Tag Archives: belief

Keeping Up With My Own Evolution: Symbols

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Symbols are everywhere around us.  Architects and artisans decorate their creations with them.  Some are simple, some are complex.  Look a child’s drawing and you will see a sun, a house, a tree, a family, etc.  Tour a church or museum and notice a cross, an organ, a pulpit, a relic, painting or sculpture, lion, elephant, cow.  The symbols we see and recognize mean something to us…..good or evil, meaningful or irrelevant…..it’s all in what we believe.

Drive along a highway and we are directed by symbols:  numbers, arrows and icons representing gas stations, restrooms, restaurants and approaching hazards.

We’re all familiar with human icons, perhaps a movie star symbolizing fame and fortune, or an historical figure representing conquest and power, etc.  Today icons have taken on an interesting commercial aspect as well.  Golden Arches…..

And then we have emoticons symbolizing emotions and connections we have with others in social media such as talents, shared interests.  I just saw an episode of The Big Bang Theory in which anger was shown by a downturned mouth on a red “smiley face”.  The color red turned that frown from sad to angry.  I loved it and laughed a lot just looking at it.

I’ve loved the fleur de lis as long as I can remember.  I probably first became aware of it in french class in high school.  It has held an increasing fascination for me as I’ve read about it in historical and religious material. To many, it’s a beautiful decoration, to others it’s an important symbol of light and power bestowed on royalty, and still others believe it representative of the power of the Catholic  Church, the Virgin Mary, the cross.  To others it is imbued with occult power and meanings.

I’ve come to believe that I am the one with the power, not the symbol.  A symbol has the power my belief gives it.

I’ve recently painted a cross that is a powerful symbol for me:  Thee Crosss.  The top of the cross, two horizontal lines of yellow represent the double yellow lines painted down the middle of an asphalt road.  Two vertical lines, representing erosion, natural, universal  forces, run down the center of the painting from top to bottom, crossing the yellow lines through their center.  This symbol reminds me who I am and where I am in the grand scheme of life on this planet.

I love knowing that we are all continually evolving.  It’s wonderful to know that beliefs I hold are subject to change and that with every experience I have, they are changing.  Life is such a magical miracle

Magic Is Believing In Yourself

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is quoted as saying ”  Magic is believing in yourself.  If you can do that, you can make anything happen.”

Through the years, I’ve read lots of wonderful, uplifting quotes about belief.  Some had to do with religion, others alchemy and even science.  I’ve read them and pondered the basis of my beliefs.  Most of them have been handed down through my english, swedish and irish ancestors.

My Mom and Dad very carefully taught me what they had been taught.  And I believed.  I believed not only them but also my teachers in school and church.  For that matter, I believed what every authority figure in my life had to say.

I do have to admit that many of these people are great in my eyes.  My english teacher in high school inspired my love of words and books.  My seminary teacher, a couple of college professors and several art teachers achieved a measure of success  in their own lives and inspired my love of learning.  However, as I’ve grown older and become aware of them as human beings with frailties, I realize that all they could give me was their own best guess.

I accepted the values of others verbatim.  What does that say about my intuition and judgement?  It would have made more sense to accept them as input, accumulate them, weigh them against what I saw in my life around me and come to my own conclusions.  Because, as I look back, there was a lot of “do as I say, not as I do” going on.

the thinker and yellow roses 009

I love the quote from Napoleon Hill:  “Do your own thinking on all occasions.  The fact that the human beings are given complete control over nothing save the power to think their own thoughts is laden with significance.”

This sculpture, The Thinker, by Auguste Rodin is a image of a man thinking…..lost in thought.  His muscular body suggests a great capacity for action. It was commissioned to be part of an intricate monument:  The Gates of Hell.  I like to think he was contemplating his beliefs:  which values are worth living for and then what was he going to do about it.

For years I made resolutions in the spirit of  ringing in  the New Year.  Some I kept longer than others, but for the most part, they were quickly forgotten.

I asked my husband if he planned to make any this year.  Not surprisingly, he said no.  But then he added that he makes resolutions almost every day and that as he reaches goals or milestones toward goals, they invariably spawn new ones.  It’s an ongoing process for him that has evolved over the years.  He is a thinker and a doer.

So, I’ve come up with this:  I resolve to learn more, to think more and to do more in 2015!   Let’s make MAGIC!  Let’s learn to BELIEVE IN OURSELVES!