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The Healing Power of Blake: A Distillation
You agree that William Blake is a very great poet. But you've probably only ever read his earlier poems like "The Tyger."
You've looked at the hundreds of pages of his later so-called prophetic works, knowing that there his true greatness must lie. But you close them, intimidated by the sheer mass, and the strangeness and apparent incomprehensibility.
So you retreat to the early, easy ones but you wonder . . .
For this distillation I have chosen those passages from the prophetic works which are not only inviting and comprehensible, but which are the very gems of his genius. Here they are magnificent, and accessible.
And furthermore, I have punctuated them (Blake left little punctuation) so as to encourage you to read them out aloud, to feel and know the glory of Blake.
--John Diamond, M.D.
Reviews
"I believe Dr. John Diamond to be the foremost living advocate for enhancing the Life Force through the Arts. In this book, he reveals the poet William Blake as a healer of extraordinary power. 'The Healing Power of Blake' is strong medicine for our troubled times."
Richard A. Lippin, M.D.,
Founding President,
International Arts-Medicine Association.
"This book charts new territory in the relationship between Medicine and the Arts, posing Blake to become a central figure in the healing arts as well as a significant figure in our culture. Dr. Diamond touches the healing force within us through the music of Blake's poetry."
Rita Iovino, M.D., Executive Director,
American Physician's Poetry Association
"[Dr. Diamond] has, in this collection, achieved his intention to the full—conveying Blake’s love of the mercifully intertwined triumvirate, Christ, God and Man. A powerful work, 'The Healing Power of Blake – A Distillation' should appeal to all adherents to poetry and the prophetic."
Lois Henderson, BookPleasures.com
You've looked at the hundreds of pages of his later so-called prophetic works, knowing that there his true greatness must lie. But you close them, intimidated by the sheer mass, and the strangeness and apparent incomprehensibility.
So you retreat to the early, easy ones but you wonder . . .
For this distillation I have chosen those passages from the prophetic works which are not only inviting and comprehensible, but which are the very gems of his genius. Here they are magnificent, and accessible.
And furthermore, I have punctuated them (Blake left little punctuation) so as to encourage you to read them out aloud, to feel and know the glory of Blake.
--John Diamond, M.D.
Reviews
"I believe Dr. John Diamond to be the foremost living advocate for enhancing the Life Force through the Arts. In this book, he reveals the poet William Blake as a healer of extraordinary power. 'The Healing Power of Blake' is strong medicine for our troubled times."
Richard A. Lippin, M.D.,
Founding President,
International Arts-Medicine Association.
"This book charts new territory in the relationship between Medicine and the Arts, posing Blake to become a central figure in the healing arts as well as a significant figure in our culture. Dr. Diamond touches the healing force within us through the music of Blake's poetry."
Rita Iovino, M.D., Executive Director,
American Physician's Poetry Association
"[Dr. Diamond] has, in this collection, achieved his intention to the full—conveying Blake’s love of the mercifully intertwined triumvirate, Christ, God and Man. A powerful work, 'The Healing Power of Blake – A Distillation' should appeal to all adherents to poetry and the prophetic."
Lois Henderson, BookPleasures.com
180 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1998
3 people want to read
About the author
John Diamond
60 books24 followersDr. John Diamond graduated from Sydney University Medical School in 1957 and was awarded his Diploma in Psychological Medicine in 1962. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry, a Foundation Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, American Holistic Medical Association, a Diplomate of the International College of Applied Kinesiology and is a Fellow and past President of the International Academy of Preventive Medicine. He is an Honorary Advisor to the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation and their Japanese sister organization, the Koushikai Foundation.
One of the foremost senior holistic healers, Dr. Diamond's remarkable body of work, which includes his discovery of the link between the acupuncture meridians and the emotions, embraces a wide range of disciplines, the result of over fifty years of research and clinical practice. He began his career in psychiatry but expanded into holistic medicine, concentrating on the totality of the sufferer. In his fifty years of practice, he has increasingly recognized that there is within us a great healing force, Life Energy, the healing power within. With his increasing involvement with this concept, his research has led him to concentrate on the enhancement of the sufferer's Life Energy so as to actuate his own innate Healing Power.
Dr. Diamond has held numerous senior clinical and university teaching appointments in clinical psychiatry, the basic sciences and the humanities, and is a widely recognized bestselling author of over twenty books, including "Your Body Doesn't Lie," "Life Energy: Unlocking the Hidden Power of Your Emotions to Achieve Well-Being," "The Diamond Color Meditation," "Facets of a Diamond: Reflections of a Healer" and numerous books on music and healing. He has a large international following, and his books have been translated into a number of languages including German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Japanese and Greek. Most recently "Your Body Doesn't Lie," "Life Energy" and his newly released "The Diamond Color Meditation" have become available in Russian.
Dr. Diamond lectures and teaches throughout the world and has presented over 1000 seminars, lectures and presentations to numerous medical associations, dental associations and societies as well as other professional organizations in the U.S. and abroad. He has conducted seminars in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Bologna, Tokyo, and London over the past four years.
Dr. Diamond now practices as a Holistic Consultant and blends his experience in medicine, psychiatry, complementary medicine, the humanities, holism, applied kinesiology, acupuncture theory, spirituality and the arts to help sufferers overcome problems relating to body, mind and spirit. He has also used Creativity for many years, regarding it as an essential and major component of healing, and has founded The Institute for Music and Health and The Institute for Life Energy and Creativity to train those interested in learning how to use the arts as a therapeutic modality. He resides in New York.
One of the foremost senior holistic healers, Dr. Diamond's remarkable body of work, which includes his discovery of the link between the acupuncture meridians and the emotions, embraces a wide range of disciplines, the result of over fifty years of research and clinical practice. He began his career in psychiatry but expanded into holistic medicine, concentrating on the totality of the sufferer. In his fifty years of practice, he has increasingly recognized that there is within us a great healing force, Life Energy, the healing power within. With his increasing involvement with this concept, his research has led him to concentrate on the enhancement of the sufferer's Life Energy so as to actuate his own innate Healing Power.
Dr. Diamond has held numerous senior clinical and university teaching appointments in clinical psychiatry, the basic sciences and the humanities, and is a widely recognized bestselling author of over twenty books, including "Your Body Doesn't Lie," "Life Energy: Unlocking the Hidden Power of Your Emotions to Achieve Well-Being," "The Diamond Color Meditation," "Facets of a Diamond: Reflections of a Healer" and numerous books on music and healing. He has a large international following, and his books have been translated into a number of languages including German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Japanese and Greek. Most recently "Your Body Doesn't Lie," "Life Energy" and his newly released "The Diamond Color Meditation" have become available in Russian.
Dr. Diamond lectures and teaches throughout the world and has presented over 1000 seminars, lectures and presentations to numerous medical associations, dental associations and societies as well as other professional organizations in the U.S. and abroad. He has conducted seminars in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Bologna, Tokyo, and London over the past four years.
Dr. Diamond now practices as a Holistic Consultant and blends his experience in medicine, psychiatry, complementary medicine, the humanities, holism, applied kinesiology, acupuncture theory, spirituality and the arts to help sufferers overcome problems relating to body, mind and spirit. He has also used Creativity for many years, regarding it as an essential and major component of healing, and has founded The Institute for Music and Health and The Institute for Life Energy and Creativity to train those interested in learning how to use the arts as a therapeutic modality. He resides in New York.
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December 6, 2018
In The Healing Power of Blake – A Distillation, in order not to disturb the flow and symmetry of William Blake’s lines, John Diamond, M.D., has adopted an unusual approach to his presentation of the great Romantic poet’s work—he has positioned the lines vertically on the page, so that their full impact can be appreciated in full. By, in addition, using a larger than normal font, and strategic spacing (as he does in the collections of his own aphorisms and poems), Dr. Diamond brings the attention of the reader to the distinctive thoughts and utterances that comprise Blake’s work. For example, he devotes an entire page to the following:
Do what you will, this Life’s a Fiction,
And is made up of Contradiction.
Such positioning of the text and identification of core sentences eliminates the distraction of a more crowded page, facilitating access to one key statement at a time.
Dr. Diamond vows that he has a passionate commitment to furthering Blake’s deeply moving and evocative prophetic writings, from which this “distillation” has been gleaned. Their purity and truth he ascribes to them being “free of all inhibitions and distortions of publication and performance.” What also appeals to Dr. Diamond about Blake’s work is his lack of adherence to a formal and structured religion, so that, unlike Gerard Manley Hopkins, the former poet was able to explore his own visionary insights without fear of recrimination for stepping out of line.
In addition to a selection from Blake’s prophetic works, in The Healing Power of Blake – A Distillation, Dr. Diamond has also included a few excerpts from his other poems, as well as from his marginalia and letters, adding his personal touch to the prose by versifying it so that, in structural form, as it already does in content, it transcends the realm of the ordinary. Dr. Diamond has also taken the liberty of punctuating Blake’s writing “in the ancient way: for the strongest vocal expression of the swelling power of his Pulsation.”
Although Dr. Diamond acknowledges, in general, the source of this work, it would have been even more helpful if he had indicated which pieces of Blake’s writing he has adapted for this book. Nevertheless, the former author has, in this collection, achieved his intention to the full—conveying Blake’s love of the mercifully intertwined triumvirate, Christ, God and Man. A powerful work, The Healing Power of Blake – A Distillation should appeal to all adherents to poetry and the prophetic. To gain additional insight into Dr Diamond's works, of which there are many, why not visit his official website at https://drjohndiamond.com? Doing so really should be a rewarding experience.
Do what you will, this Life’s a Fiction,
And is made up of Contradiction.
Such positioning of the text and identification of core sentences eliminates the distraction of a more crowded page, facilitating access to one key statement at a time.
Dr. Diamond vows that he has a passionate commitment to furthering Blake’s deeply moving and evocative prophetic writings, from which this “distillation” has been gleaned. Their purity and truth he ascribes to them being “free of all inhibitions and distortions of publication and performance.” What also appeals to Dr. Diamond about Blake’s work is his lack of adherence to a formal and structured religion, so that, unlike Gerard Manley Hopkins, the former poet was able to explore his own visionary insights without fear of recrimination for stepping out of line.
In addition to a selection from Blake’s prophetic works, in The Healing Power of Blake – A Distillation, Dr. Diamond has also included a few excerpts from his other poems, as well as from his marginalia and letters, adding his personal touch to the prose by versifying it so that, in structural form, as it already does in content, it transcends the realm of the ordinary. Dr. Diamond has also taken the liberty of punctuating Blake’s writing “in the ancient way: for the strongest vocal expression of the swelling power of his Pulsation.”
Although Dr. Diamond acknowledges, in general, the source of this work, it would have been even more helpful if he had indicated which pieces of Blake’s writing he has adapted for this book. Nevertheless, the former author has, in this collection, achieved his intention to the full—conveying Blake’s love of the mercifully intertwined triumvirate, Christ, God and Man. A powerful work, The Healing Power of Blake – A Distillation should appeal to all adherents to poetry and the prophetic. To gain additional insight into Dr Diamond's works, of which there are many, why not visit his official website at https://drjohndiamond.com? Doing so really should be a rewarding experience.
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