Milosz examines his personality, development, and situation as a writer in exile, but does so in relation to the consequences of the modern replacement of a compelling religious belief by the 'truth of science,' which has resulted in 'spiritual vacancy, isolation of the individual, the minatory character of civilization as a whole.' This is humankind's state intensifying since the 18th century, symbolized for Milosz by Blake's Ulro, 'that realm of spiritual pain.