The Right and Wrong of It

 

“If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one’s own self-deception and ignorance.”
— Marcus Aurelius

 

I love finding out that I’m wrong. All too often I see people fighting for their points of view and being unwilling to face challenges. If I cannot defend my viewpoint on a given subject that means that there is a viewpoint that is better reasoned or more thought out than my own. Which means that either I need to understand my own thoughts better or I need to change my viewpoint to bring it more in line with a greater truth. Which means I have to grow as a person. The new viewpoint may not be right either. Actually considering that the best we can hope for in our lives are closer to closer approximations of reality, the chances are that it is not right. At the moment tho it is closer which means that by adopting it, my outlook has grown. Even better perhaps I can reconcile the two outlooks and gain an even greater understanding. That will never happen tho if I confuse my belief and my understanding with my identity. I hold beliefs. They are not me. At least that’s how I see it now.
Blessings, G

 

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Waiting to Make His MoveWaiting to Make His Move by G A Rosenberg

 

Looking Up at a Strange CeilingLooking Up at a Strange Ceiling by G A Rosenberg

 

☐ Think (Think Outside the Box)

 

“Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill will, and selfishness— all of them due to the offender’s ignorance of what is good and evil. That people of a certain type should behave as they do is inevitable. To wish it otherwise were to wish the fig-tree would not yield its juice.”
— Marcus Aurelius

 

What is your reality box made out of? Some boxes are made of iron and nothing can get in or out. Whatever is in there will stay the way it was even after the world turns to dust around it? Those who keep their views of reality in a box like that will never have to be concerned about change or growth. It is a prison cell for their evolution with no time off for good behaviour.
Some boxes are made of reinforced cardboard. Anything that is within can be carried and until the box is unsealed, its contents will stay secured. They can’t stand a lot of rough handling tho. If something outside the box wants in, it will get there eventually. Someone who keeps their reality in a box like that is capable of change and might even enjoy new things. If only they could get through all that damn packing tape.
For me, the perfect box would be made of some kind of permeable plastic. It can be easily opened and its contents exchanged and there is air and room inside for them to breathe. Oh they may get stale after awhile but that’s ok, most viewpoints do when confronted by the outside air. The container only starts to smell bad if there is unwillingness to exchange the contents for others that work better. A good cleaning every now and then helps.
Blessings, G

 

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Bas  ReliefBas Relief by G A Rosenberg

 

Chaos DenizenChaos Denizen by G A Rosenberg

 

Run With the Stars

 

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
― Marcus Aurelius

 

Tonight I need to run with the stars
and leave this world behind
through work on my body
I’ll work on my soul
and find my orbit.
Free myself of the ties to this earth
Free myself of the daily grind
I’ll burn in the sky eternally
in my timeless race across the heavens
I will live in that stellar cup of bounty
and nevermore know need.
Shine on this night and know joy.
Run with me this night and know abandon.
— G A Rosenberg

 

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Born of the FlamesBorn of the Flames by G A Rosenberg

 

ExertionExertion by G A Rosenberg

 

“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together,but do so with all your heart.”
― Marcus Aurelius

 

I have been working on full acceptance of the people and situations that enter my life. Not that everyone and everything is pleasant or what I would wish it to be but then it is in those negative spaces that the lessons live. The more uncomfortable or irritated someone makes me, the more I can learn from them. Even if the lesson is how to be more patient and less irritable. I fully believe that this physical existence is a classroom. Not that people are problems to be solved as such but from others comes a greater understanding of myself and of the universe I find myself in. Each person I encounter shows me a greater understanding of the whole.
Blessings, G

 

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Empowering TransformationEmpowering Transformation by G A Rosenberg

 

Chapel Perlious AwaitsChapel Perilous Awaits by G A Rosenberg

 

Beautiful to Watch Them Grow

 

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

 

A youth in rebellion runs
racing with the night
and my heart races as well
at the sheer beauty
and the courage to experience self
if only in the negation
of what he’s known before
I watch torn between
the wish to be the sail
that enables his ship to catch the wind
and the need at times to be the anchor
When my own ship sailed
and I went racing off
it is those anchor moments
I cursed and later treasured
and those sail moments
to know that they believed
that I accepted gracelessly at the time
but now help me be.
He runs now by day and night
in full impulsive glory
Even rudderless he’ll make it through
May he shine among the stars.
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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Saluting MarsSaluting Mars by G A Rosenberg

 

ShapingShaping by G A Rosenberg

Beautiful to Watch Them Grow

 

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

 

A youth in rebellion runs
racing with the night
and my heart races as well
at the sheer beauty
and the courage to experience self
if only in the negation
of what he’s known before
I watch torn between
the wish to be the sail
that enables his ship to catch the wind
and the need at times to be the anchor
When my own ship sailed
and I went racing off
it is those anchor moments
I cursed and later treasured
and those sail moments
to know that they believed
that I accepted gracelessly at the time
but now help me be.
He runs now by day and night
in full impulsive glory
Even rudderless he’ll make it through
May he shine among the stars.
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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Saluting MarsSaluting Mars by G A Rosenberg

 

ShapingShaping by G A Rosenberg

Running With Beauty Among the Stars

“Dwell On The Beauty Of Life. Watch The Stars And See Yourself Running With Them.”
–Marcus Aurelius

 

Today we danced on clouds
They seemed solid enough
and I bowed took your hand
and slow stepped through sky ribbon
The feel was unimaginable
each movement a new shape
and we were part of it all. </h4
 

Tonight we’ll run with the stars
Still overcome with beauty bliss
and adventure’s touch upon us
we’ll race for kisses
as meteors streak by
and talk with constellations
as the sky returns towards dawn

 

Tomorrow the sun awaits
Caught up in joy and laughter
we’ll ride in Apollo’s chariot
and journey through it all
The world’s passing beauty
will return us home
as its siren call rings out…

— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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EncounterEncounter by G A Rosenberg

 

MindfulMindful by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – December 18 2012

“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.”
― Marcus Aurelius

 

One of the easiest things to do when someone has hurt us is to want to pay them back in kind. To do unto them as they do unto us, an eye for an eye and all the rest of the Old Testament reactions. Even sadder, far too often in the cases of abuse,the one abused becomes an abuser in kind expanding the cycle of pain and victimhood.  There seems to be a lot of pain out there and healing takes time.

George Herbert said that “living well is the best revenge” and I find amazing truth in that. If someone intently wants to make you unhappy (usually as an extension of their unhappiness) the best way to thwart them is to have as happy a life as possible. Be the happy that they cannot. At worst, you will frustrate people who see you as their enemy. At best they may actually want to have what you’re having and learn how to get that happiness for themselves. Joy and good feeling can be as contagious as pain if we let it.

Blessings, G

 

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Ten of PentaclesTarot – Ten of Pentacles by G A Rosenberg

 
Spacial Orange Mandala

Radiating Citrus Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – September 21 2012

“If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.”
― Marcus Aurelius

We return to the elephant. You remember the one of which the blind men disagreed as to its exact nature.( Quote of the Day – March 26 2012)  If the blind men were to try to integrate their views of the elephant they would come to a greater understanding of its nature just as each individual view of reality we are able to integrate with our own can bring deeper understanding. I had an interesting discussion this evening about the above quote.  I want to write it as if it was instead had by the blind men.

Blind Man 1: To me this elephant is like a tree trunk. What is it like to you?

Blind Man 2: We know the elephant exists and that is enough. Our true selves know the nature of it.

Blind Man 1: That is true but how does that further our understanding here and now. If you tell me what the elephant seems like to you, perhaps by looking at both, we can gain greater understanding.

Blind Man 2: The elephant only has whatever meaning we give it.

Blind Man 3: WTF?

It’s not so much that I disagree with Blind Man 2 just that his point of view does not seem helpful in terms of living life to the highest degree of truth possible. Nor does it help promote empathy towards the experience of the other blind men. It occurs to me often that many of the problems that our world faces today comes from lack of empathy and compassion (the ability to step in another’s footsteps).

Blessings, G

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Red-Gold Galaxy by G A Rosenberg

Blue-Red Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – January 9 2012

“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.”
–Marcus Aurelius

 

When doing readings for people (usually but not always with tarot cards), I find that patterns stick out. People tend to repeat the same cycles not only in one area of their lives but across the board. Relationships with others tend to reflect one’s relationship with their environment and with their job etc. If this would be true for individuals would it be that far a stretch of the imagination to suppose it to be true for civilizations and possibly even for the human race as a whole. I believe our universe to be a holographic one. Namaste, G

 

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Reverie by G A Rosenberg

Stained Glass by G A Rosenberg