Inner Life, Talks and Thoughts Cleansing the Doors of Perception. William Blake, Romanticism and the Meaning Crisis
Nov 14, 2025
Mark Vernon, a writer and broadcaster with expertise in religion and philosophy, delves into the complexities of Romanticism and William Blake's insights. He discusses how ungrounded Romantic feelings can lead to societal issues like nationalism and fundamentalism. Vernon highlights Blake’s call for imagination as a means of true understanding, advocating for a balance between reason and emotion. He also touches on Blake’s views on spirituality in nature and the importance of cleansing our perception to reconnect with reality. This conversation is a deep exploration of how we can find meaning in the modern world.
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Tragedy Of Ungrounded Romanticism
- The Enlightenment's triumph turned perception into detached calculation, creating a split between thinking and feeling.
- Romanticism intensified feeling but lacked an epistemology, producing ungrounded longing and reactive movements.
Newton As Visionary And Problem
- Newton's imaginative leap made nature legible to mathematics but encouraged seeing the world as mechanistic law.
- Blake blamed this shift for turning perception into ordered commands and fueling deistic reductionism.
Imagination As A Mode Of Knowing
- Blake replaces older notions of inspiration with imagination as the modern way of knowing.
- Imagination reaches outward to make connections, enabling participation and a new epistemology.
