William Blake (1757 - 1827), British poet and engraver, lived in obscurity and poverty most of his life. But today he is widely hailed as one of Britian's greatest talents. Blake's "prophetic" books are rich in language and theme, and the visual impact of the graphics will blow you away. Blake created what are generally referred to as "illuminated works"—engraved pages filled with pictures and words that Blake himself printed, using many of his own printing techniques. A revolutionary at heart, Blake has influenced many contemporary artists, including Aldous Huxley, Allen Ginsberg and Jim Morrison.

Blake believed that we live in a "fallen world" where the various and infinite capabilities of man have somehow become partitioned and isolated from one another. These individual components (or "Zoas") are unable to co-exist with one another in our fallen world. Reason, embodied in the character of Urizen, is one of these components. (Blake disdained the new and much heralded "Age of Reason" that was forming all around him in his time.) Ozoth is not one of the Zoas and in fact plays a very small role in Blake's overall system. Ozoth's primary role is to "protect the joys of life from destruction..." (definition from The Blake Dictionary). I chose Ozoth for the name of this Web site because the world is entering into a period of relative poverty as the human population continues to grow and the stresses on the planet continue to ensure that each person has less. Our joys must become less materialistic and more personal, and Ozoth is there to protect them for us, regardless of what the powers-that-be may continue to do to take away from every man, in a material sense. As Blake did, we must find our pleasures in a simple, everyday existence.

In the history of English literature, Blake is categorized with the Romantic poets (along with Coleridge, Shelley, Keats and others). Philosophically, Blake was something of an empiricist and clearly a moral relativist. He was a free-thinker and mystic. Because he regarded the process of creation as holy, he dedicated his life to his art—only through the creative act can man know God. He was ridiculed—even despised—in his time, and, at best, regarded as an eccentric. After his death much of his poetry was burned by misguided moralists, so we will never know how much he really produced; fortunately nearly all of his engravings have survived. The older Blake got, the more mystical he became. His later years saw the development of a super-complex mythology that literary critics continue to ponder, trying to put it all together.

This Web site is designed and maintained by Brad Harrison. Brad has studied Blake's system since college. Based primarily on Blake's empiricism, relativism, and view of science, Brad feels that an in-depth investigation of Blake's system can shed light on how humankind can change its political systems to ensure survival and happiness within the context of an environmentally sustainable lifestyle. He ruminates on these topics both directly and indirectly in the following works:


Sonny's Utopia (Plutocracy or Communism?) (2002)
Against Hierarchy (2008)