Tag: responsibility

On Freedom and Rights…

 

“All men are by nature free; you have therefore an undoubted liberty to depart whenever you please, but will have many and great difficulties to encounter in passing the frontiers.”
― Voltaire

 

I have begun to winch a little bit every time I hear about someone trying to get equal rights from their government. They do not understand what they are doing. What they in fact are doing is asking and / or demanding recognition of their rights. NO ONE has to ask for rights that are inherent to us by the universe. As soon as we ask permission from the government or anyone else to be allowed to do anything than we are affirming our subservience to that government and allowing one more infringement on our freedom.

I find it a bit sad how easily we are willing to give up our freedom. We do it by asking for permission to be ourselves and we do it when someone fails to recognize our rights and we turn ourselves into their victims.

 

“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”

– Sigmund Freud.

 

I find it a bit sad how easily we are willing to give up our freedom. We do it by asking for permission to be ourselves and we do it when someone fails to recognize our rights and we turn ourselves into their victims. It seems that this lack of ability to recognize and take responsibility for the freedom of another is the fundamental illness that individuals and societies fall prey to.

Blessings, G

 

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Energy RisingEnergy Rising by G A Rosenberg

 

Conjured AbstractionsConjured Abstractions by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – January 20 2013

“You become powerful when you find the infinty at the centre of your Self. Then, and only then can you extract and wield Excalibur.”
–Malcolm Cook

 

Lately I have become friends with several people who wish to use some form of magic to control either their circumstances or even to effect change on a country or planetary level. They play all kinds of games seeking to bring themselves power. I can understand that. We all want things to go our way and especially when younger we want what we want when we want it.
However when it comes down to it, we are all ultimately powerful, we have this infinite core from which all manner of things can come. If we feel brought down by loneliness, by working on ourselves and our perception, we can see how connected we are to everything around us. In realizing this the way we act in relationship to this realization ends up attracting others and Boom the problem of loneliness is solved.
In much the same way we can attract money and fulfilment. It all comes down to being willing to as one friend says “do your f*cking yoga”– if we put half as much time in on self-knowledge, self-control and self-work that we do on trying to control our circumstances and the world than things would fall into place much faster.  The funny thing is that working on one’s self is to acknowledge our own responsibility in the equation. So often people want to be able to place the ‘blame’ on external causes when they fail to look at themselves. Of course self-work often means giving up the buzz of the quick fix. I’d rather go for joy than pleasure any day

Blessings, G

 

A quick postscript. Please do not interpret the above as meaning that I see no value in the practice of magic. Indeed, I believe that ritual can be a powerful tool in self-development. The great work that most magicians speak of is related to the realization of one’s own highest being and will.

 

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Complex Violet equations

Complex Purple Equations by G A Rosenberg

 
Mandala in the eye of the Hawk

Mandala within the Eye of the Hawk by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – December 10 2012

 

“There’s no freedom quite like the freedom of being constantly underestimated.”
― Scott Lynch

 

Wow, i find it difficult at times to live up to people’s expectations. It seems the more I show, the more that’s expected of me. It reminds me of why I spent so many years if not failing at things, not working hard to excel. It did give me an amazing amount of freedom. My parents and family were happy when I did show up rather than disappointed when I didn’t. I could do the work that I wanted and the studying that interested me rather than strive for a degree. Basically, when expected to fail, I was able to accomplish more than I ever dreamed possible.
Conversely when I exceeded people’s expectations they started expecting more and more. When friends had problems I listened and gave them advice. This resulted in them asking me for advice whenever they had a problem and becoming angry with me if I had something of my own going on. When I made it to every family event and made it a point to spend time with my family, the expectations for how often this would happen climbed…
The more you do the more you’re expected to do.
Not all of this pressure happens externally, we start to expect more from ourselves as well…in this day and age the expectation is that we will drive ourselves to the fullest amount of commitment we can handle.
More and more I am starting to believe that we really just need to relax a bit, do what our spirit moves us to do. If we disappoint others, if we disappoint that inner voice that keeps insisting on what we ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ do then that’s ok. In the long run we are answerable to our own hearts and that of the universe. I am not advocating abandoning all responsibility, if anything I am talking about being totally responsible to our own inner being and to the universe. Exhaustion and feeling like a failure does not equal responsibility at all.
Blessings, G

 

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Museum Peace

 

Museum Peace by G A Rosenberg

 

PlantedPlanted by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – November 17 2012

“Moderation? It’s mediocrity, fear, and confusion in disguise. It’s the devil’s dilemma. It’s neither doing nor not doing. It’s the wobbling compromise that makes no one happy. Moderation is for the bland, the apologetic, for the fence-sitters of the world afraid to take a stand. It’s for those afraid to laugh or cry, for those afraid to live or die. Moderation…is lukewarm tea, the devil’s own brew.”
― Dan Millman

 

I admit it. I go to extremes. I’ve never been very good at doing something part way. I have to throw myself into any belief system, lifestyle or adventure I find myself in. I guess in the context of our conversation yesterday, I am a gourmand rather than a gourmet, I can’t just sample something, I have to become it. Eventually it will occur to me how extreme whatever I have been doing is and I will incorporate the parts that worked and let go of the ones that didn’t . This process sometimes takes awhile and requires lots of self-checking. Eventually tho I integrate that experience and go on to the next one.
I don’t believe I’m alone in this process. I have seen many people do this with relationships. They find the one man or woman who can show them most what they need to learn, experience the relationship, usually get hurt in just the way they need to and then go on. Hopefully they can see that that person was brought into their lives to teach them those things and not hold on to anger and resentment for the lesson.  Learning the lesson without becoming bitter at the instructor can be a difficult dance. It helps to remember that we are the ones who have drawn that person, that particular lesson into our lives if only by our need to learn it. Accepting the responsibility precludes indulging in victimization.
Blessings, G

 

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Ten of Cups by G A Rosenberg

 

Ten of Swords by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 11 2012

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
― Toni Morrison

Roped into the life I lead
occupied but never freed I ask myself
where and why I let the door go
I don’t know
Gave away its view for security
needed to have that surety
yet it never reached within, my sin
was never to believe in my worth
and what’s worse now that I do
to much to see through
commitments
re-fitments
and so the chains tighten
and that door never yields
— G A Rosenberg

It seems tho that even when we can finally claim our freedom, it takes quite awhile longer before we can claim its authorship, a true mark of responsibility.

Blessings, G

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Finding the Exit by G A Rosenberg (2009)

 

Wild Tyger in the Day by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – Spetember 26 2012

“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.”
― David Foster Wallace

The question comes for me is how to balance that freedom of responsibility where so much attention, awareness, discipline and effort are needed, freedom of the self, time to meditate, create, and integrate.  It always strikes me that the answer will probably be more easy than I make it. I seem as capable as most people I know at overcomplicating things but somewhere that balance exists. I believe it is probably different for each person.
Blessings, G

 

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Purple Lazer Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Back to Freedom and Responsibility

‎”There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

– Carl Jung.

I’ve run from many things in my life. I have avoided a lot more. So very often, I’ve run from seeing parts of myself that I didn’t want to see. It seems I didn’t  run very effectively.  I would run, geographically and consciously into new circumstances that would bring another part of myself that needed to be faced, usually something I had been even more reluctant to deal with. If I decided to stay and deal with that part of my shadow, a feeling of amazing liberation would occur. Then the original thing I had run away from would show up in a new guise so that I would have to deal with it again.
I believe consciousness will out and that one’s shadow can only be suppressed for so long before it emerges.
I feel several themes in this blog seem to be converging and perhaps a more personal approach may be necessary. In the next few weeks, depending on my own high level of distractibility, I will be sharing more about my own experiences of facing and avoiding responsibility and my own shadow.

 

Travel notes. Today we fly back to Vancouver. I find that this trip has been fruitive on many levels. England and Ireland have amazing beauty and my spirit is renewed. Blessings, G

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Knight-Time Watch by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – March 19 2012

“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility. ”
–Sigmund Freud

Fear of responsibility has been one of the biggest blocks in my life. I used to believe that taking on responsibility not only meant that I might be failing others but would also seriously limit my freedom.
Luckily since then I have gained much more of an idea of what both words mean.
It sounds cliche but none of us can have true freedom without helping as many others as possible find it as well. True freedom is self-actualization. Part of reaching our full potential is developing our compassion and realizing how interconnected we all our. In other words our responsibility to ourselves is interconnected to that of others.
Somewhere along the line too many of us have been taught that freedom comes mainly with money. If we earn enough we can be free to do whatever we want. Let’s see how that works. It seems far too many have done what they wanted distancing themselves more and more not only from other the suffering of others but from the suffering of the planet as well. Still, they find that they don’t have enough. They are not happy. They don’t feel free. But then how can you be free if you have locked away every bit of your true self? To Be Continued …
Blessings, G

 

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Stonehenge Visions by G A Rosenberg

I got some amazing pictures of Stonehenge today and the above picture came from a bit of play with one

Quote of the Day – February 27 2012

“One must assume responsibility for being in a weird world,” he said. “We are in a weird world, you know.”
I nodded my head affirmatively.
“We’re not talking about the same thing,” he said. “For you the world is weird because if you’re not bored with it you’re at odds with it. For me the world is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my interest has been to convince you that you must assume responsibility for being here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous time. I wanted to convince you that you must learn to make every act count, since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it.”
–Carlos Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan

I’ve been thinking a lot about responsibility lately. Particularly our responsibility for living in this world. Responsibility and I tend to have been at odds more often than not. Oh I’ve always been willing to own up to it when I’ve fallen short of doing what I’m supposed to do but following though has been problematic in the past. That changed a lot when we adopted my son Zev. When you have other people counting on you, certain things just fall into place.

More and more often I’ve been thinking about my responsibility as someone who lives in this world. What are my responsibilities to my fellow beings on this planet?Or as a friend said to me recently, “How do you feel for everyone as your child?” So how do we do it? The word for feeling someone’s suffering and doing what you can to ease it is compassion. How do we raise the level of compassion in ourselves and then teach it to others? At this point I have to say that my answer is still, “I don’t know” I feel it has something to do with awareness and honesty

One of the assumptions I’ve always had has been that as soon as I know something I am responsible for it. This assumption has caused me to stop friends from telling me about the misdoings of others. It has also caused me to want to share my experiences and what I learn. Yet, if this is true and I allow myself knowledge of political misdoings and economic injustices that happen every day, where does my responsibility lie? Does it make a difference if I am a bit conflicted over just what can be done? It seems so often that even when I read of what’s going on, or join a march or boycott, I still don’t fully feel it. Part of me wonders about the effectiveness of these techniques. Part of me wonders how much I am letting myself feel my knowledge, feel the suffering of people more effected by these things than I am. Sometimes it feels like I have hung wallpaper over a hole in my being. How do I break through that wallpaper to find my heart? Again, finding answers still in progress. Blessings, G

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Burning Desire by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – November 5 2011

“I dont want to live in the kind of world where we dont look out for each other. Not just the people that are close to us, but anybody who needs a helping hand. I cant chnage the way anybody else thinks, or what they choose to do, but I can do my bit.”
― Charles de Lint

Yep another Charles deLint quote but then one of the reasons I love his stories so much might be because often I can imagine being one of his characters pretty easily. Feeling so much love, connectedness, involvement and concern yet coming from a somewhat damaged past. Learning to take responsibility for my own story. Funny, how often I hear people who blame their parents for the direction their life has taken and the choices they make. If they can’t blame their parents, they blame the government, their boss, their ex anything except look in the mirror. I know that life can be tough. I’ve seen it. Yet if your boss, your government, your ex or your life sucks, change it. If you stay in a situation in which you don’t feel you can be happy, then know why you stay. You must be getting something out of it otherwise you would not remain. We have the freedom. We can create new lives for our selves at any moment. I guess there does remain one problem. You drew that boss, ex, situation to you for a reason, if you haven’t dealt with it you’ll repeat it. You take your life with you. Which I don’t see as a bad thing. Namaste
— G A Rosenberg

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Guardian by G A Rosenberg