“I can see myself before myself—
A being through dark scenery.”
― Dejan Stojanovic
We shroud ourselves in self illusion…wearing veils of protective clothing and if most of us undress at all, we do it in the dark in our sleep where our masks fall off only to be replaced as soon as daylight hits…For to see ourselves true takes work. It starts with a commitment to honesty and a willingness to catch ourselves in our own lies…accepting imperfections and knowing they need work. Continue with discipline and meditation and a desire to confront our demons and accept them as part of us. Yes part of us appears ugly, some of that ugliness has come from those who love us and others in the world. Some we have built up for protection. It’s all part of that dark scenery that we wear. Once we can accept our shadow selves and commit to honesty we need to go deeper still. How far have I gotten? Still miles to go before I stand unclothed before myself but I’m working on it.
Blessings, G
“If you leave the pool you have dug for yourself and go out into the river of life then life has an astonishing way of taking care of you, because then there is no taking care on your part.”
–Jiddu Krishnamurti
Swimming in a river of words
I tend to fill my pool with familiar textures
and phrase, the better to feel at ease
but what if i was to let go
venture outside acceptable parameters
into dark swells of under-utilized expressions
warm touches and feels unknown
I tread and I trust
and let befuddlement steer my passage
strange cadences
in unfamiliar rapture
my existence caught up
by eerie linguistic spectres
yet still i stay afoot
baptized in new jargon
beholden to the weaver of words.
— G A Rosenberg
“Take me with you. For laughs, for luck, for the unknown. Take me with you.”
― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn
We make a splendid band of travellers
Caught in our own explorations
and then comparing notes
talking about the strange places
that this one or that one had been to
and the bizarre things they’ve done
along the way
Still in all the voices in my head
I listen for the biggest gems
of self-discovery and renewal come from the least expected places..
I listen to the drumming, the strange rhythms
and I dance to the beat
I hear a new land calling
without, within, without, within
Mobius Striped
I journey once more…
— G A Rosenberg
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full-sized:
Casting a Shadow by G A Rosenberg
Constructing a Matrix of Possibilities by G A Rosenberg
“Eventually all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.
— Norman Maclean
From Mountains to Prairies and now to the banks of a river tho all along the river has flowed through washing many emotions along with it. Wounded pride and fear is in there along with love, hope and family. Currents of patience flows in and out leaving me somewhat exhausted by the tidal pull. So many things I believed I have outgrown come washing up on the banks of my inner river tho they will either decompose in the wind and sunlight or be carried further to wash up again. Positive things flow through. Love and inner knowledge and a certain wistfulness all get caught up in currents and eddys. As long as I give nothing a chance to cling it will be fine.
The river has always offered me wisdom and even now it whispers. Let it go… I am always here and will always be.. the river within and without…
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?
“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
“We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps.”
― Hermann Hesse
I’ve done this before…trusted too much…didn’t try hard enough…lost my nerve and now the cycle repeats. Yet I am not back at the beginning. In truth none goes backwards. I have this cycle of experiences added to my wheelhouse and that may be enough to change how things turn out. No perfect circles exist in life, the spiral moves ever outwards. I too move with the spiral growing, changing, learning. I look down at where I was and I realize it anew. I look out at what is possible and I rise with hope, inspired.
Blessings, G
So the call of all Nondual traditions is: Abide as Emptiness, embrace all Form. The liberation is in the Emptiness, never in the Form, but Emptiness embraces all forms as a mirror all its objects…You and the universe are One Taste
–Ken Wilber
Removal of attachment to disapproval…allowing thing to enter into awareness that we would normally dismiss out of hand…letting it flow out again…letting go… even of the things we like and love…allowing them to come and go at will…encompassing all yet holding none…emptying my bowl…emptying my cup… emptying myself…yet more seems to enter…the bucket never fully empties yet even that is an attachment…i will embrace what contains all.. my Nuit… and yet not embrace but join with …becoming centred in the emptiness ..for a second..for a moment..for eternity and then it fills again… release anger, release shame, release fear…release love, release confidence, release releasing and hold… with each wave..i become emptier then more full.. a never ending breath in the ocean of existence…consciousness of consciousness…nothing of nothingness…and so the dance continues …
Blessings, G
“Your head’s like mine, like all our heads; big enough to contain every god and devil there ever was. Big enough to hold the weight of oceans and the turning stars. Whole universes fit in there! But what do we choose to keep in this miraculous cabinet? Little broken things, sad trinkets that we play with over and over. The world turns our key and we play the same little tune again and again and we think that tune’s all we are.”
― Grant Morrison
I want to reach deeper
into the hidden caverns of myth and story.
I want to use the buried imagery
to paint mind pictures
that will echo in your deepest memories.
Too long on automatic pilot
skimming the surface, facile myths
and children’s tales oft captured before
but the snake’s energy lies within me
wanting to spring up
but only if I meet it half way.
The currents may drag me under
but if my intent’s direction is set
I’ll find my way back to the surface
with treasure in my being
to share and set you off on your own voyage….
“What should I possibly have to tell you, oh venerable one? Perhaps that you’re searching far too much? That in all that searching, you don’t find the time for finding?”
― Hermann Hesse
In searching for the true essence of something, do we deconstruct it, reduce it to its component elements? In all the parts that make up our physical form, where do we find our essence… a doctor (or butcher) could dissect us in every way possible and still never see it… Perhaps to understand the essence of something, the trick is not to open it but to open ourselves…and find that in ourselves that relates…
True Mirrors, whether they be people or objects can either cause us unbelievable bliss or painful aversion..all depending on how well we can handle what is reflected back to us..
It’s not meaning that we search for as much as that something in ourselves that will help us know and understand.
Shaman Enchanted Evening by G A Rosenberg 
Sheltering Strange Birds by G A Rosenberg 
