Mykonos and Delos

 

“I fear that, with our current veneration for the natural and the real, we have arrived at the opposite pole to all idealism, and have landed in the region of the waxworks.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche,

 

Yesterday the boat ride to Delos and back was amazing.
Layers of belief with the same deities being given new names again and again. Thus the Phonecian goddess Astarte becomes the Egyptian Isis becomes the Greek Artemis becomes the Roman Diana and somewhere on Delos is a temple to each as each culture supplants the old.
Pan, sone of Hermes played his lyre and brings the Maenads to frenzy represent by a black cat who revels in the sun at the entrance to his temple while the temples to Apollo and Dionysius face each other like two respected rivals.
Consulting the Pythia and having her drugged insights interpreted giving some sign and direction of which way to go.
It would take a week to fully do justice to what has been uncovered on Delos and we had but hours. Still walking the ruins in the hot Mediterranean sun was fascinating.
In the museum, Aaron cannot take a picture of my head placed atop the beheaded state of Pan without incurring the guard’s insistence that the picture be deleted. Still we play and wonder amidst the art of the past. On the boat ride back, the Mediterranean baptizes me with its spray (well soaks actually) but its exhilarating. Back in Mykonos at the docks, we try to photograph a lizard that moves all too quickly much like our time in this beautiful area.
Blessings, G

 

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DelosDelos

 

Statue of Pan  c2000BCStatue of Pan c2000BC

 

Dionysian Temple PhallusDionysian Temple Phallus

 

Mykonos From the SeaMykonos From the Sea

Night’s Embrace

 

“I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche

 

Be not afraid of shadow stylings
or dark beliefs nurtured for self-knowledge
for tho I turn my face towards night
and Hecate hold me in sway
there is beauty in my darkness
and warmth in my shade
dreams shine bright when the sun is down
and love’s kisses beneath the moon so sweet
Your light embraces my darkness
as my heart takes yours
and together light in dark
we consummate the dawn.
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 
 

Comfort and GuidanceComfort and Guidance by G A Rosenberg

 
 

Infinite Flame FloweringInfinite Flame Flowering by G A Rosenberg

 

Ashes and Rising

 

“How could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

 

I can taste the ashes of 2013 as the last moon of the year gets swallowed up and will be born anew on the New Year. It is a time of endings and contemplation of New Beginnings. A New Year is like an ultimate blank page (or screen as I keep saying). I have some ideas of what 2014 will bring yet there is still a few pages left in the volume we currently hold. Do we leave them blank or do we finish up with a nice summary? I am about ready to light the torch paper on this one. I will use the next few days to reflect a bit on what has passed and what may rise anew.
Blessings, G

 

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Last Man StandingLast Man Standing by G A Rosenberg

 

Multidimensional CrossroadsMultidimensional Crossroads by G A Rosenberg

Textured Perspective

 

“No, life has not disappointed me. On the contrary, I find it truer, more desirable, and mysterious every year.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche

 

As I get older I find that life does gain a texture that I didn’t perceive when I was younger. Its not that it wasn’t there, I got too caught up in the moment to moment drama to appreciate it. Now I find that even the hard moments have a beauty to them. This is especially true when I can step out of the moment and perceive it. Conflicts with loved ones when you’re caught up in them are painful and yet taking the witness perspective, I can see it as each of us being who we are and it being an interplay of personalities. That doesn’t mean I don’t feel the pain just that I can see it in context as part of a pattern. This also becomes true of the day to day annoyances. I consider it a victory if when I am caught in a traffic jam or a construction zone or in transit delays if I can use the time to meditate or contemplate something fun. Perhaps just constructing a play on words or a dirty joke. It helps.
Blessings, G

 

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Lion in JungleLion in the Jungle by G A Rosenberg

 

Crossroads Mandala2Crossroads Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Irrational- Thought stream.

 

“The irrationality of a thing is no argument against its existence rather a condition of it”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

 

The most beautiful things often make the least sense (thinking of flowers, children’s smiles, long tails on dogs, double rainbows, pi and pie and I could go on and know that some people could argue the sense and sensibility of the above yet I will sing loudly offkey beautifully that it does’t matter one wit. Rationality can only take you so far… It is a very useful servant but as a master it doesn’t even have a health plan. Is a thought of a unicorn a real thought and on what level do our symbols become real to us… All of these potential realities that we feed and water with our thoughts, hopes, prayers and nightmares, which will materialize? Which will we choose?
Blessings, G

 

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Eye of the Night2Eye of the Night by G A Rosenberg

 

Mermaid's chamberMermaid’s Chamber by G A Rosenberg

Owning Yourself

“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

 

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ChargedCharged by G A Rosenberg

 

Opal LandscapeOpal Landscape by G A Rosenberg

 

The Slow-Burning Phoenix

“But the worst enemy you can meet will always be yourself; you lie in wait for yourself in caverns and forests. Lonely one, you are going the way to yourself! And your way goes past yourself, and past your seven devils! You will be a heretic to yourself and witch and soothsayer and fool and doubter and unholy one and villain. You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame: how could you become new, if you had not first become ashes?”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

 

Shot-down and reborn in flames
another of life’s eternal games
I rise up and begin again
another day of health and pain
 
My heart flies first it seeks a home
an end to too much time alone
chapter and chapter in that tome
and so I follow, and so I roam
 
and in the end I seek the fire
better than this muck and mire
to dream to finally expire
to this final goal I do expire
 
yet back to life I rise and rise
no one sees what’s in my eyes
hope and longing, the reprise
on and on with no surprise
 
A sign of hope, I am for all
They listen closely for my call
to rise again from funeral pall
a new day’s dawn, sun’s fiery ball

— G A Rosenberg
 

I speak a lot about change and how each moment is a new beginning. We can rise phoenix like over and over no matter how many times we crash and burn. Each moment of our existence becomes a new beginning that everything that came before was merely a prologue. The brass ring of a new start is out there for all of us. All we need to do is reach out and grab it. Reach out.. and admit that we are willing to make a change either small or complete. The phoenix needs to burn in order to rise again and that takes fuel, a sacrifice of who we are for the person who we may become. What do we want to change and what are we willing to give up to make it happen? Sometimes it is only the doubts that we can change yet each of us has this ability within us, It takes resolve. If we don’t burn away the parts in ourselves that no longer serve us, the universe has a tendency to do it for us. Thus we all become the Slow-Burning Phoenix.
Blessings, G

 

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New Growth FormingNew Growth Forming by G A Rosenberg

 

Healing RingHealing Ring by G A Rosenberg

Tuesday Mandalas and Such – A Midweek Celebration

“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”
― George Bernard Shaw

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Indigo Waltz
Indigo Waltz by G A Rosenberg

 

Pin Wheel

Pinwheel by G A Rosenberg

 

Wooded Vision
Woodland Vision by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – December 29 2012

“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

 

Good old Dionysian chaos
fantastic for creating and
for manifesting change
Order doesn’t like change very much
for it likes the status quo
Yet without change
there can be little growth
and creation may die on the branch…
I will nurture my chaotic side
embracing it as part of the whole…
chaos and order perpetually dancing
creating stars, planets, and myself…

Blessings, G

 

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Balance

Balance by G A Rosenberg

 

Red and GreenPrism EffectMandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – August 15 2012

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

Sometimes we can’t hear the music that others dance to. We see them go through the motions and wonder at the rhythm or lack thereof in their movements and become puzzled. So often the temptation is to diagnose, to remedy, to try to bring them to the point where they realize that they don’t hear the music that we can’t here. Would that we could listen with the heart. We may catch the strains of an ineffable tune with beauty that we have denied ourselves before. We may even wish to dance ourselves if only we could bring ourselves to break free of the fear of being misunderstood by those still denying themselves the song. Perhaps we continue to hear nothing but with open hearts we realize that that is not the loss of the dancer but ours. Love brings faith that the music is there whether we hear it or not.
Blessings, G

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Shining Through by G A Rosenberg