ). Great material. they are in sleeves only so you may want to get your own cases, and he’s in the states so shipping is less than from Thailand.Hope that’s helpful.
Greg.Hi Alexander,
Sorry for the delay I’ve been on the road lately and haven’t been online much. I should have been a little clearer in my earlier post. The “Let your Body Interpret your Dreams” book uses a method called Focusing to help the head brain communicate with the belly brain, and does give you a sense of the meaning. It is however felt in the body not just in the head. Also, often understanding doesn’t help much. For instance, if I dream about a co-worker, and the interpretation basically says that I don’t like this person and we don’t get along- all that has happened is a confirmation of the current situation. But Gendlen has a technique called getting a growth step. Holding the felt sense of the dream and its meaning, you ask what is needed to change the situation and a new resourceful feeling will come up. The dream in the body will shift and so hopefully will the life situation. That is a small example of what I mean by shifting the relationship.I like to use a body centered approach. based on the book “Let your Body Interpret your Dreams” by Eugene Gendlin. I also play with some of Arnold Mindel’s approach e.g. if the dream (image or person animal ect..) were in your body where would it be? How would it feel? Sound? ect… then you can interact in the body -inner smile, fusion, kan & li . So I will usally review the dream and start playing with the images & characters in my body & shifting in and out of meditaion & dream work. To me shifting the relationship with the dream is more important than interpretation. Thanks for tolerating my rambling.
Thanks and Smiles to you all.
Greg.Hi all,
actually the easter bunny is a relative of mine. check out this article.
http://petcaretips.net/pookas.html
p.s. to learn more rent the movie Harvy 😉You asked Micheal the same question several months ago, and he answered you then.
http://www.healingdao.com/cgi-bin/tpost.pl?smessage=2954
reread your earlier question and Micheal’s answer, then gather your thoughts and decide if you really want an answer or if you are looking for something else (reassurance, attention etc…).Greg.
