The Falcon Lands. The John Anthony Miller Blog Resurrects Itself On May 13, 2009
John Anthony Miller
THE FALCON
Part 1.
Many of you have wondered...just where the heck is this John Anthony Miller character? He is supposed to have something to write about but is quite the elusive one (or perhaps many of you have thought or said worse things).
Yes, it has been months. So just where was I? A good question. A better question would be where am I?
Well, as Karl Jung the famous psychologist/psychiatrist might well have said: 'John Anthony Miller was in the swampland of the mind, but he did show up for work.'
I am not so sure how well I have shown up though. I am still trying to show up in this ongoing struggle of life. Creative people such as me usually have this "anti" Yin-Yang type struggle. Writing this "blog" helps me to "show up for work" and find balance.
Fusing this new found information (with a little help from a friend in the "mystical town of Ojai, California") and with a newly restored Faith in The Creator there will be salvation of this soul. It appears that the collective mad minds of society have gone amuck and have super-saturated the individual in our society (and world) with fear. An analogy might be like a funnel hanging over a person, and it is being continually filled by sociopathic minds with a dark grimy glue; the poor individual having the stuff poured on top of him or her day in and day out. No one should have this grimy glue poured on them. Yet, that is what is happening all around us. We are being constantly contaminated by this "sociopathic glue stuff" which is sticky and horrible and congeals itself into a substance which makes us hard to function properly on all levels as children of the universe. Eventually many of us will stop functioning, coming to an early death from within. If we look around, we see it happening all around us on every level and in every pursuit of humanity. To escape all those fears (which I find can only be conquered by being totally conscious and seeking ever to increase that Faith in The Creator), many of us seek illusion and choose not to "face" the swamp of the mind. Eventually we all have to face the swamp of fear and illusion to grow strong and healthy, and to contribute something good to society before we pass on to the next dimension. Many of us will not or cannot, and will go to the grave in such a condition. The path is difficult and the swampland is heavy and dark. I chose, by sheer will power from my Italian-Germanic heritage I suppose, to show up for work after slogging through that "swampland of the mind" I found myself in. I mentioned this to someone and they wanted to "fly over the swampland" to "show up for work." I found the comment noble (for some reason) and amusing at the same time, but one in such a condition really has to walk through the swamp stuff to get to the other side where there is no swampland. These are just my thoughts from my present experiences. And no, it is never too late to get out of the swamp if one is in it.
"Fantasy" by John Anthony Miller.
An early period art work honoring Alice in Wonderland that I did in the late 1960's after
the work of John Tenniel.
As I get older, I am finding myself more in tune with symbols and symbolism on the unconscious and conscious levels. As an artist on this planet (please see johnanthonymiller.com) with a particular gift of having my art "speak for itself," (or rather the talent I have speak for itself) I was always involved with symbolism. I just did not know how very significant it was until later in life. The dream world merging with the conscious world is a truly fascinating reality which is full of fascinating discovery. I really never gave it much thought though, that is until I entered the swampland of the mind. My creativity output became less and less over many years. Finally the inside of my being turned to the outside of my being. Functioning nearly stopped. To become balanced and re-discover my talent I found that one has to dig deep and peel off those layers of congealed glue from the mind. So, my thoughts naturally went to Australian Aboriginal tribes and Native Americans, who place great emphasis on dreams and symbology entering into a person's life as being quite significant and having a reality all their own. All we have to do is tune in and observe. To be sure, I am still in that swampland of the mind, but the "little battered creative man" is crossing it. Another analogy might be like he is ever so slowly crawling up a dark tunnel into a light.
He will get to the top eventually.
So, what about the title of this newly resurrected "blog" and the title "The Falcon?"
In confronting negativity and the dire straits of swampland, I hung a bird feeder outside of my study about two months ago. Everyday I filled it with bird seed and watched the birds come and eat. I thought to myself that as long as there are birds chirping and eating, things will be OK. Life is still good, and there is a certain optimism that still is present in a world of hell. Even with great trouble things will be OK. The Biblical passage stating that God (Yahaveh) will take care of people as does He the birds was (and still is) a very comforting thought, especially to creative swampland people like myself (notice I use this as a collective, as I am part of the collective mass of people, as are you).
Underneath that bird feeder I have a large round clay bowl that I fill everyday with water. I found that the birds will sit on the edge of the bowl and drink water. The scrub jays hang around it and watching their antics is amusing. Once in while at night raccoons will take a bath in it. Sometimes an opossum will lumber up to it and take a drink. The clay bowl is a real community water hole which also seems to help my "father" complex in check. Oh yes, let us not forget the Bible and the "Water of Life" symbology that fits in this little psychological and spiritual eco-town quite nicely.
Three days ago I looked out of the study window. To my amazement I saw an incredibly beautiful bird perched on the edge of that thick clay water bowl. It was a peregrine falcon taking a drink. My first thought was "Wow! Look at that! What an incredible and noble creature. My kind of bird!"
My second thought was to go into the next room and grab my camera and take a picture-but it would be gone by the time I got back to take a photo. I looked out the window in a bit of awe. Never in all my life have I seen such a noble and magnificent bird, all this majesty from the wild was just a few feet away in my back yard. The bird took two drinks and then spread his wings outward, like a cross and then looked directly at me with those penetrating eyes. He folded his wings back again, took another drink of water and looked at me again. The noble bird then looked up and then flew off.
A magnificent symbol of power, elegance and spirituality. To Native Americans a creature like this has great significance for change and power. Looking down over any swampland situation is no problem. The bird will have total power and control and will observe the world in wide vision, yet be able to focus on the smallest thing.
My inner sense is that falcon will come back to drink more water-at sometime in the future when I need to see him. I felt for sure that I had known that bird from a previous time. Was the bird an angel or messenger from God? For me, yes, the bird was such a symbolic messenger to this swamp-bound brain. Reality and the dream world were one and the same for just a few minutes to validate my life experience. Time stood still for moment and reflection of self was realized. I had been praying for a symbol just that morning.
It is time to fly.
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