Symbolic Travels

 

“Symbols are to the mind what tools are to the hand–an extended application of its powers.”
–Dion Fortune

 

Speak to me in the language of dreams
Show me your internal language
where an orange means sunshine
a dark woman, death
and where fools and horses collide
Lend me a guide, a hermit or priest
perhaps a naked woman on lion’s back
to show me the way to where the god’s live.
Snakes and spiders and apple groves
sacred shrines where few are welcome
in each being I meet within you
I come to know you more
I’ll show you mine as well
skulls will dance for us
and we’ll climb rainbows
and I’ll show you worlds / not worlds and not-words
you’ll come to see and we’ll both know
and in the knowing we join
and understand the secret places
that lie between us
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Another Realm's MoonAnother Realm’s Moon by G A Rosenberg

 

Into the BlueInto the Blue by G A Rosenberg

 

“Art is the Unconscious Love of All Things”

 

“Only Art is Eternal Wisdom; what is not Art soon perishes. Art is the unconscious love of all things. ‘Learning’ will cease and Reality will become known when it comes to pass that every human being is an Artist.”
― Austin Osman Spare, Book of Pleasure in Plain English

 

What is art but the communication of one’s self through a medium? If this is true then any one who is expressing themselves is an artist. If a janitor is doing their job mindfully it can be art. A caregiver sharing their being with the people whom they help is an artist of the heart. Can anyone deny motherhood is an art? How about accountancy? I believe that a man or woman walking down the street can be an artist if they are engaging with their senses and surroundings. Any form of expression no matter how it may seem small and meaningless can be art if the person creating it is fully present. What kind of art do you make? Why don’t we make more?
Blessings, G

 

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CrossingCrossing by G A Rosenberg

 

Labyrinth to Know WhereLabyrinth to Know Where by G A Rosenberg

 

No Escape – A Consciousness Stream

 

“There is no route out of the maze. The maze shifts as you move through it, because it is alive. ”
― Philip K. Dick

 

There is no escape from the life maze. Oh we can end our physical existence anytime we wish yet from all indications, life doesn’t stop there. Whether we find ourselves in Odin’s Halls or Gehenna or at gates of Pearl or whether we start it all again in another cycle of physicality life is still there. Even if those fundamentalist atheists are right, still our bodies nourish the ground that will yield plants and we still remain part of life. There’s no leaving the game so might as well learn to play it. There seems so many rules to it and countless variation. The rules may be broken at whim and we can always fall back into earlier games and earlier times. We can flow along the river or against the current, we can willingly sink deeper and find more control. We can enjoy the maze at will and keep on moving through it and who knows perhaps in time we will discover that we are the ones who built it in the first place.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Falling AwayFalling Away by G A Rosenberg

 

Smoke, Mirror and RitualDark Ritual by G A Rosenberg

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

Fiddling with the Everglade (Redux)

 

Some pictures particularly the ones I really like tend to keep getting reworked either by bringing elements from them into new pieces or in the application of new techniques that I have since learned. The Everglade picture was one I first did in 2010 and then played around with again a few years later. I couldn’t resist playing with the image a bit more.

 

In new day
In a glade found by walking
where few had trod
following the beckoning of
a sensuous maiden tree
I found the Ever-Glade
Reality was at a crossroads
Tricksters were abound
and creation was abundant
colours more vivid than
life had yet shown me
I entered the glade
and partook of all that was offered
Now part of me will never leave
for it is carried inside me
My new home and existence
creating each other eternally.
— G A Rosenberg

 

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The Ever-Glade(R)The Ever-Glade (R) by G A Rosenberg

Faith and Possibilities

 

“To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.”
― Alan Wilson Watts

 

Faith, the shifting shadow of belief
Sure but elusive wraith
I’ve pursued you
unworthy suitor that I am
only to find you in the hearts of many.
Virgin pure harlot
that I long to hold
yet grasp at you way too tightly
knowing you exist
brings me warmth
even tho you are not mine.
Still I remain open to your charms
and wonder at the ever shifting hues
of your twin, possibilities
Now that is a lusty one indeed
and one that will never leave me.
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Exploring the WastelandExploring the Wasteland by G A Rosenberg

 

FormationFormation by G A Rosenberg

Communicating Transformative Vision

 

“And therefore, all of those for whom authentic transformation has deeply unseated their souls must, I believe, wrestle with the profound moral obligation to shout form the heart—perhaps quietly and gently, with tears of reluctance; perhaps with fierce fire and angry wisdom; perhaps with slow and careful analysis; perhaps by unshakable public example—but authentically always and absolutely carries a a demand and duty: you must speak out, to the best of your ability, and shake the spiritual tree, and shine your headlights into the eyes of the complacent. You must let that radical realization rumble through your veins and rattle those around you.
Alas, if you fail to do so, you are betraying your own authenticity. You are hiding your true estate. You don’t want to upset others because you don’t want to upset your self. You are acting in bad faith, the taste of a bad infinity.

Because, you see, the alarming fact is that any realization of depth carries a terrible burden: those who are allowed to see are simultaneously saddled with the obligation to communicate that vision in no uncertain terms: that is the bargain. You were allowed to see the truth under the agreement that you would communicate it to others (that is the ultimate meaning of the bodhisattva vow). And therefore, if you have seen, you simply must speak out. Speak out with compassion, or speak out with angry wisdom, or speak out with skillful means, but speak out you must.
And this is truly a terrible burden, a horrible burden, because in any case there is no room for timidity. The fact that you might be wrong is simply no excuse: You might be right in your communication, and you might be wrong, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter, as Kierkegaard so rudely reminded us, is that only by investing and speaking your vision with passion, can the truth, one way or another, finally penetrate the reluctance of the world. If you are right, or if you are wrong, it is only your passion that will force either to be discovered. It is your duty to promote that discovery—either way—and therefore it is your duty to speak your truth with whatever passion and courage you can find in your heart. You must shout, in whatever way you can.”
― Ken Wilber, One Taste

 

Sometimes when we have a vision of something higher, we cannot put it into words as much as we might try. For me, as much as I love the written language, I find that art gives me a whole new way of communicating. The english language as it is written and spoken can only go so far at communicating understanding and it is so ambiguous that quite often it obscures more than it enlightens. If it is as necessary for us to communicate understanding as Ken Wilber suggests that it is (and I would have to agree) than it is great that many of us can find other means in which to do it. For some, music may be their best way to communicate their highest understanding and for others dance. Still for others it may be higher mathematics or poetry (using language in a symbolic way that transcends it. We must communicate our vision even if we’re not sure afterwards of its correctness and its great that we have so many ways to do it. At least perhaps until we can become fully telepathic with each other and share our visions directly.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Time, Life, Death, The MaidenTime, Life, Death, The Maiden by G A Rosenberg

 

Dark Sun RisingDark Sun Rising by G A Rosenberg