Born Again

In more ways than one.

And DID those feet

…in ancient time walk upon England’s mountains green? Just to adapt the Blake poem. For that matter, did those feet in ancient time walk around in America, the colony we English created, where we outsourced the slavery?

The answer is ever so simple: no, they didn’t.

The only way to understand Blake’s poem, from where I get the title of this mag, is the simple way: we haven’t yet built “Jerusalem,” aka an enlightened, just, merciful society. Just read it.

I can do no better than show you Blake’s lovely, luminous original. Remember, the guy was writing backwards copperplate with a tiny pen on expensive (for him) metal that was reserved for his day job as an illustrator. And lavishly colored and painted. To wit, HE MEANT EVERY SINGLE WORD AND PUNCTUATION POINT. Behold:

See? Blake really really doesn’t mean that Jesus may have been seen in some kind of Glastonbury, Grail legend fascist freakout pacing around somewhere on English soil. He really doesn’t. Like all great cartoonists, Blake is refreshingly literal and direct. That doesn’t mean he’s easy to understand: no great comic book is always going to be easy. There’s a lot of THOUGHT and FEELING curled up inside his work. Packed in. Lots of vitamins. Could give you indigestion. Savor it slowly. Think about it. He makes memes.

I WILL not cease from mental fight

I’m here to tell you about the future. Art comes from the future because you don’t (yet) know what it means…I’m here to tell you about art. I’m here to inspire you. A bow of burning gold with arrows of desire doesn’t need to shoot anyone. It’s so beautiful, erotic even, it just blows your mind. It inspires you. That’s what Blake means. That’s what I want.

Till we HAVE BUILT Jerusalem

“You are not just starting a newsletter when you start a Substack, you are starting a community. You are inviting people to subscribe to your thinking. What kind of space will this be?” This is literally the question Substack asks you here. Well, I’m building Jerusalem, which I take to be a just and merciful and kind society that includes humans and nonhumans alike and is built at planet scale, that is to say, with the entire biosphere in mind. If you know my work you’ll really know what I’m talking about. No, I’m not talking about building a gigantic city. Or any city at all, not necessarily.

Blake’s gonna be our buddy here

Every week I’ll be posting something, with the help of my pal William. We walk among the fires of Hell, chatting away about the dire state of things. I’ll relay this all to you on a regular basis. I’ll use this place as a doodle pad for future projects, not as a rehash of the past. Blake knows how to create in uncreative times. Times when People have their beady eyes on you. He knows how to find a world in a grain of sand. How to save a grain of sand from its fate of being stuck in an hourglass. All you have to do is know that you can keep one grain of time safe from Satan’s Watch Fiends. Then you have enough power to change everything.