On Secret Worlds…

 

“Everybody has a secret world inside of them. I mean everybody. All of the people in the whole world, I mean everybody — no matter how dull and boring they are on the outside. Inside them they’ve all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds… Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman

 

I want to enter your secret world
and explore it with you
I want to see the fantasies, the clown faces
and nightmares
so I can hold you through them
and show you the mirror behind their eyes
I want to walk through your forest lands
and on your beaches
and meet the strangers you carry inside of you.
Please take me there and come with me to mine.
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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And Then He SpokeAnd Then He Spoke by G A Rosenberg

 

Ink Blot VisionsInk Blot Visions by G A Rosenberg

Along the Path

 

“Face your life, its pain, its pleasure, leave no path untaken.”
― Neil Gaiman

 

For each of us there is but one path. On the physical, it begins when we draw breath and continues to when we draw our last one. Oh we may believe we’ve leaped from path to path, perhaps as we’ve made radical jumps either in our belief systems or our lives but that is illusory. No matter what path we follow, it is merely one who’s trail we parallel for however long we do. The best part of that is that it means we can never lose our way. Indeed with each step taken we blaze it. At times our paths take us to some pretty dark places but then for most, the light shines eventually. Others learn to appreciate the darkness for what it is.. Let’s all follow our way with spirit, humour, honour , gratitude and style and remember we can always change direction but never truly leave our path just veer off in new directions.
Blessings, G

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Solar ActivitySolar Activity by G A Rosenberg

 

Teenager on SkyTrainTeenager on Sky Train by G A Rosenberg

The People We Don’t See

 

“Nobody looks like what they really are on the inside. You don’t. I don’t. People are much more complicated than that. It’s true of everybody.”
― Neil Gaiman

 

I used to believe that people could be divided into those who were asleep and those who were awake. I used to feel, beneath the surface perhaps but still there like I was better than the majority of humanity in their slumber concerned about what seems to be inane things. At some point and I don’t even recall that this point had a defining moment it dawned on me that awareness is not a binary on/off switch but something akin to a dimmer switch. Everyone who I have ever met is somewhere on this continuum. I don’t know that I have ever met anyone either completely 100% asleep or anyone who was 100% awake. I doubt I ever will. In people who seemed the deadest and dimmest to me, I have seen glimmers of perception and kindness that astonished me. In those whom I have found the most ‘enlightened’ I have seen pride, arrogance and self-deception. I suspect that a fully turned on consciousness and a physical body are basically incompatible much like an adult trying to fit into a uniform or costume that they wore as children.
I have also found that while it may seem relatively easy to discern the point someone has reached on their path, appearances can be and often are deceiving. I have seen people who espouse ideas that seem relatively naive in a political sense or in terms of their interests yet they hold this deep compassion and understanding of others that I have not always seen in those who aspire to be spiritual teachers. This could of course be a fault of my own perception yet it has taught me to be weary of snap judgements. This is another example perhaps of seeing others not as they are but as I am.
Blessings, G

 

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Purple and Teal WheelPurple and Teal Wheel by G A Rosenberg

 

Atomic Blue2Atomic Blue by G A Rosenberg

Best of 2013 (Part 2)

 

“May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall!”
― Aleister Crowley

 

My wish for all here– I have not found anyone or anything who has stated it better:

 

Neil Gaiman on New Year’s:

 

“A decade ago, I wrote:

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

And almost half a decade ago I said,

…I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you’ll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you’ll make something that didn’t exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.

And for this year, my wish for each of us is small and very simple.

And it’s this.

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”
— Neil Gaiman
Blessings and Wishes for a year that delights and challenges, G

 

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Night ShadingNight Shading by G A Rosenberg

 

Auric ShadowAuric Shadow by G A Rosenberg

 

Biting ThroughBiting Through by G A Rosenberg

 

Manifesting the Rainbow MomentManifesting the Rainbow Moment by G A Rosenberg

Wants, Needs and Nostalgia

 

“But he did not understand the price. Mortals never do. They only see the prize, their heart’s desire, their dream… But the price of getting what you want, is getting what you once wanted.”
― Neil Gaiman

 

How often I’ve gotten what I wanted only to find it bitter and unsatisfying. Somewhere along the way I got luckier or perhaps wiser and instead started getting what I needed. It’s not as much of a quick fix as getting what I want but in the long run it is a lot more viscerally satisfying.

 

Tonight I went to see the Pet Shop Boys in concert. I used to listen to them in the 90’s during my days of clubbing. It was interesting, so many people my age in the audience and in some ways it was like a bizarre combination of Nostalgia and the movie Cacoon. Everyone dancing wall to wall moving their bodies in ways that some of us haven’t in years. The energy as well as the music, the lights, the lazers etc were fantastic.
Blessings, G

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Spirit Wheel2Spirit Wheel by G A Rosenberg

 

Chaotic PurpleChaotic Purple by G A Rosenberg

Letting Go – A Punching Walls Story

 

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong but sometimes it is letting go”
― Hermann Hesse

 

“You people always hold onto old identities, old faces and masks, long after they’ve served their purpose. But you’ve got to learn to throw things away eventually.”
–Neil Gaiman

 

When I was 19 and had a mishap with the law my father came down on me like a ton of bricks. He told me that he didn’t know what it was but it almost felt like I had something missing in me and he did not feel I was a good person. Insecure at the best of times and somewhat floundering at that point in my life it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was devastated.
For years after that, I found myself either trying to live up to whatever image I had of what my father thought a good person should be or playing against that image in rebellion. With each victory or setback I experienced I asked myself, “So am I a good person now?” I did not have the courage to ask my father.
At some point when I had come close to hitting bottom, it finally occurred to me that I had to let it go. For one thing it had way too many layers
1) what a good person is qualitatively
2) what my father saw as being a good person
3) what I perceived my father saw as being a good person
4)who I was in relationship to 1, 2 or 3
The absurdity of it had me laughing and crying at the same time. I realized that the most important thing was to be myself in the world for good or bad, doing what best reflected the person I am. If I tried to live up to a yardstick especially someone else’s it would not be as meaningful as living up to myself. From that point on, I decided that I would no longer be as concerned with being good as doing right and expressing my being. But I could only do that when I was able to let go of that conversation with my dad and take responsibility for my own actions.
At some point after that, my father had cause to tell me what a good person he thought I was. It felt a touch anti-climatic.
Blessings, G

 

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Guardian and GuideGuardian and Guide by G A Rosenberg

 
The Spiral Moves FasterThe Spiral Increases by G A Rosenberg

Butterfly’s New Dawn

You people always hold onto old identities, old faces and masks, long after they’ve served their purpose. But you’ve got to learn to throw things away eventually.”
― Neil Gaiman

 

In the process of becoming, we often have to sacrifice a part of who we are to who we can be. Richard Bach talked about ‘ the butterfly being the end of the world for the caterpillar.’ This sacrifice may seem painful but in reality it is a natural occurrence. The more we try to hold on to our old selves, the more difficult the transformation will become and the more inevitable the change. Oh we may not become what we originally set out to, we may become that person who refuses to change but that was not who we were in the first place and while we may collect irony points, we just delay our full realization.
I will make the sacrifice gladly and will attempt to do it without fear. If I have to choose who’s bitch I will be I’d much rather it be the present and the future’s rather then the past.
Blessings, G

 

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The True HeartThe True Heart by G A Rosenberg

 

InterwovenInterwoven by G A Rosenberg

Sing Out

“Each Person Who Ever Was Or Is Or Will Be Has A Song. It Isn’t A Song That Anybody Else Wrote. It Has Its Own Melody, It Has Its Own Words. Very Few People Get To Sing Their Song. Most Of Us Fear That We Cannot Do It Justice With Our Voices, Or That Our Words Are Too Foolish Or Too Honest, Or Too Odd. So People Live Their Song Instead.”
— Neil Gaiman (Anansi Boys)

 

Perhaps one of the best reasons to meditate is so we can listen and learn each note and each phrase of our song. The more we listen the more we can express and chime in. Perhaps at first we hum along with the chorus and sing the catchiest of phrases that sticks in our minds. Eventually we learn it well enough so that we can express almost every lyric only occasionally singing the verses out of order or having to make up a phrase that we just haven’t quite gotten. The more practiced and the more we listen, the more confidence we gain to fully embody our song. Yet still we listen. There are subtle harmonies that it may take a lifetime to learn and to be. We may wish to know how well our song will work as a duet or a trio. Perhaps ultimately our songs together can all be united as the universal symphony they were meant to be as every being joins in.
Blessings, G

 

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Landscape with Cubes and BubblesLandscape With Cubes and Bubbles by G A Rosenberg

 

Circling the Cosmic DrainCircling the Cosmic Drain by G A Rosenberg

Living the Story and Surfing the Tale (A Thought Stream)

“Do not lose hope — what you seek will be found. Trust ghosts. Trust those that you have helped to help you in their turn. Trust dreams. Trust your heart, and trust your story. (from ‘Instructions’)”
― Neil Gaiman

 

Trusting my story often means surfing through the plot twists… I’ve learned that no matter what happens that I am still alive and that anything that seems worse will often improve… if a plot twists ends up with me leaving the party (dying) than this may have to be rethought… Not every good deed goes unpunished and every bad turn becomes a teacher…especially if you see it as furthering the plot…perhaps that is the secret to perspective..see even the bad things that happen as part of the story…perhaps this may be an advisor as well. For every decision that comes our way ask yourself “Does this serve the story?” I’ve heard worse advice..and if you believe that this is only one of perhaps an infinite amount of stories we will experience, perhaps not even one of the better ones or perhaps the most sublime, perspective increases… either way enjoy the tale.
Blessings, G

 

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Her Spirit Within the Wolf Conforted HimHer Spirit Within the Wolf Comforted Him by G A Rosenberg

 

Canine VortexCanine Vortex by G A Rosenberg

Knowing and Forgetting

 

” ‘Is that how it is for you?’ I asked.
‘Is what how it is for me?’
‘Do you still know everything, all the time?”
She shook her head. She didn’t smile. She said. “Be Boring, knowing everything. You have to give all that stuff up if you’re going to muck about here.”
“So you used to know everything?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Everybody did. I told you. It’s nothing special, knowing how things work. And you really do have to give it all up, if you want to play.”‘

–Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

 

When I was younger, I used to believe that I wanted to understand everything. Not necessarily everything there was to know, I don’t believe I was that foolish. I wanted to understand everything and everyone I came across. I’m rather happy these days that I didn’t get that foolish desire granted. Can you imagine what life would be without the fun of discovery? I love having bits and pieces of knowledge that I can put together like a jigsaw puzzle with lots of blue sky and grass that I can only start to see patterns of shade in. It feels awesome when another piece clicks into place. Once in awhile I get a fleeting glimpse of the shape of the whole puzzle but I know I can never carry that. Besides, while I still want to understand (grock fully) as much as possible, I don’t want to give up the play of figuring it out as I go along. It is the play that keeps me humble and feeling young beyond my years.
I heartily recommend The Ocean at the End of the Lane, the newest book by Neil Gaiman. His combination of myth and masterful storytelling has crafted a truly compelling fairy tale for adults
Blessings, G

 

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Raven Stealing the SunRaven Stealing the Sun by G A Rosenberg

 

MeltdownMeltdown by G A Rosenberg