Quote of the Day – October 15 2012

“It is necessary … for a man to go away by himself … to sit on a rock … and ask, ‘Who am I, where have I been, and where am I going?”
― Carl Sandburg

I’ve been considering all these questions of late… along with the eternal ones posited by Spider and Jeanne Robinson. How did I come to be here and how did all this come to be here with me and ultimately with a sense of proportion, Why am I so alone? Oh I know I’m not. Between the internet, my family and friends anytime I want I can have a conversation of almost any intensity I want but when it comes to understanding and feeling understood I sometimes find myself in my own skull. Oh most times that’s not so bad. I kind of like it here and have been working at making it a fit place for company, even my own. Still find myself reaching out and reaching in and searching for that rock… Sometime’s pondering and contemplation are good for their own sake.
Blessings, G

 

 

Click on images to see full-sized

 

His Spirit Dreams in Electric Colours by G A Rosenberg

 

Purple Crystal by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 14 2012

“It is the obvious which is so difficult to see most of the time. People say ‘It’s as plain as the nose on your face.’ But how much of the nose on your face can you see, unless someone holds a mirror up to you?”
― Isaac Asimov

 

It takes a certain amount of courage to look into a mirror especially when there are others watching. Will it distort my features or show me true? Yet every time we interact with another we face a mirror. Does it reflect who we believe we are or does it show a fiction, one concocted in collaboration between the holder of the mirror and ourselves? Is the reflection more accurate from friend or from stranger.
I tend to enjoy mirrors. Perhaps that shows a certain amount of vanity or perhaps I relish even the flaws that I see in them. Perhaps I’ll learn where my blind spots are so that I can teach myself to see the view. Perhaps they have yet to reflect a challenging part of myself that I have yet to look at and when I do will I smash the mirror or accept it as what it is, another perspective and another step towards truth.
Blessings, G

 

Click on image to see full-size

 

A few collaborations tonight– that sprung from a picture done by a friend of mine Adam DrLightworker Brobjorg (http://www.oneaba.com)

Emanating by G A Rosenberg (and Adam Brobjorg)

 

Blue Landing by G A Rosenberg (and Adam Brobjorg)

 

Quote of the Day – October 13 2012

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.”
― Robert Fulghum

 

Knowledge can give us facts but it takes imagination to bring understanding . History is biased and ever changing but myth enters our subconscious and builds new countries there . Hope, that odd combination of imagination and myth can truly trump experience because it shows us that no matter what has happened so far, something better may be right around the corner. But then I’ve always been a hope fiend and I may flatter myself by believing that I’m a dreamer. We build better worlds than this one and learn to inhabit them.
Blessings, G

 

 

Click on the images to see full-size

 

Tarot Trump XIV – Temperance

 

Abstract Vision by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 12 2012

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Grateful for both the good and the bad times. Both have their lessons to teach. Every relationship we are in will have both kinds of lessons as a new chemical interpersonal  alchemy happens. Two or more egos and spirits combining , always some rough areas and that’s where we learn the most.
What is each moment but a new relationship.  I suppose that is as good a definition of the word mindful as that I’ve ever heard. One’s relationship with each instance, each ever present now, feeling gratitude for each lesson learned and each challenge met.
Blessings, G

 

Click on image to see full size

 


What Else Is There to Teach Him? by G A Rosenberg

 

Aquamarine by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 11 2012

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
― Toni Morrison

Roped into the life I lead
occupied but never freed I ask myself
where and why I let the door go
I don’t know
Gave away its view for security
needed to have that surety
yet it never reached within, my sin
was never to believe in my worth
and what’s worse now that I do
to much to see through
commitments
re-fitments
and so the chains tighten
and that door never yields
— G A Rosenberg

It seems tho that even when we can finally claim our freedom, it takes quite awhile longer before we can claim its authorship, a true mark of responsibility.

Blessings, G

Click on images to see full-sized
Finding the Exit by G A Rosenberg (2009)

 

Wild Tyger in the Day by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 10 2012

“I’d like to repeat the advice that I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. ”
— Jon Krakauer

 

To me this quote has (at least) two meanings. There is an external one that talks about changing one’s circumstances and taking chances and travelling. There is also an  internal one that deals with changing ones landscape and habits… looking at the old sun in a totally new way That I quite like..
Blessings, G

 

Click on image to see full-size

 

Green Oasis by G A Rosenberg

 

Rubbed by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 9 2012

“There’s stories and then there’s stories. The ones with any worth change your life forever, perhaps only in a small way, but once you’ve heard them, they are forever a part of you. You nurture them and pass them on, and the giving only makes you feel better. The others are just words on a page.”
― Charles de Lint

 

What story has changed your life? What tale has crawled inside your psyche and set a permanent groove so that you would never look at anything quite the same way again?

I met her on the bridge that night. To tell the truth, I had gone there to consider jumping. My life was rather a mess at the time. I was seventeen taking summer classes at the University next door to my High School to make up for the ones that I had missed during the year. I had taken off from school for five months and joined a religious cult. For that five months, I tried to alter my being, change it into the perfect church member only to find it impossible. Too many things made no sense and contradicted their own sources. One of the final straws was when I saw beer in the refrigerator of the church head in California and realize that he didn’t live up to his own philosophy.  I left only to find that I could not go back to looking at life the same way I had before. I was badly in need of a new paradigm tho I couldn’t put that into words at the time. My family didn’t understand. They thought I should feel guilty for leaving home and joining the cult. I felt cheated and alone and had no idea what to believe. The universe made less sense than ever.

We agreed that my staying in the University dorms for the summer rather than accompanying my family to their beach house was a good idea for all. I would have time to think and pray and try to put the pieces together (and make up for lost school time). They would have peace. I went more than a little crazy and self-destructive. Thus I ended up at the bridge staring into the water wondering if I had the courage.

“I love to see the moon reflecting on the water.” I turned and looked and there was a girl there. A few years older than me.

Yes, it’s nice.” I muttered.

“The water’s cold tho, even tho it’s summer.”

“I wasn’t going to… I mean I’m not going to…” 

“Maybe not, but you can’t convince me you haven’t been considering it.”

What would you know about it?”

“I’ve been there. I’ve worn that look you have on your face. Oh I didn’t jump either”

“Why would you want to do that? “

“The same reason as you. Too many thoughts and questions crowding my mind and more pain than I wanted to deal with. I was dating this guy and he was great, handsome and smart and controlling as hell. I let him tell me what music to like, how to dress and even what classes to take. We were together for four years and when i became the embodiment of everything he wanted me to be, he got arrested. After a month without him I realized that he didn’t want to be with me but with an ideal and the ideal was someone else. Someone on reflection whom I had no interest in being”

“It’s not the same!”

“No it never is. Yet it brought me here just as whatever you’re going through brought you. “

I told her the details. She just listened and then smiled.

You know what stopped me from jumping and removed the temptation?”

“What?” I might have said the word louder than I intended.

“Well, my life has always been so strange and so difficult to predict and so wonderful and horrible that I realized at heart I am too curious to see what comes next to ever end it willingly”

“Wow” 

“You know this already but you’ve forgotten it.”

Maybe I have.”.

We continued to talk about books, movies, music, philosophy and everything under the moon to find we had a great deal in common. We watched the sunrise hand in hand like children. I asked her if I could see her again. She looked a little sad.

“Actually, I came down to the bridge tonight to say goodbye to the view. Tonight I’m heading to England to study for a year. Tonight has always been fantastic tho. Thank you.” She kissed me and left not dramatically but wonderfully.

I sat there for a few more minutes wondering if I had been talking to some kind of angel. I never saw her again but I never forgot her magick or her story.

Blessings, G

 

 

Click on image to see full-sized

 

Alien Mage by G A Rosenberg

 

Blue Gold Sun Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 8 2012

“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you.
You must travel it by yourself.
It is not far. It is within reach.
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know.
Perhaps it is everywhere – on water and land.”
― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

 

Thinking disjointed thoughts tonight so I might  ramble at you for awhile. As if that wasn’t always the case.  I’m thinking about paths and families , both those of choice and those of birth. After all, for most of us our paths start with our families…habits we learn and habits we earn and yet our paths are our own, at most ours run up alongside others for moments or decades. I can learn from almost anyone, even people i have negative encounters with… perhaps mainly them..its more difficult at times to see the challenge and lesson to be learned from the positive ones..i tend to be too busy basking in them and enjoying them…still the lessons are there. Would a life without challenge be anywhere near as worthwhile? Somehow I doubt it..
Here’s to challenges and gratitude. Here in Canada, it’s Thanksgiving Day, the day when many of us consciously feel the gratitude that the wise make a daily part of their lives. I feel gratitude towards everyone of you reading this and those who have befriended me over the course of my lifetime and for this amazing universe (good or bad, goodies or yikes I find it all amazing) that we all are part of.
Blessings, G

 

 

Click on image to see full-size

 

Campfire by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 7 2012

“Is there a greater fault than being conscious of the other person’s faults?

If the other person laughs at you, you can pity him, but if you laugh at him you may never forgive yourself
If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury, but if you injure him you will always remember.
in truth the other person is your most sensitive self given another body”
–Kahlil Gibran

 

And yet we still criticize. Tho often the fact that we can recognize a fault in another also means that the fault lies at least in potential within us. Could that be the answer, so simple? To keep a notebook handy and track every thing we say about others to see how it leads back… That could work… tho for many of us it would lead to notebooks growing very full very quickly.. Hmmm that might not be a bad thing to see either…
Still I have learned much from friends pointing out blind spots, I learn from and consider each of them with gratitude… Occasionally I even find the courage and fortitude to work on them and so perhaps grow..
Blessings, G

Click on image to see full-size

 

Emerald Mandala by G A Rosenberg

 

Goddess Energy by G A Rosenberg