compassion - Waking Spirals - Page 4

Random Thoughts of Reality, Pain and Love — Consciousness Stream

“I’m not crazy about reality, but it’s still the only place to get a decent meal.”
― Groucho Marx

Reality has its moments…the whole gamut of reactions, sad,mad, glad, joy around every corner but gut wrenching pain as well… not only feeling our pain but the pain of those we love and the more we open ourselves to love the more pain we feel… the more joy too and those moments, those special moments where everything makes sense and the universe fits together we need to hold onto particularly at the moments when we half convince ourselves that we are alone and want to turtle-like pull into our shells of pain… when we feel hurt by those who lash out with their own pain because hurting us gives them a way of externalizing it. It is a strange way of saying ‘I love you’..this projectile compassion…perhaps it is a step to the real thing…we can do it too.. project the love we feel onto them letting it spill outwards…being a mirror not of the injury but the health…
Blessings, G

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Chewing Through Adversity by G A Rosenberg

Gaia Emergent by G A Rosenberg

Beyond Opposites

“Our mind is capable of passing beyond the dividing line we have drawn for it. Beyond the pairs of opposites of which the world consists, other, new insights begin.”
― Hermann Hesse

Where are your lines? Where are your boundaries? Where is it that you demarcate between what is something you believe in and what is not? What defines you? Have you ever blurred the line, even for a moment and pretended you believed something else, that you are someone else as so many of us define ourselves by what we believe.

I enjoy stretching myself. I talk to someone new and I try to imagine what its like to see the universe as they see it. I ask questions and learn and I find myself falling into their reality. Oh quite often I’ll find it to be a garment that doesn’t quite fit but the wearing of it has given me something precious and I can now remember what it was like. It has made a permanent impression on how I will see things from now on and when I talk to my friend from that point on (and when you have shared something as intimate as a reality, how can you not be friends?) it will be with a greater understanding of where they are coming from. Of course they may be evolving also so perhaps once again I’ll dive in and learn.
Blessings, G

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That Was Just a Dream by G A Rosenberg

Ra Hoor Khuit by G A Rosenberg

Where My Work Lies…

“I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion–and where it isn’t, that’s where my work lies.”
― Ram Dass

Lately I’ve been hearing people talking a lot about what resonates with them and what doesn’t. Quite often they say it in the context of dismissing or not engaging with anything that doesn’t resonate with them. Not everything is going to click with everyone and that’s understandable. I am puzzled that I don’t hear people asking themselves WHY something doesn’t resonate.

Usually when I have a knee jerk reaction to something especially one of revulsion, it is because it is hitting either some kind of trigger for me or it’s hitting me in a blind spot. Case in point, when people talk about certain issues with families, I tend to turn it into a joke because it rings too close to the truth. If somebody presses it, I will change the topic of conversation. I could have said the topic didn’t resonate with me but I was in fact avoiding a truth about how I relate to my family. Once I started asking why or more properly what might be causing this reaction I opened myself up to a valuable lesson. At the very least, using my reactions as a basis for self-inquiry rather than avoidance has made me a lot more compassionate and to have a lot more confidence in and knowledge of myself.
Blessings, G

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Star Hawk by G A Rosenberg

Flame Mist by G A Rosenberg

I’d Rather Suffer…

“”My argument with so much of psychoanalysis, is the preconception that suffering is a mistake, or a sign of weakness, or a sign even of illness, when in fact, possibly the greatest truths we know have come out of people’s suffering; that the problem is not to undo suffering or to wipe it off the face of the earth but to make it inform our lives, instead of trying to cure ourselves of it constantly and avoid it, and avoid anything but that lobotomized sense of what they call “happiness.” There’s too much of an attempt, it seems to me, to think in terms of controlling man, rather than freeing him. Of defining him rather than letting him go. It’s part of the whole ideology of this age, which is power-mad.”
— Arthur Miller.

Would you give up all of the moments that have given you pain for a life of bland happiness? I know I wouldn’t. For in those moments that have hurt the worst I learned to claim the largest parts of myself. From thoughtlessly betraying a friend, I learned how certain rifts can never be fully healed and to trust my judgement just a little bit more. From the moments I felt the most alone, I learned both self-reliance and an empathy for the lonely. I learned how to love another by doing it wrong and causing pain both to myself and others and I learned that kindness goes a lot further than anger tho both have their place. I would never wish to be spared the tears in my life or heart for those have taught me the greatest compassion.

I would never wish to spare my son the pain of his mistakes tho I will feel it along with him. It would be the greatest disservice to him to try, Rumi said that the cracks are where the light comes in and I have learned that to be true. Gratitude ensues.
Blessings, G

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She by G A Rosenberg

Starry-Eyed by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – March 20 2013

“It’s a little embarrassing that after 45 years of research & study, the best advice I can give people is to be a little kinder to each other.”
― Aldous Huxley

I’ve watched The Horse Whisperer and the Dog Whisperer. They teach people how to communicate with their animals and understand what the animals are communicating. Tonight I saw a book titled the Teen Whisperer. That’s great. I want to be the Heart Whisperer, the Ego Whisperer, the Self Whisperer , someone who can communicate my needs to myself and understand the blocks. Once I can do that, I’ll no longer need a dog whisperer or a teen whisperer or any other kind. Once I’ve removed the blocks to communication from the inside, I will be able to understand the hearts and selves of others with no problem.
Blessings, G

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Haunted by Her Shadow by G A Rosenberg

The Next Atomic Level by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – January 7 2013

“The warrior who trusts his path doesn’t need to prove the other is wrong”
— Paulo Coelho

I have noticed a disturbing trend lately. People, who’s opinion I value and whom I think of as amazing spiritual beings interested in self-development have problems when they encounter someone who’s on a path that’s way different then the theirs. It’s as if by living my life a certain way I am challenging their sense of themselves. What makes this even more strange is that they see this as being a horrible thing to do and occasionally feel victimized by my stating my truth. I LOVE having my sense of self challenged and tested. Quite often it points out my blind spots and enables me to learn. By integrating someone else’s story with mine I can learn so much and often gain a lesson in compassion. If we fully live in our story and that includes not only the possibility of change but the inevitability of it as well, then we can face another’s story with pleasure even if it is wildly different. Do we only go to movies or read books that only show people similar to ourselves or do we go to for a brief time inhabit another world. Why would we condemn the world that we can enter through another’s eyes? Blessings, G

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Tarot – Nine of Swords by G A Rosenberg

Spoked by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – December 25 2012

“When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin

Dear Spirit of the Season (commonly known as Santa),
What an amazing year it’s been since we’ve last talked. Thank you so much for the magic that I found in my stocking last Christmas morning. It was a small thing but watered with Dreams and Intent grew into a wonderful fire of the imagination.
It allowed me to imagine myself inside the heads and hearts of others and taught me further lessons on the difference between sympathy and compassion and how to truly help others.
It taught me to see the world in different ways than I was raised to see it and how to break free of my conditioned upbringing and understand the world that much better..
It allowed me to stretch my mind to accept that many more views of how the world work and look at each of them critically
It gifted me with the ability to convey my visions in art and writing….
So for this and many gifts that came from that one seed of imagination
Thanks…
I can’t wait to see what comes this year…
Some requests:
Greater understanding felt by all. Sometimes feeling understood is all that’s needed to be able to give it to others.
That everyone at some time feel hugged and loved at least once a day.
That the world leaders smarten up and step down and the world’s followers realize that they don’t need leaders.
Most of all that we realize we’re all in this together
Sincerely,
G
Blessings, G

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Solstice Campfire With The Triple Goddess by G A Rosenberg

Journey Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 20 2012

“If I can see pain in your eyes then share with me your tears. If I can see joy in your eyes then share with me your smile.”
― Santosh Kalwar

I have so much to be grateful to the universe for. One of the biggest is that if I sense someone truly in pain around me, I will stop and listen and help if I can. I have worked hard to take as my creed the idea that “shared pain is lessened, shared joy increased”. At times, when friends on FB contact me or call me with problems, I find myself impatient but then quite often I feel the sheer need to connect that is there and I force myself. I don’t feel this is an ego thing as much as a way I’ve been given to serve and I am thankful for it. Of course I love the other half of the equation as well. I love to laugh, joke and share humour and it is expanded. It makes me hope that no matter what I share, pain, joy or both that I am authentic when I do so.
Blessings, G

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Manifesting the Seed by G A Rosenberg

Electric Pinwheel by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – September 21 2012

“If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.”
― Marcus Aurelius

We return to the elephant. You remember the one of which the blind men disagreed as to its exact nature.( Quote of the Day – March 26 2012) If the blind men were to try to integrate their views of the elephant they would come to a greater understanding of its nature just as each individual view of reality we are able to integrate with our own can bring deeper understanding. I had an interesting discussion this evening about the above quote. I want to write it as if it was instead had by the blind men.

Blind Man 1: To me this elephant is like a tree trunk. What is it like to you?

Blind Man 2: We know the elephant exists and that is enough. Our true selves know the nature of it.

Blind Man 1: That is true but how does that further our understanding here and now. If you tell me what the elephant seems like to you, perhaps by looking at both, we can gain greater understanding.

Blind Man 2: The elephant only has whatever meaning we give it.

Blind Man 3: WTF?

It’s not so much that I disagree with Blind Man 2 just that his point of view does not seem helpful in terms of living life to the highest degree of truth possible. Nor does it help promote empathy towards the experience of the other blind men. It occurs to me often that many of the problems that our world faces today comes from lack of empathy and compassion (the ability to step in another’s footsteps).

Blessings, G

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Red-Gold Galaxy by G A Rosenberg

Blue-Red Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – September 8 2012

“One man practicing kindness in the wilderness is worth all the temples this world pulls.”
― Jack Kerouac

Today I found myself having a couple of conversations about kindness and compassion, what they mean and what they don’t mean. I’d like to share the questions that came up even more than any answers. Often questions seem more useful.

1) Is it kinder to point out someone’s blind spot so they may have the opportunity to grow or to act like it doesn’t exist?

2) How do we discern the difference between attacking an idea that someone has espoused and attacking the person? How do we realize that it is what we have said that has been challenged and that there was no personal attack at all?

3) What is self-development worth to us. Are we willing to sacrifice what we are for what we may become>

4) If you help a person to grow through extreme means and they thank you afterwards (retroactive consent) , have you violated the person they were?

5) How many of these questions have different answers based on the situation?

Just some food for thought.
Blessings, G

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She Holds Her Children Close by G A Rosenberg

Exploring Shapes on an An Exploded Ruby Abstract by G A Rosenberg