Not So Unusual

“That proves you are unusual,’ returned the Scarecrow; ‘and I am convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed.”
― L. Frank Baum

 

Alike in our differences
delight in them
yet inside regret at separation..
We stand out and know
no hammer that can force our fit
We’d break before that
yet many hammers have broke before me
and many more to come
— GAR

 

I have known many people who try to fit in with the norm. They attempt the facade of the trendy or the conservative in their actions, views and words. Yet talk to anyone for long enough and you can see past their image and into their heart and that whether it be in secret love, fetish or thought that they are unique and to be treasured. Most people are worth the effort of getting to know that well tho some make it more difficult than others to be sure
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized: </h5?
 

They Talked Until MorningThey Talked Until Morning About Many Things by G A Rosenberg

 

Against a Purple SkyAgainst a Purple Sky by G A Rosenberg

 

Art Gallery 2013 **COMPLETE* and Contest

The Art Gallery- 2013 page has been updated with the pictures from October and November 2013. Please browse through and if you have an interest in purchasing any prints please contact me at rambled@mac.com

 

Contest

 

Now that all of the pictures are up, let me know which picture from 2013 you like the best and you can win a signed 12″ X 18″ print of your favorite. Either answer in the comments or email me at rambled@mac.com

 

Click on image to go to the 2013 Art Gallery Page:

 

December 2013

 

Casting Spells

 

“Words are a pretext. It is the inner bond that draws one person to another, not words.”
― Rumi

 

Yet words cast spells and bind reality into existence
they bring us together and rub us raw against each other
as each rough edge, exposed wears down
we smooth and sooth
and then skim ourselves across the water
casting more spells in turn.
By our words we are known
and by our deeds we are told
we erect Towers with our words
then crash them upon the shore of our beings
waiting for truer ones to come…
Without words how would we ever know silence?
— GAR

 

Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Confronting DesireConfronting Desire by G A Rosenberg

 

Radial PlaneRadial Plane by G A Rosenberg

 

Twigging

 

“A word is a bud attempting to become a twig. How can one not dream while writing? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives the right to dream.”
― Gaston Bachelard

 

Growth
Dream to word to dream again
Containment, edit, reframe
shape, add water, dream bigger
write more…let the flow develop
Sentences to Paragraphs
the dream made word
the word made thought
and the thought expanded.
The page, having lost its virginity
opens willingly, its innocence taken
with any luck though its integrity maintained.
Still expansion and expansion, buildup and release
flow through until full expression occurs
and the full flower of page’s potential
becomes seen and shared.

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Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Dance of the Warped Double HelixDance of the Warped Double Helix by G A Rosenberg

 

Night WorkingNight Working by G A Rosenberg

 

Slivers From Glass Houses

“There are no private lives. This a most important aspect of modern life. One of the biggest transformations we have seen in our society is the diminution of the sphere of the private. We must reasonably now all regard the fact that there are no secrets and nothing is private. Everything is public.”
― Philip K. Dick

 

Would this really be true and privacy not a possibility than we would be on our way to being telepathic? How much effort do we put into our secrets, whether they be secret thoughts or resentments we don’t even want those closest to us to know or things we do that we’re ashamed of? In a world where privacy was truly lost, forgiveness would grow. How could we stand naked, all of our foibles extant and not forgive those of our neighbour? Yet still it seems with the fiction of privacy we all throw brick missiles from our glass towers, perhaps feeling in our primate way the need to find sins and secrets somehow worse than our own. This, then is the era of privacy diminished and shattered glass and many slivers will we each get before we lose shame and learn compassion. Perhaps we need to start clearing the fields now, live openly so that what is lost will never be missed.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Red Star LatticeRed Star Lattice by G A Rosenberg

 

Spreading the Multicoloured WordSpreading the Multicoloured Word by G A Rosenberg

 

The Fight For Authenticity

 

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.”
–e e cummings

Thanks to AdamFromNorway for the quote and for having some of the coolest blogs around

 

Am I a programmed sheep? Am I a spiritual seeker? “No, there’s no need to seek everything is perfect just as it is?” “Why expose your shadow?” “Why are you afraid of your shadow, it’s a necessary part of you?” “Don’t judge. I don’t judge I discern?” “Bitches be like…” “Men are like…” “The government’s the enemy.” “Guns are the enemy” “The banisters are the enemy” ” The dance goes on endlessly. It’s another day looking at Facebook.
I’ve met many great people on Facebook and have had lots of interesting discussions with them. In some ways it is the best and worst party you could ever want to go to. Yet after awhile, it seems people get locked into roles and into the same old discussions playing the same parts and somewhere along the line authenticity gets lost. In a vacuum isolated from others, it would presumably be easy to become more and more yourself. However, it is when we are pulled from our comfort zones by others that we stand the most chance to grow. Paradoxical? Perhaps but then ultimately what isn’t.
I have found it fairly easy to adapt a viewpoint and be able to see it from the inside. What this often means is that I can see the reasoning behind multiple sides of an argument. Where I get into trouble is when I fall into one side or another merely to impress or to placate and I lose site of my own awareness. Thus authenticity gets compromised. Luckily tho it is difficult, my own centre calls to me. May I never wander too far from it.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

MessengerMessenger by G A Rosenberg

 

Radial PlaneRadial Plane by G A Rosenberg

What We Deserve…

 

“We deserve all the good things that happen to us. Don’t feel guilty. Accept the blessings”
— Paulo Coelho

 

When I first read the above quote, I was struck by how many different levels there can be in a simple eloquent statement. On the one hand I asked myself, is he saying that we deserve and are deserving of whatever comes to us either good or bad? Does that mean that people who suffer deserve their suffering? It occurred to me that that is a stretch for Mr. Coelho does not talk about the bad things but the good.
I have know several people who were so convinced that all they deserved was hardship and pain that when their lives actually improved, they sabotaged them because they did not feel they deserved it. In many cases, the people who did this were kids which made it even rougher to experience along with them. If only they could see that the full experience of life was available to them, the joy and delight as well as the sorrow. Indeed this full gamut seems to come part and parcel with the spirit and the DNA. If only we could accept it.
Likewise, if we only see the good, then our experience is also limited. Many times it is through adversity that we receive our greatest gifts. We become able to see just how strong we are and we develop compassion for others in whatever difficulties that they are experiencing. Indeed, often the parts of our lives that seem the most difficult are the ones we look back and treasure.
I hope to maintain equilibrium and continue to know both joy and pain, compassion and appreciation.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Volcanic EveningVolcanic Evening by G A Rosenberg

 

Alternating CurrentsAlternating Currents by G A Rosenberg

Conversational Opportunities

 

“Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me?
And why should I not speak to you?”
― Walt Whitman

 

I love meeting learning and learning about new people. Some of the most memorable conversations I have had have been with strangers. Yet, I find myself more and more with the thoughts in my own head. When working on a piece of art or writing and the little notification goes off on FaceBook I tend to growl and then reluctantly answer. On some level any communication that comes my way is meant to either as lesson, goad or spur. Who knows what opportunities for growth there may be in one simple conversation? Even when I answer a call from someone I may find less pleasant to interact with, I realize I may gain insight into myself (if only what in them is striking sparks off me.). Every interaction whether with a loved one, a stranger or ourselves is an opportunity. This is what I tell myself when the telephone interrupts my train of thought, anyway.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Aspects of NeedAspects of Need by G A Rosenberg

 

StreamersLunar Streamers by G A Rosenberg

Best of 2013 (Part 2)

 

“May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall!”
― Aleister Crowley

 

My wish for all here– I have not found anyone or anything who has stated it better:

 

Neil Gaiman on New Year’s:

 

“A decade ago, I wrote:

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

And almost half a decade ago I said,

…I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you’ll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you’ll make something that didn’t exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.

And for this year, my wish for each of us is small and very simple.

And it’s this.

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”
— Neil Gaiman
Blessings and Wishes for a year that delights and challenges, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Night ShadingNight Shading by G A Rosenberg

 

Auric ShadowAuric Shadow by G A Rosenberg

 

Biting ThroughBiting Through by G A Rosenberg

 

Manifesting the Rainbow MomentManifesting the Rainbow Moment by G A Rosenberg