Skewing My Perspective

 

“We begin to learn wisely when we’re willing
to see world from other people’s perspective.”
― Toba Beta

 

In my life I have met some fascinating people. They were intelligent and yet came at life from a position so different than anything I had considered, sometimes almost opposite that every instinct in me just screamed out they were wrong. I know that the usual response that people have in similar situations is that they shun the people or ridicule them in public just so everyone could see how wrong they were. I guess I don’t have that usual response. Instead I would start speaking to them and try to understand how they arrived at the conclusions they did. I would work to inhabit their point of view even to the point where I could debate my previously held world view from the perspective of the new and end up either with a stalemate or a flat out win. I would then hold on to this new viewpoint until (most commonly) a) the flaws that I had missed became apparent (or in some cases the hypocrisies and inconsistencies of the people holding the viewpoints making them seem like just another unattainable ideal) b) I came across someone who held a very different point of view and I became fascinated by that. Eventually I stopped believing both in absolute point of view but also that there is any viewpoint so ridiculous that someone somewhere won’t adopt it as their truth and have good sound reason for doing so. Also that any viewpoint can be accurately be argued for or against with logic. More and more I come to the point where almost everything holds possibilities yet all sacred cows (or chaos) have died off.
Blessings, G

 

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Life flow Above and that BelowLife Flow Above and That Below by G A Rosenberg

 
Burst Emerald SphereBurst Emerald Sphere by G A Rosenberg

 

Hypothetical (or Not So) Lifestyles of the Intolerant and Hypocritical

 

“I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.”
— Christopher Hitchens

 

Let’s talk hypothetically for a moment. Let’s make it two moments as I give two hypothetical cases:
A) A gay couple go into a bakery and order a cake for their wedding. The owner refuses to serve them. A large ruckus results that includes people calling up the baker with death threats and boycotts. The baker tries to protest that he has the right to refuse service to anyone including those who do not live according to his beliefs. Eventually he is fined for discrimination. Justice has won the day according to most people.
B) A right wing politician whom many consider bordering on fascist enters a restaurant. The owner refuses to serve him. The restauranteur states that he has the right to refuse service to anyone including those who do not live according to his beliefs. The politician leaves followed by a crowd of people jeering at him and threatening violence in protest. Justice has won the day according to most people.
I have a serious problem reconciling the two ideas of justice portrayed in the two situations above and yet both situations resemble real world happenings.
This has little to do with my own political leanings except that either business owners have the right to refuse service at their discretion or they don’t.
I disagree with both restaurant owners and find their refusal in both cases to be ridiculously narrow-minded and shortsighted. Did the baker fear that the lord would strike down his bakery if he helped make something beautiful for two people in love. Did the restauranteur fear that if the politician started talking, people would immediately be spell-bound, put on jackboots and start walking down the street hitting minorities with truncheons? Then again I have never feared ideas or lifestyles that were different than my own and I detest the idea of letting fear control my actions.

Blessings, G

 

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Star GamesStar Games by G A Rosenberg

 

Spatial ExtremitiesSpatial Extremities by G A Rosenberg

 

MortisMortis by G A Rosenberg

 

The Centre Won’t Hold Still

 

“”I think that one of these days you’re going to have to find out where you want to go. And then you’ve got to start going there.”
— J.D. Salinger

 

For years I’ve spoken about feeling myself at the crossroads unable to choose a direction yet gaining ever increasing ability to see down each possibility and discover more. Yet crossroads change with time and anyone who has believed that centres have stability have never spent much time observing spiders. More and more I find myself craving direction and so I will let my old crossroads dissolve and learn a new way. Eventually I may find that I need more possibilities again and thus erect a new crossroads wherever I am but now I’ll follow the road to the left and see what lies within the setting sun.
Blessings, G

 

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A Burning PlaceA Burning Place by G A Rosenberg

 

Villain of the PieceVillain of the Piece by G A Rosenberg

 

Transform Daily

 

“Everything in your life is there as a vehicle for your transformation.
Use it!”
— Ram Dass

 

Travelling this road of becoming
accompanied by the spirits of change
No constants, no restraints
except that we cannot remain in place
Let the spirits guide the way
the shadows show the wyrd
and the spiders weave each strand in place
We break all conventions
as we shift and shine
brilliant and serpentine
evolving, becoming anew
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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On a surreal  PathOn a Surreal Path by G A Rosenberg

 

Pieces Coming Together As They UnfoldPieces Coming Together As They Unfold by G A Rosenberg

 

Shadowed Face Facing ShadowMy Shadowed Face by G A Rosenberg

 

Friendship Lab

 

“Don’t let people’s scars distract you from their smiles.”
— John Maurer

 

A few of my friends who have been roommates for awhile came to me separately for advice on how to deal with each other. Their friendship appeared to be the kind that we humans choose unconsciously because we need to have a funhouse mirror of certain combinations of our qualities held up to us to see and deal with. This in my experience happens when our introspective nature’s become blocked. The things that draw us into these relationships tends to be the qualities that we share that we enjoy. Problems arise most often, it seems when qualities we dislike or don’t fully understand about ourselves come into play. I could see that this most likely was the case with my friends but could only point out the edges to them. Neither wanted to realize the gifts they were giving each other and themselves by illuminating how they dealt or didn’t with their shadow selves. Things escalated to the point where they forgot why they had become friends in the first place. No doubt they will each draw into their lives people with similar qualities that they will have to deal with until they get the lesson. Life’s funny that way.
Blessings, G

 

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Landscape of Intertwined Rainbow StarfishLandscape of Intertwined Rainbow Starfish by G A Rosenberg

 

Phoenix Dark RisingPhoenix’s Dark Rising by G A Rosenberg

 

To Dream of the Sky

 

“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

 

There are all kinds of things that after you do them once, you do everything possible for the chance to do it again. Flying for me was one of those. I love being in the air no matter the mode of transportation. Certain drug experiences have been like that too. Having once tasted them you look forward to experience that taste of reality being more fluid than you heretofore believed (or so I’ve been told.) Mystical experiences have been much like that to me as well. Not that I have had many but each time I want to feel that way again. So we strive for the taste of the sky and when we land, we try to keep our new understandings within as we look up, ever up.
Blessings, G

 

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Two Queens and a ThroneTwo Queens and a Throne by G A Rosenberg

 

RecoilRecoil by G A Rosenberg