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Mankind needs to be far more gentle to this small, fragile planet!
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Wild Chicory. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Nature and Man…
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Monthly Archives of: April 2015
Some minds blossoming… (Multi-Photo)
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some minds are open
some minds closed
some are separated from the earth
some have deep roots within
some minds blossoming
some withering away
some sharing bright beauty
others darkly cruel
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African Daisy, opening. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
African Daisy, opening. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Staying local and happy…
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One may not like this, but it is true: Instead of taking vacations with polluting cars and planes, it is far wiser — and much more compassionate for nature’s sake — to stay local and not pollute.
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After a shower. (But showers can’t clean up everything.) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Spring Plum Blossom Haiku… (Multi-Photo and Multi-Poem)
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Two Haiku Poems… one from the Japanese poet, Issa (year 1822) and one from my (elderly) self (who likes to preserve plum tree scraps)…
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1822
.梅見るや梅干爺と呼れつつ
ume miru ya umeboshi jijii to yobaretsutsu
viewing plum blossoms–
they call old men
pickled plums
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In the blossomed Spring
plum trees recognized themselves
taking photographs
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Plum Tree Blossoms. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Plum Tree Blossoms. (2) (Digital Color Pencil Rendition) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Beyond prefabrication…
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Do not lifelessly become merely what they want you to become; flower into something magically more true, unlimited, beautiful, and dynamic!
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Amazingly Different. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Real silence and a rather dead kind of silence… (Multi-Photo)
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Do not merely make a meditative silence into something that is isolated and separate from noise in life. Be very careful in what you accept and do. In all probability, a separate silence that is cultivated, that is practiced at a special time or place, is a rather second-hand, merely learned, rather dead, kind of silence. Actual, profound silence is an effortless phenomenon that occurs without premeditation, beyond calculation, and beyond techniques involving time. As such it is a timeless phenomenon that may occur often, spontaneously throughout the day (without some separate controller “making it happen”), such as while one is walking, looking at nature, petting a dog or cat, or exercising. If it occurs at all, it occurs naturally, without any false effort expended by a supposed “center” or “controller” that is essentially a learned image (involving separation). It (i.e., such deep silence) is not something that is isolated from the rest of life. It is of life, in life; it permeates life, it flows with life. Real life is not something that is practiced; it is something that is lived. To manipulate the mind into some isolated silence may be like trying to catch the wind in a sealed bottle. Attempting to confine the wind in a separate, little, “special” space — called a bottle — may be rather ludicrous.
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On its way. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
On its way. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
As this is being read… (Multi-Photo)
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As this is being read, is your posture correct? Correct posture is important, as is correct and orderly thinking.
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Turquoise Severum. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Turquoise Severum. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Flowers, silence, and magically beyond me… (Multi-Photo)
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I never left where I’ve always been
and I’ve always been where I never left
I never found what I always lost
and I always lost what I never found
I never thought where I’ve never been
and I’ve never been where thought never was
Where thought never was is where the real magic has always been
and the real magic has always been where thought never was
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Flowers and me. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Flowers and me. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
That babbling brook… (Multi-Photo)
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Listening to the babbling of a beautiful, nature-filled brook… rather than the babbling of stuffy, old politicians…
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Babbling Brook. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Babbling Brook. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
What is truth?… (Multi-Photo)
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Compassion and profound awareness are not two separate things.
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Four Horned Jacob. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Four Horned Jacob. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Go beyond vengeance… (Multi-Photo)
(Just a few days ago was the 150th anniversary of the night Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth.)
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the energy… it’s swirling,twirling
moving through the hand
of a man named Lincoln
some leader of a land
the play went on the gun was cocked
the killer took his aim
some say the twirling,whirling cells
could only move in vein
precise premonition lying listless
across a sordid balcony floor
as disbelief and shock called out
and raced through the narrow(minded) door
icy hatred’s revenge seldom is ever beautiful
as twirling life flows beyond perceptual range
warm grace lies beyond cold malice and vengeance
apprehension leaves,arrives, as the winds of change
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Stealth. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Stealth. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Regarding “Jumping to Conclusions”… (Multi-Photo)
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If you are a diminutive jumping spider, by all means jump! Jumping is your life and calling card. If you are a human being, by all means jump with your legs and feet too (and exercise a lot). However, it would be prudent not to — like so many do — jump to conclusions. Jumping to conclusions often stifles the mind and often causes it to perceive things that are not legitimate and true. So many of us jump to conclusions. When we jump to conclusions… we are those conclusions. Being a conclusion may be rather dead and “unalive.” Go visit a cemetery; most of the people there (I’ll bet) probably came to conclusions! 😉
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Tiny Jumping Spider. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Tiny Jumping Spider. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Raccoon (Multi-Photo)
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A furry ball, with legs,
mischievous, bandit-like,
omnivorous, curious, stalking,
walking in our area,
which is also his area,
our area,
his kind were here first,
in a way, we are the intruders,
bare-skinned, bipedal, tall,
like-wise mischievous, ape-like,
dangerous, stalking, stealing…
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Local Night Bandit. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Local Night Bandit. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Seeing through the screen of thought…
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The whole realm of thinking is figurative, fragmentary, and of symbolic representations (that are conditioned). Don’t merely dwell in the field of the conditioned virtual. You can’t hug a concept of a child. Don’t — as so many do — mostly exist in (and “as”) symbols; symbols (as words and mental images) are mere tokens. Most, even when they look at the world, see with (and “as”) the patterns and symbols that they were taught. Look without separative symbols and learned images.
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Shadow of thinking. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Nothing is hidden from that otherness… (Multi-Photo)
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For the sacred to visit you and be palpable, your innocence must be discernible and unmistakable. That innocence must penetrate far beyond crude conventionality. That innocence stands alone and is different… not for the sake of being different, but because it perceives deeply beyond the ordinary.
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Open for business. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Open for business. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Where the treasure is… (Multi-Photo)
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Truth (and the treasure) are not in your wallet… they’re in your heart.
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Probing for needed minerals. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Probing for needed minerals. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Open yourself to Spring…
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Open yourself to Spring
Let your mind blossom to unfold
Go beyond stale words and symbols
Look without that learned and stuffy past
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Open yourself. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
The world is but a flower… (Multi-Photo)
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the world is but a flower
unfurling for an hour
and that hour is beautifully and infinitely long
as is the innocence of a little butterfly who can do no wrong
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Cabbage Butterfly. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Cabbage Butterfly. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
The winding forest… (Multi-Photo)
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Close to the dazzling ocean
I wanted to mentor them
each and every single,spraying drop
each and every friend
Inside the combative,clashing waves
I tried to comfort them
within endlessly flowing life currents
with end inside of begin
Deep within the winding forest
we shouted loud to them
but no human sounds were ever heard
nothing but bold,towering trees within
Inside each of the ever joyous trees
perennial,green life continues to grow
without neural networks of pain
without the need to know
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The journey is the destination. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
The journey is the destination. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
An average Ode to Mr. Average… (Multi-Photo)
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Mr. Average walked along in his very average way.
Mr. Average — according to his father — was born on a very average day.
Mr. Average, when he was young, went to a very average school.
Mr. Average, when in class, was around average with the breaking of the rules.
Mr. Average, within his mind, partook in an average degree of thinking.
Mr. Average, regarding his eyes (each day) blinked with around the average blinking.
Mr. Average, like most everyone around, saw his self as being separate and apart.
Mr. Average, when shopping with his wife, was a typical shopper at his local Walmart.
Mr. Average, regarding his diet, ate all of the typical meat.
Mr. Average lived in a rather typical American suburb and lived on a typical street.
Mr. Average, regarding his shape and weight, was not excessively round.
Mr. Average, regarding his thoughts and feelings, never felt anything profound.
Mr. Average, throughout his life, worked at a very average job.
Mr. Average, regarding living things suffering, was never inclined to sob.
Mr. Average, as a father, sent all of his children to an average school.
Mr. Average had around the normal degree of anger… when someone would call him a fool.
Mr. Average uttered the typical saying as he uttered his very last breath.
Mr. Average, when they hurriedly buried him, was interred at around the average depth.
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An average Cemetery Beetle (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
An average Cemetery Beetle. (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Large with joy… (Multi-Photo)
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a microscopic mushroom
growing on a tree
is an umbrella for someone little
who is large with joy and free
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Micro-mushrooms in Moss. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Micro-mushrooms in Moss. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
We must grow… (Multi-Photo)
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we think we’re modern
but we’re not
we’re rather primitive and unrefined
and all the pundits in our world
don’t understand space and time
we think we’re free
but we’re not
our causes are all effects
and all the reactions that we’ll retake
are what spacetime already expects
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Pearl Crescent Butterfly. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Pearl Crescent Butterfly. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
The supposedly dominating central controller… (Multi-Photo)
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Your concept of “I” is not truly what dominates over your other supposedly subordinate (supposedly subservient) thoughts. All thoughts — including the concept of “I” (or that internal “me”) — are conditioned responses… and, as such, one does not (in reality) truly dominate over the others. Profound awareness and immense intelligence transcends conditioning (at least to some significant extent) and goes beyond the deep misconceptions that the aforementioned sentence suggests. Via erroneous (primitive) education, billions are saturated with such substantial misconceptions and delusions (of a “central controller”)… and this, in turn, causes much needless friction and deceit (within the brain) which often projects as additional disorder both within the brain and out from the brain. Better education could help to change things for the better. We, as a society, have a long way to go before we transcend out of very psychologically crude, primitive realms. True freedom lies not in the concept of free will, but in the daily, intelligent (method-free) understanding of the mind, which may allow one to actually joyfully exist (at times) beyond the limited field of total conditioning. With such freedom comes real goodness and order (beyond mere reactions).
(Added note: This is one fundamental reason why so very few, throughout the world — over time — have truly been enlightened. A process or technique developed or utilized by a fictitious center cannot ever find profound truth; the profound truth comes only when conditioning and needless conflict, friction, and deceit are dissipated… and not dissipated by some supposed central agent that is — in itself — a major result of ignorance and conditioning. For so many — for so long — it has been like throwing water to drowning people in order to save them!)
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Jumping spider in Lily. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Jumping spider in Lily. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
That immense, limitless energy… (Multi-Photo)
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That sacred intelligence — the all-pervading energy — must affect men in profound ways that are evident to those who intelligently inquire!
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Little Nymph. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Little Nymph. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
The way perception takes place… (Easter Greetings!) (Multi-Photo)
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He was totally (and repeatedly) bored by the things he saw…
because within his brain was a putrid, stagnant, significant flaw.
She is joyfully thrilled by the majestic things she sees…
because her mind transcends the musty past like a wise, cleansing spring breeze.
Life is sadly monotonous only if one’s mind becomes rather stale and dead.
Look at things anew… with childlike, fresh rejuvenation instead!
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[Excerpts from the ancient Gospel of Thomas:
Jesus said, “If your leaders say to you, ‘Look, the (Father’s) kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father’s) kingdom is within you and it is outside you.
When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty.”
His disciples said to him, “When will the kingdom come?”
Jesus said, “It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying ‘here it is’ or ‘there it is.’ Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.”
Rabbit… where’d you put the keys, girl? (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Rabbit… where’d you put the keys, girl? (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Grace…
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Grace is decency, consideration, compassion, and goodwill towards all. Grace is enjoying life and not harming it!
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Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Lady in Red…
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The whole world was a book
that I had read…
Or did it read me?
The whole rainbow was a look
of what eye held red…
Or did red hold me?
The whole time was a while
that I had lived in…
Or was time what was me?
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Lady(bug) in Red. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Meditation… (Multi-Photo)
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True meditation is never what one can decide to do. Real meditation is only done without will, without mere knowledge, calculation, and methodology. If will, calculation, and methodology are involved, something may be happening… but it is not true meditation. Any uncouth person under the sun can purchase a yoga mat, sit on it perfectly (statuesque) still with legs crossed, and proudly say that they are “meditating.” However, real meditation is too dynamic, living, profound, and immense to be what can be brought about by some inane, calculated, copied procedure. What is truly dynamic and beyond a cause/effect continuum cannot (ever) be brought about as a mere “result” of some man-made patterns or practices. Thinking otherwise is foolish… and, unfortunately, there are plenty of foolish entities out there.
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Blossoming. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Blossoming. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Some don’t feel that Wednesday exists…
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Monday, the atheist, didn’t feel that Wednesday ever existed, but Tuesday feels a closeness to Wednesday that Monday can’t understand.
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Looking for Wednesday. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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