Tag: identity

Quote of the Day – January 12 2013

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

 

I pretend to understand. To do this well, I have to listen with involvement to what those around me say. I have to ask the next question and show my involvement. I have to actually put myself into another’s shoes, psyche so that I am not caught up in not understanding. I need to be open to their dreams and their pain and their joy and to see the world from their viewpoint. I have found it impossible once I do those things to not care. In pretending to understand and be understanding, I get caught and perhaps at least a little bit, I do.
Blessings, G

 

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The Emperor
Tarot – The Emperor by G A Rosenberg

 

Whirlwind
Whirlwind by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – January 8 2013

“Today I am someone different. Today I have finally become who I really am.”
― C. JoyBell C.

 

I may have found a new daily affirmation. Each day , don’t we become even more who we really are? I mean, it is possible to delude ourselves more and more, build a house of cards made up of delusions but eventually and inevitably the cards collapse under the weight of the delusion until what we are left with is ourselves. How we react to this collapse and how adaptable we are to rebuilding is as good a litmus test of awareness as anything else I can think of. The more aware I become, the more I seek to trigger the collapse of my delusions so that I can shine through that much clearer. I love it when people show me my blind spots. Let me react emotionally and unreasonably so that I can see what triggered it and gain the gift.
Blessings, G

 

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KIng of Cups

Tarot – King of Cups by G A Rosenberg

 

Caterpillar Mandala
Caterpillar Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – September 22 2012

“You People always hold onto old identities, old faces and masks, long after they’ve served their purpose. But you’ve got to learn to throw things away eventually.”
–Neil Gaiman

 

Let’s try an exercise just for the heck of it. Take a piece of paper and in big letters make a list, one per line of all the ways you identify yourself. Use both the ones that you love and the ones that you find troubling . Then tear the paper into strips, each strip holding one face or identity that you use to identify with. Put all the strips into a big glass bowl and burn them. As you burn each one, imagine yourself being freed from that identity. When you’ve finished, take three deep breaths. Repeat the exercise using whatever new identities have come up for you and the old ones that still feel attached. Tear the paper into strips and burn it, imagining  yourself freed from each of those identities. Do it all a third time. As you burn the papers this time say out loud. “I free myself from all preconceptions of who I am and who I will be. I am now free to make my own way.” Take three deep breaths and start thinking of  the person you’d like to be, the identity you wish. Picture yourself doing what that person does and behaving in the way they behave. Open your eyes and realize you’re free to choose. Realize that there is nothing wrong with choosing the same identity you felt trapped in before. At the very least now you are taking it on by choice

Blessings, G

 

 

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Falling To by G A Rosenberg

 

Star Quest by G A Rosenberg

Identity

Not where I’m going
the roots need to strengthen tho
progress has begun

 

Not where I came from
I’ve come too far, seen too much
Closed some doors behind

 

No group can claim me
My views can’t be limited
by another’s words

 

human beingness
transcending and evolving
I embrace fully

 

Sometimes the strait jacketed elegance of a haiku allows for great clarity. In my exploration of identity this past week, both my own individual identity and my consideration of the groups and causes we identify with I kept coming to the conclusion that if we don’t start thinking of ourselves in a larger sense as part of one greater whole humanity (perhaps even beyond that, beings on this planet) than we are in danger of not being. Too many people pushing either their own agendas or the agendas of a small group that they wish to benefit from who aren’t realizing the potential danger in the choices they are making. Many too many of them seem to be in decision making positions in this world. Please when possible, think large. Embrace your humanity. Be kind.
Blessings, G

 

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Lazered by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 13 2012

““That ain’t me, that ain’t my face. It wasn’t even me when I was trying to be that face. I wasn’t even really me them; I was just being the way I looked, the way people wanted.”
― Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

I try hard to understand those who insist on clinging to one box above all others. They insist that they are the label on this box before they are anything else and do everything in their power to epitomize what they view as the essence of that label. Once they have labeled themselves they fight hard to stop anyone else from doing that. They insist that as the representation of their label (patriot, jewish, irish, queer to name a few) they fight for the rights of all those the label represents insisting that they with the unique qualities inherent in the label be treated like everyone else.

I have trouble with that concept most of all. People fighting for their rights. As soon as anyone fights for their rights to my mind they have lost. We all have rights inherent to our being. What they fight for is for the acknowledgement of those rights by others. There seems to be a strong need for the acknowledgement of their label by others.What I don’t understand is why there isn’t a universal movement towards acknowledging rights period. I believe that in a healthy society, each person is valued for who and what they are as a unique being without label or need to categorize. We need to embrace our humanity as a whole not care solely or primarily about the tribe or group that we fit into because it reflects one aspect of who we are. At this point in history when their seems to be greater potential than ever before for disaster due to inter-tribal conflict, it seems the height of irresponsibility to cling to our own tribe at the risk of our humanity.
Blessings, G

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Atomic Wedgie by G A Rosenberg

 

Garden Shadow by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 12 2012

“We say nothing essential about the cathedral when we speak of its stones. We say nothing essential about Man when we seek to define him by the qualities of men.”
–Antoine de Saint-Exupery

So once I have agreed on the importance of being honest to myself and in my expression how do I define myself? Am I my gender or my sexual preference? What does that mean anyway? If I like other men does that mean I group myself automatically with everyone else who prefers the same sex and like what they like and act with the same mannerisms? What if I occasionally like looking or being with women? Does that give me another set of rules?

Am I the religion I was born into? Does what I believe make me better / different /chosen / more worthy of being saved than anyone else? How about where I was born? Wow people seem to think all kinds of things about others based on geography.

Sorry, Neither my religion, my nationality or my sex or preference can or will define me. They may give me perspective but I know what a trap that can be. Perspective limits and so from my point of view, we can only benefit from seeing life from as many different perspectives as possible. I guess in a way you can say I collect boxes tho I don’t take very good care of them and I find any one dissolving under me after awhile.
Blessings, G

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Doorway? by G A Rosenberg

Samurai Reflects by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 11 2012

“Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the mark of a false messiah.”
― Richard Bach

 

It’s funny really. I began this collection of quotes about identity this week thinking I would quickly reach a destination and yet it seems that the journey like most has taken me down some routes I didn’t quite expect. Yesterday’s reflection on authenticity vs social expectations was one and it started  both externally (through some brilliant comments) and internally some side streams that are still ongoing.

Nicholas Ambrose (http://nicolasambrose.com/) was one of the commenters and he offered this quote from the book Illusions and that book so connects to this topic that I included it as tonight’s quote. One of the biggest issues that Donald Shimoda, one of Bach’s main characters in Illusions has to resolve is the relative importance of other people to his mission in life. For me of late similar issues have come up. How can I balance the relationships I have in my life and still be true to myself? Both of Bach’s main characters in Illusions were loners mainly living solitary lives. This is not true for me and while my relationships challenge my sense of self they also provide the stability necessary for me to pursue inner discovery. What is the higher truth? When we know the answer to that question how do we act on it? How do we learn to trust it? These questions and more have arisen and many feel unresolved. Resolution exists tho of that I am sure.

Blessings, G

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Atomic Chamber by G A Rosenberg
Phoenix Blood by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 10 2012

“Never try to do anything that is outside of who you are. A forced smile is a sign of what feels wrong in your heart, so recognize it when it happens. Living a lie will reduce you to one.”
― Ashly Lorenzana

For only the second or third time since I started doing the daily quote I am including a quote that I am having a difficult time with. Oh the basic idea I agree with that ideally we should live our lives in such a way as to express honestly who we are at any moment. Yet in the lives most of us live there seem to arise times when it is necessary to smile. Showing anger at your boss in social situations does not lend to job security. Becoming frustrated around in-laws is not conducive to harmony in marriage.

I am not advocating phoniness. In these types of situations I try to find reasons to smile. It’s all a matter of focus. Do you pay attention to your boss belittling you in subtle or not so subtle jabs or do you enjoy the decor of the resturant or the beautiful hillside and sunset? There is always something positive to focus on tho sometimes it can be difficult to do it. Tho with practice it becomes easier. For me it comes down to this Do I want to be the guy who is usually and easily frustrated or the guy who finds something to enjoy in most situations?
Blessings, G

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Forces at  Work by G A  Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 9 2012

“You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. At some time, every creature which lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation; this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe.”
― Philip K. Dick

How do I identify myself? What is my identity? Is each I AM statement that I make something I must surpass? Can that be seen as the betrayal or curse that PKD speaks of in this quote? I identified myself as a member of the Unification Church. For months I tried to make myself into the model of a church member even as evidence against the church’s teachings started piling up both internally and externally. Eventually I left betraying many of the teachings subsequently. This pattern has repeated with almost every aspect of my life as self-chosen identity after self-chosen identity became discarded like a pile of outgrown clothes. Now I find even the current identity and familial paradigms that I live with coming into question and I struggle betwe see full-sen obligation and authenticity.

So when my identity, the life roles I have chosen for myself come into conflict with the core of my being, how do I resolve this? What other issues are involved in living a life of authenticity and what must I betray in order to be my true self? Time I know will resolve this as it does most things so then I figure out what the priorities are. The way out always brings us to a higher part of the spiral.
Blessings, G

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The Offered Key by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – July 8 2012

“If you understood everything I said, you’d be me”
― Miles Davis

My first thought when typing this quote was “or perhaps telepathic” but thats not quite it. Even if we could read each other’s minds and know what we meant, it would take years of knowledge and experience in order to understand (or innerstand as a  few of my friends would have it) from where the emotional content of what I said arose. We could understand the content but not the source.

Perhaps that is how it should be. If we are, as I suspect a good deal of the time, the universes way of understanding itself then perhaps it should be at least as difficult as self-understanding is for us. Perhaps as well, understanding may be a goal that we always approach but never quite reach, much as grasping absolute truth while in the physical body. For if we do contain multitudes and universes within us, absolute universal truth and the heart of another may not be that far different.
Blessings, G

 

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Water Om by G A Rosenberg

 

 

Prairie Dusk  (photo)