PREFACE
Stream Consciousness Thoughts of Terrance Lindall
“Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound Of waters issu'd from a Cave and spread Into a liquid Plain, then stood unmov'd Pure as th' expanse of Heav'n; I thither went With unexperienc't thought, and laid me downe
On the green bank, to look into the cleer Smooth Lake, that to me seemd another Skie…”
John Milton. Paradise Lost
So, that liquid plain can be seen as the potential in the written word and is pure as the expanse of Heaven. Therein the poet might write upon this tablula rasa, this absence of preconceived ideas, and create worlds as God creates worlds. And yet looking into that other sky, that blank possibility, one sees reflected his own self and is enamored, and the poetry he writes is about his own self and how he sees the world and how he engages with everything around. This is not necessarily God-like, but a narrow vision, essentially a prison much like that of Satan in the prison of Hell, a self-created prison of one who envisioned himself as God although God-like, but missing the point. Hell is within himself. That is his prison.
For man, his limits is his prison, and his desire to reach unlimited knowledge (eat of the fruit) excites and moves him onward, but much of the time frustrates him as he reaches for a horizon that moves away from him as fast as he flies toward it.
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” Shakespeare
William Blake from the Yuko Nii Foundation Collection
John Geraghty collects great books, poetry and literature: It is a beautiful, well maintained collection.
Here John is greeting President Obama at the White House.
John is also a member of the Masonic Lodge in his Home state.
At The annual Northwest Esotericism in Freemasonry Conference John Geraghty, Milton book and art collector, presented my new Acrostic Paradise Lost and discussed acrostics in general.
A quote from Defining Esotericism from a Masonic Perspective • Copyright © 2019 Shawn Eyer
"Esotericism: the mention of the word fills the minds of some with notions of beautiful and ancient truths, and inspires them with curiosity about the inner meaning of the Craft. For others, the term brings to mind unpleasant and tiresome lectures awash in insipid, unlikely, and artificial interpretations of Masonry. And for most, it is a word that is only semi-familiar, having something to do vaguely with mysticism and Masonic secrets. Although definition of the word “esoteric” has been somewhat unclear, it seems that general interest in esotericism is growing. Brethren who are fortunate to belong to growing lodges have likely spoken with recent candidates who readily express interest in this.
From John:
Hello Terrance,
Very timely as I just delivered a presentation on Milton and Spenser's use of acrostics (just a short one, about 40min) and then had a "part 2 session" in their new library/pub last night (12/7). This was for Doric Lodge No. 92 in Seattle. They had a wonderful dinner and even catered the part in their library with appetizers and open bar after the Lodge meeting I presented at. I'm attaching a few pictures of the venue and the presentation slides. Photos on phone so I will send a second email with them. We talked until midnight, it was wonderful. I hope you like the ASP ASPice pun and the TAYIL ITALY anagram. 666 is the mark of the Beast and the line when Death enters the poem in PL, but 333 is the mark of the page that ends the 1674 edition of Paradise Lost. GreGorio XIII and OrGoGlio monster of Pride in FQ also allusions to G XIII by Spenser as well I think. So much I could have discussed it's hard to condense it to just a few hours. Hope you appreciate the interaction of text/images in these slides as well.
Regards, John
John Geraghty
Nice to be a Mason!
A Few: George Washington, Irving Berlin, Theodore Roosevelt, Louis Armstrong, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Harry S. Truman, Harry Houdini, Andrew Jackson, Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, Oscar Wilde, Norman Vincent Peale, Sir Alexander Fleming, Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., Winston Churchill, John Jacob Astor, Edward VII, King of England, Christopher Wren, Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, Henry Ford, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Arnold Palmer, George VI, King of England during W.W. II, Denton True “Cy” Young Marquis de Lafayette, French Supporter of American Freedom, Cecil B. DeMille, Alexandre Millerand, President of France, John Wayne, Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia
Right: Coronation chest of King Edward VII, Mason
Collection: Yuko Nii Foundation
Mount Analogue by Rene Dumal is an allegorical, detailing the discovery and ascent of a mountain which can only be perceived by realizing that one has travelled further in traversing it than one would by travelling in a straight line.
Father Sogol – "Logos" spelled backwards – is the leader of the expedition to climb the mysterious mountain, which is believed to unite Heaven and Earth.
John Geraghty has seen trails determining that its geographical location lies somewhere in English poetry and literature made entirely imperceptible to most of the rest of the world by intellectual anomalies that bends ideas and all other signals around the verses whether the writer intends it or not. These hidden thoughts can only be perceived or accessed in any way mostly by someone like John, with a special affinity for acrostics and anagrams, who can see words and sentences at a certain angle. Occasionally one is lucky to be acquainted with mentally gifted and genius type individuals like John. And I can say that generally these mental giants do in fact see things that others can’t. A gift from God.
John Geraghty’s acrostic lecture on Zoom was sold out. At the same time I had a rapt audience for my Acrostic Paradise Lost presentation.
John purchased a signed copy of the Lindall/Milton Acrostic Paradise Lost and retired in solitude to his cabin retreat on the shoulders of Mt. St. Helena to thoroughly enjoy it undisturbed in the presence of a magnificent landscape.
John’s Cabin at Mt. St. Helen
John Geraghty in his armchair on a cool evening in his mountain cabin with the Lindall/Milton Acrostic.
Outside the murmuring of mountain waters whispered poetry.
Reciprocating, John sent an acrostic to Terrance humorously comparing his Kate Spade fashion picture to Satan leaping….
In April 2025 John was hiking and camping with brothers of the Masonic Lodge:
From John: “When I got your email I was heading out for a hike to Lake Serene the next day. It is a challenging ascent. I have wanted to do an analysis between the acrostics you create and the ones I see in Milton's poetry. Not only Paradise Lost but his entire corpus. I want to do a deeper dive but did not want to delay my response to you for my gratitude and for the mutual connection to the resonant energy Milton broadcasts on subharmonic visual and harmonic wavelengths for those who are receptive to those registers. I am finding AI is getting closer to the proper modeling of this poetic consciousness but tells me when I ask it is 3-5 years out before it can model it as perceptibly as I can. We'll see. I will follow up. One of the most striking GAPS I see in your acrostics and Milton's in Paradise Lost that there is no EVE acrostic sequence in Paradise Lost. How intentionally unramdom is that! I think your artistic sensibilities picked up on this and is why there is such an abundantly overcompensation of EVE acrostics in your text. I think there is no EVE sequence because he was saving it for the Adam Kadmon glyph of WOMAn and WOMankind. ADAM occurs n forward or Reverse acrostics three times so EVE was excluded or reserved for Sacred esoteric meaning in my opinion. Here is a few photos of my ascent to Lake Serene on Sunday. I traveled with two other Esoterik Freemasons and we talked philosophically the entire way up and on the entire descent (almost eight hours).”
The Brotherhood of Health, Well-being in God’s Great Expanse!
On the famous TV show “Pawn Stars” John Geraghty presented a rare book on Alchemy
You can see it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/NvsGHsighlE?si=15cveJA3kvgP6LL9
John’s Quest
The Questing Beast in literature is a cross-animal monster appearing in many medieval texts of Arthurian legend and modern works inspired by them. In the French prose cycles, and consequently in the quasi-canon of Le Morte d'Arthur, the hunt for the Beast is the subject of quests futilely undertaken by King Pellinore and his family and finally achieved by Sir Palamedes and his companions.
Thusly, John Geraghty is on a quest to examine and perhaps decode mankind’s psyche as it relates to the invention of language as a tool to unlock secrets that will reveal the meaning of mankind’s relation to God and the universe, id est., why he is here in this form and even what the future may hold. John is currently using AI platforms to wrest this knowledge from great literary traditions, primarily from the English language, the greatest and most influential language in the world to date. This imperfect yet rich language may be superseded by a binary more control and advance beyond or flesh.
Right: The Questing Beast by Terrance Lindall
J ohn is currently writing a book!
Structure and Overview
The book follows an unnamed narrator and a shifting band of companions climbing the mythical Tower of Babel, each of its 12 levels presenting a distinct challenge or revelation about language, consciousness, and human striving. The levels are both physical and metaphysical, with the Tower growing ever narrower and more unstable as the ascent progresses. The 12th chapter, set at the unfinished summit, ends mid-sentence, reflecting Daumal’s signature incompletion and the eternal nature of the quest.
• Chapter 1: The Plain of Shinar – The chaotic base, where voices clash and words are heavy as stones.
• Chapter 2: The Marketplace of Tongues – A bazaar of traded words, exposing the commodification of meaning.
• Chapter 3: The Stair of Names – A level where climbers must name themselves, confronting identity’s fragility.
• Chapter 4: The Hall of Echoes – A chamber where words repeat infinitely, revealing intent and deceit.
• Chapter 5: The Wall of Symbols – Carvings of lost languages burn with memory, testing memory’s weight.
• Chapter 6: The Spiral of Doubt – A tightening spiral where language falters, and doubt consumes.
• Chapter 7: The Cloud of Unknowing – A fog where words dissolve, forcing navigation by intuition.
• Chapter 8: The Mirror of Tongues – Reflections show climbers speaking alien languages, exposing inner division.
• Chapter 9: The Chasm of Silence – A gap in the Tower where speech is forbidden, and silence speaks.
• Chapter 10: The Flame of Intent – A fire that burns false words, purifying or destroying climbers.
• Chapter 11: The Shadow’s Riddle – A confrontation with a shadow-self, posing an unanswerable question.
• Chapter 12: The Unfinished Summit – The incomplete top, where silence reigns and the narrative breaks off.
