Most people look at inner psychological fears with separation (from a distance). However, this distance is illusory; such distance involves time and perpetuates fear. All fears, to exist, depend upon thoughts and time. They are often about what will happen or what — according to the mind — could happen. This projecting about the future involves (and is) psychological time. Of course, there are some natural and necessary fears, like when a big shark is seen in the water where one is swimming. That is when fear is prudent and natural. However, most of us have many fears that are not so prudent.
With many psychological fears — as what often happens — what purports to be separate from fears, supposedly “having them,” then looks for ways to go beyond the fears. This wanting to go beyond the fears involves distance and time. As we said, the fears themselves are the result of time. This may be a mindless circle — that many are caught in — that prevents clear understanding and wise change. A wise mind may perceive that fears are not separate from what it (partially) is. Such a wise mind may also see that there is nothing truly separate from the fears that, in a possessing kind of way, has them. Inventing or imagining something separate from them (to get rid of them) creates unnecessary conflict and friction. Conflict and friction depend upon time (and waste energy).
A mind that is largely beyond psychological fears (and needless internal separation and friction)… is a marvelous thing.
One may ask: If the sacred truly exists, why doesn’t it help us more?
That sacred energy did not create the universe/cosmos. However, the universe — as it exists and as it has existed — is in a very delicate balance. Disorder is only relative (and is part of the entire overall orderly balance of everything). That sacredness doesn’t often interfere with the cosmos (because it — the cosmos — is not a structure to be interfered with). Besides, there would be no end to “fixing” things; that “fixing” could continue ad infinitum. Things are left (as they should be) to run naturally; if everything were changed to be what we consider “perfect”, we would be in a world that is plastic-plant-like or that functions like a fake Sesame Street cartoon.
As i had stated previously in previous posts, enlightenment is not something that one achieves. It is a visitation into you by that ineffable sacredness. During such a visitation, one can feel over a trillion times more alive than during regular existence. Such a visitation can (fortunately) alter or influence the brain cells, enabling them to perceive even more clearly and deeply. It’s important though, not to crave such a visitation. Craving it likely nullifies its occurrence. One must be rather indifferent about it happening (regarding oneself). Besides, you cannot crave the unknowable (i.e., the timeless); you can only crave the known (in and “as” time). However, having a silent, pure, innocent mind is wise. Only in such silence and innocence does it flower. One must have a pure mind… but not one that voraciously craves that mystery to enter one’s life. Let the cup (or flower) of the mind be pure, open, uncontaminated, clean, and often empty (of mere symbolism and stale beliefs); do not greedily crave for it to be filled.
I wrote about this to someone who commented regarding one of my posts a short while ago. Much of my reply is being reiterated here.
We all go through myriads of experiences throughout life. However, most of us do not ponder about the intrinsic essence of “experience” nor about what the implications may entail. Most of us cling to one experience after another. Experience is often recognizing things (i.e., re-cognizing things based on past memory and past accumulation); and the experiencer is not separate from the experience. Experiences, same as with thoughts, are always limited. Experiencing is often very necessary and even beautiful (at times); however endlessly psychologically depending on experiences may be rather limited and childish. Can intelligence sometimes go beyond experience and not always cling to the apron-strings of it? I say, “Yes.” However, there has to be a balance. ”Avoiding experience habitually” can turn out to be neurotic and childish. We often take direct experience to be different than thought/thinking… while, for most of us, thoughts — and the recognitions stemming from stored thoughts — are there (involved) as things are experienced. We often perceive through the screen of thinking (while thinking that we are not thinking).
Bumble Bee and Blossoms … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
I was replying to someone who commented on one of my posts recently, that control (by a psychological center) is largely an illusion. However, we are such egoists that most of us can’t fathom what existing without control entails. Not long ago, i watched a TED Talk video on how one’s gut bacteria may possibly determine a lot of what constitutes one’s personality and outlook about others. There is a complex nerve network (i.e., the gut-microbiota-brain axis) between the gut and the brain. It’s a two-way street, but 80% of the messages go from the gut to the brain (and not vice versa). More information passes between your brain and your gut than any other body system. In fact, there are more nerve cells in your gut than anywhere else in the body outside of the brain. Gut microbes produce or help produce many of the chemical neurotransmitters that convey messages between your gut and brain. They also produce other chemicals that can affect your brain through your bloodstream. Bacteria produce thousands of bioactive compounds that affect brain function and neurotransmission; these can determine mood and, for instance, whether depression occurs significantly or not. Eating lousy food really turns us into people with psychological problems. Intelligence eats correctly and (hopefully) perceives and thinks correctly.
Eating many whole, prebiotic foods (like beans, wild blueberries, greens, onions, garlic, soy products, nuts, and foods high in fiber) is recommended; avoid eating fragmented, sugar-oriented foods. Probiotic foods like yogurt (with active cultures) are full of good bacteria already. Eat intelligently and (hopefully) perceive and think intelligently.
Fungal (Mushroom) Mycelium, the underground part of mushrooms. These connect to plants and trees and exchange nutrients and information with them. … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
One may ask: Is it possible for anyone to achieve enlightenment? Are there any practical methods for attaining this state of mind?
First of all, it’s not an achievement. It’s a visitation into you by that ineffable sacredness/eternal energy. If anyone offers you a method to “attain this state of mind,” run away from them. All of these supposedly exotic methods, techniques, and systems just make the mind more robotic, more lemming-like, more mechanical, and more second-hand. Rather, intelligently investigate without methodology. Without methods, simply be aware of thoughts/thinking, and perceptions, without the conditionings of separation and fragmentation that were poured into you. Allow silence of mind to come about naturally (without trying to make it happen). Be aware that — psychologically — the observer is not separate from the observed.
Hover in Blossoming … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
Can real, psychological quietness be “made” to happen by a learned psychological image of a central controller (that is neither central nor a true controller)? Is such a “made” quietness actually phony, because it was concocted by a conditioned psychological process that is — in itself — erroneous (and not a legitimate controller)? A fallacious process is not likely to produce a very orderly (profound) psychological result. To psychologically die to what is false is easy if a real, living passion for truth is there, and if real courage, joy, and intelligence are also factors. True quietness may occur — naturally and without effort — in a mind that is orderly, perceiving without much conditioning and contamination by a manipulating society.
In the eye of the stone… Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
When we sleep — to help create psychological order — the mind often dreams about things that went on during recent days. Some of these dreams may not seem relevant to what actually went on… but, nevertheless, oftentimes they (indirectly) are. (Analyzing them doesn’t do much good, since the analyzer is the analyzed.) If one is very aware and holistically mindful during the day, then dreams are unnecessary. Then, the mind does not need to try to establish order during the night; order was already established. Without incessant dreaming, the mind can exist in (and “as”) a profound, mindful, meditative silence. Such silence is beautifully beyond repetitive, fabricated patterns and concocted symbols.
Be very holistically aware during waking hours, without constantly looking at things, and labeling things, symbolically (i.e., without merely seeing via words and stored mental images). Then, as was mentioned, you will see that having many dreams is unnecessary. (Of course, eating certain spicy or unusual foods — like pepper or piperine — may inadvertently cause dreams following the time they were consumed.) Please be sure to get enough sleep.
Dentition of a Fallen Log … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
We often compare ourselves with others. Why? Many people fail to ask deeper questions and many adhere to the same, antiquated ways and beliefs. Why would you measure yourself according to such parameters? Many primarily act from conceptual programming and not with the heart. Most look via separation and psychological distance. Success, in a rather insane world, may not really be success at all. Comparison often invites judgment, fear, competition, and imitation. Please consider being beyond those kinds of shenanigans.
When you are genuine and whole, you are largely unaffected by the accepted beliefs and psychological frameworks that society embraces. Then you stand alone. Such a person is blessed. Then one sees beyond the fragmentary and fallacious acceptances, beliefs, and assumptions. Then one actually thinks (and questions) beyond blind dependence.
Society tells you that you are in charge of your own thoughts. Society does not suggest that thoughts make the thinker and that the thinker is a product of thought. (By the way, what one implies here does not negate eternity.) Society predominantly endorses fragmentation and friction, not wholeness and deep compassion. Society endorses (and teaches) dominance by the self. Society sees — and encourages you to similarly see — life and death as two separate things, not as what is together as one, as a larger, beautiful whole. Society encourages you to see with distance, and it encourages you to see with distinct borders and separation. You know that society of course; it’s what is continually falling into widespread disorder and chaos.
Please look beyond the fragmentation that was poured into you. Ironically, nourishing the isolated self — as so many narcissists do — negates real security and the understanding of sweet eternity.
Please consider perceiving beyond influence. Influence rooted in the past may distort perception, causing it to be jaded. We were all heavily conditioned in childhood. We were conditioned to hold certain beliefs and opinions. We were conditioned to perceive through separation, psychological distance, and mental screens involving labeling and pigeonholing. We were taught that fragmentary, manmade borders are legitimate and absolute. We were primarily taught that we are separate from the world, separate from all of life’s creatures, and separate from those other countries.
Additionally, beyond outside social structures trying to condition one, one also can further condition oneself. One can, for example, mislead oneself into thinking that one is superior to others, that one is meditating spectacularly (while all the while one is actually hypnotizing oneself), that a central “controller” is separate from “other” thoughts, or that one is somehow special (such that it is OK for one to take advantage of others).
It is arduous to go beyond outside authority. It is much easier to follow instructions and to do (and think) as you were told. Going beyond “inside” authority is likewise very difficult. When one goes beyond inward authority, perception exists without relying on past conditioning that is mistakingly taken to be original, isolated, or self-created. (One thinks that one needs to control oneself to be good. However, the very control may create a false inward authority, dominance, and friction. Legitimate order may involve much more than that old game.)
To go beyond outside and inside influence may involve great wisdom, freedom, and integrity.
Many people — unfortunately, as adults — primarily look at things in life with (and “as”) the known. They recognize things as what they have seen before. This recognition occurs when the mind habitually sees through a screen (and background) of memory. When memory looks, it looks from the old, stale past. Memory is rooted in the old; it is oldfangled. The past, being old and secondhand, tends to make the mind stale, bored, and lacking in passion (from recognizing the same old things repeatedly).
It may be that a wise mind, however, often looks at life freshly, without merely perceiving through stored, musty images (of what was). When we were young, we glowed with the passion of seeing life without stale (learned) recognitions. Then we were blissful; then we were flowing while not merely recognizing. (When i was biologically young, i told people that i would never grow up.)
Look at life happily, joyfully, blissfully, soaringly, and fresh… without always carrying the oppressive burden of the past.
I am positing here that by seeking enlightenment, enlightenment never happens. Seeking it instantly nullifies it happening. Seeking takes time, and one cannot obtain the timeless by practicing or doing things (to get it) within (and “as”) time. Thinking manifests in (and “as”) time. Thinking, per se, usually occurs for motives. When thinking is not necessary (for a period) then perhaps the element of timelessness can occur. But if one craves it or grasps for it… it will not happen. One must be indifferent about timeless enlightenment occurring. Then one is not merely seeking an end via some calculated means.
Understand the mind from moment to moment (without a final goal in mind). Someone commented to me recently that they found a method to practice meditation (and said that it was good for beginners). I replied by suggesting that any deliberate practice turns one into a secondhand human being. Additionally, it is very easy to fall into self-hypnosis and subsequently wholeheartedly consider it to be great meditation. Also, there are no “beginners” with this. ”Beginners” implies time; getting to the timeless via time may be a fallacy. Trying to attain enlightenment may merely reinforce a selfish ego (wanting to get something). Reinforcing a selfish ego does not lead to what is beyond deception and selfishness.
Whatever you do, don’t look at life and the world beyond the systems, patterns, and ways in which you were taught. If you look outside of the systems, patterns, and ways — which were poured into you, forming your consciousness — you may be a danger to all that is false, fragmentary, and distorted. Keep looking at things just as you were programmed to. Don’t question anything. Be sure to accept (and cling to) everything that they poured into you.
Continue to observe things from behind a self-made psychological wall supporting separation and isolation. Continue to mindlessly escape into endless forms of entertainment, travel, drugs, and amusement. Continue to have opinions based on how you were raised and taught. Worship the dollar. Grow out of that youthful, magical wonderment concerning life and turn into a fusty adult who sees little of life’s newness and magical beauty. Get dreadfully bored while seeing and thinking the same old patterns. Think only of yourself and have no feelings for others. Continue to worship the dollar. Never stop endlessly chattering with mental symbols, patterns, and words.Look at everything through a maladjusted psychological screen (or curtain) of separation and division. Be very afraid of sweet and refreshing mental silence. Seldom look at (or visit) nature. Do not fundamentally change on the inside, but make your body look very unusual and different on the outside. Continue to worship the dollar.Go through existence being narrow-minded, selfish, and opinionated. Blindly cling to a lot of manmade patterns that were concocted in the distant past, and never look at reality without old, dusty, iron-clad beliefs. Keep your lawn looking perfect, but remain disorderly and a mess inwardly.
Where the Fairies Live … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
What divides you from so-called “others”? Is it what society has poured into you (when you were very young)? Is that division (i.e., that separation) what they implanted within (and “as”) you? Could it be that when you look with separation and fragmentation, you are separation and fragmentation?
Thought/thinking usually depends upon division. It is fragmentation. It is one symbol after another. Holistic perception exists beyond these fragmentary divisions/separations. It is, therefore, not merely of limitation, confinement, and solid boundaries. It transcends beyond illusory barriers and close-minded conceptions. Friction is separation, conflict, and division. Harmony is of holistic oneness and caring intelligence.
To live in the present, in the “here and now,” is often still in vogue these days. To actually “live in the present” may involve much more than most people realize. Many may think that they “live in the present” but they may not. It is extremely easy to deceive oneself. If within, constant “thinking” is going on, then one (surely) does not live in the present. Thoughts are symbols from (and “as”) old, stored memories that unfold from the past. So, if one is constantly thinking about things, one is living in the past. This includes pondering about the future. When we worry about the future, we are using thoughts of the past to project what the future might be (i.e., what the future might consist of).
Additionally, if we go through our day while just habitually recognizing everything with distinct borders, distinct names, distinct attributes, and characteristics, then we are looking primarily with what we were taught… which really isn’t looking at all. Even then we are relying on the past; even then we are existing in (and “as”) the past.
Many say, “Be in the here and now.” What is that “here”? Is it a lot of recognition from (and “as”) what was poured into us in the past? That recognition is the past; its “here” is what old, stored, dusty memory is. Is the “here” some stored images about what is assumed to be centrally located? And, what is “now”? Is it some isolated time interval (of one’s own) that one clings to? It may be that most of us never really wake up. It may be that T.S. Eliot was right when he wrote, “Love is most nearly itself when here and now cease to matter.”
The mind may be a prisoner of its own delusions and misconceptions. To extricate the mind from the quagmire (that it is likely in) may require much more than mere reactions. Mere reactions are likely just extensions of the confusion, disorder, uncertainty, and disarray that the mind is (in). In other words, if the mind is disorderly, who is going to make it orderly?… Will it be another part of that same mind assuming to have (or be) authority or order?
Though we all have to react… merely reacting may not be a profound solution regarding fundamentally existing beyond the disorder. If we perceive our reactions without judgment, ideologies, beliefs, and images of what others have taught… that very perceiving may be beyond the realm of mere reacting. If the mind ceases to depend on standard and ordinary reactions, perhaps it may undergo a transformation wherein few reactions continue to contribute to the misconceptions and delusions that it existed as (in the past). Looking without merely having obtrusions of thought occur as reactions, however, may be easier said than done. The very way we observe things is often heavily tarnished with reactions that we are — for the most part — unaware of. A mind of pristine, untainted “observing,” however, goes beyond being merely rather mechanical and robotic. Such a mind is where true joy and true living exist. Rather crass, robotic minds — though they may say otherwise — are divorced from deep joy and insight. Deep joy and insight are not mere projections (as reactions) from a heavily conditioned mind. Deep joy and true wisdom aren’t part of what must depend; they are spontaneous and not fabricated.
It may very well be that the best joy, the best insights, and the best perceptions… are not merely what are sought (through and “as” reaction). Often, at the precise moment that one seeks to be joyous, joy is not. Most of us have relied, as we were taught, on time to become joyful and wise. However, the most profound joy and the deepest wisdom may not involve a factor that takes, requires, or involves time. Deep joy and deep wisdom are timeless and are not of the realm of mere acquisition (with and by) delayed reactions (about patterns) in time. However, in “time” the wisdom of compassion intelligently acts to help others.
[Note: The front leg has a tannish, round area under the knee… that is its hearing mechanism. Since it has one on the left and right legs, it can hear in stereo.]
Resting on the Balcony … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
A run-of-the-mill consciousness that has accepted everything society has poured into it inevitably perceives with (and “as”) confined limitation. It sees what it was taught to see; it thinks (for the most part) what it was taught to think. Ironically, such minds think that they are free.
A limited consciousness will have perceptions and mental reactions defined by limited borders. It may feel free, but such freedom is like the freedom of a dog tethered by a chain; it can go where it wants but where it goes is essentially nowhere.
Orderly, intelligent awareness breaks through this whole circus in (and “as”) a mindful, spiritual revolution. Such a consciousness is not just a product of society. Lemmings are very good at imitating others and at falling into an abyss. Please be different!
Ready for Another Meal … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
There exists the intrinsic goodness of a very healthy mind. It is not what came about (secondhand) from the teachings and preaching of others. It is its own radiant and special light (which was not made from what others offered). To act from the blueprint of others is not unsullied, pure action; rather, it is secondhand reaction. Secondhand reaction rarely truly radiates what is holistically good. Behaving from a blueprint is robotic, mechanical, regimented, imitative, and not genuine. Organized governments, religions, schools, and cults tell you how to behave. Dynamic intelligence and true innocence surpass all of the superficiality that mankind’s so-called structured organizations offer. A crippled mind needs a crutch. But over-dependence on crutches keeps you dependent and limited. No need to cling to things, floating frog.
We saw Santa at the mall yesterday (and he put lasting smiles on our faces)! One is never too old to get some real joy with quality Santa Claus time. A bit later, we sent some kids and their parents in his direction (to see him); i hope that they got a chance to visit with him.
The Christmas Holiday Season is very special and magical to me. It is a time of giving and caring with heartfelt joy. Such a holiday season should occur all year long. If possible, this holiday season, donate to some favorite charities. This season should not just be about materialistic things but should involve heartfelt caring and action. It’s a time for kindness, goodness, peace, camaraderie, and joy. Happy Holidays!… Merry Christmas! 🎅🤶
Evolution, involving the myriad of all plants and animals, is magical and miraculous in so many ways. Countless amazing species have appeared (and disappeared) through the journey of life on Earth. To me, it is like the blossoming of a majestic, beautiful flower… and each of its many petals is opening and expanding in miraculous ways. It is imperative that one be in tune with this blossoming, to be extremely appreciative of it and to deeply respect its holistic, spiritual nature. We are all connected. We are, each of us, a petal of this tremendous, immeasurable unfolding.
Understanding the whole cannot occur merely by the sequential movement of fragments. Parts can never perceive the whole or deeply be in communion with it. And, unfortunately, it is all too easy for the mind to play tricks on itself; for instance, it can stick to the notion of a controlling center (called “me” or “I”) that it thinks is the essence of itself. From this supposed “center,” it seems to operate. However, this so-called center is another fragment, a learned obtrusion of thought/thinking, and dependence upon it creates limitation and circumscription. However, almost all of us reinforce it… usually unaware that that is what we are actually doing. We feel safe and smart by doing so, but (in reality) it is neither safe nor intelligent. A false center creates separative distance and boundaries; a false center contributes to conflict (internally and externally), which creates havoc in the world.
Only a subtle, sensitive, keenly perceptive mind can go beyond the notion of a central ego, a central controller (that seems separate from the thoughts it supposedly thinks… that seems separate from others). Such a perceptive mind is then of compassion and wholeness. It no longer is wasting its energy on illusory separations, divisions, isolating beliefs, and absorbed false concepts. Freedom is not circumscribed… (and a psychological center has a limited radius). What is limited is not in true communion with eternity and boundlessness.
For the mind to be holistically mindful, keenly perceptive, compassionate, integrally balanced, and aware, the body must be in great order. What helps to maintain this order involves a well-balanced diet consisting largely of whole foods; also necessary are things like adequate exercise, sufficient sleep, and refraining from recreational drugs. Some of this is easier said than done, especially when it comes to having a good diet.
A good diet, for example, would involve getting enough Omega-3, which is an essential fatty acid. An essential fatty acid is what the body needs; it cannot adequately synthesize it on its own. A lot of people think that they can eat things like walnuts and avocados to get their Omega-3. But most people, especially men (and women who are 30 years or older), cannot adequately convert that type of ALA Omega-3 into the usable kind (i.e., the kind with DHA and EPA). Therefore, they need to get their Omega-3 from oily fish or from Omega-3-rich algae (that has the usable form of Omega-3, not the unsatisfactory ALA kind). Omega-3 is important for brain function, for suppressing arthritis, and for heart health. (Nuts — like walnuts — have other health benefits, by the way, and i eat them every day.)
Additionally, these days, farms don’t usually replenish the soil with organic, whole minerals. Therefore, it is wise to take some supplementary vitamins (especially naturally derived vitamins). Beware; some synthetic vitamins that are sold, believe it or not, are made from petroleum.
[Note: I hope that many of you had a happy Thanksgiving. Beyond being “thankful,” we also need to help others in need (by donating or by doing something)… so that they too may be thankful. ]
To intentionally meditate, at certain times of the day (using certain methods), is likely very limited, false, and likely makes the mind more mechanical, more calculating, and dull. To meditate to get something out of it… is to try to do something from a motive. A so-called meditator who tries to meditate to get nirvana (or to get some kind of “special” non-ordinary experience)… is (let’s face it) out to get something. Time and greed do not (and cannot) lead one to a timeless, non-greedy dimension. Time is sequential and greed (being in time) is, likewise, sequential. The timeless is not an achievement that comes about by calculation, motives, practices, methods, or learned procedures in (and “as”) time. However, there are oodles of people (i.e., charlatans) who (all too willingly) try to instill their methods upon you. And they have plenty of secondhand beliefs that they learned from others.
The beauty of spontaneous, simple, uncalculated awareness (without motives to get something) may come about naturally — without effort — in a mind that is unsullied, uncontaminated, and innocent. And it may be that, on the other hand, the supposed central (controlling) self that tries to meditate through methodology is essentially an obtrusion of conditioned thought/thinking (that is neither central, truly controlling, nor a true initiator of anything). Trying to meditate via the effort of a so-called central controller… is neither viable nor intelligent. Even while engaging in our so-called meditation (which we learned from others), most of us are reinforcing the perpetual conditioned illusion of a center (i.e., a central ego).
To perceive without effort can occur in a mind of deep order, intelligence, and health. Such effortlessness may be beyond the limitations of sequential motives and time. Such effortlessness does not reinforce an illusory center. Bliss, eternity, and a profoundly innocent mind are not separate things.
The Trees’ Symbiotic Friends … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023
Thinking, being of abstraction, is sequential in nature; therefore, it is of time; it is time. It is psychological time that creates and manifests as fear. In time, one may be despised by others; in time (i.e., in the future), one may be laughed at; in time, one may become senile; in time, one may get psychologically hurt by another. So, often, thought and its shadow (i.e., concomitant fear) manifest in (and “as”) time. And remaining in (and “as”) conditioned, sequential abstraction… is a form of suffering. Such suffering is not blissful living.
Thought is often a very necessary tool. However, all too often, we go on thinking (when thought is not necessary). This remaining in (and “as”) thought/thinking, is remaining in what is merely conditioned, merely sequential, merely symbolic, and what is merely time-bound. To psychologically die, at times, to the repetition of abstract thinking, is to go beyond fear, secondhandedness, fragmentation, symbolism, and separation. It may be that the separation between the thinker and the thought is, in itself, another conditioned, sequential misstep… another learned fabrication that isn’t true. It may be that thought creates (and is) the thinker, not the other way around. And we are afraid to have thinking stop (because we are afraid of being nothing). But this “nothing,” that we are afraid of, is a projection of thought/thinking that is erroneous and illusory. To often go beyond the limitation of abstract, fragmentary, and sequential thinking — and all thought is fragmentary, sequential, and time-bound — may be (if it is actually done) rather blissful and beyond distortion, fear, and suffering.
Chameleonic Sweetie … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023
One often points out here that it may be prudent to go beyond the limited and fragmentary domain of thought/thinking. One is not asking you to dive deep into a lot of philosophical abstraction. On the contrary, i am suggesting that you do something that is immensely pure, pristine, and beautifully simple… which is to not always be of (and “in”) the domain of thought/thinking. You see, thought/thinking — if we are at all honest with ourselves — is where all of the abstraction is. Most of us habitually live in (and “as”) abstraction. Our thoughts (i.e., our abstractions) are actually what we are. These abstractions are dreadfully habitual, and we do not want to let them go. Most of us even accept words as being rather equivalent to reality… even though words are merely virtual abstractions. (Sometimes words are necessary, but they are only tools.)
Too many of us are satisfied with virtual, illusory, fragmentary ways. Little wonder why the world is full of a lot of insanity and chaos. We need to wake up and change.
We, in the restaurant,staring We at them and they at us They,thinking that we are not them (and we,perceiving that they are a part of us)
And,inevitably(as was always the case)the waitress sprang up like a new(damp)fall mushroom,smiling as she approached us with the typical,vacant separation while(as far as we’re concerned)her features became what we were
Menus were gently handed to us in the appropriate fashion and we graciously accepted them in the befitting,civilized manner “Yes,”soon was uttered about “some cream with decaf coffee” and then,Eliot-style,we measured out our lives with coffee spoons
Rubbing against the eatery’s window panes, the yellow fog licked its web into the corners of the evening, and,seeing that it was a soft October night, peered in at unsuspecting,engulfing diners who seemed alive(although very much asleep)
And those bourgeois diners’ eyes that stare with superficial,learned separation, that pigeonhole you as being quite far from what they are (i.e.,it’s all about distance,you see) while they consume the “having-suffered” ragged claws decomposing upon their plates, do you feel sorry for them,for whom it all(unfortunately)is very much too late?
These people walk(although they’re dead) These people talk(although they’re dead) These people cadaverously go through the appearances of being alive(although they’re dead) These patterns fight(although they’re dead) These machines bury their dead(even as they themselves are dead)
These machines function(with cause-and-effect robotic mechanicalness) These machines move(with cause-and-effect robotic mechanicalness) These machines calculate and measure(with cause-and-effect mechanicalness) These marionettes agree(with cause-and-effect mechanicalness) These machines salute,march,bow,dance,and kill(with cause-and-effect mechanicalness)
These numerous fears function(through and “as” time) These habitual mental labels function(through and “as” time) These endless desires function(through and “as” time) These absorbed ideas function(through and “as” time) These cognitive symbols function(through and “as” time)
These few people of heartfelt caring(make an infinite difference over,in,and above time) These short moments beyond fragmentation(may hint at something beyond the limitations of time) These suggestive movements beyond the norm(might break through the prison bars of time) These movements outside of instilled beliefs(might break out of the cocoon of time) These final fortunate endings of words(point to something superior to time) These Halloween Days are full of manmade global horrors
Please don’t look at Pumpkin Plumber’s Hind End. (Shame on you. You looked!) … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023A Deep Look into Bathing Time … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023
In this very insane and violent world, in order to find out what is true, and what is beyond and deeper than what everyone else is thinking, believing, or hoping, one must have (and “be”) a tremendous and great passion (involving holistic discovery). This immense passion must be beyond motives involving hopes, desires, and secondhand patterns. One must — to truly explore — function with (and “as”) a mind that is untainted, unprogrammed, unafraid, unconditioned, and uninfluenced by others. Such a profound inquiry must not try to influence what may be discovered (via any internal, psychological influences such as hopes, beliefs, desires, and expectations). And, such a pristine, inquiring mind must be extremely healthy, via being part of a body that eats wholesome, very natural, nourishing foods, exercises often, and does not indulge in recreational mind-altering drugs, alcohol, and tobacco products (that can distort the observations).
Then, having laid the right foundation, one can inquire. This inquiry may best be done (psychologically) without methods, systems, and learned techniques… just by timelessly, effortlessly looking without conflict, and conditioning… beyond any previously learned psychological molding, casting, techniques, or shaping. Most thinking, per se, involves methodology, remembrance, and effort; being beyond thinking is neither of methodology nor time. Freedom, spirituality, and truth may not be what people think or what minds fabricate.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023
Conflict and friction are rooted in separation. We were miseducated to accept and embrace separation in (and “as”) consciousness. We were taught that we have a separate “ego” that controls things. We were not told about the possibility that this “ego” is merely a protrusion of thought/thinking. We were not told that, psychologically, the perceiver is not something separate from the perceived. So-called “normal” people look at internal anger, fear, and jealousy as if each is something separate from what they actually are. This inward separation also extends “outwardly.” Most look at life with separation and conflict and accept it as being normal.
Genuine, holistic love is not based on separation and conflict. Love is not what involves psychological distance and ironclad, circumscribed boundaries. The left hand that sees the right hand as something apart from itself is ignorant and is confined in (and “as”) blinding deception. Such ignorance and confinement manifest as sorrow. Wisdom transcends this.
While lingering in the very curious dark a quaint two-horse somber carriage happened by and, as it almost paused adjacent to me, Miss Dickinson peering out, smiling, said, “Won’t you hop in to savor some pie?”
We (much later passed) the School, where Children strove Happily at Recess—in the Ring And Staring, (we passed) the Fields of Gazing Grain We (without fail) passed the Setting Sun We passed those Dusky Creatures that were on the Wing
Well, the atmosphere tasted scrumptious, but the Coachman suddenly brought the whole sweet thing to a blinding halt However, Timelessness has that radiant aroma of infinity oozing out from all around it where ending simply began again with just a pinch of salt
In last week’s post, some folks, in the Comment section, mentioned something about the unknown embodying nothingness while mentioning that that is what is so terrifying; they feel safe in the “known.” Those comments got me pondering. Is nothingness (as the unknown) truly terrifying and does it take real courage to live with it psychologically?
As i’ve mentioned numerous times before… we were all very miseducated by society. This miseducation has molded us to be fearful of nothingness… to be anxious about existing in (and “as”) the unknown. It was hammered into us that the known — knowledge, knowing, and memory — is the key to security, safety, and happiness. In some limited ways, it helps with such things, but it may (fundamentally) not consist of (and fully support) lasting security, safety, and happiness. The known is fragmentary, symbolic, virtual, and limited. It is actually the known and its protrusions of “what might be” that produce fears; the unknown does not fuel this. The known and its concoction of “what could happen” is the real root of fear. In groping for security in the known, we absorb (and hold) beliefs. These beliefs were poured into us as products of knowledge that offer security. Do limited, secondhand words, suppositions, and mental images provide vast and unlimited security? Not really! In fact beliefs and absorbed religious suppositions very often divide people in the world, causing much conflict, fighting, war, and suffering. That is not profound security.
If you are not a reflection of what society has poured into you (and if you actually perceive how thoughts create fear and mental problems), then existing (psychologically) as nothingness or as the unknown may not take much courage. For me, nothingness is real bliss and is a great joy. This is because it exists beyond the limitations of symbolic, virtual, cadaverous, and stale thinking. Nothingness (beyond thinking) nullifies fragmentation and secondhanded observation. It, and it alone, allows for pristine and unadulterated observation (that is not contaminated by labels, beliefs, habits, fears, and stale, fragmentary protrusions of thought/thinking). This inner nothingness, which is holistic and uncontaminated, is real bliss, clarity, and timeless joy. (It takes no courage whatsoever to dwell in — and “as” — timeless joy… as the unknown.) The actuality is that stale thoughts and beliefs are limited, old, fragmentary, time-oriented, fear-generating, secondhand, and dark. (Granted, oftentimes rational thoughts are needed to function in life… but they are only limited tools.) The distortion of thought/thinking largely masks the joy and clarity of timeless living. Dying (psychologically) to the known is real freedom; then living and dying are not two separate things… and Death is what endless, robotic, virtual, symbolic, secondhand thinking is.
from E.E. Cummings:
dying is fine)but Death
?o baby i
wouldn’t like
Death if Death were good:for
when(instead of stopping to think)you
begin to feel of it,dying ‘s miraculous why?be
cause dying is
perfectly natural;perfectly putting it mildly lively(but
Death
is strictly scientific & artificial &
evil & legal)
we thank thee god almighty for dying (forgive us,o life!the sin of Death
Most people are magnetized to gravitate to (and to dwell in, and “as”) the known. They, unfortunately, cling to an existence exclusively in that superficial dimension. That dimension is a very limited dimension because one can only know (and accumulate) a very limited amount of things. To often exist as the unknown is foreign to them (and, for many, they never even considered it). The known is always of the past because it was accumulated in (and “as”) the past. Being of the past, the known always has a stale, secondhand element to it; it is never new, never totally fresh and living. Virtual, symbolic patterns, which constitute the known, are tokens and representations… not the actuality. It is good to use symbolic patterns often… but they are only temporary tools.
In so-called modern times, we were miseducated to dwell (and exist “as”) the known exclusively. Unfortunately, a mind that exclusively exists as the known is unbalanced and not whole. Society is a direct reflection of this unbalanced element, and insanity is rampant across the world. Interestingly, there is no procedure or method to step out of the known. All procedures and methods involve the known and are extensions of it. Procedures and methods involve time and the known is sequential (in its mechanical nature) and involves (and is) time. The unknown has the essence of nothingness to it (psychologically), and most people (unfortunately) are extremely afraid to be nothing psychologically. All want to be something, to attain something, to become something, to believe something, to get something, and to just continue to accumulate (sequentially). This exclusive sequential accumulation may be the very denial of true and timeless living.
Many years ago, when i was in college, so-called gurus from the East came to our campus, providing students with meditation techniques that involved sitting cross-legged and concentrating on allegedly “special” mantras that were supposed to take us to a higher spiritual level. I went to a couple of these sessions and ended up telling the bearded gurus — who were taking money, by the way, for their efforts — that i felt that what they were promoting was just a glorified form of self-hypnosis. I read about hypnosis while in high school and was familiar with what it entailed. Needless to say, they were not very elated regarding my comments.
Many people are greedy and gullible. They think that they can pay money that will enable them to soar to some kind of higher spiritual plane. Real meditation is not what one can greedily arrange to happen. It is not something that one can practice. Real meditation is not doing something to attain some otherworldly result (to escape from reality). Real meditation is an effortless thing that may take place if one is very perceptive, caring, and greed-free. Real meditation is not doing something to get something out of it. One cannot “know” that one is meditating. Real meditation takes place, in one, unawares, without a person concluding that he or she is doing it.
A dull, greedy little mind can sit cross-legged (repeating so-called “special” words for decades but it will only be mesmerizing itself hypnotically… rendering itself to be even more dull and robotic). There is no path to the truly spiritual because the truly spiritual (i.e., the timeless) is not in a place. It is not locked up in a box upon an altar. Place and time are bound together.
Beyond the Caterpillars … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023
Sorrow is a reaction. Sorrow is a mental response to something manifesting as a cause which results in an effect from what is accepted to be an observer. Conditioning concerning the manifestation of an “observer” results in a response allegedly from (and supposedly “by”) that observer. Intelligence, however, perceives that the observer is not separate from the observed. Such perception is not merely a standard reaction; it is, rather, holistic action beyond conditioned reaction (if it is indeed genuine, pristine perception, and not just an idea). This pristine perception negates the suffering of sorrow (in that it is clarity beyond robotic reaction). Does the clarity of wisdom habitually carry the burden of sorrow? Not likely. Wisdom is deeply living; sorrow and depression are not deeply living. Reactions are rooted in thought/thinking and can (and do) manifest as sorrow. Habitual thinking has the element of sorrow within it (intrinsically). Profound perception is living and is not exclusively rooted in thought/thinking. Such perception often exists beyond cadaverous, conditioned sorrow.
The ego of most people exists as a learned, limited set of reactions that involve separation, distance (from what are considered “others”), conflict, and a circumscribed (though false) center. Thought/thinking is the source of the ego, not the other way around. Egos, being restricted in nature, often cause havoc in the world; just check out the news. The ego, being limited, is often a cause of suffering (both with what are considered “inward” and “outside” events). The ego manifests suffering (because of its confinement and falsity). Deep, holistic compassion is dynamic and involves unadulterated perception. Such perception is direct and is not a mere reaction… it is action and is not robotic (like superficial reaction is). When the ego is transcended, a real, holistic compassion may occur that exists as immense and profound intelligence.
Well, this one is not going to win me any popularity contests! Nevertheless, one hopes that you have the seriousness, energy, and integrity to openly attend to this.
Although i may have had a profound spiritual nirvana-oriented “experience,” which (if it indeed happened) would definitely cause me to realize the reality of that vast, sacred intelligence… i generally do not pray. With regard to human beings praying, it is indeed amazing how many people think that they have to point out (to that vast, supreme intelligence) what needs to be done in life. If it is indeed vast and intelligent, it wouldn’t need a middle-man (i.e., a basically primitive, fragmentary, limited, little hominid species) to tell it what needs to be done. A human being may think that he or she must point out what he or she or what others need… but that, in a big way, may be arrogant, limited, and insulting. Furthermore, some people may maintain that praying makes them feel better. Well, alcohol and other drugs make a whole lot of people feel better but that does not mean they should be frequently used.
Additionally, many people in life have problems and need help. There would be no end to any divine, miraculous activity of helping people (and animals) once that ball gets rolling. Nature is basically allowed to (naturally) run its course. My suggestion — and i’ve said this before — is, instead of using symbolic words, mental supplication, and summoning wishes toward a supposed God-oriented image in your head… actually roll up your sleeves and do something. For many years, i was a teacher for the multiply handicapped. Instead of merely praying and wishing that their lives improved, i actually did something. Perhaps — at times — one can be somewhat of an extension of that vast, unimaginable, compassionate intelligence, (without merely relying on internal wishes and invocations), without requesting some invisible power to magically get things done.
And please don’t continue to anthropomorphize things; and, of course, that sacred immensity doesn’t want to be worshipped (by fragmentary minds) via idolization, because it certainly doesn’t have a primitive, narcissistic human ego (thank goodness) that craves adoration. One is suggesting here that large numbers of humans have misconstrued what true spirituality entails… but then, one has realized that fact ever since one was in grade school.
When the mind — as thought/thinking — worships what it considers to be “God,” it — in actuality — is worshipping thought-formulated images that it absorbed from others or that it manufactured on its own. So, in essence, it is worshipping itself (or part of itself). Alternatively, it may be far more prudent to diligently inquire as to whether the sacred really exists (or not). And such an explorative inquiry, if it is to be pristine and uninfluenced by outside (or inside) agencies, may best be often done beyond the limitations and trickery of thought/thinking. A lens that is not contaminated by outside debris perceives clearly beyond all of the rot. Keeping the mind healthy, clear, inquisitive, compassionate, orderly, and of dynamic depth, may be far more important than clinging to secondhand images, beliefs, so-called experts, and traditional routines.
There can be a holistic awareness without significant thought/thinking taking place, (in which the intelligent mind often sees without thinking and cognition interfering). There can be, for example, simple awareness of creatures upon flowers and of leaves lightly dancing in the breeze. However, thought/thinking is then not merely labeling, analyzing, comparing, or projecting what science has taught concerning these things. Then the mind may be of a sweet emptiness that is beyond the second-hand constructs of man. That emptiness (of mind) may be a blissful, effortless negation of inherited mental fabrications. Such mental nullification may be the highest positive, for neither is it handed down, replayed as monotonous imitation, conjured up via effort, nor dully rehashed. And it can deeply exist (too) beyond the ordinary, habitual recognition of things. It is always refreshingly new and beyond dead blueprint-like (mental) structuring. (Too many of us take words to be the equivalent of reality; they are not.) And, coincidentally, real love is always explosive, pristine, and not copied or imitated. The ordinary “once-lers” of the world are, unfortunately, not of it.
The elderly, gray-haired Lo Zu was sitting — as he often tended to do — on a large boulder in nature… his wooden meandering cane leaning against him. Some youth saw him from a distance and they curiously journeyed over to where he was sitting. Then they asked him what he was doing. Lo Zu replied… “Doing nothing… being nowhere and existing as nothingness.” One of the youth queried, “What do you mean by ‘existing as nothingness?'”
After a long, meditative pause, Lo Zu replied, “When the ego is transcended, the mind is often mysteriously beyond its contents; then there is a beautiful nothingness that is blissfully beyond ordinary experience, sensation, space, and time; that emptiness is beyond the ‘known.’ But most people are afraid of being beyond the known. They are afraid of having their cup empty. Each one desperately wants their cup to be filled (with something). Their cups are full of stale theories, secondhand ideas, flat beliefs, antiquated traditions, divisive religions, corrosive fears, greedy desires, banal suppositions, learned superstitions, limited so-called organized systems, dead images, and shallow words from so-called leaders. But it may be that their fullness is the real poverty; it may be that real richness is in transcending the psychological self (that is an illusory troublemaker). Profound love is beyond the dilation of self.”
Experiencing things, for most people, involves recognition and thought/thinking. Experiencing things, for most people most of the time, deals with experiences that seem to be separate from the “experiencer.” But the “experiencer” is really not something apart from the experience (though he or she seems to be separate). Without the experience, there is no “experiencer.” Most tend to look with full-blown separation and distance.
When people look at the stars, they are observing something that happened millions of years ago (which, of course, is due to the fact that it took the stars’ light millions of years to get to the Earth). So, essentially, they are looking at the past. And even when one sees things that are physically very close, one is still observing the past. Experiencing is, for survival purposes, often very useful; it often is a necessity for survival. However, merely depending on experiencing — and existing as experiencing — may not be very prudent. Merely remaining in that limited realm may be remaining in (and “as”) the past. Many cling to the apron strings of experience… and they are afraid to venture beyond that limited and separative realm. It is wise to often be experiencing things and it is wise to be beyond experiencing things. Immense wholeness is beyond experiencing (and all of the traditional separation, discrimination, psychological distance, isolation, and circumscription that goes with it).
Before we congratulate ourselves for being an intelligent, wonderful species, we need to get our act together and stop ruining the entire planet for ourselves and all other species. (I, like my mother, was very good at having very accurate premonitions. I am currently 71; when i was a child, i had a premonition that human beings would ruin the planet by causing too much pollution.) Currently, the pollution and smoke in the Midwest are so bad that i have to wear a mask when outdoors. And temperatures are soaring. Unfortunately — and tragically — the poor birds, insects, and other creatures of nature do not have masks to wear. They must remain outdoors and they are truly suffering. (I have been in tears about it.) And i do not care to write this but it’s true… lately, scientists are saying that the Doomsday Glacier (i.e., the Thwaites Glacier) is melting much faster than previous predictions have suggested. They say that it’s hanging on by its fingernails. Its melting, in turn, will disrupt the oceanic currents that have been necessary for regulating and balancing Earth’s global climate. And, there are plenty of people — like my next-door neighbors — who think that manmade climate change is a myth. We all need to curtail global environmental mindlessness and do much better for the sake of the earth and its creatures.
Before All of the Smoke Arrived … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023
When you were a very young child, before society gave you all kinds of baggage to carry (mentally), you were euphorically joyful, deeply inquisitive, and full of bliss. Then you felt eternal, timeless, and profound, and you were not concerned about death, religion, politics, or how to climb a ladder of success. But they loaded you up with the baggage that they had accumulated (and concomitantly, a lot of the real beauty of life dissipated in consciousness over time). Perhaps you can do yourself a real favor and perceive again (without depending on any accumulated baggage). Perceive without all of their concepts weighing down upon you. Without all of the psychological baggage, perhaps you can be young and full of joy and living magic again.
Clinging to Easy Substance … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023
Yes, one doesn’t normally post videos and one normally doesn’t like to watch them but the following short video — which was sent to me by friends in Canada that i used to live with and do volunteer work with, for six months, making non-competitive games — is an exception. The video is very sweet, in my honest opinion! Please watch it!
Pristine perception is not observing through a screen of conditioning. Very many of us look at things just as we were programmed to look… which really isn’t looking at all. To perceive without conditioning interfering requires a very dynamic mind that is not easily influenced by others. Such unconditioned observing is innocent, unsullied, profound, without a center, and has little to do with robotic reactions with their concomitant opinions and labels. Pristine perception does not involve the limited circumference that a psychological center brings about. Such perception is untethered, insightful, and — not being secondhand — is beyond methodology and imitation. Profound perception goes beyond mere recognition and remembrance. It is an effortless explosion of intelligent freedom.
Suffering is part of life. We all suffer. We suffer physically and we suffer psychologically. Physical suffering is unfortunate oftentimes, and often some of us get more than our fair share. When one suffers, one is not just suffering alone; the whole of humanity and life shares in that suffering; it is the suffering of life. Sometimes, we automatically run from suffering in a robotic, conditioned, thoughtless way. If one is intelligent, one can allow physical suffering to flower naturally somewhat (without just being totally negative about it). Physical suffering is often a signal… and we need not be too overwhelmed with some of these signals (as long as we are doing everything we can to live a healthy and responsible life).
Additionally, there is psychological suffering. The mind can suffer with grief, with fear, with sorrow, with depression, loneliness, and boredom. Habitually manifesting as grief and sorrow can, for instance, take its toll on the body; it can cause high blood pressure, strokes, and all kinds of things. One’s sorrow, one’s fears, one’s grief… are all not separate from what one actually is. One can, without effort, psychologically die to grief, fear, to sorrow (and such things). And merely dwelling in (and “as”) thoughts is a form of sorrow. Thoughts are merely virtual, symbolic images, and existing merely as virtual, symbolic images is intrinsically a form of suffering. And thoughts (and psychological images in time) are usually the sources of fear and anxiety. One can psychologically die to the endless chattering of thoughts; such a dying is inherently a blessing. Look at things directly and not just through a psychological screen of learned images and labels. It is the images and labels that take effort to manifest, which is not the case with direct perception and pure seeing. But we make effort into an endless habit and then claim that we can’t exist without it. Effort takes time; wise (pristine) perception is timeless. Compassion is instantaneous (and has an element of timelessness), by the way.
Coprolite — Fossilized Dinosaur Dung … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023
I’ve included the following quote by Einstein in previous posts, and i’m including it here again.
“The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.” — Albert Einstein
The human brain goes through a huge amount of associative mental connections. Most people associate the “I,” the “me,” the “self” with power to control, with domination over “other” thoughts, and with freedom to act independently. However, the “I” — just like the other concepts of central authority — is just a protrusion of thought/thinking. In all actuality, there is no true central “controller” situated in the brain. Unfortunately, far too many people treat this thing as if it has a separate, substantive existence (apart from others). It may be that many millions deceive themselves each and every day. Transcending this limited, primitive, crude form of thinking opens the way toward deep compassion and holistic understanding. Our age-old associative ties to a central, independent “controller” (apart from the world) may be very erroneous.
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 