Dangling Conversation (Part I)

 

“Happiness consists in realizing it is all a great strange dream”
― Jack Kerouac

 

What? A dream? All of it?
“Yes”
What about the bad parts?
“That’s part of the dream. You’re working out what you need to.”
You make it sound like its all my fault.
“I said nothing about fault. Merely that you have been able to give your true self exactly the experiences you need to balance and grow”
That sounds an awful lot like you are blaming the victims here. Are you saying that a child who is being abused or who lives in a war-torn land and suffers has chosen it.
“Haven’t you told me that you believe that we have existence beyond the physical? That you believe that we live many lives? Suffering exists here on this world. It would be better if it didn’t. Until the human race gets past its need to inflict suffering on others without realizing how truly everyone is connected. Suffering will happen. Perhaps to understand the concept some have incarnated both as sufferers and those who inflict suffering on others. If this is not your true self, if this life is just a dream then we can all live many rolls. Each time putting on the costume that will bring the most understanding. If each physical lifetime is just a moment in eternity and one aspect of your totality does suffering still hold the same meaning? ”
Still that kind of sucks. I hate knowing that people are in pain.
“You say that yet you constantly expose yourselves to the sight of the pain of others. Whether it be in pursuit of entertainment or of news, you bombard yourself with so many examples of so many kinds of misery, it becomes astonishing that you have any sensitivity towards it at all. Also, you show compassion for those in other lands, yet how often do you walk by someone homeless in your own town or city without stopping or even looking at them? It seems you become highly selective with your outrage. In truth tho, they too have chosen the dream that they live.”
er… I do what I can.
“You do what you wish to do and see what you wish to see. That is ok. You, like they are learning. It is why your spirit has picked the physical experience it has just as they have. I can guarantee if you look at the world you will find much to displease you. There are many who seek to make their own dream a nightmare for others. There are ways in which you do this also. One of the most interesting things about the human experience is the tunnel vision. The ability to point out the flaws in the world as a way to avoid working on one’s own life lessons”
You sound awfully judgemental.
“Yes we do. Perhaps its a lesson we both need to learn.”
Blessings, G

 

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Horus in Crystal SpaceHorus in Crystal Space by G A Rosenberg

 

Riding Through Caves (Vine)Riding Through Caves (Vine) by G A Rosenberg

 

A Dream Within…

 

“All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind together.”
― Jack Kerouac

 

After years of little to no dream recall, I have started remembering and recording my dreams. So many of them in the past few weeks have been about resolving my past with people and places I have not seen in decades. This has provided healing in quite an amazing way. Perhaps the healing has only been one way and yet I believe that we do share connections and if I have been able to find this sense of closure hopefully the current is set so that they may as well.
I love the act of dreaming. I love finding myself doing something or being with people and then waking up and finding myself back in my bed with two loved ones snoring softly besides me. My dreams have provided me answers and occasionally glimpses of future situations that I may find myself in. There is even a tell when that is happening. I will have a conversation that will happen in the future and then things will get absurdly surreal. Not that that doesn’t happen in life itself tho this is more in a Dalian sense of the terms.
I wish good dreaming and good rests to all who read this and a recommendation to keep a notepad and pen or an iPad next to your bed and capture your dreams upon waking.
Blessings, G

 

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Time's Melting Shadow on MandalaTime’s Melting Shadow over Mandala by G A Rosenberg

 

Chalice2Chalice by G A Rosenberg

 

SallosDucal Vision (Sallos) by G A Rosenberg

 

Further Away and Closer to Home

 

“What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? – it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.”
― Jack Kerouac

 

Adventure beckons
New roads and new skies
filled with unseen stars
Where will my journey take me?
The preplanned road never suits
but always there is hope
of a road untravelled.
Gone with the dawn
I move ever closer to home
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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Plant GuardianPlant Guardian by G A Rosenberg

 

Southwestern SunSouthwestern Sun by G A Rosenberg

 

Road Reflection

 

“But why think about that when all the golden lands ahead of you and all kinds of unforseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you’re alive to see?”
― Jack Kerouac

 

Tales of the road continue. Leaving behind the Athabasca river, we’ve moved on to the city streets of Edmonton, Alberta. My thoughts and emotions have taken on a bit of concreteness as well. It is a strange mixture of gratitude for the journey and all that I’ve seen (both life journey and the subset of this trip) and feelings of unfulfilment and frustration with where I am at right now. These things stay transitory for I never despair of life’s ability to surprise in some pretty amazing ways. I am hoping that my travels this month and the accompanying inner journey will help me to resolve a bit and perhaps map out a bit of the next period of my life. It feels as if in someways I have reached a standstill and need to find ways to push myself forward into a new cycle. I know it will come it always does.
Blessings, G

 

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Echoes of AUMEchoes of Aum by G A Rosenberg

 

Athabasca RiverAthabasca River

 

No Time to be Bored

 

“Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don’t be sorry.”
— Jack Kerouac

 

Have you imagined everything you could ever imagine?
Have you seen everything of beauty there is to see even in your own backyard?
Have you learned everything about yourself there is to learn?
Do you truly know your lover / brothers / sisters / friends / spouse as well as you could?
Have you read every book that can interest you?
Surfed every site you could?
Traveled to every place you could get to?
Have you healed yourself of all wounds both psychic and physical?
Have you sung every song in you to sung?
Have you created everything there is to create?
Have you explored the totality of your relationship to the universe?
There’s so much to experience in life,
how can any of us find time to be bored?
Blessings, G

 

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Mulitcoloured Mountain DwellingMulti-Coloured Mountain Dwelling

 

Admiring the Life MaskAdoring the Life Mask by G A Rosenberg

Weaving Communication

 

“The best teacher is experience and not through someone’s distorted point of view”
― Jack Kerouac

 

Each moment is an experience. We interact with others or with just ourselves and the potential for learning or hitting that sweet spot of connection with the all is ever present. It’s true that there are distortions in any medium. We talk about ourselves with fading memory with viewpoints half formed and inexact forms of communication. The surprise lies not in the fact that we misunderstand what we hear but that communication happens at all. Yet it does which to me means on some level we must want to communicate. We want to share our lives as clearly as possible and we want to feel the sharing of others. Yet when that sharing is inauthentic we know it.
One of the things I pray for is the ability to be as clear and open as it is possible for me to be in my writing, speech and perception. In that way, each person’s experience becomes part of my tapestry and I can share in theirs.
Blessings, G

 

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Storm Queen (Inverse)Storm Queen by G A Rosenberg

 

Energy WellEnergy Well by G A Rosenberg

Consequences of Certainty

 

“Every moment I sacrifice my certainty to confusion so that pathways will open up to greater understanding”
— Randall Wolfe

 

Jack Kerouac said that all he had to offer was his own confusion. I can relate to that. Any time I find myself certain about anything my universal kaleidoscope spins and questions rush in. I’m learning to be ok with that tho. I have met many people who have total certainty about how things work and while I used to find them infinitely magnetic, I have learned to be very weary. It seems that as soon as something becomes certain for us, we stop questioning it. What’s worse is that the longer that certainty has to set, the more solid and unbreakable it becomes to the point of being unable to allow for error. Once we allow that to happen then our growth becomes stunted and we limit our universe to just what we know. I would rather remain confused and stay open to infinite potentiality. At least that’s what I think most of the time.
Blessings, G

 

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At the CenterAt the Centre by G A Rosenberg

 

Purple RipplesRipples by G A Rosenberg

The Myth of Expectation

 

“It was a rainy night. It was the myth of a rainy night.”
― Jack Kerouac

 

We live in a world of myths and we try to keep up. There is the myth of romance and the myth of rain. We have the myth of Christmas and Family Get-togethers and holiday vacations. When most of us encounter any of these things, we have an idea in our heads built up of the past and media exposure and stories we’ve read and heard of exactly what they should be like and feel like. Yet how often are we disappointed when the reality does not live up to the archetypal image in our heads? It may actually be better, bigger and more wonderful yet how easy is it to get caught up in, “I thought it would be different.” Whenever I find myself expressing anything like the feeling of disappointment in those situations, I try very quickly to get past it.
The only thing that I can expect from a rainy night is that it will probably be wet and probably dark. The only thing I can expect from a travelling holiday is I will probably not be at home. After that its a matter of throwing out the maps and models and treat it as something new never encountered before. It is only then that I am truly experiencing it. Would we really want things to be exactly like they are in the brochure with no surprises? Where then is the chance to experience something wonderful that no one else ever has?
Blessings, G

 

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Cathedral Beneath the WavesCathedral Beneath the Waves by G A Rosenberg

 

Centering in a Star Shaped PoolCentring in a Star Shaped Pool by G A Rosenberg

 

Something Good Beneath the Stars

 

“On soft Spring nights I’ll stand in the yard under the stars – Something good will come out of all things yet – And it will be golden and eternal just like that – There’s no need to say another word”
— Jack Kerouac

 

What lies untouched
stays pure,
the self behind the curtain
that we are just echoes of
masks, educational toys
that play out these dramas
to us so real
then put away at days end.
So we play our part
yet hear whispers of
life beyond this stage
and wonder
at fantasy’s construction
while discovering our will
and playing it out
as only artists can
our intent to know eternity
made manifest in our toy lives.
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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Red Blue Crystal VisionRed Blue Crystal Vision by G A Rosenberg

 

Distortion in the signalDistortion in the Signal by G A Rosenberg

Throwing Away Scripture

 

“When you’ve understood this scripture, throw it away. If you can’t understand this scripture, throw it away. I insist on your freedom.”
― Jack Kerouac

 

Is there someone you look to for answers? Oh I don’t mean a deity or abstract spiritual being. Nor do I mean being open to answers that come from others. What I am actually asking is if there is any one person or group of people who’s word you take as law. Is there a guru to whom you are a chela? Have you surrendered your freedom to him / her or has learning from this teacher brought you a greater freedom then you’ve known so far?
It seems that for most of my early adult years I was in a state of serial cheladom. I would adopt a teacher or they would adopt me (it’s not surprising that so many people feel that they have answers worth teaching. Beware of those who claim to teach much less understand absolute Truth with a capitol T tho. It’s not that they don’t have something worth teaching. In my experience, those who believe that they have found the ONLY way lack context and understanding how their way may fit into the greater whole. They are enslavers who will tie you to their path rather than help you find your own. It took me a long while to realize this tho the other lessons that came were a fair trade off.
In the long run, a true teacher sets you upon your path and frees you from theirs. Whether you understand it or not.
Blessings, G

 

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From Alien SeasFrom Alien Seas by G A Rosenberg

 

He Just Thinks He Doesn't Give A FractalHe Just Thinks He Doesn’t Give a Fractal by G A Rosenberg