“Disapproval of others is as good a reason as any for self-reflection. This can be avoided by finding others who disprove and forming a group (or mob).”
— Randall Wolfe
A kiss
A simple thing to celebrate and share
A sign of affection, passion and emotion
Sweet
yet seen by others
as divisive
they form their opinions and choose
to champion and degrade
ripples echoing the tide of the moment
yet how can something shared
to bring two together
force others apart?
In my wanderings through the web today, I came across quite a few reactions to the ESPN broadcast of NFL draft choice Michael Sam kissing his lover upon getting signed. The fact that people reacted to it amuses me more than it puzzles me. What puzzles me more is that people are more interested in defending their reactions, good and bad, than they are at reflecting on them and seeing them as the gift of self-knowledge they could be. I would rather gain understanding of my own biases and opinions than I would judging those of others. This understanding may lead me to growth. Yet few seemed interested in gaining this understanding. Instead, they would rather either justify their opinions or incite others into expressing the same. It puzzles me.
Blessings, G
“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.”
― Alan Wilson Watts
Perspectives
Heading towards destruction or salvation
Circling the drain or raising up the spiral
Is it the end of the world or the caterpillar’s cry
as he weaves his cocoon?
What if we lost our sense of right and wrong
and saw everything as being the path?
What if we stopped judging ourselves, our society, our planet
and worked on ourselves
in kindness and compassion towards others?
If we are all stars
then there are no wrong constellations.
If this is all illusion
a play put on for cosmic edification
then does it matter how the play turns out?
Will we not all take off our costumes
and makeup for the cast party at the end?
Is the difference between us and the stars
that we lend such gravity towards our existence?
Where we see injustice, is it truly part of the dance?
What is it meant to teach us?
“I want to learn how to hold the paradoxical poles of my identity together, to embrace the profoundly opposite truths that my sense of self is deeply dependent on others dancing with me and that I still have a sense of self when no one wants to dance.”
― Parker J. Palmer
Who am I? That is probably one of the most profound questions we can ask ourselves. The chances are good that of the several answers that come up, over half will describe who we are in relationship to others. It’s incredible how our identities change in that respect. My identity in relation to my parents may be very different from what it is in relationship to friends which again is very different than who I am to my lover or my boss. Does who we are change or is it just different facets of our being and what is the totality at the core of it. Who are we in relationship to ourselves and the universe? How do we uncover that true authentic self and how do we fearlessly and authentically show it to the others in our lives? If each facet of our identity is but a snapshot in time and space, how do we find the subject of the snapshot?
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full-sized:
Secrets Uncovered, Discoveries About to Be Made by G A Rosenberg
“I do know that the gardens of the first lands are still lying there, right under the skin of the world- pulsing the way our heartbeat drums under our own skin. And I believe that there’s a connectedness between everything that gives some people a deep and abiding affinity to a certain kind of place or creature.”
“Like totems?”
“Maybe. Or maybe something even more personal- something that’s impossible to articulate with the vocabulary we have at the moment.”
“This is too weird.”
Annie shrugged. “What can I say? It’s getting late, the stars are out. Once the sun sets, I tend to embrace whatever wild spirits are running around in the darkness, talking away to each other. I leave the logic of streets and pavement and cars and tall buildings behind and buy into the old magics that they’re whispering about. Sometimes those little mysteries and bits of wisdom stick to the bones of my head and I carry them right out into the sunlight again. They’re like Jack’s stories, true and not true, all at the same time. They don’t exactly shape my life, but they certainly colour it.” She glanced at him, “I wouldn’t like to live in a world where everything’s as cut-and-dried as most people think it is”
― Charles de Lint
The drumbeat calls
as I wander towards it
My road has been dark
with many missteps along the way
For too long my inner voice has felt silent
Yet now I hear a pounding beat
and there is an answering echo inside
It’s calling me in moonlight
and I long to strip off my clothes
and dance naked beneath the stars..
Stripped of clothes and reason
I follow awkwardly
to inner rhythm
the beat within
I hear it louder now
there are others dancing here
are they spirits called
by the drumming sound
or travellers like myself
Is there a difference?
I see faces out of memory and dream
they all move in and out of rhythm
in and out of beat
I slowly feel the flow
and get lost
I still to the drum’s sound
as my own silences
Dawn comes
as the drumming slows
The other dancers fade except a few
one stays with me
and we watch the sun come up together
and rest in each other’s arms
we fall asleep together
When we awake
we may love to the beat
that still echoes within
— G A Rosenberg
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full-sized:
Glowing Baby Meets the Insect Queen by G A Rosenberg
“Our mothers always remain the strangest, craziest people we’ve ever met.”
― Marguerite Duras
I have so many things in my life for which I’m grateful. One of them is that growing up I had the love and wisdom (and sometimes craziness) of two wonderful mothers. The first is my own mother who passed away a few years back. From her I get much of my sense of humour and understanding of what family is and what it should be. She was the one who always believed in me the most and my potential but would tell me in no uncertain terms when I had gotten it wrong. She listened to me during the dark times and was able to tell me when I was being an ass.
During one of the darkest times in my life she told me what kept her going was an unknown aspect of god she called Molly after the Unsinkable Molly Brown (as played by Debby Reynolds in the movie of that same name). Like Debby Reynolds sang in the movie when things got dark she would “pick herself up, dust herself off and start all over again.” That aspect of god for her, her Molly allowed my mother to do that and she told me that I could borrow her Molly when I needed it. This precious gift has helped me often over the years.
After my parents divorced, my father married my step-mother Anja. If my mother taught me how to fearlessly speak my mind, Anja taught me when to not speak it. A good deal of my civilized behaviour and manners come from Anja along with a lot of love and pride. She has been an amazing woman who is in many ways the epitome of graciousness.
Without both of these woman in my life, I would have been a very different and most probably a lesser man. To both of these woman and all mothers out there, I wish a wonderful and joyous Mother’s day.
Blessings, G
“You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
What have you tamed? Have you tamed your restless spirit and let it find a home? Have you tamed your mind ever exploding in a million directions with ideas that seem either equally good or preposterous depending on your mood? Have you tamed another and made them a pet? Who so takes responsibility for another rather than teaching them to be responsible for themselves?
I tamed my wandering nature…and taught it to stay still.
I tamed my despair…allowing it to leave as it came and myself to know it did not have to tray.
I tamed my anger…learning how to express it.
so many parts still run wild within me. For I am not ready to take responsibility for them.
My inertia I blame on distractions.
My envy I blame on the accomplishment of others.
my lack of focus i blame on so much being so interesting.
One day I will take ownership and even that ownership I will tame.
I know that true power comes from responsibility and is a byproduct thereof
I just have to allow myself that power..
Blessings, G
“When focusing only on one’s credentials one boasts his own incompetence in his capacity for discernment of the individual.”
― Criss Jami
I met this old professor.
He wore his degrees like medals.
He would talk for hours of
all that he had learned thirty years ago
yet when I asked
what he had learned since
or what made his heart sing
he gave me a blank stare
“Hearts do not sing”, he scoffed
“I have learned all I need to know long ago.”
He walked away as there was nothing he could teach me.
He was right.
I met an old street woman.
She was a Princess in the land
she was from
or so she said.
She had only three tobacco stained teeth in her mouth
and her eyes shone.
She had dreams dancing there
and each one brought her from day to day.
She said for five dollars
she would tell me a secret
I handed her the money and she said.
“Love, Dream, Learn, Share”
I longed to forever here her teachings
I saw a child playing
He ran up to me and said “Play”
He did a little dance
I said “I must complete this project”
and then perhaps I will.
He looked at me and did a little dance.
He hugged me and then skipped and said “Play”
Totally in the moment
One day he would grow
and worry about yesterday and tomorrow
but today he was present.
I joined the Teacher in the moment
and danced in the now.
— G A Rosenberg
“Intelligence is the capacity to receive, decode and transmit information efficiently. Stupidity is blockage of this process at any point. Bigotry, ideologies etc. block the ability to receive; robotic reality-tunnels block the ability to decode or integrate new signals; censorship blocks transmission.”
— Robert Anton Wilson
Are you letting your life flow? Are you remaining open to possibility? Do you accept every person as they are as a gift that the universe and or your higher self has given you? Can you shut off the inner voice that all too often is saying “yes but…” and turn it around to say “yes and…?” Do you reject dreams and hopes or do you encourage them? The intellect tends to discern and discriminate showing us the differences between things, breaking them down. Our intelligence operating at peak capacity accepts all and encourages us to bring it all together. How open can we be? How open can we afford to be which also begs the question how open can we refuse not to be?
Blessings, G
Debut Performance by G A Rosenberg 
