“Well Billy Rapped All Night…”

 

” What if trials of this life, the rain, the storms, the hardest nights, are Your mercies in disguise? ”
Yasmin Mogahed

 

Through social media I have made many connections and many friends. Many of them quite a bit younger in their twenties and thirties and I find that this, together with watching my son struggle through his teenage years gives me more perspective and possibly less forget-ery about how rough it is to grow up in this world. I also feel that it is becoming more difficult rather than easier. The world wide web allows us to see other people in their struggles and triumphs and we can see lives that could be ours if only we could break away from where we were. The fact that many of the people living these lives also wish that they could break away is quite besides the point.
Lately tho it seems that every week or two, one or another of my Facebook acquaintances talks about life being too rough. They talk quite a bit about ending their lives and one or two even attempt to do so. Luckily, very few of the people I’ve known who talk about ending it on social media are successful at doing so. Friends find them and get them help or they talk themselves out of it. Perhaps once or twice I have had a hand in talking them out of it myself. Funny given my views on the subject.
You see I feel that we all have the right to end our lives any time we wish. No one else can know first hand the struggles that another goes through or what their capacity may be. I feel that most times it is a somewhat selfish act as in almost all cases, loved ones are left behind who have to deal with it. Yet some pain goes beyond that. I also believe in reincarnation and as I have told a few people, “No matter how rough this life feels now, how do you know that the next time around won’t be even rougher.
Even tho that to me is a powerful argument, there is one that has always clinched it. I am too curious to see what is going to happen next both to myself and to the external (sic) world. My life has been far from normal with some truly bizarre twists. I know that things can change in a moment. There are so many things going on in this world and the balance is so precarious that I am at the edge of my seat wondering what is next to come. These are the things that keep me going through the rough times. Well, that and I have others who emotionally depend on me and to leave them would be both irresponsible and reprehensible. Plus I have realized that happiness is quite often a choice as is misery and that in the worst of times a golden moment can come.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Watching Dragons in FlightWatching Dragon’s In Flight by G A Rosenberg

 

Blue FlameBlue Flame by G A Rosenberg

 

Curiosity NonAnonymous

 

“The cure for boredom is curiosity.
There is no cure for curiosity.”
— Dorothy Parker

 

My name is Gary Rosenberg and I am a curiosity addict. I have a burning desire to know and understand most things that come across my path. It started small when I was young. I’d ask questions of my parents and later teachers and would keep leading on to the next question until I was told to go away. Then once I started reading, my addiction grew and grew. I now had a source from which I could get answers. I’d go to my connections (the library and the local book stores) and eventually had a 4 book a week habit. I was able to maintain that for quite awhile, a couple of decades at least and then the internet came into effect. I have given up sleep and meals to maintain my ever growing habit. I am not ashamed of being an information junkie. In a way I see it as a badge of pride. I will continue to ask the next question and looking for answers within or without until my dying breath. If I overdose than there are many worse ways I could imagine going.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Winged DominionWinged Dominion by G A Rosenberg

 

Reflecting PoolReflecting Pool by G A Rosenberg

 

Curiosity Saved This Cat

 

“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin

 

Life to me has always seen wonderfully strange and bizarre. Every time I start to believe that I have fingered it out, my perceptions of my life (that is usually shortened by people to read ‘my life’) flips and I find myself seeing things from a whole different perspective. I have in turn been working on my adaptability to change.
In my darkest moments, the knowledge that change is inevitable and my burning curiosity to see what happens next has kept me going and life has never disappointed me yet.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Dance of the Tripple GoddessDance of the Triple Goddess by G A Rosenberg

 

Strange ObserversStrange Observers by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 19 2012

“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart.
…live in the question.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke

Remain curious. I’ve been given that advice a lot lately in about four different contexts. When speaking to my teenage son, when he tries on teenage defiance, don’t get angry or frustrated, remain curious.
“What are you doing?” or “Where do you see this going?” or “What do you feel is standing in the way of you following these rules?”

Instead of challenging or responding angrily to the challenges of co-workers or people in discussion groups remain curious.
“Why do you believe that?” or “What do you hear me saying?” or “Where do you believe that conclusion comes from?”

Curiosity may or may not kill the cat but it definitely tends to be a good method of staying calm and polite. This works when I start getting frustrated with myself? “What made me react that way?”, “Exactly what button did that person press?”, “What is blocking me from meditation?” It’s amazing seeing what answers come up.
Blessings, G

Click on image to see full-size

 

Watching by G A Rosenberg

 

Green Grid by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 9 2012

“There’s stories and then there’s stories. The ones with any worth change your life forever, perhaps only in a small way, but once you’ve heard them, they are forever a part of you. You nurture them and pass them on, and the giving only makes you feel better. The others are just words on a page.”
― Charles de Lint

 

What story has changed your life? What tale has crawled inside your psyche and set a permanent groove so that you would never look at anything quite the same way again?

I met her on the bridge that night. To tell the truth, I had gone there to consider jumping. My life was rather a mess at the time. I was seventeen taking summer classes at the University next door to my High School to make up for the ones that I had missed during the year. I had taken off from school for five months and joined a religious cult. For that five months, I tried to alter my being, change it into the perfect church member only to find it impossible. Too many things made no sense and contradicted their own sources. One of the final straws was when I saw beer in the refrigerator of the church head in California and realize that he didn’t live up to his own philosophy.  I left only to find that I could not go back to looking at life the same way I had before. I was badly in need of a new paradigm tho I couldn’t put that into words at the time. My family didn’t understand. They thought I should feel guilty for leaving home and joining the cult. I felt cheated and alone and had no idea what to believe. The universe made less sense than ever.

We agreed that my staying in the University dorms for the summer rather than accompanying my family to their beach house was a good idea for all. I would have time to think and pray and try to put the pieces together (and make up for lost school time). They would have peace. I went more than a little crazy and self-destructive. Thus I ended up at the bridge staring into the water wondering if I had the courage.

“I love to see the moon reflecting on the water.” I turned and looked and there was a girl there. A few years older than me.

Yes, it’s nice.” I muttered.

“The water’s cold tho, even tho it’s summer.”

“I wasn’t going to… I mean I’m not going to…” 

“Maybe not, but you can’t convince me you haven’t been considering it.”

What would you know about it?”

“I’ve been there. I’ve worn that look you have on your face. Oh I didn’t jump either”

“Why would you want to do that? “

“The same reason as you. Too many thoughts and questions crowding my mind and more pain than I wanted to deal with. I was dating this guy and he was great, handsome and smart and controlling as hell. I let him tell me what music to like, how to dress and even what classes to take. We were together for four years and when i became the embodiment of everything he wanted me to be, he got arrested. After a month without him I realized that he didn’t want to be with me but with an ideal and the ideal was someone else. Someone on reflection whom I had no interest in being”

“It’s not the same!”

“No it never is. Yet it brought me here just as whatever you’re going through brought you. “

I told her the details. She just listened and then smiled.

You know what stopped me from jumping and removed the temptation?”

“What?” I might have said the word louder than I intended.

“Well, my life has always been so strange and so difficult to predict and so wonderful and horrible that I realized at heart I am too curious to see what comes next to ever end it willingly”

“Wow” 

“You know this already but you’ve forgotten it.”

Maybe I have.”.

We continued to talk about books, movies, music, philosophy and everything under the moon to find we had a great deal in common. We watched the sunrise hand in hand like children. I asked her if I could see her again. She looked a little sad.

“Actually, I came down to the bridge tonight to say goodbye to the view. Tonight I’m heading to England to study for a year. Tonight has always been fantastic tho. Thank you.” She kissed me and left not dramatically but wonderfully.

I sat there for a few more minutes wondering if I had been talking to some kind of angel. I never saw her again but I never forgot her magick or her story.

Blessings, G

 

 

Click on image to see full-sized

 

Alien Mage by G A Rosenberg

 

Blue Gold Sun Mandala by G A Rosenberg