“The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it – basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them.”
― Charles Bukowski
My puppet strings cut long ago
I wear no chains unwillingly
I am free to do my will
My only task discovery.
My love is freedom’s sun
In its shadows do I dwell
Any who would deny me
their wishes I will quell
My will is clear within me
it’s fulfillment is why I live
in laughter love and merriment
giving what I have to give.
On life’s long journey forward
I’m never looking back
As long as I have liberty
there’s nothing that I lack.
— G A Rosenberg
The aim of human life is to know thyself. Think for yourself. Question authority. Think with your friends. Create, create new realities. Philosophy is a team sport. Philosophy is the ultimate, the ultimate aphrodisiac pleasure. Learning how to operate your brain, learning how to operate your mind, learning how to redesign chaos.
-Timothy Leary
We create new worlds and inhabit our fictions. Our imaginations take us to real places that defy conventional thinking. Each moment is a chance to take something from the worlds inside our heads and manifest it externally. It can be art, music, drama, recipes or ourselves. By recreating the world we defy the rules of standardization. The truth is that while there may be laws the only rules we have are the ones we make for ourselves. That can mean living within society’s laws or outside of them being willing to take responsibility for our thoughts and actions and the consequences that may result from them. Ultimately we have total freedom. This tends to frighten the rule makers and keepers of society senseless but in reality we are the ones in control. That’s a frightening thought for many which is why so few are willing to think outside the box. It can be amazingly liberating to do so however.
Blessings, G
“If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities.”
― Maya Angelou
Hoping where hope is not possible
can change everything
knowing a better way can exist
even in the darkest hour
can make living tolerable
A dream of freedom
when one’s life is chains
can make one fly
to many lands
pushing joyfully against
the binds
knowing that it can happen
Knowing that love exists
when stuck among loathing
can keep the dream alive
yearning for the day
when one’s heart is answered
Knowledge in the face of ignorance
that something imagined can be real
can build the dreams
and break the chains
and open the heart
to new being.
— G A Rosenberg
“Everything has boundaries. The same holds true with thought. You shouldn’t fear boundaries, but you should not be afraid of destroying them. That’s what is most important if you want to be free: respect for and exasperation with boundaries.”
― Haruki Murakami
Pushing at boundaries, every day picking an area in my life where I can go further than I have before. I walk the dog a bit further and get more exercise. I spend a few more moments cleaning up. I start a new form of ritual or meditation or meditate a bit longer. I say hello to one more person or have a conversation with a stranger. I do something I have never done before. I read more pages or post a bit more. Perhaps I find a new way of being more honest with myself and others…I still have boundaries but I’ve expanded my capacity for life. The more we can do that the more we can do and be in both an inward and an outward sense…Oh we still have boundaries…yet to be free is to be boundless so the more those boundaries are stretched the freer we are…
Blessings, G
“When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.”
–Edith Hamilton
History like most things goes in cycles. Much the same thing that Edith Hamilton said above could be stated about many countries in the modern world. Whenever we give up responsibility for our own actions whether it is seeing ourselves as a victim, to avoid consequence or just to let someone else do it because it is easier we surrender so much more. Loss of self does not happen all at once but in a series of momentary decisions.
On Thursday we visited Athens. What an amazing sense of history. The Acropolis deserves everything said about it and the Archaeological museum shows the development of art through each step of the way. Looking at temples that were erected over 2000 years ago and museum pieces that predate that by another five or six thousand was inspiring. I can’t wait to make my own art out of some of the pieces I saw.
As we were walking back towards the bus we saw soldiers and riot police descending on a protest that was taking place. I am not sure of the exact circumstances tho it seemed to have something to do with how people were being represented. Perhaps they were taking some notes from old Edith.
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full-sized:
Parthenon
Greek Street Dude
Minotaur Bust – Athens Archaeological Museum
Mask of Agamemnon Bronze Age- Athens Archaeological Museum
“When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.”
–Edith Hamilton
History like most things goes in cycles. Much the same thing that Edith Hamilton said above could be stated about many countries in the modern world. Whenever we give up responsibility for our own actions whether it is seeing ourselves as a victim, to avoid consequence or just to let someone else do it because it is easier we surrender so much more. Loss of self does not happen all at once but in a series of momentary decisions.
On Thursday we visited Athens. What an amazing sense of history. The Acropolis deserves everything said about it and the Archaeological museum shows the development of art through each step of the way. Looking at temples that were erected over 2000 years ago and museum pieces that predate that by another five or six thousand was inspiring. I can’t wait to make my own art out of some of the pieces I saw.
As we were walking back towards the bus we saw soldiers and riot police descending on a protest that was taking place. I am not sure of the exact circumstances tho it seemed to have something to do with how people were being represented. Perhaps they were taking some notes from old Edith.
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full-sized:
Parthenon
Greek Street Dude
Minotaur Bust – Athens Archaeological Museum
Mask of Agamemnon Bronze Age- Athens Archaeological Museum
If you can joyfully accept the consequence, do what you want; if it is that you will cry when the consequence comes, better be conscious about what you do.”
— Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
Do only what you can handle the consequence for joyfully. That is one of the strongest statements of personal responsibility that I can think of. All too often, we do things that we know will hurt us in the long run and then either act surprised when we get hurt or try to find someone to take the pain away. It reminds me of the man who went to the doctor, lifted up his arm and said “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.” The doctor of course replied, “Don’t do that. ” Well not unless you enjoy pain or the results of the pain will bring you happiness in another way. If that is the case, own it. I did what I wanted to do. I may have to bear hardship because I did it, but it is worth the hardship. I chose to do it, no one made me. WIth freedom to act comes the responsibility of dealing with the results of our actions. Do we really wish to give up that freedom to avoid the responsibility? I know I don’t.
Blessings, G
“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
–Friedrich Nietzsche
Going along with the crowd is easy. You get strokes of approval from those around you. You get to feel appreciated and heard. You get to feel powerful because a group of like- minded individuals working towards a goal are more powerful. It’s awesome.
But what happens when you find yourself disagreeing with the prevailing opinion? How do you handle it when everyone arounds you says that you’re wrong in what you believe or what you do? Do you cave under collective disapproval? What about when you are certain that you are correct in what you believe (especially when what they disapprove of is how you are living your life) or at least more considered than they are? As Nietzsche said it can be lonely and frightening but it is necessary. For each time we stand up as individuals we are doing our part to liberate all. Living according to our authentic selves (or our true will as some have called it) becomes one of the highest responsibilities we have as adults.
Blessings, G
“From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines.”
― Walt Whitman
Since I talked about courage last night, tonight I thought for sure I’d be speaking about brains or a heart or even i ride in a balloon but it looks like there is more to say about freedom. Walt Whitman knew of the imaginary lines we draw or have drawn for us out of the good intentions for others, defining who we are and the appropriate paths our lives and or conversations might take. Oh one or two of those lines, we are told, will show us direction and it won’t feel so bad or be so heavy, rather like silk. But then once we allow those first chains (let’s call them the minimum) , those of parents and school / society, it becomes all too easy to start accepting more until what was once silk has become steel or wired ropes that bind and constrain until we end up bound in our actions and thoughts.
What happens when we chafe under these constraints and our lives feel like we’re sleepwalking in a role written for quite a different actor than we find ourselves to be. We can free ourselves but first we need to acknowledge the chains are there and look at each one determining where it came from and being willing to put it aside. The first ones are easy to take off. The hardest ones are the ones that have been there the longest for it is all too easy to confuse them with the free self. Oh they can come off and perhaps our resolution for them to do so is either our truest measure or the measure of our truth.
Blessings, G
“All men are by nature free; you have therefore an undoubted liberty to depart whenever you please, but will have many and great difficulties to encounter in passing the frontiers.”
― Voltaire
I have begun to winch a little bit every time I hear about someone trying to get equal rights from their government. They do not understand what they are doing. What they in fact are doing is asking and / or demanding recognition of their rights. NO ONE has to ask for rights that are inherent to us by the universe. As soon as we ask permission from the government or anyone else to be allowed to do anything than we are affirming our subservience to that government and allowing one more infringement on our freedom.
I find it a bit sad how easily we are willing to give up our freedom. We do it by asking for permission to be ourselves and we do it when someone fails to recognize our rights and we turn ourselves into their victims.
“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”
– Sigmund Freud.
I find it a bit sad how easily we are willing to give up our freedom. We do it by asking for permission to be ourselves and we do it when someone fails to recognize our rights and we turn ourselves into their victims. It seems that this lack of ability to recognize and take responsibility for the freedom of another is the fundamental illness that individuals and societies fall prey to.
At Rest by G A Rosenberg 
Echoes by G A Rosenberg
Blue Star by G A Rosenberg 
