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JL. But how did you
arrive at that - this style? I would like to explore RA, two things:
1 The stylistic thing.
2 The conceptual - the concept. How did you arrive?
You have made quite a jump and we are dealing with human
beings rather than landscapes and this sort of rather faceted cubism
style, then the idea of transmission of mystic energy, all that's new.
RA. I think it came
fairly dramatically, the actual light. It originates more in this early
one when Francis was a month old. He's just in swaddling clothes as it
were, with this light coming down, a sort of heavenly kind of light
falling.
JL. It may be a
stupid question - to what extent did you conceive these visually and
find this exciting to explore visually and to what extent were you
influenced by reading or conception of philosophic ideas. The reason
that I ask is that one of the elements that runs through a lot of your
work is what I would call a kind of transcendentalism, that is fairly
apparent in this picture of "Honesty" and "Garden Allotments".
RA. The strongest
influence from the written word I would say at that time was the Bible,
poetry by Shakespeare and passages from "The Secret of the Golden
Flower" by Richard Wilhelm - "This essence lives indeed in true space,
but the splendour of light dwells in the two eyes".
JL. Some of these
paintings like the one "Mother and Child" are expressions of the unity
of life, a sort of cosmic inter-relationships.
RA. YES.
JL. Were you only
intuitively at that time, or actually feeding that intuition by reading
other than the Bible, Shakespeare and Richard Wilhelm.
RA. No other source
of nourishment - though this was rich fare.
JL. But at a later
stage you became much more explicit.
RA. Much more - Yes,
it became much more conscious.
JL. When would you
say that might have happened?
RA. 1968.
JL. When you were
thirty?
RA. Thirty yes.
JL. Yes, we will
think of that as we go. So in a way this was an age when you were
groping.
RA. Groping.
JL. Yes that's rather
derogatory, more exploring.
Right, now we are looking at a watercolour called "Dragon Fly Over Pond" is it a watercolour?
RA. Yes it is a
watercolour 15" x 22".
JL. Now there are
other pictures of a similar kind "HUMMINGBIRD" and so forth can you say
something about these - were you still teaching?
Hummingbird
RA. No. These
paintings are the direct result of a night of visions, as is
"Red-Starts", "Plum Tree over a Pond" and "Within You and Without" 1969.
Within and without you
JL. You had some
visions.
RA. Without resorting
to any type of drug, ethereal views, of I presume other dimensions came
into regular view.
JL. This was -which
year?
RA. In the mid 1960s.
The actual details will probably take too long to
describe or the reason why I reached this state, but I had developed an
inner seeing shall we say - the third eye had opened up.
JL. But you had been
working on that.
RA. Yes, books like
Harvey Day's "About Yoga" and the works of Kahlil Gibran between 1964 -
1968, contributed to awaken a new consciousness. So the intuition
became more visual.
JL. Yes - so you had
been working conceptually - meaning you had been reading and preparing.
RA. Yes. Plus perhaps
the building of Strand Antiques, was a magnet for creating 'visions.'
See William W. Greens book - 'Night of Visions' chapter 13. For CD or
hardback Tel: 08701 65 20 49.
JL. Do you think your
reading also helped, or had you had earlier premonitions?
RA. Yes, small ones.
Plus I remember hearing my Leicester Grandmother after she had died,
going up and down a passage. I was ten years old then. My parents also
heard similar movements.
JL. Did you find this
comforting or frightening?
RA. Definitely
comforting.
JL. You believe she
still lives?
RA. Who knows but
life be that which men call death, and death what men call.
life? - EURIPIDES
JL. What kind of
seeing or visions did you experience?
RA. I might see a
cloister of monks and at the same time I would actually sort of be
there. You know when you are waking in the morning sometimes you might
be in a half trance state.
JL. Half trance
state!?
RA. Yes, half dream
like state.
JL. So you had little
flashes of - quite clear - vivid?
RA. Very clear - oh
yes.
JL. In minute
particulars?
RA. Yes, usually at
night when you wanted to be quiet, there they would come.
JL. They were quite
realistic -
RA. Quite realistic.
Like the time in William's book when the Nazarene came
up in the sky and passed down a crook into his hand I had a Nativity
like experience. Then an angel like being gave me a tunic of gold and a
jewel studded sword and scabbard, plus a gold watercolour paint box.
From that day my watercolours changed.
JL. Have you had
similar experiences since?
RA. Just this one, as
it were, a revelation.
JL. That one
revelation.
RA. But many similar
kinds of vibratory influences, in other words, I can tune into certain
situations. I do not think this "seeing" I have is unique, for example
the C.I.A. and The Stamford Research Institute (S.R.I.) call the same
travelling - remote viewing. They have spent millions of dollars a year
having remote viewers mentally spy on the Russians. Project Grill
Flame, Operation Sun streak and Operation Stargate have all been
declassified and their results have been conclusive: Namely, remote
viewing has revealed hundreds of military targets that were subsequently
verified by satellite imagery in the years that followed. So if I do
not sell enough paintings I can perhaps join the CIA John!
JL. May I suggest
that this "seeing" they and you have, has an affinity with what Ivan
Leudar and Philip Thomas in their book "Voices of Reason, Voices of
Insanity". They say many creative and influential individuals are known
to have heard voices. Socrates is one of the oldest documented cases
(by Plato, Plutarch and Xenophon). Socrates was guided by a "daemon"
which usually told him what to do. Plutarch and Plato concluded it was
taken to be a sign of his wisdom and was divine in origin.
RA. Interesting...though
I still would say that William's "Night of Visions" and subsequent
viewing is more common than realized. But fearing ridicule they remain
silent. For example I believe Dorothy Wordsworth is referring to just
that in "They flash upon that inward eye that is the bliss of
solitude". In Biblical times visions are recorded in the Old and New
Testaments like we record who won the Derby on the 6th June! "Your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions;
2:17 Acts of the Apostles". It is our mechanistic society which has
become encased and strangled in the snare of its own making. More and
more people are resorting to taking drugs to escape from this snare.
What many "see" however are not visions of the divine but the hell of
the strangling snare. Read William Green's book John if you want to
develop "remote viewing".
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