Tag: stories

Quote of the Day – May 13 2012

“To survive, you must tell stories.”
― Umberto Eco, The Island of the Day Before

This quote seems to sparkle on the surface. So much of our existence seems due to the stories we tell ourselves. Our stories reflect,  inflect and infect our being. Who was I there? Was I hero or victim, bystander or villain? Did I save the day or get lost in the woods? Did I grow or did I sink into despair? Is that story over yet or is this just a brief respite in between chapters?

Yet I wonder are stories truly necessary to survive? When we meditate isn’t the idea to shut the stories down and be in silence? If so, then what part of us needs the stories to survive? Does meditation give us the necessary space in which to change our stories, change ourselves? Stories may be necessary but we can keep improving the stories told.

Blessings, G

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Solar Plexus by G A Rosenberg

Heart’s Mist by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – April 12 2012

“Don’t forget – no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.”
― Charles de Lint

“It’s all a matter of paying attention, being awake in the present
moment, and not expecting a huge payoff. The magic in this world seems
to work in whispers and small kindnesses.”
― Charles de Lint

A pair of quotes tonight from one of my favourite writers,Charles de Lint. Both of them seem to reflect different things going on in my head tho which probably means that down the road a ways they connect.
We all have our stories and our perspectives. No one else has experienced the same life we have and so we each carry something of infinite value. If nothing else, a new exercise in compassion. By this I don’t necessarily mean that every one’s view on everything is as good as anyone else’s. These things are relative.
Everyone’s experience and insight does hold value, its to who, how much and relative to what that’s the rub.

I have always wanted to understand others. I want to understand the joy and pain and life that has made each person what they are and pushes them to become more. I want to understand and heal what stops them. I realize of course that this comes from a strong need to understand myself and overcome my own inertia but more than that. For understanding each person means being aware and seeing those small moments of magic that Mr. de Lint talks about in the second quote. Hmmm, easier to match them up then I thought.
Blessings, G

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Eye Transform by G A Rosenberg

Eye Travel by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – February 11 2012

“every sensation
every image
everything we think is lifeless
talks to us silently
with our lips or tongue
relating to us our joys and sorrows
informing us
trying to awaken us”
–Rumi

If we but listen, the sounds in a single moment can bring enlightenment and the silence between the moments bring wisdom. I’ve long believed that if we understand someone’s myths and stories we have come a long way towards understanding that person. This past few years of awakening seem to be a lot about what stories do i choose and its not a much up for grabs as i thought. Almost all of my major stories I’ve talked about on the blog.
I) The five blind men and the elephant
II) Br’er Rabbit and the tar Baby
III) Illusions by Richard Bach
IV) The Life of Emperor Norton
V) The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

There are many others in there that I could add…that illustrate parts of my life, Casteneda, Kerourac, Paulo Coelho (I loved The Alchemist and it resonated for me), Corwin of Amber, Crowley, Blavatsky, so many others. Books and words, Words and Story, Story and Music and silence. For if I don’t take these moments of silence, then how can I continue to hear?
Namaste, G

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Field of Flowers by G A Rosenberg

Snowflake Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – December 31 2011

“Heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever; a happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.”
–Peter S Beagle

Once again a quote has surprised me. I went looking for quotes on endings, perhaps one that would bring us to a beginning the snake Ourborus forever eating his own tail, or is that tale? Instead I find this amazing quote by Beagle that suggests that the story does not end but will be perpetually in progress.
How do I reconcile this with my belief that every moment can signify a new direction, a new chapter, a new beginning? Need I try? Some stories have the habit of taking wilder shifts than others.
To those of you who follow my blog, who have enjoyed the art, the writing and perhaps even these mini essays, thank you. May this next year find you joyful and healthy and may there be much new art, new jokes, and new stories that we can share.
Namaste G

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Reflecting the Pink Moonlight by G A Rosenberg

A Galaxy in Each of Us by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – November 27 2011

“Surely the job of fiction is to actually tell the truth. It’s a paradox that’s at the heart of any kind of storytelling.”

–Jeremy Northam

Thinking about storytelling tonight, our stories as well as the ones we read, watch, hear from others. It stopped surprising me a long time ago, the truth and insight that can come from a fictional story, a myth or a legend. The mask of fantasy becomes an armour that even the most vulnerable of truths can wear at least until midnight when the masques come off and the truth becomes revealed. How many of us run off Cinderella like before that can happen? Or is that mixing metaphors? Perhaps tho, someone has found the clues we left behind (and every fiction as well as every truth leaves clues behind) and cares enough to follow us home…Sometimes it may be part of ourselves that hasn’t seen the light of day in way too long…
Namaste,
GAR

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Intersecting Planes by G A Rosenberg

Quotes of the Day – September 21 2011

“Every doorway, every intersection has a story. “

      –Katherine Dunn

“[T]he essential of all magical work: the uniting of the microcosm with the macrocosm. “

   –Aleister Crowley

Every doorway a crosroads
and every moment a doorway
we step through from now to now
Every crossroad leaves its mark”
–GA Rosenberg

 

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Doorways in Strange Skies by G A Rosenberg