A Memorable Fancy
Ulver Lyrics


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[plates 12-13]
The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel dined with me, and I asked them how they
dared so roundly to assert that God spoke to them; and whatever they did
not think at the time that they would be so misunderstood,& so be the
cause of imposition. Isaiah answer'd: 'I saw no God, nor heard any, in a
finite organical perception; but my senses discover'd the infinite in
every thing, and as I was then persuaded,& remain confirm'd, that the
voice of honest indignation is the voice of God, I cared not for
consequences, but wrote. ' Then I asked: 'Does a firm perswasion that a
thing is so, make it so? ' He replied: ' All poets believe that it does,&
in ages of imagination this firm perswasion removed mountains; but many
are not capable of a firm perswasion of any thing. ' Then Ezekiel said:
'The philosophy of the east taught the first principles of human
perception: some nations held one principle for the origin,& some
another; we Israel taught that the poetic genius (as you now call it) was
the first principle and all the others merely derivative, which was the
cause of our despising the priests & philosophers of other countries, and
prophecying that all gods would at last be proved to originate in ours &
to be tributaries of the poetic genius; it was this that our great poet
king David desired so fervently & invokes so pathetic'ly, saying this he
conquers enemies & governs kingdoms; and we so loved our God, that we
cursed in his name all the deities of surrounding nations and asserted
that they had rebelled; from this opinions the vulgar came to thin that
all nations would at last be subjected to the Jews. 'This' he said 'like
all firm perswasions, is come to pass; for all nations belive the Jews'
code and worship the Jews' God, and what the greater subjection can be? 'I
heard this with some wonder,& must confess my own convivtion. After dinner
I ask'd Isaiah to favour the world with his lost works; he said none of
equal value was lost. Ezekiel the same of his. I also asked Isaiah what
made him go naked and bare foot three years? He answer'd: 'The same that
made our friend Diogenes, the Grecian. 'I then asked Ezekiel why he eat
dung,& lay so long on his right & left side? He answer'd 'The desire of
raising other men into perception of the infinite: this the North American
tribes practise,& is he honest who resists his genius or conscience for
this sake of present ease or gratification? (plate 14) The ancient
tradition that the world will be consumed in fire at the end of six
thousand years is true, as I have heard from hell. For the Cherub with his
flaming sword is hereby commanded to leave his guard at tree of life, and
when he does, the whole creation will be consumed and appear infinite and
holy, whereas it now appears finite & corrupt. This will come to pass by
an improvement of sensual enjoyment, but first the notion that man has a
body distinct from his soul is to be expunged; this I shall do by printing
in the infernal method, by corrosives, which in hell are salutary and in
medicinal, melting apparent surfaces away, and displaying the infinite
which was hid. If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would




appear to man as it is. Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he
sees things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern

Overall Meaning

The verse in the song "ii" by Ulver is a narration of a conversation between a speaker and two Biblical prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel. The singer asks the prophets how they had the audacity to claim that they had a connection with God. The prophets respond that they did not see or hear God in any finite, earthly sense. However, they both experienced a sense of the infinite in everything around them. Isaiah believed that the voice of honest indignation was the voice of God, and this led him to write honestly without worrying about the consequences. Ezekiel explained that their belief in the poetic genius as the first principle of human perception made them despise other nations' priests and philosophers. They also believed that all other gods would eventually be proven to originate from their God and that all would be subject to the Jews. The conversation ends with Ezekiel emphasizing that the world will be consumed in fire at the end of six thousand years, and the doors of perception must be cleansed for man to see things as they truly are.


Line by Line Meaning

The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel dined with me, and I asked them how they dared so roundly to assert that God spoke to them; and whatever they did not think at the time that they would be so misunderstood,& so be the cause of imposition.
The singer had dinner with Isaiah and Ezekiel and asked how they could assert that God spoke to them, without realizing the potential for being misunderstood and causing others to impose their beliefs.


Isaiah answer'd: 'I saw no God, nor heard any, in a finite organical perception; but my senses discover'd the infinite in every thing, and as I was then persuaded,& remain confirm'd, that the voice of honest indignation is the voice of God, I cared not for consequences, but wrote. '
Isaiah responded that he did not see or hear God in a physical sense, but rather sensed the infinite in everything. He believed that honest indignation represented the voice of God and was willing to write about it, regardless of consequences.


Then I asked: 'Does a firm perswasion that a thing is so, make it so? ' He replied: ' All poets believe that it does,& in ages of imagination this firm perswasion removed mountains; but many are not capable of a firm perswasion of any thing. '
The singer questioned whether a strong belief in something made it true. Isaiah responded that poets believed it did and that this belief had the power to move mountains in ages of imagination, but not everyone was capable of such firm beliefs.


Then Ezekiel said: 'The philosophy of the east taught the first principles of human perception: some nations held one principle for the origin,& some another; we Israel taught that the poetic genius (as you now call it) was the first principle and all the others merely derivative, which was the cause of our despising the priests & philosophers of other countries, and prophecying that all gods would at last be proved to originate in ours & to be tributaries of the poetic genius; it was this that our great poet king David desired so fervently & invokes so pathetic'ly, saying this he conquers enemies & governs kingdoms; and we so loved our God, that we cursed in his name all the deities of surrounding nations and asserted that they had rebelled; from this opinions the vulgar came to thin that all nations would at last be subjected to the Jews. '
Ezekiel talked about how different nations had different beliefs about the origin of human perception, but that Israel taught that the poetic genius was the first principle and all others were derivative, leading to their disdain for priests and philosophers of other countries. They believed that all gods would eventually be traced back to theirs and be tributaries of the poetic genius. They loved their God so much that they cursed in his name all other surrounding deities and asserted their rebellion, leading people to believe that all nations would eventually be subjected to the Jews.


'This' he said 'like all firm perswasions, is come to pass; for all nations believe the Jews' code and worship the Jews' God, and what the greater subjection can be? 'I heard this with some wonder,& must confess my own convivtion.
Ezekiel stated that their firm beliefs had come to pass as all nations now believed in the Jews' code and worshiped their God, leading to the ultimate subjection. The artist was amazed by this and convinced of their conviction.


After dinner I ask'd Isaiah to favour the world with his lost works; he said none of equal value was lost. Ezekiel the same of his. I also asked Isaiah what made him go naked and bare foot three years? He answer'd: 'The same that made our friend Diogenes, the Grecian. 'I then asked Ezekiel why he eat dung,& lay so long on his right & left side? He answer'd 'The desire of raising other men into perception of the infinite: this the North American tribes practise,& is he honest who resists his genius or conscience for this sake of present ease or gratification?
After dinner, the singer asked Isaiah and Ezekiel about their lost works, but they both claimed that nothing of equal value was lost. The singer also asked Isaiah about his actions of going naked and barefoot for three years, to which he responded that it was the same reason as Diogenes the Grecian. The singer then questioned Ezekiel about his strange behavior of eating dung and lying on his right and left side for a long time, and he answered that it was to raise other people's perception of the infinite. He compared this to the practices of North American tribes and questioned whether it was honest to resist one's genius or conscience for the sake of present ease or gratification.


The ancient tradition that the world will be consumed in fire at the end of six thousand years is true, as I have heard from hell. For the Cherub with his flaming sword is hereby commanded to leave his guard at tree of life, and when he does, the whole creation will be consumed and appear infinite and holy, whereas it now appears finite & corrupt. This will come to pass by an improvement of sensual enjoyment, but first the notion that man has a body distinct from his soul is to be expunged; this I shall do by printing in the infernal method, by corrosives, which in hell are salutary and in medicinal, melting apparent surfaces away, and displaying the infinite which was hid.
The singer states that the ancient tradition of the world being consumed by fire at the end of six thousand years is true, as he has heard from hell. The Cherub guarding the tree of life will leave, leading to the whole creation being consumed and appearing infinite and holy, unlike its current finite and corrupt state. This will happen by improving sensual enjoyment, but first, the notion that man has a body distinct from his soul must be eliminated. The singer plans to achieve this by printing in the infernal method, using corrosives that are considered salutary in hell to melt away apparent surfaces and reveal the hidden infinite.


If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is. Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern
The artist believes that if people's doors of perception were cleansed, they would see everything as it truly is - infinite. However, man has closed himself off and now sees things through the narrow chinks of his own limited perspective.




Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS

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Comments from YouTube:

MCMLXXXVII MCMXCVI

Even better than the studio version!

Wolf Stalker

Much better than album version with that "robotic" voice... I think it was a big deal for Garm to play this song live... Thank you ULVER!

MCMLXXXVII MCMXCVI

That guy's a goddamn genius...

Heber Ramos

holy shit!!, amazing....

Acquired Taste

<3

Sight of Emptiness Official

Rad!

TheAphexTim

Is there any instrument mr. O'Sullivan can't play?

Darknight

Do black metal ao hip hop..

Jennifer Grove

Now hear a plain fact, YouTubers. We impose on one another.

amal

Opposition is true friendship

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