PRACTICES:
Poetry and Literature: It is very hard to overestimate the importance of the recitation of poetry to the Blaketasthi, and the reading of inspired literature. According to Mr. Blake, (speaking as Ezekiel) "The philosophy of the east taught the first principles of human perception: some held one principle for the origin, and some another: We of Israel taught that the Poetic Genius (as you now call it) was the first principle and all the others merely derivative…" According to Blake, the nature of God as Poet constitutes His first attribute.
There was, briefly, a schism in the Blaketashi organization, amongst those who favored the reading of poetry aloud, versus those that wished to read poetry in silence (The Silent Blaketashis). This matter was definitely settled in 1911, when the then Qutb, Emerson Wordsworth, issued the following encyclical, in which it was determined that "an individual’s preferences in regard to the audible, or alternately, inaudible reading of poetry, is hereby judged to ‘matter not a whit.'’’
Literary Works Central to Blaketashi Sufism: The central, organizing spiritual work of the Blaketashi Darwish is William Blake’s Marriage of Heaven and Hell, which is sometimes referred to as ‘The Mathnavi in English.’ While appreciably shorter than the Mathnavi (the average reader can complete it in twenty minutes, versus three and a half weeks) The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is a work of spiritual genius which can take a life-time to penetrate. Also important to the Blaketashi is Whitman’s Leaves of Grass which is commonly referred to as ‘The American Marriage of Heaven and Hell,’ but which is more similarly matched in throw-weight to the Mathnavi.
Paradism: The practice of paradism originates with William Blake and his wife Catherine. One Spring, William and Catherine were discovered in the garden pavilion behind their small house, by an unexpected visitor, appropriately named 'Butts', naked. They were alternately reading passages of Milton to each other. This nakedness is representative of the status of mankind before the Fall, and the process is fortified by the reading of appropriate poetry. Something of the spirit of paradism is captured by Blake’s words: "The head Sublime, the heart Pathos, the genitals Beauty, the hands & feet Proportion." It should not escape the careful reader’s attention that Blake often capitalizes the divine attributes.
Paradism is usually undertaken out-doors, in verdant environments, although Winter paradism sometimes occurs indoors. Please note that all spiritual benefit of paradism is sacrificed if the practice turns post-Fall, and licentiousness ensues. For this reason, the reading of Whitman is discouraged during paradism. (Something about the rhythm of verse like: "You lithe matador in the arena at Seville!/ You mountaineer living lawlessly on the Taurus or Caucasus!/ You Bohk horse-herd watching your mares and stallions feeding!/ You beautiful bodied Persian at full speed in the saddle shooting arrows to the mark!" has been known to overcome the spiritual resolve of Blaketashi couples in their early 90s.)