Tag: vulnerability

Artists of Life

 

“You have to have the guts to engage with your own spiritual journey, which is what life is for. It can be reflected in art, but art won’t take you there on its own. It’s not good enough. You actually have to use your inquiring mind and question yourself and the bullshit of things. You have to avoid getting tied up in intellectual and ironic gameplay, which will not liberate you. We want freedom, we want liberation, and you’re not going to get it in postmodernism. You’re going to get it through authentic engagement.
Postmodernism is always making a joke or a reference to originality. It’s worried about originality, but the only thing that matters is authentic response. Authentic response means you need to be in your heart, in yourself, because then you can respond authentically. You don’t need to try find new ways unnecessary, innovative ways of taking art forward. Everything is already here.”
— Billy Childish

 

Art serves as a fantastic mirror. For the artist, it can be both self-reflection and self-revelation. What is inside is evoked and made manifest. When we look at art it may also be revelatory and connective as we see ourselves through our senses, our understanding and our emotional connection to the work.
Mirrors are fantastic tho if we spend all our time looking into them we can easily fall prey to narcissism. It takes more than that tho to reach true understanding. It takes a willingness to question what we see and act on whatever answers we may receive and then question some more. It means opening ourselves up in new ways to the world around us and dealing with even those parts of it and ourselves that we may not wish to because it feels yucky. It means being naked emotionally and spiritually in ways that many of us never have before and in that vulnerable exposure lose any fear we may have. Perhaps that is when we become more than just artists of the pen or brush or computer and become true artists of life.
Blessings, G

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Gem's ReflectionGem’s Reflection by G A Rosenberg

 

Psychedelic Test PatternPsychedelic Test Pattern by G A Rosenberg

 

Storm WatcherStorm Watcher by G A Rosenberg

 

Neural NetNeural Net by G A Rosenberg

 

Opening to the Universe

 

“Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

 

Courage takes many forms. For some it may mean doing something for the first time. For others it may be attempting something that they don’t believe they can be successful at. Courage can also be daring to step outside the truths that they have always accepted and daring to see the world in a new way even if that somehow invalidates what they have always believed. For my money though, the bravest act is when we open ourselves up to another person. This often involves pain for when we do this, we become vulnerable. We expose the armour of constructed self and let the other inside where all our wounds lie open to examination. They see us in our truest form. Would that we could lose that armour altogether and open ourselves up in love to the universe in that way, ever present, ever vulnerable. In our vulnerability we may become more than we have ever been before.
Blessings, G

 

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Reaching OutReaching Out by G A Rosenberg

 

Window on Blue FireWindow on Blue Fire by G A Rosenberg

Hard Won Lessons

 

“You haven’t yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior’s way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability–to the world, to life, and to the Presence you felt. All along I’ve shown you by example that a warrior’s life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior’s sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.”
― Dan Millman

 

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is surrender to life and be vulnerable. I have tried in many areas to control the flow of my life, second guessing my every word and action and worrying about the result only to end up totally tied up in knots. I believed that doing this would make me a better partner and father only to find that it puts unimagined strains on relationships. Little by little I am learning to let go and trust a bit more. Letting my son make and learn from his mistakes (as long as they are not endangering the life of himself and others) strengthens our relationship the more that I can do it. This extends to my relationship with my partner and my relationship with my life as well.
The less I resist in my life, the more flows through. Its amazing how much my constant questioning and over-thinking of things has impeded my quest to be more authentic. I have spent so much time trying to figure out what i want that i have stopped living it. When I give that up and let myself be and shut down the endless yammering of thoughts for awhile, I find my life a much happier place to occupy.
Blessings, G

 

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Facing ShadowFacing Shadow by G A Rosenberg

 

Interference2Interference 2 by G A Rosenberg

Masks

 

“We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be.”
― Patrick Rothfuss

 

We become what we pretend to be. This is at once both wonderful and terrifying. It means we have power to recreate ourselves in the image that we want. It also means tho that all too easily we can become trapped in roles that we once needed but have outgrown. If in our past we have been hurt by others, we adopt a mask of being invulnerable. We act callous and indifferent and allow no one to touch us. What happens years later when we meet someone whom we could love? However in order to love we have to make ourselves vulnerable. It seems that damn mask won’t come off. Luckily with work, we can show the vulnerabilities are there, revealing them to those whom we wish to be close to. Oh we still have our mask but by pointing out where the weak parts are, the mask can crumble. It does take work tho and a willingness to overcome fear.
What happens when we aspire spiritually but have lost our way? We have adapted a mask of worldliness that we have become stuck in. Could we adopt the same principle? We meditate and genuinely challenge ourselves to act without masks until we truly have lost them all. This may be the most important work we have ever done in our lives.
Blessings, G

 

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Silent VoiceSilent Voice by G A Rosenberg

 

Fire and Water RipplesFire and Water Spiral by G A Rosenberg

Buttons

 

“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning do to do afterward.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

 

It is so much better to laugh at frustration. Otherwise if I can’t laugh or walk away the temptation is to rage or cry and then beat myself up about it. It can become terribly messy and leave scars on those around me but slowly I am learning. There will always be people and situations that can press my buttons and that is a good thing. It shows me where my buttons are. If I have a difficult time respecting myself in certain situations then I will react strongly when I feel disrespected by others. Despite the fact that I know that respect cannot be begged borrowed or even earned… and ultimately is an inner dialogue and not an outer one. Those who show me disrespect do me the favour of pointing this out in a very real way.Too bad I find it so difficult being appreciative at the time. I see people react similarly to with emotions of guilt or unworthiness. So I thank those who show me the areas I still need to work on. Slowly I am getting to the point where gratitude has a stronger balance than anger, sorrow or frustration. Perhaps someday….
Blessings, G

 

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Woman of the WiseThe Lady and the Serpent by G A Rosenberg

 

Interference PatternsInterference Patterns by G A Rosenberg

Opening Moves

 

“You haven’t yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior’s way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability–to the world, to life, and to the Presence you felt. All along I’ve shown you by example that a warrior’s life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior’s sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.”
― Dan Millman

 

Open my heart enough to bleed
Open my eyes enough to cry
Open my arms enough to hug and be hugged
Open my mouth enough to laugh
or speak of my pain and joy
Putting up a front is easy
Building a wall
to say nothing of the words in which I’m armoured
Words of comfort and joy
Words that speak of a serenity
I have yet to find
and an equanimity that eludes me
I will speak of my pain
and own it
It was my gift to myself to grow
I am no one’s victim
just a being searching for a way in
Or perhaps a way out.

— GAR

 

Blessings, G </h4?

 

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Broken CastlesBroken Castles by G A Rosenberg

 

Convergence PatternConvergence Pattern by G A Rosenberg

Removing the Armour

“You haven’t yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior’s way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability–to the world, to life, and to the Presence you felt. All along I’ve shown you by example that a warrior’s life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior’s sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.”
― Dan Millman

 

What do you use for armour? I have used humour and I have used anger. I have used words,  sorrow and resignation. Each of these offered me various degrees of protection. They protected me from love. They protected me from awareness. They protected me at times from realizing that things were not as frightening as I believed they were. They protected me from exposing myself to my whole being. Now this warrior is weary. Piece by piece I dismantle my armour. I realize that even if battle killed my form that this is merely a suit of clothes that I wear. I have worn others in other lives. If I become hurt, then I will learn the lessons of pain and I will grow stronger. I will lead with my love and my thirst for understanding as open as I can and I know that no matter what transpires I will triumph.
Blessings, G

 

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Contemplating TransformationContemplating Transformation by G A Rosenberg

 

Emoting StarEmoting Star by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – November 6 2012

“You haven’t yet opened your heart fully, to life, to each moment. The peaceful warrior’s way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability–to the world, to life, and to the Presence you felt. All along I’ve shown you by example that a warrior’s life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior’s sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.”
— Dan Millman

 

Most of the time when we refer to someone as being lucky in love, we mean that they have had happy and successful relationships. Perhaps and regrettably the phrase is used more often than not in negation, talking about someone’s lack of love.  Yet to me every chance I have to love brings fortune especially if I can enter into it with little or no expectations, especially that of having my love reciprocated.

What an amazing gift of the universe, this ability to feel the essentiality of another person and to truly value them. The more we can love, the more we can appreciate the gift that the other person is and the more people whom we can love the greater the gift.

With deepest gratitude, blessings and love, G

 

Lost in an Opalescent Landscape by G A Rosenberg

 

Braving the Elements by G A Rosenberg