Life With Doors

 

“Philosophy is like trying to open a safe with a combination lock: each little adjustment of the dials seems to achieve nothing, only when everything is in place does the door open.”
— Ludwig Wittgenstein

 

Sometimes my life seems like a series of doors. Each one opens and I am faced with new treasures and new challenges to face. The next door will open only when I have faced the challenges and my life has reached a new configuration. This may take minutes or years and sometimes the two may seem interchangeable for time is nothing here but a measure of process. I must meet, love and have conflict with people and must come to certain realizations in order to make it through. Sometimes there are two or more doors waiting for me. Which one opens all depends on how I choose to handle things in the present. Some doors will return, others will disappear forever leaving only a faint afterimage on my soul of the road not traveled. Still there is that in me that enjoys the game and wants to make the most out of every room I’m in. Yet there is that in me that also wishes to find an exit as I walk through the last doorway.
Blessings, G

 

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Envisioning - Held in SpaceEnvisioning-Held in Space by G A Rosenberg

 

On Top of ThingsOn Top of Things by G A Rosenberg

 

Pictures at an Exhibition

 

“We do not escape into philosophy, psychology, and art – we go there to restore our shattered selves into whole ones.”
— Anaïs Nin

 

I look at a painting of a boy running into the waters. Behind him is a half-finished sand castle and a bemused father.The sky is that unreal shade of blue that memory gives all sunny days. The next painting shows the same boy a few years later. He is seated in the back seat of the car and he has a sarcastic smirk on his face. He is styling with his clothes and his hair yet he doesn’t want his friends to see him with his parents. It would be uncool. The next painting shows a teenager, suitcase in hand slamming the door. He is angry and there is a finality in his expression. Through the window of the door, you can see his parents distraught faces. The next painting shows a wedding and the teenager now in his twenties is smiling tho his eyes and his smile are only for his beloved. The last picture echoes the first tho the bemused father in this case was the boy in the first as he watches his daughter run towards the waves. Funny how from the middle picture one could never guess either the first two or the last two but the story continues in its cycle.
Blessings, G

 

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Three of TigersThree of Tigers by G A Rosenberg

 

Matched FrequencyMatched Frequency by G A Rosenberg

 

Tools For the Journey

 

“We do not escape into philosophy, psychology, and art—we go there to restore our shattered selves into whole ones.”
— Anaïs Nin

 

What are your tools for self-discovery? My five go-to tools in no particular order are philosophy (which for me include spirituality and theology), art, music, meditation and psychology. The more I expose myself to the thoughts and expressions of others the more understanding I have of who I am. When I see something that clicks for me, after a period of enjoyment, I reflect on why that song, that picture or sculpture or words touch me and I learn a bit more about myself. I learn even more from things that strike discord for there lies my shadow. Any reaction to art or idea is a mirror that I reflect in. Every thing I expose myself to goes into the well. Meditation shows me what lies beneath the surface of the well. Within each of us lies both multitudes and unity and everything we encounter becomes part of the discovery of ourselves.
Blessings, G

 

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Not From Around HereNot From Around Here by G A Rosenberg

 

The Past Gives WayThe Past Gives Way by G A Rosenberg

Simple

“If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies… It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it.”
— Albert Einstein

 

I’m keeping it simple tonight. For one I’m fairly tired and I’m packing for a trip that starts in a few days, I am also in the midst of trying to balance the different aspects of my life and finding it a bit challenging tonight. Nothing that can’t be sorted out fairly easily. I just need a bit of a wider perspective.
It seems to me that as far as philosophies go, keep it simple is not a bad one. Far too often it seems we feel the need to explain everything and most of it of course becomes guesswork. We extrapolate the things we don’t know from the things we do and create large monolithic structures. I’d rather these days be open to all possibilities, hold onto the things I know for sure and sit with the unknowns. That way, only the highest quality ‘meat’ with no filler exists within a rather simple foil wrapper.
Blessings, G

 

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Abstracted PassionAbstracted Passion by G A Rosenberg

 

4-D Maze4-D Maze by G A Rosenberg