Tag: compassion

Quote of the Day – August 6 2012

“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

 

I believe I’ll break one of those rules now. Does a rule exist that when you have a quote, some writing and a picture on a blog entry that they should relate to each other? Is it even customary? It seems difficult when my brain tends to go all over the place so I might have to ask you to bear with me.
A few months ago I read a post on FaceBook about how wonderful life was and someone else commented indicating it was selfish to feel that way when so many suffered, were homeless and others mistreated and tormented. Reading this hit me hard because I felt truth in it and yet…
It’s way too easy to give in to despair, to feel life is too hard too unpleasant and not worth living. Many people seem intent on ruining this life for the rest of us to make it even better for them its true and yet…
In every given day even when shit storms are happening there are countless moments of beauty, a flower, the smile of a baby, the full moon, someone doing a random act of kindness for someone else.
I would not and don’t ever advocate closing our eyes, ears, hearts or minds to the plights of others. I believe compassion to be one of the most important qualities to develop along with love yet if we get so wrapped up in the horrors of the world that we can’t appreciate awesomeness than what’s any of it for? What keeps us going?
So I will admit that all too many of us have really rough lives and help in anyway I can at the moment but I will also say appreciate and love the beauty, the kindness, the love, maybe even just a bit more. It gives us the strength to make life better for everyone.
Blessings, G

Click on image to see full-size
Essence by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – August 5 2012

“you do your own time in prison. You don’t do anyone else’s time for them.”
― Neil Gaiman, American Gods

I decided on this quote tonight because I believe it has wider applications than just prison. By this I don’t mean that I see life as a prison tho I know several who do. However in both our lives on this planet as in a convict’s in prison, no one can do it for you. We can feel compassion. We can and probably should make life as easy for other people (and ourselves) as possible but we can’t live it for them. We see our brothers or sisters about to repeat a mistake we’ve seen them make several times before, We can’t do it for them or stop them. We see our kids about to learn a hard lesson. Our hearts may break but we can’t do it for them. Understanding them does not mean taking on their karma. We all have our own time and no one can do it for us. Prayer and well wishes can help however
Blessings, G

 

Click on image to see full-sized

Mind Storm by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 31 2012

“Dedicate yourself to the good you deserve and desire for yourself. Give yourself peace of mind. You deserve to be happy. You deserve delight.”
—Hannah Arendt

But can you get there without helping others work on happiness and delight as well?

Compassion is key…. I can’t imagine the disconnect that could come at being happy when others suffer. Well I could in that I believe many of the so called 1% (and some who believe that they ‘matter’ more than others) seem to have exactly that disconnect.

Is it human nature? I’d like to believe that even if it is where we started at that we are moving towards something more, a realization that we are part of a greater whole. I would love to hear your take on this.

Blessings, G

Click on images to see full size
Insignia by G A Rosenberg

Another Great Compassion Quote w/ Art

“In the face of selfishness, wonder what it might be like to walk the world with a feeling of lack, of depletion.

In the face of insults, consider where this person first learned that it’s okay to abuse others.

In the face of disconnection, think about what causes it, and ask if your response will widen the river between the two of you.

In the face of laziness, recognize the fear of living big dreams.

In the face of extremism or fundamentalism, see the clinging, as well as the terror-filled silence that would arise for that person if they risked letting go.

In the face of controlling behavior, understand the chaos that must have bred it.

In the face of ‘always needing to be right,’ see how often this person was once made wrong.

In the face of arrogance or bravado, hold gently that still, small piece that says “I’m not enough.”

In the face of drama or attention-seeking, see the person who wishes so much to be seen.

In the face of accusation, imagine what it might be like to live life with suspicion.

In the face of judgement or comparisons, step into the opportunity the world has just provided you for practicing love and acceptance.

In the face of passive-aggressiveness, recognize the child that wasn’t taught a safe way to express their truth.

In the face of anger, see the pain of isolation from others.

MOST IMPORTANTLY; In the face of ferocious hatred, believe in the possibility that there exists the potential for equally as big, intense, lovely and fiery ferocious love.”

– Kate Swoboda.

Sometimes its important to realize that at our core, we share a common humanity and a common heart. It is those who forget this, who insist that they are different, better, chosen, more deserving that tend to cause the problems. How many of them believe that because it is what they were conditioned to believe? It does not make evil selfish actions condonable but it does make them easier to understand. Many of us know how difficult it is to break early negative conditioning.
Blessings, G

 

Click on image to see full-size
Nested by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 24 2012

“for there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one’s own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes.” ― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

 

If we only focus on the positive do we ignore the voices that cry out in pain? Do we say to a child dying of starvation, “You just need to change your attitude and imagine yourself well fed and the Law of Attraction will make it happen”? Can we ignore evil going on in front of us because we aspire to something better? “How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?” Are all these questions ‘blowing in the wind’?
I believe compassion and love to be two of the most important qualities that we need to develop in ourselves in order to grow and evolve. I believe compassion to be developed by feeling and when possible healing the pain of others, definitely understanding it and that cannot happen by only focusing on the positive. There is so much suffering going on in the world today and so much healing needed. Understanding the causes of this pain and suffering is necessary otherwise we are just treating symptoms.
Life on this physical plane tends to be a balancing act. One of the tougher balancing points for me is between perceiving the world from the lens presented above  and the lens presented last night. It may be one of the tougher balances but any way I look at it one of the most necessary ones.
Blessings, G

 

Click on image to see full-size

 

Ghost in the Machine by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – May 30 2012

“Wake up first. Wake up, and then you can double back and perhaps be of some use to others if you still have the urge. Wake up first, with pure and unapologetic selfishness, or you’re just another shipwreck victim floundering in the ocean and all the compassion in the world is of absolutely no use to the other victims floundering around you.     — Jed McKenna

As I was looking for a quote for this evening, I held a question in my mind. How could I balance spiritual development with getting involved politically and compassion for those made to suffer by others. For me one of the largest elements of a spiritual path is to develop empathy and compassion for all. What good does it do one to mediate for weeks and achieve deepest satori if it means that we can’t hear the cry of a hungry child? OK extreme example yet pertinent.
I can find merit in what Jed McKenna is saying here tho I don’t know that I agree with him. Surely on my path to travel I can find a way combines spiritual practice with political awareness. It will be found.
Blessings, G

 

& nbsp;

Click on image to see full-size

Sun Shining Down by G A Rosenberg

Coiled by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – May 29 2012

“Many people need desperately to receive this message: ‘I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.'”
–Kurt Vonnegut

 

Reaching out
with words with feelings as long as it is with heart
If the intention is to understand
than the reception becomes unimportant or at least secondary

 

I reach out to you
and listen as your being speaks to mine
I need to hear your song,
the one unique to you

 

Click on images to see full-size

Generation by G A Rosenberg

Viewport by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – May 28 2012

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
-Maya Angelou

Silent child stares
unable to speak what he sees
nighttime terror grows

 

Smile my angel
Your eyes speak the many tales
that never pass lips

 

Held tight within me
Magical stories hidden
Take my offered key

 

Just for a second imagine being locked away from your creativity. Unable to express the pain or joy that we each store up in a lifetime by word or deed.  It’s there to be expressed yet for some reason it cannot be.  How can we help another find their voice?

Blessings, G

Click on images to see full-sized

Mitosis by G A Rosenberg

Flame Abstract by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – May 21 2012

“The only reason we don’t open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don’t feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes. ”
― Pema Chödrön

Funny, how before reading this tonight, I thought of compassion as something that we have for other people. The way I have always thought of compassion was the quality of putting ourselves into another person’s footsteps, seeing life from the inside of another’s head. Perhaps I need to turn it around and focus for a bit on how it feels to live inside my own, at least as important.

I know its not so much seeing my heart as another’s but seeing another’s as my own. By compassion also not meaning sympathy or pity but being willing to look and be authentically. Perhaps that is a prerequisite to feeling true compassion for another.
Blessings, G

Click on image to see full-size

Lava Spin Mandala by G Rosenberg

Visage of Pisces by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – April 27 2011

“Every time we fix something that broken, whether it’s a car engine or a broken heart, that an act of magic. And what makes it magic is that we choose to create or help, just as we can choose to harm.”
― Charles de Lint

There’s so much out there that needs fixing. So much inside of us as well. At the same time, I’ve been noticing something more and more of late. So much of finding our way to health has to do with forgiving ourselves for being hurt in the first place. We forget that we’ve placed those lessons in our path because they were what we most needed to become the people we are. How could we comfort someone who’s life is hurting if we never felt hurt ourselves? How could we relate to lost love, lost chances and lost hope and help others to heal themselves through it if we had no basis to relate? Each of my scars mental or physical throughout this life and all others have been tickets to empathy and compassion so I am grateful for them.
Blessings G

Click on images to see full-size

Watching the Fractal Sunset by G A Rosenberg

Abstract B by G A Rosenberg