Wrestling Demons and Singing Angels (Courage)

“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.”
― August Wilson

 

I look into the mirrored
eyes of my friends
and want to be better
than the reflection I see before me.
Oh I’m OK
but to live the love reflected
I want to be even more
more honest, braver
and more open

 

More and more I find that conversations take courage. Oh not the chatty every day ones tho to initiate them with strangers takes its share. I mean the ones where ideas and ideals get discussed and debated. First of all to even engage with someone when you disagree with their point of view can be daunting. After all, perhaps they are correct and I may have to change what I believe. So many people seem to have trouble with that. It is amazing how often we conflate a viewpoint that we hold with our own identity and find a challenge to one to be a challenge to the other. If we are truly open to learning and seeking a higher understanding then doesn’t that mean we want to know when there is a better way of looking at things? If the price of a clearer vision, is merely giving up what we previously believed isn’t that a small one to pay? I believe so. Yet there seems to be much fear over surrendering who we are for who we may become.

Another thing that takes courage is being willing to engage with those who may debate differently than we do. Perhaps they become a bit more aggressive than we are comfortable with and we find that off-putting. Does that mean they are wrong? Not necessarily, they could simply be passionate about the subject under discussion or perhaps they find our communication mode just as off-putting. Is tone really that important? Isn’t what is being said more important than how? Does the problem lie with the other person or does it lay with us? In my experience, when I have a knee-jerk reaction to something, it is normally a reflection of my own stuff. Again if greater understanding is our aim, isn’t a new perception of ourselves and our ‘buttons’ an amazing gift. Why do so many people appear afraid to accept it?

I ask for the courage to accept each lesson of self-knowledge and the compassion to see not only my reflection inside each discussion but also an understanding of the others involved as well. May I be able to teach and learn, to listen and communicate to the benefit of all.
Blessings, G

 

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Fractal Chambre of the Heart2Fractal Chambre of the Heart by G A Rosenberg

 

Industiwheel MandalaIndustri-Wheel by G A Rosenberg

 

Conversation / Speculation

There are conversations
that we are not privy to
between beings who cannot be found
save through the doors of spirits wandering
or imagination

Beings both simple and transcendent
discuss their concerns
and we can but speculate
on the realities they craft
with their silent voices

Still our hearts contain answers
and our journeys take us far
perhaps one day
on the path between human and myth
a being will look up and wonder about us…

–G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – August 25 2010

““The great secret of succeeding in conversation is to admire little, to hear much; always to distrust our own reason, and sometimes that of our friends; never to pretend to wit, but to make that of others appear as much as possibly we can; to hearken”

–Benjamin Franklin

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Everything For a Reason by G A Rosenberg