Page 121 - Pure Life 29
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120 International Multi. J. of PURE LIFE. 9 (29): 103-136, Winter 2022
Reason is the prison of The Maiden caught me in
wayfarers and lover Break the Wild
the bars and the path is Where I was dancing merrily
completely revealed oh Son She put me into her Cabinet
(Rumi, 1990, Ghazal, 1082: 1) And Lock’d me up with a
golden Key
By the same token, Blake (Blake, Crystal Cabinet: 1-4, E 488)
compares the reason to a
crystal cabinet in which man The outstanding metaphor
is imprisoned. In this virtual (“Lock’d me up”) could be
world, man is separated from considered as a pun on John
the natural world that he was Locke, the philosopher who
once lived in it happily. Blake associated all newborn humans’
claims that, in childhood, minds as “empty cabinets”.
man’s mind is free and full Blake believes that true
of imagination. Thus, the child knowledge is acquired in nature
possesses the unlimited potentials and creation. Books and philosophy
and energy. However, man is are not helpful in acquiring
separated from the world of knowledge rather it is intuition
imagination through reason as and “inward eye” that makes
well as traditional and social the truth visible for human beings.
rules while he is always Blake states that although
looking for his paradise lost some people are old and
and his union with divinity. experienced, they do not have
Thus, he writes: the divine vision and their
understanding cannot help them
to find the truths. Therefore,
he states:
