John Milton

Before we delve into the facts about Mr Milton let me say that personally, he is one of my heroes, if not the hero, I always use quotes from Jesus or the Buddha and Goddard and Wilde found me when the time was right and pushed me to heights I never knew existed, but John was where my journey started long before I knew my journey started. I love when William Blake refers to John, especially in his work on The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1790–93):

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“The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devils party without knowing it”

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It was a modern film, 1997s The Devil’s Advocate, that introduced me to him, the Devil masquerading under the pseudonym ‘John Milton’. The film is a masterclass in rhetoric for the evolution of man, explaining that it has been our desire, not our temperance that has led to the advancement of man. The Devil calls himself a humanist, and through my fascination of this film I found and researched John. The concept of Good and Evil has always fascinated me, the ultimate battle, the eternal war. Angels and Devils. And this is all that we are, Angels, Devils and the other guys who are neither, the hollow men. Angels and Devils have taken many forms in the history of the world, The T-rex vs the Rhino, the Tsunami vs the land, Nature vs Nurture. Predator vs Prey. The modern world sees a more sophisticated battle commence, Hitler vs Churchill, for example, but most men aren’t even aware of its happening. Too busy climbing the fools ladder, a ladder that does not exist for the enlightened man. John Milton is one of my spirit animals, helping me to understand the nature of the universe, so I find it interesting that I find myself on the side of light, rather than the side of darkness, The only argument to this is that in 2007 I tried to side of darkness, and it led me to nothing but pain and despair, crying to an eternally patient higher being for forgiveness, which was given to me instantly and without reprieve. I did not know it then, but this experience was the beginning of my journey into the light. The Buddha said three things cannot for long remain hidden, the sun, the moon and the truth. I needed to find the truth, but no one could show it to me but me. The side of darkness is personified by pain and suffering, but some beings, through their pain and suffering, find redemption, and these people will know the Kingdom of Heaven sweeter than any man, for he has seen the ills of Hell and escaped.

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"That's what an Angel is. Dust that has been pushed by the weight of the world into a diamond."

The OA

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"And so I tell you, love your tormentor, for through him, may you find the kingdom of heaven and live forever."

Michael Anthony Mooney

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John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, man of letters, and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), written in blank verse.

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Writing in English, Latin, Greek, and Italian, he achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica (1644), written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship, is among history's most influential and impassioned defences of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. His desire for freedom extended into his style: he introduced new words (coined from Latin) to the English language and was the first modern writer to employ non-rhymed verse outside of the theatre or translations.

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William Hayley's 1796 biography called him the "greatest English author", and he remains generally regarded "as one of the preeminent writers in the English language", though critical reception has oscillated in the centuries since his death (often on account of his republicanism). Samuel Johnson praised Paradise Lost as "a poem which...with respect to design may claim the first place, and with respect to performance, the second, among the productions of the human mind", though he (a Tory and recipient of royal patronage) described Milton's politics as those of an "acrimonious and surly republican". Poets such as William Blake, William Wordsworth and Thomas Hardy revered him.