Silvery Friendship

“The moon is friend for the lonesome to talk to.”
― Carl Sandburg

 

You see all
my silent companion
and everything is embraced by your pale glow
I have no secrets under your fullness
and when in shadow
you hold your own counsel
I know you hold mine as well
Under your guidance
I walk and sometimes run.
Under your care
I slumber
Walking at night
when I look up
your silent promise
lulls my emotions
and there is a peace.
— G A Rosenberg

Blessings, G

 

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RadientRadient by G A Rosenberg

 

Mitosis2Mitosis by G A Rosenberg

Mystic Life Preservers

“The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight.”
― Joseph Campbell

 

What makes a mystic different from a psychotic? This is an intriguing puzzle to me especially as I feel the answer is at the tip of my brain, somewhat obvious yet I can’t find the right words. Yet I have met so many people interested in answering the big questions, call the subject spirituality if you like. If that word makes your brain itch too much then use philosophy or metaphysics which ever one gives you the best water wings. Many of the people I’ve met who have sought answers have found them but in the process they seem to have lost themselves. Most often this seems to come from the acceptance of a definite answer that they know no one else will fully accept. That this bothers the same type of people who reject organized religion because of its limited scope baffles me a little but then we humans tend to be contrary creatures at the best of times.
As I was saying, the people who seem to flounder the most spiritually are those who are convinced that they have found the answer and that everyone else is wrong. I believe that with genuine mystics, the ones who catch a glimpse, return and keep swimming, they know that they grocked a big piece of the puzzle but they are willing to question that understanding and reject it if they find a better answer.
Perhaps ultimately that is the difference between the mystic and the psychotic. The Psychotic’s answers are concrete and inflexible and you know what happens when you try to swim while clutching concrete. A mystic’s answers conversely tend to be light and flexible and incredibly buoyant. I know which type I’d rather swim with.
Blessings, G

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A New DayThe New Day by G A Rosenberg

 

Storms Real and MetaphoricalStorms Real and Metaphorical by G A Rosenberg

A Somewhat Short Observation

“Some people are always critical of vague statements. I tend rather to be critical of precise statements; they are the only ones which can correctly be labeled ‘wrong’.”
–Raymond Smullyan

 

Almost any point can be argued including this one. The more specific we make our statements, the easier it is to nitpick and find an exception. If I told you that the grass was turquoise, you might say no look at this blade its emerald. If I say its green than you would more likely agree. This holds true especially when we talk about the nature of reality and the spirit. The more concrete the statement, the more people will label it wrong. Conversely the more abstract, the more people will nod their heads… It is a curious phenomenon.
Blessings, G

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Firework FlowerFirework Flower by G A Rosenberg

 

MoireMoire by G A Rosenberg

We Are All Magical Stars

“The faerie represent the beauty we don’t see, or even choose to ignore. That’s why I’ll paint them in junkyards, or fluttering around a sleeping wino. No place or person is immune to spirit. Look hard enough, and everything has a story. Everybody is important.”

― Charles de Lint

 

“Every Man and Every Woman is a Star”

— Aleister Crowley

 

Touched at sunrise
your hand in mine
as we gaze at new day’s promise
reflected in water.
At noon, the homeless man
helps a young woman
carry a burden.
The burden shared
along with something sacred.
In the evening
Shooting stars
Everyone looks up
the driver stays aware enough
so the puppy can cross the street safely
At night we make love
another piece of magic
that completes the day as it began..

— G A Rosenberg

 

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Alien DreamsAlien Dreams by G A Rosenberg

 

CentredCentred by G A Rosenberg

Manners – Social Lubrication

“A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot…”
― Robert A. Heinlein

 

It seems to me that there is a difference between intentional and unintentional rudeness. When people are rude intentionally most often they are trying to make a point. “I feel anger towards you and want you to know it.”, “I am afraid or uneasy and I don’t want you to know it” or “I find you ridiculous and / or self important and I want to show it.” Each of these three show a special consideration for the object of their rudeness. A fourth case of intentional rudeness would be “I am demonstrating our relative importance by showing I can be rude to you.” This also in its way demonstrates consideration. In each case it is a form of communication, perhaps dubious in execution but shows awareness of the other person.
Unintentional rudeness however is almost the opposite. It involves being so preoccupied with whatever one is doing that the other person does not even register. It could be as simple as a teenager texting on their cell phone to a clerk in a store, being so busy modelling or hoping for a particular type of customer to approach them that everyone else gets dismissed. This is the type of rudeness that I believe Mr. Heinlein referred to and is becoming more and more prevalent in our culture. We have lost touch with the niceties. Everything from inquiring about how the person you are talking to is doing to holding doors for another, even down to saying please and thank you. Since most of us are raised with these niceties drummed into us, it causes a certain amount of cognitive dissonance every time we avoid them. It definitely involves a loss of empathy and awareness that is crucial if we are ever to approach maintaining this world as a fit place to live.
Blessings, G

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Strange Shades of OpalStrange Shades of Opal by G A Rosenberg

 

Worlds Within Worlds, a Flower GrowsWorlds Within Worlds, A Flower Grows by G A Rosenberg

Sing Out

“Each Person Who Ever Was Or Is Or Will Be Has A Song. It Isn’t A Song That Anybody Else Wrote. It Has Its Own Melody, It Has Its Own Words. Very Few People Get To Sing Their Song. Most Of Us Fear That We Cannot Do It Justice With Our Voices, Or That Our Words Are Too Foolish Or Too Honest, Or Too Odd. So People Live Their Song Instead.”
— Neil Gaiman (Anansi Boys)

 

Perhaps one of the best reasons to meditate is so we can listen and learn each note and each phrase of our song. The more we listen the more we can express and chime in. Perhaps at first we hum along with the chorus and sing the catchiest of phrases that sticks in our minds. Eventually we learn it well enough so that we can express almost every lyric only occasionally singing the verses out of order or having to make up a phrase that we just haven’t quite gotten. The more practiced and the more we listen, the more confidence we gain to fully embody our song. Yet still we listen. There are subtle harmonies that it may take a lifetime to learn and to be. We may wish to know how well our song will work as a duet or a trio. Perhaps ultimately our songs together can all be united as the universal symphony they were meant to be as every being joins in.
Blessings, G

 

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Landscape with Cubes and BubblesLandscape With Cubes and Bubbles by G A Rosenberg

 

Circling the Cosmic DrainCircling the Cosmic Drain by G A Rosenberg

Art’s Alchemy

“True alchemy lies in this formula: ‘Your memory and your senses are but the nourishment of your creative impulse’.”
― Arthur Rimbaud

 

What we choose to create comes from who we are. Who we are as far as I can tell comes from some inherent characteristics, some energy (soul, spirit, ray what have you ) that filters through everything we sense and everything that we remember either consciously or subconsciously. If we remember old television theme songs and comic book heroes along with the typical dysfunctional family dynamics that most of us grew up with (along with a strong hunger for world mythology and spirituality and appreciation of the aesthetics of the human body) then that will come across in the art we make. If I had had different interests during my formative years, my art may have manifested in a much different way. What I write about here each day springs directly from what I have experienced either in creating art or talking with people or sometimes with the quotes I find in desperation looking for topics on days that have been quiet. Each shaped by my memory and experiences. Each manifesting an aspect of who I am.
Blessings G

 

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CastleCastle by G A Rosenberg

 

Scattered RainbowScattered Rainbows by G A Rosenberg

Path or Direction?

“A path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you . . . Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself alone, one question . . . Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t it is of no use.”
― Carlos Castaneda

 

I have reread this passage many times and put a lot of thought into it. Tonight it struck me in a new way. If as I’ve talked about before, our path is not one that we follow as much as one we choose each step of the way then maybe it is not so much about choosing a path with heart as choosing to have heart in every part of our path. That is choosing each step we take with commitment and yes with love. The distinction may be a fine one but of late I have been investigating the concept of responsibility. Maybe I’m just paraphrasing the line from Sondheim that it is not so much do what you like as like what you do. To me that also ties in with the Thelemic law of ‘Do what Thou Wilt’. If we are making choices according to our true will than those choices will by their very nature be ones that are heart-filled.
Blessings, G

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Buffeted by Cosmic WindsBuffeted by Cosmic Winds by G A Rosenberg

 

Answer His Question2Answer His Question by G A Rosenberg