Loosen the Chains

 

“The known is accidental, the unknown is the home of the real. To live in the known is bondage, to live in the unknown is liberation.”
— Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

In our human experience there is a limit to what we can know. Oh I’m not talking about peak or mystical experiences where the whole picture for brief instances lie open before us but the rest of our lives, the parts where we chop wood and carry water. Yet so many seem happy with these limits, they learn a brief bit and believe they know it all. They cement this with conviction, certainty and faith and use these weapons to take on all comers.
In any fight between what I know and what is possible to learn I will cede the battle always. I want to know more and to understand more and if that means sacrificing what I know now for something better than so be it. Have to at my convictions. Throttle my faith and stamp on my certainty. I will always thank you for it. If you can loosen my chains and expose me to the infinite of the unknown, you will have my eternal gratitude.
Blessings, G

 

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DescendingDescent by G A Rosenberg

 

Electric Skull MandalaElectric Skull Mandala by G A Rosenberg

 

Faith and Possibilities

 

“To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.”
― Alan Wilson Watts

 

Faith, the shifting shadow of belief
Sure but elusive wraith
I’ve pursued you
unworthy suitor that I am
only to find you in the hearts of many.
Virgin pure harlot
that I long to hold
yet grasp at you way too tightly
knowing you exist
brings me warmth
even tho you are not mine.
Still I remain open to your charms
and wonder at the ever shifting hues
of your twin, possibilities
Now that is a lusty one indeed
and one that will never leave me.
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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Exploring the WastelandExploring the Wasteland by G A Rosenberg

 

FormationFormation by G A Rosenberg

Attack of the Living – Dead Faith

“Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.”
~Andre Gide

 

“I Slept With Faith And Found A Corpse In My Arms Upon Awakening; I Drank And Danced All Night With Doubt And Found Her A Virgin In The Morning”
–Aleister Crowley

 

Is it easier to doubt or to believe? It seems that many people have a fear of doubting that manifests in them adopting either an early choice of belief that of their ancestors. Once they decide they believe something they will fight for it against any comers, doubters or those who hold different beliefs, they will honour their beliefs, raise statues and hold feasts to it and do everything but examine it. In my experience an unexamined belief or faith all too quickly becomes like Aleister Crowley says a corpse or worst yet, a zombie like thing that apes life while missing some vital spark.
Only by constantly examining our beliefs and trying them against new ideas in a cage match no holds barred vigorous debate can our concept of truth grow, change, evolve and remain alive, not through blind belief but through a hunger to seek what’s true, no matter how shaky our footing may be.
Blessings, G

 

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Tunnel Vision Compassionate EyesCompassionate eyes by G A Rosenberg

 

Tunnel VisionTunnel Vision by G A Rosenberg

“And if every way is closed before you. The secret one will show a secret path no other eyes have seen”

–Rumi

In my darkest times when I did not know where to turn, someone has always shown up shining like a flame pointing to a new direction. Not all of these have been external people, sometimes they have been in my head and then sometimes it is just a voice or a moment of inspiration. These moments have inspired faith and have saved me from despair many times. Moments like these I consider both loans and gifts. Loans in that I feel the need to return it to any one in similar need and a gift in that I wish to share it.

Blessings, G

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Quote of the Day – December 25 2011

“Faith is a state of openness or trust.”
Alan Watts

Finally a quote on faith that works for me. It seems so often that people use their faith as a reason to close off to anything that may challenge or contradict it. I see faith as being an open dynamic principle, one that can change and grow. My faith in the universe and in my source grows daily, also my faith in myself. Does that mean that my ideas of the nature of what source may be stays the same, no I hope that I understand more and more the nature of.
Hope everyone reading this has had a joyous and blessed changing of the seasons, no matter what name and symbolic significance it has for you.
Namaste, G

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Cavern Christmas 2011 by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – December 22 2011

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

For the second night in a row, I went looking for a quote about faith only to be distracted by something a bit more attractive to me at the moment. I was going to say more meaningful but what can be more meaningful than something one believes with no empirical evidence to back it up? Such as given millions of people a cause to live, fight and die for.
Yet grace, which I discussed a bit last night carries one in a way that faith at least for me couldn’t. When it comes to beliefs, i tend to be fickle. You see, to me everyone has truth and so I tend to wish to be true to them and at the same time every one has dogma and nonsense that leads me to taking them less than seriously. Still I rotate a belief this way and that until I can see where, for now, it fits the greater puzzle. What part of the elephant is this? Hmmm, it could be an ear or an eye or the sky, ah than that is where i will leave it…For now anyway, what is that piece over there? I try on the faith, talk to its adherents, practice its rituals and believe….well not wholeheartedly, when one has been exposed to so many systems of faith and thought, it becomes more and more difficult to say “I have found the right one. This is it!!!” Instead, hmmm, this one answers that question in an interesting fashion and wow the people are positive. Where are the contradictions.. Yet Grace keeps me from losing heart. Drawing the map, to me may be lonely work but it keeps me going.
Namaste and Joyous Solstice,
G

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It’s All About the Light by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day- September 6 2011 , Wonderings and Wanderings

“Sometimes you have to take the leap, and build your wings on the way down.”
–Kobi Yamada

Light in the darkest of moments
shadows falling in the brightest light
and a sprit that transcends both
and yet contains all within

Can life be lived as meditation
living most moments in a mindful way
or must i be caught up in the storm
tossed about reacting
while part of me stays aloof

feeling myself reach new insights
heights? perhaps, tho depth is added as well
new understand for sure
but with it old emotional storms to clear
no longer feeling the need to indulge in
depression or despair
but still when the emotional weather takes a dark turn
watching it pass can be tricky
— G A Rosenberg

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Wandering by G A Rosenberg