“When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do.”  William Blake

Quoting William Blake is intriguing because I not only obtain this insightful quote but his entire life travels with it.  He was devout in his faith in Christ and he loved the Bible.  He hated the Church of England, decried those he considered hypocrites and produced poetry and art now considered before it’s time.  Even so, he was an odd man.

He saw things that may not have been there, mystical visions that he rarely painted but resembled demons when he did.  Erotic themes adopted from Swedenborg were sprinkled among his early works but slowly vanished as he aged and saw the futile evil in his early immorality. On his death bed he longed to see Christ and died with a song on his lips.

William Wordsworth said “There was no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott.”

I like the complication of William Blake.  It feels real to me.  Human beings are fatally imperfect and a true understanding of any life will reveal those cracks in the soul.  Heroes are usually made by painting over the imperfections.  I am suspicious of heroes and keep my distance from them.  Blake was a nut but an insightful one.  My kind of guy.

(Politics bugs me because it is consumed by hero worship and, in my short life on earth, I’ve not known any of them to truly improve anything.  The best they can do is slow down the decay but usually make it worse.)

I wish I could paint over the cracks in my statue.  I’d like very much to be celebrated for having lived a glorious and reverent life.  It would be nice if the celebration would begin while I was alive so I could attend (sitting in disguise in the back of the room.)  Sadly, there are any number who would be tempted to come to denounce me for my past evils and justifiably so.

From Lord Byron: “All men are intrinsical rascals, and I am only sorry that not being a dog I can’t bite them.”   Okay Byron.  The only troublesome knot in your rope is that the crowd has lined up to chew on you….too.

^{Psalm 8:4} What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him? (NASB)