JMVRI Issue No. 20 contains two research papers on Maharishi Vedic Science: “Maharishi Vedic Science: Using a Holistic Approach to Literary Analysis to Uncover the Transcendent in William Blake’s vision” (pp. 11–53) by Dr Suzanne Araas Vesely, and “Dharma in the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇ in the Light of Maharishi Vedic Science” (pp. 55–99) by Dr William F. Sands.
JMVRI Issue Number 20
JMVRI Paper 20.1
Maharishi Vedic Science: Using a Holistic Approach to Literary Analysis to Uncover the Transcendent in William Blake’s Vision
Author: Suzanne Araas Vesely
This paper can be downloaded via the following link:
Citation: Araas Vesely, S. (2022). Maharishi Vedic Science: Using a holistic approach to literary analysis to uncover the transcendent in William Blake’s vision. Journal of Maharishi Vedic Research Institute, 20, 11–53.
Summary (excerpt):
Maharishi Vedic Science regards all creation as an expression of transcendental pure consciousness, or Being, which supports every expression of human culture including art, literature, science, economics, government, educational systems, health systems, and the highest aspirations of political science. Maharishi Vedic Science regards literature as essential for complete education, identifying the source of literature and creativity and offering a practical, scientifically verified means to access this source, the transcendental field of pure awareness. I observe that throughout his works, William Blake insisted on similar intimate connections between creative work, science and consciousness.
In applying principles of Maharishi Vedic Science to a reading of Blake, I reveal that although Blake did not employ the conventions of representing transcendental reality, neither did he overlook or reject it, as has sometimes been assumed. For example, he consistently used silences and gaps in his works to reveal transcendent moments through which infinity could embrace the material world. The approach of Maharishi Vedic Science allows us to bring to the fore Blake’s insistence that ‘vision’, the basis of the ‘divine’ nature that lives in every human being, is intimate to the real world. From the understanding of Maharishi Vedic Science, this study highlights Blake’s empirically based vision, revealing how his art expresses transcendent reality. Maharishi Vedic Science allows for full evaluation of creative works because it reveals the creative act at its most fundamental level.