[The Last Supper by William Blake, 1799 (in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC)]

Last week, I decided to begin a feature entitled

"What Think Ye?"

Each week, I am posting a short selection from a spiritual, philosophical, or political book I find interesting, provocative, or otherwise worthy of discussion.  I might eventually branch out to include other thought-provoking items (videos, poems, short stories, articles, and paintings are among the possibilities).  I will try to make it something different each week - but always something that has grabbed me in some way, and that I expect will grab many of you.

Then I invite you to share your thoughts.  Do you agree or disagree?  Can you add any insights or illumination?  Are you intrigued or uninterested?  There is no such thing as a bad comment or question, especially if it pertains in some way to the text or discussion at hand.

And now I am now pleased to introduce this week's

"What Think Ye?"

[William Blake, detail from an 1807 portrait by Thomas Phillips]

The following excerpt comes from William Blake's
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-1793):

"Without Contraries is no progression.

Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence.

From these contraries spring what the religious call Good & Evil. Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy.

Good is Heaven. Evil is Hell."

To read the entire text of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (with illustrations) for free, click HERE

For Wikipedia's biography of William Blake, click HERE

To check out the Library of Congress' "William Blake Archive," click HERE

For the Poets.org biography of Blake, click HERE

[The Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, watercolor by William Blake]

[book illustration by William Blake, c. 1796]

[God as an Architect, by William Blake, from The Ancient of Days, 1794]

Currently reading : The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (Oxford Paperbacks) By William Blake Release date: 30 October, 1975