Seeing Different Realities

 

“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”
— Henry David Thoreau

 

Looking at public reaction to the news of the last few weeks has been fascinating. Never has it been more obvious that there is more than one reality. Was the United States Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage a strike for equality and an affirmation that gay people matter or was it a redefinition of marriage that will make Jehovah and Jesus very cross and cause the foundation of society as we know it to end? Having lived in Canada for the last 10 years I would tend towards the former view but I have my reality tunnels too. This is but one example.
Is the discrediting and removal of the confederate flag a blow against a symbol of slavery and degradation or was it a removal of a symbol that stood against oppression? Were people who celebrated gay marriage buying into a government institution that was meaningless or was it celebrating a hard-fought battle? Who’s reality wins and how do we reconcile it? What do we see and what lens are we looking at it with?
Is it possible for the sake of understanding to allow ourselves to see what another sees even if it contradicts our own viewpoint? I believe so and I have proved it to myself in a number of ways. It sometimes means that one has to give up investment in one’s own outlook to do it. This doesn’t necessarily mean changing our point of view as much as loosening it a bit to see how another reality can fit. This makes it a bit easier to not dismiss those who hold opposing viewpoints. It is possible to both understand and disagree with someone. It just takes work. Could that be merely what I see?
Blessings, G

 

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Seed of ContemplationSeed of Contemplation by G A Rosenberg

 

The Calling of the MoonsThe Calling of the Moons by G A Rosenberg

 

Imagine Better

 

“We live in condensations of our imagination”
― Terence McKenna

 

So much of what each of us consider real comes from our interpretations. When someone whom we respect tells us that we have done a good job do we swell up with pride or do we become angry at condescension? Do we become puzzled and hurt and try to figure out what they might mean by it and base our reactions on the conclusion we come to? A single mother leaves her child in the car so she can run in to a store. Is she negligent or is it ok? The answer to that depends on the imagination of the observer. So much of our reality is dependent on our viewpoint and how we fill in the blanks and there are always blanks. There are always unknown factors that we are unaware of. How we fill these voids depends on our experience in similar situations and what we imagine the consequences may be.
In either case, it is our imagination that determines our reality. Understanding this gives us the opportunity to imagine other possibilities. If we want to change the world, it may help us to adapt different interpretations. Imagining other viewpoints or other reality tunnels can enable us to act more compassionately and more positively and more openly to other people. Imagining better makes us better.
Blessings, G

 

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Waiting ChamberWaiting Chamber by G A Rosenberg

 

Strange Abstract PortalStrange Abstract Portal by G A Rosenberg

 

Head Crowded but Cozy

 

“I finally figured out that I’m solitary by nature, but at the same time I know so many people; so many people think they own a piece of me. They shift and move under my skin, like a parade of memories that simply won’t go away. It doesn’t matter where I am, or how alone–I always have such a crowded head.”
― Charles de Lint

 

If we’ve had a conversation or have known each other for a time, the chances are I carry you in my head. If you said something that struck me, I’ll carry your words and have conversations with them letting them challenge me anew. So many people have offered me encouragement and during the times I need it most when I am happy with the work I do I hear you cheering me on. Others have discouraged me and told me their doubts. They too I have conversations with. You don’t even have to be real. So many fictional characters from books and movies are in their too and occasionally you talk together with me as silent spectator. The theatre in my mind runs day and night. Luckily at times I can leave it behind but it can be very useful. Atheists and people who’s beliefs cover every spectrum debate. Scientists and mystics and right hand path and left hand path, Conservatives, Liberals and Socialists all share in the debate and I can be witness or participant as need be. Oh it may get crowded in here but thanks to meditation I can leave from time to time and come back refreshed. As I said it may be crowded but at least its cozy.
Blessings, G

 

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Haunted by Memories of Home LostHaunted By Memories of Home Lost by G A Rosenberg

 

Mauve and Green ReflectionsMauve and Green Reflections by G A Rosenberg

Changing Viewpoints

 

“Most of us are only willing to call 5% of our present information into question any one point.”
― Ken Wilber

 

What if everything we know is wrong? What if the universe is very different than we have always believed it to be? Why is it so difficult to change our viewpoints? Indeed it seems at times that we go out of our way to avoid stating what our viewpoints are. I know that I have been guilty of this. Despite this reluctance, we so identify with our points of view that we defend them as if they were something precious, a bedrock to stand on rather than a coin to be paid for something clearer and closer to visceral truth. I will trade any viewpoint I have for one that makes more sense. If that makes me sound wishy-washy than so be it. I am more than my ideas and stances and more and more I learn what that is.
Blessings, G

 

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Field StudyField Study by G A Rosenberg

 

A Glimpse Through Purple CloudsA Glimpse Through Purple Clouds by G A Rosenberg

 

Willingness to Change

 

“We have been to the moon, we have charted the depths of the ocean and the heart of the atom, but we have a fear of looking inward to ourselves because we sense that is where all the contradictions flow together.”
― Terence McKenna

 

Why do we do the things we do? What are our processes? What in us is a product of cultural, family and media conditioning and what is our authentic selves? Are we our views and our reasoning on any given viewpoint? All too often we accept our conditioning and viewpoints as our reality and we defend any challenge to them as if they were a personal attack. Why? If our viewpoints cannot withstand challenge doesn’t that mean it may be time to change them? If we are looking to gain more understanding of ourselves, doesn’t that make it a good idea to welcome challenge? Can we learn to accept that something we believe in may be wrong and change it even if we believe it passionately?
I have been working on these questions for awhile now and I have finally come to the point where I welcome my ideas being challenged. If I find myself getting personally offended when a statement I make has been challenged, I see it as an opportunity to look at what part of me feels wounded by the challenge? I can change a viewpoint knowing that it does not mean changing my real authentic self just part of the barnacles that have grown on the surface.
Blessings, G

 

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ConservatoryConservatory by G A Rosenberg

 

Passion of the ImaginationPassion of the imagination by G A Rosenberg

 

Exploring Another’s Reality

 

“I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man’s. I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.”
― William Blake

 

We spend the majority of our lives trapped inside our own heads. No matter how often our viewpoint or reality tunnel may change there is still a certain ‘me-ness’ about it. How refreshing it can be to come across someone who thinks and acts differently. What a great opportunity for understanding. In my life there has been little I have enjoyed more than playing dress up with someone else’s worldview. I love trying it on and parading in front of the mirror and then showing friends and family and see what they think. Far too often tho, the artifice shows through and it fails to impress. This can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 20 years to discover. This aping and acquiring of someone else’s reality is a double edged sword. On the one hand there is something useful in almost any point of view. On the other hand, what is new and refreshing now can oh so quickly become a prison. There are many people who find themselves trapped in religious cults or prison who stayed at the party of someone else’s vision for too long and now can’t find their way home again. Luckily even with determined effort there is only so long that this can be sustained.Eventually we find our way back home to ourselves or at least find ourselves lost. Being lost is a lot better than it sounds as in ways it is a reset to zero and we have a chance to rebuild based on a much clearer vision.
Blessings, G

 

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Joining of FieldsJoining of Fields by G A Rosenberg

 

The Walls Have Eyes and Sometimes ThoughtsThe Walls Have Eyes and Sometimes Thoughts

Viewpoints

The following statements exhibit one man’s viewpoint at a given moment in time. No preconceptions were harmed in the stating of these viewpoints.

Overheard at a bus stop:
“I love everyone. I’m not judgemental like my friend Betty. I can’t stand judgemental people. They can’t see that we’re all one. They’re so negative. I hate that!”

Can pure truth exist in this physical realm?

As soon as I make a statement I tend to think of it as an approximation only. One that can and most likely will be proven at least partially wrong at some future point in space time. I don’t know that that reflects a changing reality as much as it does a changing perspective….

“Any false or partially false premise extended with accurate logic will generate an approximate simulation of insanity”
— Blake Williams in Robert Anton Wilson’s The Trick Top Hat
If I believe the above statement and I also believe that approximations of reality seem to be the closest we can achieve while in physical form, then does that mean that every premise leads to insanity…
What would a completely true premise look like?