Month: December 2011

Quote of the Day – December 12 2011

“Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.”
–Kahlil Gibran

How many sources say the same thing. We don’t learn by knowing. We don’t learn by reading the same ideas over and over again and we don’t learn through comfort. No! We need to be challenged, we need to be moved outside of comfort. We need to be perplexed and confused, befuddled and frustrated, and from there and our surrender to it do we find our school.
Namaste –GAR

Click on image to see full-size

The Awareness of Trees by G A Rosenberg

Eye-Minded by G A Rosenberg

 

 

Quote of the Day – December 11 2011

“When you smoke the herb, it reveals you to yourself.”
― Bob Marley

What a strange quote I’ve picked tonight! It extols the virtues of Marijuana, a drug I haven’t partaken of in over 10 years. I have no objection to pot. When I was younger I smoked quite a bit of it in a variety of contexts both spiritual and most decidedly not. I reached a point where, at the time the effects of it seemed to be less positive so I decided it was time to give it a rest. I may start up again sometime soon given time and opportunity. I see many positive effects and have since learned more. We shall see.
So, why the quote? Tonight I went with family and friends to see the Universal Gospel Choir . They perform songs of faith from around the world (Tonight among others, they did a hymn to the Santeria orisha Yemaya, a Sufi ballad, Ma’oz Tzur (a hannukah song) and One World, One Heart by Bob Marley. Before each song the director gave an introduction to the song and the culture it sprang from and before the Marley number she made several jokes about the Rastafarian use of marijuana as a sacrament. (I don’t judge her for making the comments, our culture has become one conditioned to treat drug use as a joke or a problem as opposed to a sacrament tho oddly enough I have seen many go into religious ecstasy at their first sip of their morning coffee) . I do have to admit tho that as the audience was laughing it did occur to me that at least Marijuana was pretty much guaranteed to have some transformative effect on their consciousness, could they say the same about the sacrament that they choose to take?
Namaste, GAR

Click on image to see full-size

Angelic Flame by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – December 10 2011

“Soundless and without scent, heaven and earth are
incessantly repeating unwritten sutras”
–Zen Saying

Like most Zen sayings, the above tends to reveal more layers of meaning, the more you contemplate it…Sutra can be defined as a Hindu or Buddhism aphorism (usually sacred) meant to be memorized and cherished. The universe and the earth do constantly reveal their stories and their wisdom, it goes beyond what has or can be written down and yet exalts at all times but not all at once. I wish to study what the universe, the earth and my life seek to teach me at least as much as what i learn from the expression of the beings of my fellow travellers here.
Namaste, GAR

Click on images to see full-size

At First he refuses the journey by G A Rosenberg

Taking Flight by G A Rosenberg

A Little Side Rant

<h4> Hi, I thought I was all done for the night. My dogs were getting ready for their walks and everything. I turned to Facebook before shutting down for a bit and I saw somebody had posted a picture that said “I’m only responsible for what I say not for what you understand” and it occurred to me that this was the antithesis of communication. Oh I can understand the theory, we can’t force someone to hear things in the way that we say them. If the goal was only to express ourselves than I can even agree with it to some extent. However, if we have the goal to communicate something that we think or feel to someone else than I find this statement to be something of a fail. If I see that you misunderstand something I say than it seems to me that I need to find another way of saying it. What do you think? Namaste –GAR </h4>

Quote of the Day – December 9 2011

“‘Would you like an apple?’ ‘This one has a wish inside it,’ she said matter-of-factly. ‘Make sure you know what you want before you take a bite.'”
–Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind)

Magical thinking, there’s nothing quite like it.

“If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it.”

    –Jesse Jackson

It may take some work however . 🙂 Namaste — GAR

Click on images to see full-size

Expressing by G A Rosenberg

Eyes of Compassion by G A Rosenberg

Dreams of a Pastel Paradise by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day-December 8 2011

“Let me give you some advice: Try to approach things without preconceived ideas, without supposing you already know everything there is to know about them. Get that trick down and you’ll be surprised at what’s really all around you.”
― Charles de Lint

Approaching things without preconceived ideas seems like such a hard thing to do. Lately I’ve been noticing how difficult it can be to navigate around someone’s personal dogma.
Personal dogma, I’ll define as the set of ideas and concepts that any given person has about reality (be it religious, political or social) around which they cannot or will not budge. Challenges to personal dogma end up freaking the person out and causes the brain to stop working. I mean it could be something fairly universal, i.e. “People should not kick puppies or babies”, or belonging to a set group “Jesus died for our sins”, or singular “Peggy Sue Anderson gives the best tongue baths of anyone I’ve ever met”
More on personal dogma tomorrow… Namaste — GAR

 

Click on image to see full-size

Behind the Eyes by G A Rosenberg

Behind the

Quote of the Day – December 7 2011

“So be gentle with yourself; show yourself the same kindness and patience you might show a young child – the child you once were. If you won’t be your own friend, who will be? If, when playing an opponent, you are also opposing yourself, you will be outnumbered.”
–Dan Millman

This lesson seemed to take so long to learn and accepting it has been one of the nicest things I can do for myself. So often, it feels easy to take things on when someone criticizes us. We feel bad then we start to feel sorry. We may lash out at the person who has criticized us without even trying to understand what brought them to say it. Usually it is something in them. When you feel criticized take a moment to ask your friend, your self. “Is this true?” “Do I really do this?” Perhaps you do then you can say to the person honestly “Thank you, I hadn’t realized…or thanks this is something i’ve been struggling with” Then go on. If its not true, thank them for their feedback (without sarcasm, remember they’re on their own voyage) then go on. This is not always easy. Namaste — GAR

Click on images to see full-size

Act of Will by G A Rosenberg

Patterns Rising into the Light by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – December 6 2011

“The trick is to combine your waking rational abilities
with the infinite possibilities of your dreams. Because, if you can
do that, you can do anything.”
–Guy Forsyth {Waking Life}}

Funny thing is we do it all the time…tho way too often our rational abilities take the stuff of dreams, our imaginations and make them into nightmares. Encouraged by the media and by those conditioned to condition us that we are surrounded by we dream ourselves as powerless and weak when our reality can be so much more than that. We can be powerful, magical, glorious beings with limitless potential. And we are. We can surround ourselves with a world steeped in beauty and it will be. Heck we even make the popcorn of our lives and sell it to others, is it organic gourmet flavourful as all get out. No matter how much we are, we can be so much more. Namaste–GAR

Click on image to see full-size

Ocean Contemplation by G A Rosenberg

Ocean Contemplation2 by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – December 5 2011

“No word matters. But man forgets reality and remembers words.”
― Roger Zelazny

Home again, Home again and the mind wanders all over the place so this might be another collection of random thoughts. I enjoyed Atlanta for the most part. I definitely enjoyed the people there and many of the conversations were great. Every city that I’ve been in has its own personality and Atlanta definitely fits that. However, where some cities such as New York or Chicago go all out in your face, this is me take it or leave it, Atlanta seems to be a lot more restrained. I can see it taking a while to get to know Atlanta and its people and that is only if one is not too presumptuous. Nothing can kill courtship of person or city faster than assumptions of what they are like and expectations that they’ll live up to it. Perhaps part of this relates to the conversation about looking where the answer lies not where the light is bright..

Still contemplating the occupy movement, the points on which I agree with the basic principle and the points on which I differ. I like the attention it has brought to some of the egregious actions and policies of the institutions that affect our lives daily. I am much less sure of the group think, group speak collectiveness that tends to form around its ‘no leaders’ policies. I believe that social change is happening as the greedheads hoard more and many are left with less and less. But it is individuals that build a system. If we take away individuality at the price of collectivism than something of value is lost, More on these ideas as they cook a bit
Namaste –GAR

Click on image to see full-size

To Enter the Spiral by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – December 4 2011

“There is nothing I want but your presence
In friendship, time dissolves.

Life is a cup. This connection
is pure wine. What else are cups for?”
–Rumi

I’ve had an amazing week in Atlanta. The different types of people I’ve spoken too has been great and the number of connections and reconnections i have made.

Some interesting art and writing will in all probability come of it once it has all cooked a bit.
Will close with a question that I’ve heard asked of late and one that I extrapolate from it. Who holds your story?  Who has a hand in determining your reality? Are the two questions the same? Namaste,

 

Click on image to see full-size

Circulating Storm by G A Rosenberg