Past work and its history

Title:

2003 The Red Seahorse

Location:

Commerford Gallery Rushcutters Bay Sydney

Date:

2003/10/16

Description:

Some people enjoy an extension on the works "theme", so for you I have shared my words below on the processes involved in the creation of these works. If you would rather skip it and enjoy your own interpretation, scroll down please.

Who is the Lighthouse Keeper?

Its natural for people to think the lighthouse keeper is sad. He is not; he is however struggling to bring himself forward therefore questioning and pensive. Struggling with the meaning of his solitude like he never has before.
There is a purpose in his solitude. That tension is a blessing for there is no gain in psychological development that is lasting and solid without sometimes some pain. Enter the mysterious element, the Red Seahorse.
I prefer to work in global metaphors when I visualize and write or paint.
I care about the world and would not put forward anything for public display unless I felt some sort of alignment with others and a need to share the journey. The understanding I have gained over the years is that at times what I am exploring in my work is also useful to others for their own use in their journey. That is the purpose of publicly displaying my processes.

I do much processing behind the scenes aside from the canvas that is private and complex. In fact I write thousands of words a day in this other journey and spend on a scale far more time writing than with brush in hand. I am more a “writer” than I ever was a “painter”. The painting is a summary that could be likened to essences of those processes, just symbols. There may be some merit in being able to present this tangled search in visual form, as it may be more effective and consumable when broken down into colours, symbols and imagery.

With a strong interest in understanding Jungian based psychology I can start to easily see the relationships and tensions or (stage plays) in the poems and pictures, and how they could apply to all society or could on the other hand be about about one persons life and development. All very natural and healthy with humankind’s urge for getting the balance of the masculine rational/logical world vs. the feminine emotional/feeling world. I explore as I strive to bring together these paradoxes in my own life.

There are metaphors everywhere and these can have different personal meanings to different people depending upon your own experiences with the symbols in your own life.
At other times there are universal symbols that seem to have the same general meaning for everyone.

An example could be that the tower or lighthouse may represent - career, material success, ambition or status in life.
Another very universal and old archetypical symbol such as the sea will represent something for the collective or individual unconsciousness. Which may easily be aligned to the unconsciousness in us, the emotions, the sea of emotions, that which is under the surface. A huge place with daunting mysterious pulls and power.
The place of “The Red Seahorse”.

Often it is this that we can’t see as it is under the surface. But nevertheless it is a massive power in our lives, that we cant ignore. We tend to try to devalue this very powerful element in ourselves in our material existence. Even in our limp wristed attempts to ‘get spirit’, by going to church or some new age flighty feel good attitude, we miss out on getting to the real place.

I believe this problem is not confined to the Western World, and feel its time we stopped bashing “the West” alone over how they have succumbed to the perils of “living on the surface”. There is much evidence that denial of “self” is a world issue in all countries and the stronger the “formal religion or scientific rational and “denial” of spirituality or even sectarian beliefs, the stronger you will find the denial of individual potential and power.

It comes back to balance and the paradox of our needs for culture and belonging at the same time as understanding the need to have separateness and individuation and personal power within that framework of “society”. We cant ever be a one-man band to meet all our needs ourselves. There is power in society and co-operation amongst the members worldwide.
Indeed there is great strength in the new concepts of more specialization to enable us to intertwine together in partnerships spanning across the globe to be a more advanced society that works on their independent strengths to co-operate to make all the parts of the whole.

To be aware of the threats to “the self” is to face some fairly scary truths.
Just because a religion preaches “kindness and gentleness” does not give it excuses to “own individuals souls” en-masse in the form of organized bulk lots of soul saving. Nor can it work successfully by taking away peoples rights to understand the potential of themselves as “gods” in themselves with the innate power within THEMSELVES to come together as a whole person. The warning signs are always where there is a “figurehead” who has an ego presentation.

And on the other hand, just because a community is brilliantly scientific or academically advanced and has found that all things can be rationalized and ‘kept clean and orderly’ through good planning and technology, does not mean that they are superior. What to do with all those dirty little, shadowy repressed grotty minds that are living within those clean streets, and middle class houses and super scientific and organized systems? Hmmmm? Where will the organic-ness of them be fed or expressed? Its got to come out somewhere!

We need leaders YES, but there has to be close examination on the temptation of the people to “give up” their responsibility to a figurehead.
A truly good leader will have to have faced issues of EGO within himself in order to truly LEAD. To lead is not to have everyone emanate or worship your own self, as the norm with our “leaders ego trips”. Perhaps it is to have those that would follow all doing so armed with self-sufficiency to a large degree which resonates that they will be responsible, and learn that they must trust their own inner guidance. This is true empowerment given by a real leader. The test of success of a good leader is that he will not have to do much leading in the end. It is more about “mentoring”.

The outer distractions by way of systems, ancient and respected religions and fads are just more fix it cures. They are just surface solutions, with ‘club fixes’, like insurance policies…. you feel you can buy your way into being “saved” because you just don’t have time right now for all this inner reflection?

It’s all part of humans evolving which we must do. It’s a slow process, and the West is not in front of the third world at all in this. They may have better toilets but they have not yet learned to look inside en-masse. There is still not enough “value” placed on this important task for human evolution.

I say this with gentleness as it is obvious that we are really just beginners in this. We have only just started to live past 40 and way beyond in recent centuries. So we never had to “do this midlife stuff” until recently. The fellows who did manage to live long lives ended up writing all these wise words for us, but when we adopted them as wisdom we had no blooming idea what it all meant. Because we didn’t live that long to see. So if you understand the “phases of development” in a human life, you will know that power issues are prominent in a persons life under 40. That is why I feel that all the “wise philosophical scriptures” got turned into power games, and called “religion”.
Totally missed the point.

This being said, we can forgive ourselves for struggling a tad at “discovering” the relatively new need for MAJOR psychological challenges after 40 years old. It feels new because it is new. Relatively speaking.

Along time ago, some bright entrepreneur saw your sense of wandering, “the market”, and so invented “religion” in his “power phase”…. The failure of these systems is now becoming glaringly obvious in our world wars. We are not happy chappy’s.
Its time we reviewed our positions.
The opposite of the extremely “religious” societies is the counteraction by becoming extreme “rational” societies. We think we are right and they are wrong. They think the opposite, hence the collision of Sept 11.
Both beliefs are extreme and not the answer.

In both cases you have been born into or taught a system of belief, it being religious/cultural or scientific/rational.
It’s a treat really as it meant you wouldn’t have to do all the hard work. You could have someone else take care of it for you, and just buy the instant. The theory, ready made. Here’s the book, just read 4 bits a day and you are safe. Forget about the meaning, as long as you front up.

Sorry…while it may make you feel better and even take you to the grave with a sense of being saved, you may have some issues with maturity along the road, or a sense of having been cheated out of something. Like “Is this all there is”. Is this the full capacity of me as a human being?” or “how do people go along with all this crap?”. Or what about…..the man in the rational society. He must not cry, he must not drop his guard, his masculinity, but suddenly he is very very tired of all the competing, the fighting, the climbing. Is he the Lighthouse Keeper?

The “good news” is that the “secret something” is actually contained in your-self. Enter The Red Seahorse.
You don’t have to buy it, and in fact you don’t even have to leave your front doorstop. Yes it’s free. And yes you are the clever bunny who has the exclusive land rights to mine it. It’s yours and not one person in the world can remove it from you. But the hard bit is to face it. To face the things in you that are just blurry paradoxes at first, in fact at times ugly disowned realities that would be better off kept in a cell it seems.
Left to simmer and stew they become searing branding irons in their form of discontent, restlessness and depression.
The worst part of it all is that when you start to get it you feel a little dumb for having missed it. For half of your life, half of you was sort of “closed for business”. Suddenly its open and there’s a sale on!

Its refreshing to see that there is at least one “thing” in the world we cannot “COMPRESS” into an MP3…. or a concentrated food additive.
This is ancient stuff and it can’t be summarized, or computerized. It is organic and it will never be any different. Hang onto that as proof of its power for you. This thing the government cant tax, the scientists can’t genetically alter, the old bastards cant lock in history thus convicting you to a lifetime of servitude and the futurists can’t “re-design”. It’s pure essence and its yours alone. It’s where you find the miracle of human existence, and all the treasures. It’s a place where you can “re-find” the beauty of a human life amongst so much cruelty and shameful behavior that you expose yourself to each day, at work or on your TV screen.

The lighthouse keeper is pondering meeting his animus (feminine aspect of his own persona often unconscious in masculine types), He only gets rare glimpses of her as the light swings around.... she is elusive.

The red or gold (the alchemists gold) that he sees in the water represents the "reward" or ultimate goal he will obtain by embracing the opposing elements within himself... as he sits in his rational thoughts in his "tower" of mind achievements. It is the magical mystery.
The "gold" or point of his life is to come to terms with both sides of his self-learning and to accept the paradox of this thus becoming a more "whole" person... Some call it "god". For him it’s not so flighty or exterior. The God is actually the POTENTIAL of HIM.
He discovers her through his dreams and imagination as is possible for us.

I think we not only practice the scary and heavy weight of "projection" onto our romantic partners in life when we are not content with our whole selves but also we project heavily onto an outer GOD, rather than face the potential within ourselves to be God.

Let me share with you my thoughts on this. I struggle with the word “God” as its just such an intimidating and devalued word. For me and no doubt some others it conjures up things of hypocrisy, and so I have to disown the word and have an understanding of LIFE and life force. The word God carries too much baggage and has been brutalized by opportunists for too long.

For me personally since gaining more understanding of “projection”, it seems the outer God is just a romantic projection from an individual who has not yet come to terms with his own innate power to be all that he or she can be thus fulfilling all the ideals in the bibles and books anyway, except that YOU own it.

Part of my understanding is that all this applies for me, its my belief and way of understanding, but then by nature I am fiercely independent and I understand this is my way. And thus how I would “see God”. It is truth to me.

There are many “types” that make a world system of harmony among people thank goodness. Some lean towards support, some science, some process, some dreaming and creating and so on.
Understanding this we know that others may need to have that appearance of “support, structure or leadership” from outside for guidelines and a sense of “pecking order”. They are just “ways of seeing”. But these ways have got us into the misleading structure of extremist formal belief systems. People in power sometimes cant help themselves. Inflation of the Ego is a natural event and a fairly easy stunt!

The outer worship and ‘dis-empowering’ of ourselves in this act is a natural more youthful reaction/action in human life and is similar to the process we evoke in a romantic infatuation. Most of us marry upon that notion of “projection” and sometimes it works out if we eventually face the facts about who the person is and what they really mean to us. We cant do that until we understand who we are ourselves. It’s the same for outward worship in faith. Generally that urgent need or impulse to “know thy-self” kicks in around 35- 55 years plus.
Its always worth exploring a little deeper when the glitter “wears off”….as often happens.
Be it in romance or the understanding of the difference between religion and spirituality, which are vastly different things. I believe that this is the thing we need to grasp before we go anywhere.

Once this is more widely understood many people will be allowed to find “all of themselves” at last without the fear of having given away “control” over their own souls.
I think this is a vital point that is missed in society today.
I think this is the reason we feel lost, confused and lonely at a point in our lives, and feel “trapped outside” with no maps or keys or permission to look “inside” our own self for the answer.
The reason is that both religion and science has generally made a mockery of “spirituality” and filled it with “connotations” and “isms” that have nothing to do with finding ones self.

So the Lighthouse Keeper glimpses his potential as a small mythical creature, The Red Seahorse, tantalizing and teasing him with the concept that there is more to life than the days light reveals.

Norton, October 2003.