Tyger and Lamb — William Blake and Mormonism in Conversation

“The Ancient of Days setting a Compass to the Earth” (1794), William Blake

William Blake’s The Ancient of Days is often used as an image of God, but it’s actually Blake’s character Urizen, who is divine in a sense, but also a limiter. Urizen personifies life’s tendency to suffocate its own existence into precise measurements and dimensions, snuffing out its creative genius by imposing artificial “law” and “structure.” I’m far from the first to point out this…