Tag: Stephen Sondheim

Manifesting the Dream

 

“If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities.”
― Maya Angelou

 

I reflect often how lucky I am. I have seen so many dreams come true and know so many people who can make it happen. One group of people I know have taken great strides in helping people with disabilities determine their own lives, working at jobs that are worthwhile and adding to their communities. I know more who are doing their bits to make life just a little bit more healthier and safer in third-world nations. Others who every day by realizing their dreams, which started as a fantasy in one person’s mind make life better for so many others.
This lifts me when I am feeling down and believe that a) I don’t make a difference and b) the things that I hope for are hopeless and c) that I don’t have the power to affect others. More and more I realize I do and can and what a gift it is. Even in minor ways, when someone tells me that something I wrote impacted on them in even a minor way it feels so empowering. What is art but dreams created?
In one of my favourite plays “Sunday in the Park with George” by Stephen Sondheim, Georges Seraut the artist sings about being lost in his work, and how people misunderstand what he is doing. In the end, he says “Look I made a hat where there never was a hat.” It’s all about seeing what isn’t there, working to put it there and thus transforming reality. Nothing is more powerful than our dreams when we are willing to work to manifest them.
Blessings, G

 

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Buffetted by Changing TimesBuffeted by Life by G A Rosenberg

 

Molten Gold Inner GlowMolten Gold Inner Glow by G A Rosenberg

The Land of Never Be or Roads Not Taken

“The man i’ll never be,
Who remembers him?”
― Stephen Sondheim

 

We start out as seeds
with potential unlimited
then choices come in
and one by one the never-be’s depart from us
Oh not as fast as we may think.
After all, adventures and new pathways open
up at all times
but go they do and we remain
I find that I cannot mourn
these strangers who’s path diverged
that drains the juice from the life I live
tho still late at night
I talk with their reflections
we share joy and pain
and refracted outlooks
yet I would not trade
my life for theirs
even when I face dark nights and darker days
for I know the wheel spins for all
and that my life will shine anew…
Blessings, G

 

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The Edifice CrumblesThe Edifice Crumbles by G A Rosenberg

 

Love and Beauty in the Heart of the MachineLove and Beauty in the Heart of the Machine by G A Rosenberg

Path or Direction?

“A path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you . . . Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself alone, one question . . . Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t it is of no use.”
― Carlos Castaneda

 

I have reread this passage many times and put a lot of thought into it. Tonight it struck me in a new way. If as I’ve talked about before, our path is not one that we follow as much as one we choose each step of the way then maybe it is not so much about choosing a path with heart as choosing to have heart in every part of our path. That is choosing each step we take with commitment and yes with love. The distinction may be a fine one but of late I have been investigating the concept of responsibility. Maybe I’m just paraphrasing the line from Sondheim that it is not so much do what you like as like what you do. To me that also ties in with the Thelemic law of ‘Do what Thou Wilt’. If we are making choices according to our true will than those choices will by their very nature be ones that are heart-filled.
Blessings, G

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Buffeted by Cosmic WindsBuffeted by Cosmic Winds by G A Rosenberg

 

Answer His Question2Answer His Question by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – March 10 2013

“The worst thing you can do is censor yourself as the pencil hits the paper. You must not edit until you get it all on paper. If you can put everything down, stream-of-consciousness, you’ll do yourself a service.”
― Stephen Sondheim

 

Yet we do censor ourselves or I do, not only when I write but when I speak as well. I used to say it was because I didn’t want to offend. It is only relatively recently that I realized it has more to do with avoidance of conflict and over concern with what people think of me. Slowly this is changing and my authenticity grows. Still tho I find particularly with those closest I do them and myself the disservice of not speaking my truth and then harbouring resentments in order to have peace in the home.  Still each day I find my voice more. The strange thing is the more i communicate what I have problems with the more alternatives I can find to solutions and the more I unknot. What other areas is this happening in?
Blessings, G

 

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Externalizing the ProcessExternalizing the Process by G A Rosenberg

 

Mindfield 5Mindfield 5 by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – January 3 2012

“White. A blank page of canvas. His favorite. So many possibilities.”
— Stephen Sondheim

 

The artist in me loves a blank white rectangle and its possibilities. The writer in me dreads it a little. Tho I have to admit that both of them attract me. I love living in the world of potential and possibility manifesting. Not that all possibilities or potentials are pleasant but as we live dynamic existances, change will happen and new potentials will pop up in turn. We can always paint our part of the canvas of our lives and start anew. If we can’t totally excise what was there originally, we can reduce it to a faint shadow, one that adds depth and shading to whatever will come.
Blessings, G

 

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Eye Design

Eye Design by G A Rosenberg

 
Firestorm

Firestorm by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 16 2012

I chose, and my world was shaken–so what?
The choice may have been mistaken
but choosing was not.
You have to move on.
Look at what you want,
Not at where you are,
Not at what you’ll be.
Look at all the things you’ve done for me:
Opened up my eyes
Taught me how to see
Notice every tree!
Understand the light!
Concentrate on now!
I want to move on . . .
I want to explore the light.
I want to know how to get through
through to something new–
Something of my own!
Move on!
Move on!
Stop worrying if your vision is new.
Let others make that decision . . .
they usually do
— Stephen Sondheim, Move On

 

Often I have seen people who felt stuck, unable to go forward in their lives or in their practice. I’ve been there once or twice myself. We lose sight of the fact that even if it feels we’re doing the same thing over and over or reiterating the same ideas that it is merely a trick of light or time. Each moment is new. Each moment has different things happening in it. We have but to see. So, how do we break the feeling? Perhaps there’s something in the song lyric. We move on.
That’s right. We explore what feels stale. We explore the light and we explore the shadow and we find newness in it. Easier said than done? Perhaps. In the end tho, we’re beholden to no one. We don’t need to judge ourselves or anyone else. We’re where we are, we do the meditation or practice that we chose to do. We have chosen to be here and its for a reason. If it’s the wrong choice, we can always move on again to the next thing, the next practice, taking what we’ve learned. If every moment changes us, then no matter what we do, it has never before been done by us, not the us who we are at practice. I want to appreciate the movement and appreciate the moment as the present it is.
Blessings, G

 

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Burning Bright by G A Rosenberg

 

It’s Scrying Time Again by G A Rosenberg