Symbolic Importance of William Blake’s Urizen for Lucas North

Finally my first book about Blake and his theories arrived.

What I learned in the book is that Blake with the symbol of Urizen is not only mistrusting systems, but also the rational thinking of the individual. This is his distancing himself from the enlightenment which cultivated and worshipped the Reason of man. Blake mistrusts the separation of one authoritative element (=1 person) from the ‘human brotherhood’.

What I so far overlooked in my analysis of the symbolic meaning of Urizen for Lucas North is, that Blake’s critique does not only reach the systems of religion and political government of mankind, but also the reasoning and thought system of each individual.
Lucas might as easily mistrust himself and his own judgment as he does mistrust systems.

The reasoning of mankind in Blake’s theory follows special traditions.
He especially mistrusts the age of enlightenment, as it creates an individual entity of reason with absolute power of judgment. The individual has no limitation by the surrounding society and limiting necessities of social connections.

My conclusion is therefore, that Urzien for Lucas North is a kind of sign, that he does mistrust himself and his own judgment as well as the judgment of systems like governments and especially the MI-5.

This might also be cause for his rather passive role as member of the grid and especially as leader of section D.
It irritated me greatly, that in Series 9 Lucas never makes a conclusion or has a leading idea himself. He always acts on conclusions of others and follows through with delegating the necessary workloads, but he never sets the route. The ideas always come from somebody else, e.g. in episode 9.5 from Ruth, in other situations from Beth, Dimitri or Harry.
This is what really made me doubt that Lucas still is the brilliant spy as described.
Before series 9, I thought the reason for this lack of active participation might be, that Ross was leader of the section, but in series 9 the lack of his active participation became very obvious, when he became section chief and still did not lead in a more active way. This lead me to wonder, why this was even so before Vaughan threatened him.

What is the reason of the scriptwriters showing Lucas like that? At the same time Spooks 9 is the first time, that Lucas gets small tokens of appreciation for his work by Harry, when in my opinion he does not deserve it or at least not any longer.
Episode 9.6 further confirms this, as all the clever planning and finding of the attackers of the security system is done with Lucas off the grid. While Lucas is only following through with Vaughan’s blackmailing threat, not scheming himself and even in his trying to find a way out for himself and Maya only follows the route Vaughan set for him.

The Urizen symbol might also have had a connection to Lucas’ past as John. John in his youth might have been a kind of idealist with ideals of either a perfect democracy (which only gives a social entity power and not an individual) or some kind of communism (who would also set the society ahead of the needs of an individual).
This would not explain all his time he held out in the Russian prison, though. Except that the tattoos might have been an adept sign to ease his time in the Russian prison and support his ‘friendship’ with Oleg Darsharvin.

In the end the symbol might even not be so much of a description of his character, but a sign for what Lucas is prepared to do and to endure to safe and ease his life.

The Ancient of Days - Symbol or Criticism?

For a long time I thought about the tattoo of William Blake's "The Ancient of Days" (see the picture on Wikipedia) and its significance for Lucas North.
My problem, as far as I detected so far, lies in the ambiguity of this picture.
1. Did Lucas North have this picture tattooed on his body because he had a strong craving for a strict power who did give order to humankind and the whole universe?
2. Did Lucas North have this tattoo, because he followed William Blake with his criticism of all systems, also the law and religion building father figure of "The Ancient of Days"?
This is the dilemma I could not figure out during series 9 of "Spooks".
The first assumption seems to be confirmed by his search for approval through the father figure Harry Pearce.
The second assumption at the end is more what I think really lead Lucas North / John Bateman on to give up his work for MI-5 so easily and to follow his love for Maya.

What still lets me doubt assumption 2 is the correct interpretation, is that Lucas North in case of his felt unease with systems could have chosen another figure from William Blake who directly stood for criticism. "The Ancient of Days" is the force behind rules and their builder. He does not question or doubt them in any way. So why chose him to permanently and prominently anchor him in ones life?

William Blake - Ancient of Days

One main aspect of Lucas North's character I do not completely understand, is the concept why he has the tattoo "The Ancient of Days" on his body.
The blog article at Spooks Fan Blog (link here) shows the ambivalence of this figure for William Blake. This in my opinion is the central point in understanding its relevance for Lucas North.
Lucas North does not, as I once saw mentioned, see his fate in the hands of G-d and the tattoo refers to the inability to build ones own fate.
But what I see as central in his interpretation is his fighting against such rules and rules of any kind.
Therefore, he is not a defender of state, country, religion or any system defending those systems, like the MI-5. Lucas, as a result, is in constant inner turmoil with his own position in the secret service, defending systems he does not believe in.
Perhaps that is one of the reasons, why his believe in Harry Pearce to help him at the end is no real alternative for him. MI-5 is no alternative or safe haven for him.
So he tries to fight on his own and looses.

William Blake - The Ancient of Days
for Lucas North as for William Blake is not, as he would be for freemasons, the creative power who created the visible world with all its measurable rules and the ordering entity of the world and the whole universe.
For both I suspect, it is a symbol for a builder of dubious systems which do not hold happiness for the individual or mankind in general.
Lucas North broke because of his fight against systems, rules and social order as we know it. What goals he as a young man John Bateman wanted to achieve, is left open.
This dissatisfaction with current establishment made him vulnerable for Vaughans ideas and manipulations. But why John Bateman and later Lucas North did not more actively persue his own ideas and try to realise them, still remains a mystery to me. Strong believers like Lucas North normally try to follow their 'right path' without looking sideways.

(I will come back again to William Blake and "The Ancient of Days", as the topic fascinates me greatly, also its similarity to aspects of freemasonry. I am awaiting a book on the topic, where I hope to get more information about the believe system of William Blake. I will keep you informed.)