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the finite experience itself told from the perspective of the feminine energies in the infinite. From this perspective the apocalyptic tenor of the opening lines is appropriate. The "Aged Mother" (K. I. 2) is symbolized by the physical universe. The "heavens," the "earth," and "the mountains/With all their woods" and "streams & valleys wail'd in dismal fear" in anticipation of the coming cosmic cycle. The role of the masculine energies follows:

Four Mighty Ones are in every Man; a Perfect John xvii c.,

Unity 21,22,23 v Cannot Exist but from the Universal Brother- John i c.,

hood of Eden, 14 v

The Universal Man, to Whom be Glory Evermore.

Amen.

What are the Natures of those Living Creatures

the Heav'nly Father only Knoweth. No individual [Man del.] knoweth (not),

nor can know in all Eternity.

(K. I. 9-13)

The scriptural authority that Blake uses in the text of The Four Zoas asserts a prophetic unity in multiplicity in Christ. John xvii 21-23 and John i 14 read respectively:

That they all may be one; as thou. Father, are in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou has sent me, and has loved them, as thou has loved me.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.

Supported by this scriptural authority, Blake posits a vision of infinity in which man exists in perfect harmony in Christ. This perspective of the infinite is a pre-requisite for an understanding of Blake's version of the fall.