Month: November 2014

Slow Beauty Awareness

 

“The slow arrow of beauty. The most noble kind of beauty is that which does not carry us away suddenly, whose attacks are not violent or intoxicating (this kind easily awakens disgust), but rather the kind of beauty which infiltrates slowly, which we carry along with us almost unnoticed, and meet up with again in dreams; finally, after it has for a long time lain modestly in our heart, it takes complete possession of us, filling our eyes with tears, our hearts with longing.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche

 

Your smile appeared
last night in my dream
like the one that Alice saw
combined with Mona Lisa elegance
so much like the one I’ve seen for years
yet last night
I noticed
The appreciation sending heartfelt echoes
back through time
Never was the sunrise brighter
carrying past gift and future promises
in its wake.
— G A Rpsenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Viewing The End of the FalseVision of the Burning of the False by G A Rosenberg

 

HarbingerHarbinger by G A Rosenberg

 

Self-Revelation

 

“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.”
— Ansel Adams

 

I stand naked before the court
exposed before my self
judge and jury watch
as I accuse and defend my being
Here is my ignorance
and my indifference to cries
I pretended not to hear
Here is my fear
that excuse for inauthenticity
Here my sense of beauty
and my kindness
Here my concern and my thoughts
I drone on for hours
ripping off the layers of my being
more revealed with each word
until finally I am exhausted
A feather hovers in the air
and my sentence delivered.
With new clarity I go forth.
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Cute Yes, but Look at his DreamsCute But Look at His Dreams by G A Rosenberg

 

Stained Glass ExplosionStained Glass Explosion by G A Rosenberg

 

Moving Outside the Frame

 

“In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame. On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”
— Robert M. Pirsig

 

These days most of us spend way too much time removed from our surroundings. We spend time on our computers and phones and look out the windows of our offices, homes and cars. Being truly in our surroundings with nothing separating us from our experience enhances our lives so much. It is not only in our bodies that we limit ourselves to viewing life through a window. We do it constantly with our thoughts. We dismiss experiences and outlooks that are outside our frame of reference either because we fear what we may see, find it too odd or too opposed to how we see life. If only we could drop our life lenses and leave our reality tunnels aside and consider each viewpoint directly without worrying about how it fits in with ours. It would be like going outdoors after too long a period of just looking through the window and the scenery is so beautiful.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Riding Under the Stars (Aloces)Riding Under the Stars (Aloces) by G A Rosenberg

 

Fetching the UniverseFetching the Universe by G A Rosenberg

 

Cutting Up in Verse

 

“What Bill [William S. Burroughs] explained to me then was pivotal to the unfolding of my life and art: Everything is recorded. If it is recorded, then it can be edited. If it can be edited then the order, sense, meaning and direction are as arbitrary and personal as the agenda and/or person editing. This is magick. For if we have the ability and/or choice of how things unfold—regardless of the original order and/or intention that they are recorded in—then we have control over the eventual unfolding. If reality consists of a series of parallel recordings that usually go unchallenged, then reality only remains stable and predictable until it is challenged and/or the recordings are altered, or their order challenged.”
— Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (Thee Psychick Bible)

 

Cut up images flow
like a tree in the desert
longing for the fiery blaze
that feeds the heat
of the tidal wave.
The three-legged chair
beats the wounded man
as the piano comforts
his raging slippers.
Begat oranges said the
wizened cactus
as the warrior
finds his true
ocean
through dreams that
scissors seek
and the morning’s
bright stars forgot.
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Madness in the DetailsMadness in the Details by G A Rosenberg

 

DetonationDetonation by G A Rosenberg

 

Breaking the Rules (Essence Over Form)

 

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
― Pablo Picasso

 

I was told tonight on social media that my haikus would never sell in Japan because I don’t stick to the strict rules of haiku. There is supposed to be mention of a season in each one and strict attention not only to syllable count but sentence construction within so that:

The autumn flower
in its last breath’s conclusion
prepares for a new life

might work and satisfy but

Seeking more knowledge
I submerge within shadow
finding my substance

doesn’t even tho it may prove more evocative for many and definitely is a clearer form of self-expression. I replied that to analyze poetry with slavish attention to rules might very well miss the point of the poem entirely. It’s always good to have an understanding of the rules of any system yet I value essence over form any day. It may not sell in Japan or anywhere else but it is definitely a more satisfying experience.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Nature Friend (Barbatos)Barbatos by G A Rosenberg

 

Insect AbstractInsect Abstract by G A Rosenberg

 

Agreeable

 

“So, in the interests of survival, they trained themselves to be agreeing machines instead of thinking machines. All their minds had to do was to discover what other people were thinking, and then they thought that, too.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

 

I often try to be agreeable even when I am challenged by the ideas of another. I tend to go by adages such as Ken Wilber’s that “Everyone is right but partial.” If I listen long enough surely I will begin to understand the ways in which they are right and be able to integrate that into my own world view. I even try to do this in my relationships. I know I don’t hold a monopoly on truth (no one does) so surely there are ways in which I am both wrong and correct in most situations. Until I perceive how I tend to agree. At least it keeps the other person talking and explaining when they feel I am open to what they have to say. Eventually tho I ask questions for clarifications. If something at that point doesn’t feel right, I will examine my own biases in my outlook towards life and also test to see whether the person speaking has put any critical thought into what they are saying. Have they considered that they may be wrong? Have they looked at other viewpoints? If they have, have they just leaped from one fixed point to another without considering how to integrate the two? At that point I either reach agreement within myself and have something new to integrate or I disagree. This whole process usually takes anywhere from 30 seconds to a few months depending on how new the ideas are to me, how fixed the person is in their viewpoint and my willingness and availability to continue the conversation.
Too many people find either a person or a group of people with whom they share some ideas and start agreeing with them no matter what they say. They sometimes take it to the extent that they stop examining their own thought processes in their need for approval from this group or leader. This is the type of machine like thinking that all too often leads to ‘one solution fits all’ or ‘if you don’t agree with us, you’re evil’ type thinking and in the worse cases religious extremism, intolerance and war. At the very least it is a form of mental, emotional and spiritual suicide.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

ReManifestRemanifest by G A Rosenberg

 

Inside the SnakeInside the Snake by G A Rosenberg

 

Star PortalStar Portal by G A Rosenberg

 

Learning Critical Thought

 

“We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless.”
— Vladimir Nabokov

 

Don’t speak unless you know what you are talking about would seem to make a lot of sense. I know I’ve thought it enough times when my fifteen year old son who knows as only a fifteen year old can with total certainty what life’s about starts displaying loudly his opinions on things like marriage, jobs, relationships, politics etc. Yet if we don’t present our thoughts for inspection and dialectic than how can we test them? Is it not also experience to say what we’re thinking and have it challenged so that we can think critically about it? Critical thinking seems as I advance in years to be becoming more and more important and yet fewer and fewer people seem to practice it. Without critical thought about our experiences how do we put them into context. It is only by constantly challenging our own ideas by either discussion or experience that we can truly grow.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Setian EchoesSetian Echoes by G A Rosenberg

 

FireBrand (Aim)Firebrand (Aim) by G A Rosenberg
Exploding Into a New FrameExploding Into a New Frame by G A Rosenberg