Month: July 2012

Transitions (Redux)

In life as in story
chapters start and end
a thought or adventure nears
either a transition point
or a moment of tension,
a cliffhanger that drags us along
to the start of something new
It’s amazing how troubled we get
at these changes
Anxiety mixes with excitement about what comes next
grief over what’s left behind
yet looked at from a distance
it’s all one book
complete before time began…
In the long run
perhaps all we can do
is make our story a memorable one,
an enjoyable one,
a fulfilling one whatever that may mean
for each of us
— G A Rosenberg (2010)

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Star-struck by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 18 2012

“What matters most is how well you walk through the fire”
― Charles Bukowski

 

I have two pictures in my mind with this quote. One is of people who have not only survived the types of trauma that most of us have to undergo at one time or another in our lives. Tho our trials may differ in nature they have similar intensity. My other image is of fire walkers who walk on burning coals without getting harmed because they know they can do it. Could you imagine how much easier your fires would have been to walk through if you knew ahead of time you could do it? I feel totally in awe of what some people I know have survived. Some of them have been broken by trauma and others have been made magnificent.
Blessings, G

 

Maggie Drawn by G A Rosenberg

 

Neon Rose by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 17 2012

“Quiet Woman at Restaurant: When it was over, all I could think about was how this entire notion of oneself, what we are, is just this logical structure, a place to momentarily house all the abstractions. It was a time to become conscious, to give form and coherence to the mystery, and I had been a part of that. It was a gift. Life was raging all around me and every moment was magical. I loved all the people, dealing with all the contradictory impulses – that’s what I loved the most, connecting with the people. Looking back, that’s all that really mattered. “

— from the movie Waking Life ( (One of the most brilliant consciousness-provoking films I’ve seen in recent years and somehow one that resonates with what my online life feels like of late, for which i am truly grateful)

What is a web but a pattern of connecting strands working its way outwards (or perhaps inwards from another perspective?) Spiders live in them, sleep in them and catch food in them. While that hasn’t proven true in a physical sense for me I have gained so much in terms of consciousness and thought from my interactions on the web that my being feels sustained. Never in my life would I have imagined feeling so close to so many people in many cases so far away. Maybe these connections, as in a spider’s web are fragile and transitory yet still i work hard to make sure that they are mutually beneficial. I am fortunate in my existence to have found so many worthwhile teachers. Thank you.
Blessings, G

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Strange Journey by G A Rosenberg

 

Leaving the Nest by G A Rosenberg

Silence and An Orchid Mandala

“When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about.”
― Rumi

There is value in silence but if the quest for it proves a distraction, it helps to embrace and accept noise. At the very least its a sign of life teaming all around us.
Very often if you listen carefully different sounds combine to make music especially if you can divest the sounds for just a minute of emotional baggage. At the beach the sound of kids fighting and boring around (or swearing joyfully) can join in with the cawing of ravens, the lapping of waves and the joyful squeals of infants and form a beautiful orchestration of life waiting to be embraced. Perhaps the gift offered was to always listen for the symphony.
BLessings, G

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Orchid Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 16 2012

“Sometimes I get lonesome for a storm. A fullblown storm where everything changes.”
—Joan Baez

After a week of talking about identity which followed a week of talking about freedom, I was not expecting to be talking around another ‘theme’ that quickly. Tho its interesting that the last two quotes that called to me were both talking about various kinds of change. We’ll have to see where this goes.

I can identify with Joan Baez’s desire for a storm that changes everything on so many levels. On a personal level, I want a storm that will shake me out of areas where I feel I’ve grown complacent and motivate me to do things I have stalled on. On a political level I want a storm of consciousness that will awaken and empower people to demand the right to self-governance that we have lost. On a mass consciousness level I want a storm to arise within our hearts to make us think of ourselves on a species or universal level FIRST before either the personal or tribal levels so many of us seem stuck on.

 

Please rain in my soul
storm and rage within its core
sunlit rebirth dawns.

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Orchid’s Dark by G A Rosenberg

 

Expanding Flower by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 15 2012

“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.”
― Pema Chödrön

 

When I was younger I used to move around a lot. I believe the longest I lived anyplace from the time I was 16 when I moved from my mother’s house to my father’s until I was 26 was about eight months and my life after that point took another ten years to settle down. With each move came various amounts of disillusionment, relief, excitement with a bit of fear. Each one increased my awareness to some extent. I threw myself down more rabbit holes than Alice ever dreamed of and came out the other side until I finally learned it was possible to learn from life without a great upheaval in physical circumstances.

Each new insight that we gain has the ability to rock our internal worlds. If we are conscious every time we discover that the universe is more or other than we have been told or believed our universe changes. Since the most we can ever understand of universal truth is a fraction this can happen every day. We are eternal children ever discovering that the universe is bigger than we’ve known. And so our fractal awareness grows.
Blessings, G

 

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Lantern by G A Rosenberg

 

Three of Cups by G A Rosenberg

Contemplation (Redux)

I sit here
in my mechanized sterile existence
and I gaze upon her natural beauty
entranced
wanting her to be
wanting her to be mine?
no for that would steal her beauty
and stop us both from being who we are

She sits there
creating wonder in every movement
she doesn’t even know I exist
and that too feeds the necessary balance
Perhaps I am the lucky one
for I can perceive my completion
and contemplate in love
— G A Rosenberg

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Contemplation by G A Rosenberg (2010)

Quote of the Day – July 14 2012

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
― William Butler Yeats

Another night walking the dogs. The skies are hazy due to fires in Washington and the moon down to her last quarter so the night with its first cool breeze kind of wraps around us as we walk. I hold the question in my mind about what subject should I use for tonight’s blog and the answer comes back “Wonder” and for several minutes the inner light flashes on. I reach out for a tree and I feel it still filled with life not only its own but that of the moss and bugs that call it home. A plane flies overhead and I get struck by the lives of all the passengers, some of them reading and sleeping. Others waiting to land with the accompanying little thrill of anticipation that strike so many of us at take offs and landings.

I pass houses and people sleep, read, watch television, read email, each ones with lives at least as vital as my own. Grass and other plants sleep for the night but still have the imperative to grow and thrive. I have been experiencing first hand that Dan Millman quote from his Peaceful Warrior books that there is ‘never nothing happening” and its amazing. I feel gratitude for the gift of insight.
Blessings, G

 

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Night Journey by G A Rosenberg

 

Atomic Teal Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Identity

Not where I’m going
the roots need to strengthen tho
progress has begun

 

Not where I came from
I’ve come too far, seen too much
Closed some doors behind

 

No group can claim me
My views can’t be limited
by another’s words

 

human beingness
transcending and evolving
I embrace fully

 

Sometimes the strait jacketed elegance of a haiku allows for great clarity. In my exploration of identity this past week, both my own individual identity and my consideration of the groups and causes we identify with I kept coming to the conclusion that if we don’t start thinking of ourselves in a larger sense as part of one greater whole humanity (perhaps even beyond that, beings on this planet) than we are in danger of not being. Too many people pushing either their own agendas or the agendas of a small group that they wish to benefit from who aren’t realizing the potential danger in the choices they are making. Many too many of them seem to be in decision making positions in this world. Please when possible, think large. Embrace your humanity. Be kind.
Blessings, G

 

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Lazered by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 13 2012

““That ain’t me, that ain’t my face. It wasn’t even me when I was trying to be that face. I wasn’t even really me them; I was just being the way I looked, the way people wanted.”
― Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

I try hard to understand those who insist on clinging to one box above all others. They insist that they are the label on this box before they are anything else and do everything in their power to epitomize what they view as the essence of that label. Once they have labeled themselves they fight hard to stop anyone else from doing that. They insist that as the representation of their label (patriot, jewish, irish, queer to name a few) they fight for the rights of all those the label represents insisting that they with the unique qualities inherent in the label be treated like everyone else.

I have trouble with that concept most of all. People fighting for their rights. As soon as anyone fights for their rights to my mind they have lost. We all have rights inherent to our being. What they fight for is for the acknowledgement of those rights by others. There seems to be a strong need for the acknowledgement of their label by others.What I don’t understand is why there isn’t a universal movement towards acknowledging rights period. I believe that in a healthy society, each person is valued for who and what they are as a unique being without label or need to categorize. We need to embrace our humanity as a whole not care solely or primarily about the tribe or group that we fit into because it reflects one aspect of who we are. At this point in history when their seems to be greater potential than ever before for disaster due to inter-tribal conflict, it seems the height of irresponsibility to cling to our own tribe at the risk of our humanity.
Blessings, G

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Atomic Wedgie by G A Rosenberg

 

Garden Shadow by G A Rosenberg