Quote of the Day – December 01 2012

“We must measure our goodness, not by what we don’t do, what we deny ourselves, what we resist, or who we exclude. Instead we should measure ourselves by what we embrace, what we create and who we include.”
― Pere Henri

Tomorrow I return home from Long Beach. This journey has been a good one. It confirmed for me the importance of getting out in nature and just walking. I also had it confirmed for me how much I enjoy meeting friends in real time whom I have previously known only on FB or other forms of  social media and how many really great people I have met over the years.

I have also come to take a closer look at the word inclusion. So many people talk about and even dedicate their lives to making sure that the people they champion are included in the community. I have worked on occasion with a non-profit agency in BC who sees the inclusion of people with physical and mental disabilities into the community as being one of their main functions. Yet I have seen many of these same people being dismissive of homeless people or others who they find to ‘off-beat’ to fit easily into their worlds. Well I guess we all have our blind spots and I too have areas of surprising ignorance.

I’ll leave you with this question tho. When you think of inclusion, who would you leave out and why?
Blessings, G

 

 

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Offered the World

Offered the World by G A Rosenberg

Synaptic MandalaSynaptic Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 5 2012

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.”
– Douglas Adams

 

So another journey begins, We have flown to Saskatoon to meet up with in-laws and to hopefully grab a day or two for ourselves along the way. As usual I live a life far different from that which I would have imagined. Yet each time I say that this is not the life that I would have chosen for myself I find myself asking “Who chose it then?” It is definitely an outgrowth of decisions made. All in all a positive one with lots of room for growth in every way possible. I have ended up in a life that’s filled with love and has more adventure in it than perhaps I let myself realize. May we all find ourselves in a place where we fit our lives and our lives fit us.
Blessings, G

 

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Orange-Teal Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – June 1 2012

“He who is outside his door already has the hardest part of his journey behind him.”
— Dutch proverb

Like an arrow in flight
I travel home
to a place that’s waited so long
There will I find solace
There will I partake
in love’s embrace
I have what’s needed
as I travel
electrically
Days become hours
Minutes become seconds
as miles are covered
as bases are too
gods speed my travel
and clear my way
The lightning guides me
I go today

   — G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings , G

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Eight of Wands by G A Rosenberg

Purple Ray Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Back to Freedom and Responsibility

‎”There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

– Carl Jung.

I’ve run from many things in my life. I have avoided a lot more. So very often, I’ve run from seeing parts of myself that I didn’t want to see. It seems I didn’t  run very effectively.  I would run, geographically and consciously into new circumstances that would bring another part of myself that needed to be faced, usually something I had been even more reluctant to deal with. If I decided to stay and deal with that part of my shadow, a feeling of amazing liberation would occur. Then the original thing I had run away from would show up in a new guise so that I would have to deal with it again.
I believe consciousness will out and that one’s shadow can only be suppressed for so long before it emerges.
I feel several themes in this blog seem to be converging and perhaps a more personal approach may be necessary. In the next few weeks, depending on my own high level of distractibility, I will be sharing more about my own experiences of facing and avoiding responsibility and my own shadow.

 

Travel notes. Today we fly back to Vancouver. I find that this trip has been fruitive on many levels. England and Ireland have amazing beauty and my spirit is renewed. Blessings, G

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Knight-Time Watch by G A Rosenberg

Quotes of the Day – March 11 2012

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
– Mark Twain

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
– Miriam Beard

Halfway done with UK / Ireland trip. It hasn’t felt quite so much like a long strange trip as a welcoming home. London is a very comfortable city and today we spent with friends old and new in Sudbury with a side trip to Saffron Walden. We got to see Ley-Lines and labyrinths and walk along the oldest hedge maze in Europe.
So has this trip been transformative in nature? Yes but in surprisingly subtle ways. Soft insights rather than revelatory ones and perhaps in some ways a reclamation of self. I have done much of what I’ve enjoyed and I’ve managed to claim space to do so. I’ve discussed the importance of looking deeper and not accepting easy answers and perhaps I’ve learned how important face to face intelligent conversation is to me and how much I’ve missed it.
Here’s to new destinations and sunny skies. Tomorrow we fly to Ireland. Blessings, G

Leopard Glow by  G A Rosenberg

Saffron Walden Town Maze Ancient Monument in Saffron Walden on the Mary Ley Line

Old Oak in Sudbury

Quote of the Day – March 5 2012

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
– Henry Miller

To me, true travel takes place not so much between physical destination and physical destination as between point-of-views. Even in this more family-oriented trip, farther away in physical terms then I’ve been before I find myself gaining perspective. Before when travelling, I have gone alone with whom I travelled following where they wanted to go. This trip more than ever I feel I am doing it by choice and not nearly as constrained as I have in the past. This is good.
I love the turning of the kaleidoscope. I believe we all have internal ones. Mental patterns of perspective and colour that shift continuously into new patterns whether we wish them to or not. Some people fight desperately to hold onto a pattern that they find pleasing and indeed they may slow the shifting of the patterns down but it never stops completely. I love the shifting myself. I try to find as many people who will cause that shift as possible because each new outlook, each new pattern tells me something new about the reality in which i live. For once a new mental pattern has been formed it is ours to access. Each perspective has brought me greater understanding. Even the ones I don’t particularly like. Perhaps especially the ones I don’t particularly like.
Blessings, G

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Sunspot Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – March 4 2012

“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”
– John Steinbeck

I try to be flexible when I travel. In the days when I travelled by myself or with friends as new to it as I was, it became apparent quickly that on the road things take as long as they take and usually longer (or wildly shorter) than expectations may allow. Now travelling with my family, everyone’s wishes and expectations have to come into play and allowances have to be made for everyone’s wants and needs. Also the priority switches from travel to experiences.
Twenty-Five years ago we had just reached Nevada when the two stoned teenagers who had given us a ride burned out their clutch. OK I thought, we may soon have to provide another ride, would we need to find a service station to help out our benefactors. Then I noticed that they were busy, expertly and quickly wiping their fingerprints off the steering wheel and dashboard! “Kevin” I said to my buddy who I had been travelling with, “I believe it may be time to head out”. Kevin was a little bit surprised at my lack of helpfulness but when I explained what I saw, he agreed, it was a wise decision. We proceeded to walk to the next exit and were almost there when the flashing lights came on to light our way.
We turned and greeted the officer. He proceeded to question us about the car and the drivers. It turned out that I had been correct in my assumption that it was a stolen vehicle. Kevin gave the officer a description of the kids who had given us a ride. He changed their hair colour, age and height of our drivers after all, we felt some road loyalty to them. The officer took down our information as well and suggested he not find us sticking around the area. We agreed that would be wise and parted ways.
In this trip, despite being on a new continent for the first time and having our son along nothing seems quite that urgent or adrenaline rule. We go to museums, people-watch, walk all around (Piccadilly Circus is amazing at night, somewhat reminiscent of Times Square with bright lights, large flashing video screens and many many people to watch and enjoy) and basically try to take turns sharing things we hope to do with each other. I look forward to Stonehenge in two weeks as much as Aaron did to last night’s David Hockney’s exhibit at the Royal Academy
How about inner travel? Has that changed as well.?
To be continued…
Blessings, G

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Purple Eye Mandala

Quote of the Day – March 1 2012

From wonder into wonder existence opens.
Lao Tzu

Wow, Getting ready to travel and heavy conversations about the nature of existence and enlightenment. My head is spinning
That’s right tomorrow along with family, I am heading to London and Ireland for twenty days. I hope to keep up this blog with quotes and writing during that time tho and will try to average an entry a day at least. For awhile, there may be more photos then art tho I’ve saved a few up. I hope to explore some ideas this trip, making it like most good explorations, an internal as well as an external excursion. Blessings, G

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Tea-Stained Harlequinade by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – November 30 2011

“We have forgotten that our sovereign duty is to leave the world in a better condition than when we each entered it”
–Michael Tsarion

 

In Atlanta GA, after a day of enjoyable flights both of fancy and in the air but somewhere 3 hours if not the whole day seems to have vanished. Still, saw a beautiful crimson sunset as we were flying into Minneapolis and some really nice reflections on what it means to own and take responsibility for our lives and some great meditation letting thoughts, images songs pop in and out, then landing and meeting with friends, all in all a pretty excellent travel experience. I plan to write more tomorrow when internal and external times and rhythms catch up a bit
Namaste,
GAR

 

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Starseed by G A Rosenbergt