Tag: Albert Einstein

Knowledge and Understanding

 

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”
— Albert Einstein

 

Knowledge is easy to come by these days. Our phones and our computers put a world of facts at our fingertips. Yet how much of what we know do we truly understand? It is one thing to know that a stove top that is in use is too hot to touch but to understand it you have to experience what it is to be burned. To me understanding is akin to the term grok that Robert Heinlein used in his novel “Stranger in a Strange Land”. It means to not only have knowledge of something but to become one with it, to have it live inside your skin. Most spiritual knowledge is only words and paradox without understanding. Once the understanding is reached than the paradoxes can be embraced. It is easy to be a know it all in today’s world. To truly give knowledge meaning tho we need to understand.
On the qabalistic Tree of Life, the second and third spheres (sephiras) are Cookman which means Wisdom and Binah Understanding. Wisdom is considered active and Understanding passive and sitting across on the same level of the tree means that they form a certain dichotomy. In between them is the hidden sphere D’aath which means Knowledge. The Path that joins the Three is that represented by the Empress card of the tarot which holds the meaning of the full-blown creative impulse. It fits rather well if you think of it as it takes wisdom used in a creative way to turn knowledge into understanding.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

A New VistaA New Vista by G A Rosenberg

 

Embedded SecretsEmbedded Secrets by G A Rosenberg

 

Working the Imagination

 

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
― Albert Einstein

 

If our imaginations are coming attractions for our lives then why do so many of us imagine such horrible things? I do believe in the Law of Attraction to the extent that I believe that what we think does affect our future. I mean it affects our present and our past so it would only follow. Where I believe so many people become frustrated with the idea (all the normal objections about whether starving children or victims of disasters have brought it on themselves) is that it is one universal law of many and there are others such as the Law of Karma that play a role as well. Still it makes a great case for optimism. Pessimism may bring you the odd pleasant surprise yet in the long run I’d rather enjoy what’s going on around me 90% of the time than be happy that things haven’t hit their worst 10%.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Through Inspiration to ClarityThrough Inspiration to Clarity by G A Rosenberg

 

Inner Space 2Inner Space 2 by G A Rosenberg

Plain Depth

 

“One should use common words to say uncommon things”
― Arthur Schopenhauer

 

I find myself of late having little patience with jargon. Don’t get me wrong, when speaking of technical things with others in your area of expertise then use what words you have available. However if you wish to communicate then use language that everyone present understands. Far too often I hear people using terms that only those ‘in the know’ can understand. What they communicate is not so much information about whatever subject they are discussing as information abou the way they see themselves. Which may be fascinating if that is the topic at hand but rarely is.
It is possible to convey the deepest of thoughts with the simplest of words. “Who is the Master who makes the grass green?”, “Light acts like a particle and a wave at the same time”,”Shared joy is increased, shared pain lessened.” Albert Einstein said famously “If you can’t explain it to a six year old, then you don’t understand it yourself” Yet, still in every field of endeavour you find people using the vocabulary of their field in order to hid rather than illuminate. Of these bricks, babel is made.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

The ShaperThe Shaper by G A Rosenberg

 

Propagation of a MemePropagation in a Strange Medium 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

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Abstracted PassionAbstracted Passion by G A Rosenberg

 

4-D Maze4-D Maze by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – December 4 2012

“Creativity is contagious, pass it on”
– Albert Einstein

Do you believe that magic exists? that spells may be woven, that things may be changed through sheer will? Well of course you do. We’ve all read of parents able to lift cars off endangered children and speed records being broken. We do the unusual every day and sometimes the miraculous just takes longer. Just think, every day, every minute we create our reality and see others creating theirs. This doesn’t mean that there is not an underlying objective reality after all the elephant exists no matter how many different parts of it we grab. But the perspective we have at any given moment and how that changes, that is miraculous. We can go from villain of the story to hero or backwards, we can become mighty or week, our mates can be the most amazing people we know or the most horrible. We create every moment we can’t help ourselves and yes it is contagious. You’re it. May I never be cured.
Blessings, G

Click on images to see full-sized

Building the Mystery

Building A Mystery by G A Rosenberg

The Empress

Tarot Trump III – The Empress by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – November 14 2011

When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.”

–Albert Einstein

I love walking with my dog on bright nights, looking at the clouds and reading their shapes.
Me: “That One looks like a face”
Rufus: “That one looks like a chew toy”
Me: “That one looks like a mask”
Rufus: “That one looks like a water dish”
Me: “That One looks like the I-Ching Hexagram Ta Kuo ‘Preponderance of the Great'”
Rufus: “Don’t you mean I – ‘Corners of the Mouth'”
Me: “Oh yeah…huh (glaring at the dog)
Rufus: Lifts his leg and pees and walks away wagging his tail
–GAR

Click on image to see full-size

Idea Space by G A Rosenberg

Negative Idea Space by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – April 30 2010

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed”

–Albert Einstein

Click on picture to see full-size


A Stranger in the Garden by G A Rosenberg