January | 2017 | Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog

Monthly Archives of: January 2017

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Beyond the ordinary mind…

January 29, 2017

There were two entities. One was rather crass. It merely went on as an extension of society… immoral, indifferent, separate, closed, common, compulsive, stale, rather indifferent about nature, respectable. There was another entity. It was open, compassionate, aware, whole, moral beyond the ills of society, in close relationship with nature, global. Highly spiritual, it did not care to belong to any separative government nor religion that (separates man from man contributing to war). It was a danger to all separative elements of the false.

One of the entities was often bored. It would frequently need to find escape in all kinds of entertainment (and with various forms of drugs). It was often composed of recurring fears. It depended on walls of isolation for its very existence (isolated existence). The other entity was often content in and of itself. That self, however, was nothing to be measured, for no limited walls defined it by limited space nor limited boundaries. Perceiving that it was not separate from the fears, the fears were understood and quickly dissipated; either that or they never existed (or needed to exist) in the first place. Limitation breeds fear. Limitation is of measurement and recognition; (recognition is a form of measurement).

One of the two minds continued to go deeply beyond itself to where there was no measurement, no time. The other mind measured constantly. Its essence mostly involved time and measurement. Measurement takes (and is) time. One of the minds was satisfied with superficial things; one of the minds went far beyond the superficial. One of the minds (without the measurements of equations) understood all about existence, time, and the timeless. One of the minds did not care about anything much other than about small details and banal experiences; it understood little of time and nothing concerning the timeless. It, unfortunately, was never visited by anything immensely beyond the mundane.

Stillness (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

Stillness (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

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Beautifully

January 27, 2017

20 comments

One leaf drips

nwardly

as trees molt

melt

ing

One hate argued

accusingly

as statues marbelized

motionlessly

Five thoughts sprung

sepa rately

when a spider watched

wordlessly

This bliss occurred

effortlessly

while friction tapered

thankfully

When science acquired

argumentatively

two plants burst

breathlessly

One whole gleaned

gracefully

as truth lived

lovingly

Four responses rattled

residually

ten beliefs bashed

barbarously

Red kites journeyed

joyfully

and tenderness touched

transcendentally

A doctor prescribed

passionately

as insights envisaged

expansively

The Spider Watched Wordlessly (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

The Spider Watched Wordlessly (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

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Beyond Internal Hypocrisy…

January 22, 2017

12 comments

There is an impeccability in true mindfulness. Real mindfulness goes beyond hollow and empty ideals and stale mental blueprints. It occurs when the mind is learning, as self-realization, (honestly) from moment to moment with what is actually taking place (without extraneous fabrications). Then there are no ideals about “becoming better” in the future. “Becoming better” in the future, psychologically, is usually a form of fraud, a form of deception. Society accepts this as being normal… with one saying such things as, “I’m working on being a nicer person.” Mental obtrusions about the future allow, in the psychological realm, cheating and duplicity to go on (consciously or unconsciously). The future (psychologically) can be a fantasy. One can easily fantasize anything, especially to be a better (ideal) person (while, in the present, a different reality continues to take place altogether).

Hypocrisy, internally, of the mind to itself, is very easy. To really learn, with integrity, is to fully be aware of what you actually are (in the present) without false pretenses or ideals about the future. This must go beyond being brutally honest with yourself. This goes to where fallacious separation and conflict naturally (without man’s fabrications) comes to an end. This goes to where, when you are jealous (or angry), there is no distance or separation between the jealousy (or anger) and what you are. Or, when fear takes place, there is no separation between the fear and what you are. You are the fear. When you are the fear, in (and “as”) awareness, then learning takes place about it; then it can be enlightening. If you cover the fear up, deny that it exists, make excuses about it, battle with it from a distance, subjugate it, run from it, escape from it with all kinds of tricks, it will not (in such conflict) help you to understand its nature (which is yourself). When anger takes place, seeing it with separation, with friction, with measurement from an isolated center, with opposing ideals (which are obtrusions about the future), perpetuates conflict (which anger is a part of). Be in direct relationship with what the contents of your mind are (without pretense); they are you anyhow. Then such right relationship opens you to real learning, real flowering. Integrity is to be fully aware of what you actually are, without excuses, without judgments, without mental projections about possible future improvements. Real integrity is pure (unsullied) perception and is real relationship. Real relationship goes beyond conflict, is illuminating, and it transforms without effort, without blueprints. Compassion, order, and integrity take place when right relationship deeply exists.

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[Note: These are Daisy’s Neon Blue Ricefish in one of our aquariums. They are very peaceful and playful fish. Their eyes have a florescent blue coloring, but photographs do not show this well. These were all home-bred by me. The females carry eggs around attached to their bodies like a clump of grapes. They are eventually rubbed off onto plants where they dangle from long stringy-like filaments. They eat their own eggs, but i put green yarn mops in their tank and remove the mops to a separate aquarium away from the parents. These fish were first discovered on Sulawesi Island in 2007. The species was discovered in a small stream by the Indonesian invertebrates expert Daisy Wowor, while she was looking for crustaceans, and the species was appropriately named after her: ( Oryzius woworae. )]

Daisy’s Neon Blue Ricefish (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

Daisy’s Neon Blue Ricefish (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

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Beyond Sadness…

January 20, 2017

19 comments

Happiness is

a stringed balloon

tied to a kite

that flies so noon

Sadness is

a melancholy frown

that never looks up

and always looks down

Wisdom is

a tiny winged creature

that sprung from a worm

without the sermon’s preacher

Tiny ‘n Winged (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

Tiny ‘n Winged (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

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One’s Relationship with Nature…

January 15, 2017

15 comments

To have a decent rapport with nature, one must perceive beyond the limited walls of an isolated self. To really be in harmony with nature, one must (first and foremost) be harmonious psychologically. A mind of inner dissonance (and lack of harmony) does not perceive holistically; it sees fear as something that it has, not as something that it is not (at all) separate from; it sees nature as being “over there,” not as something that it is not separate from. A mind of conflict, fear, prejudice, and inner distortion will often — even if it insists otherwise — perceive nature with fragmentation, indifference, and corruption. Likewise, a mind of conflict, fear, prejudice, and inner distortion will perceive other human beings with fragmentation, indifference, and corruption. To perceive beyond mere contamination the mind would necessarily have to be pure and unsullied. Is psychological purity what can be accumulated, by someone, over time?

Profound psychological purity is timeless; it is not the result of accumulation or mere cultivation. Accumulation and cultivation require time. To be pure, innocent, and spotless (mentally) does not take time. Time, psychologically, is a postponement, a delay, and it involves a gradual change, a gradual (possible) improvement. To perceive other life beings with (and “as”) that innocence does not take time. To look at others (and at nature) in the same old ways does require time; it is time, as the stored (accumulated past) that merely recognizes separate things, sees with (and “as”) separation, pigeonholes things, and exploits people and nature. Real passion, real love, real order is timeless and pure… unsullied. Its spontaneity, its freshness, its aliveness, is instantaneously perceptive without distortion. That lack of distortion is real love, not the spurious (small, self-oriented) kind. That lack of distortion is wholeness as non-fragmented perception.

To climb the high mountain, one cannot move far by carrying a lot of heavy baggage. Very many depend so heavily on their psychological baggage, such that they fail to perceive the real beauty that is there (that excessive baggage cannot take one to).

Somehow appealing (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

Somehow appealing (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

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Wise Blossoms Flower Beyond Preserve…

January 13, 2017

22 comments

Here are very many nevers

each inexorably not together

There are ever few always

flying higher than the tall trees

?Why are there so many (shall be)s

striving for littlesome (maybe)s

?Why can’t feathers ask us why

when does wishing stop to try

?When did slow turn to fast

where did time change at last

In the deep of round no wonder

lightning cracks and speaks as thunder

As the toadstools dance and bloom

eons pass across your room

Zygotes form when gametes curve

wise blossoms flower beyond preserve

The wisdom of flowers (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

The wisdom of flowers (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

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Beyond the ego…

January 8, 2017

9 comments

A mind without that false center — without that fictitious, dominating middle point — is (unlike most) highly aware and perceptive. There is, in such a person, no psychological radius from a center to a periphery. Most people cling to a fictitious center in one form or another. There is limited space — in such a mind — between the so-called controller (or center) and what it presumably controls. If the central controller is (in fact) just an image, which it is, then it is just another one of the thoughts and is not something that is purely genuine or real. (Do not make the mistake of becoming depressed regarding this; eternity and beauty can still exist for us, without the interference of fallacious centers.)

Oftentimes, when people think, they think in auditory terms which simulate their own (individual) voice (when talking). This internal (psychological/rather parasitic) voice mimics one’s actual speaking voice. It (one’s thinking) isn’t an actual voice; it is a copied template… a simulation. These simulations and their associated images presume (because of what they were taught) that they are being controlled by a legitimate center. This center, as was suggested, is another one of the manufactured images. The mind can function much better without the manufactured image of a center or central regulator.

Real (fundamental) compassion doesn’t often take place when a fictitious center sees others through (and from) a radius of distance and separation. A man or a woman without such a fictitious center exists beyond such a radius; then real compassion often manifests. Order of the mind does not exist as long as a fictitious center exists. Such a so-called center is associated with a false sense of control and dominance. A false psychological distance is involved with such a mind. False psychological distance often means that one’s relationship to fears, desires, plants, animals, people, and sensations is of conflict born out of fallacious separation. Fallacious separation is not of intelligent compassion… is not what will bring about real order and harmony in the world.

[Note: This little green plant was discovered growing — in the cold, snowy winter weather — within a small, lawn (crystal ball) solar light in our yard! All of the other outdoor green plants had already died from the bitter cold, but this one was still going strong in its little makeshift greenhouse! Nature always finds a way! 🙂 ]

Green plant growing in lawn solar light! Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

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Once upon an if

January 6, 2017

11 comments

Once upon an if

possibilities happened

among all probabilities

entwined in dull securities

Twice upon a flower

within vase and water

away from fellow meadow bloomers

close to drunken baby boomers

Thrice upon a never

love’s blanket enfolds all

unknownst to feigning pretenders

beyond the cruel offenders

Countless upon an always

far from cold pugnacity

joyful in sublimity

splendid in divinity

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eternalfountainofyouth.com

Countless Upon an Always (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

Countless Upon an Always (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017

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Free Will

January 1, 2017

21 comments

Happy New Year! (even though there isn’t anything new about it) Hoping that the following year is full of insight, compassion, and care (radiating from all of us). 🙂

“If the moon, in the act of completing its eternal way around the Earth, were gifted with self-consciousness, it would feel thoroughly convinced that it was traveling its way of its own accord…. So would a Being, endowed with higher insight and more perfect intelligence, watching man and his doings, smile about man’s illusion that he was acting according to his own free will.” — Albert Einstein

Many people ardently insist and feel that they have “free will,” an ability to freely choose without being bound by limitations. They each think that some central agency (i.e.,dominator/controller), apart from the contents, is (somehow) freely acting. Thoughts and thinking involve physical processes within (and “as”) the brain, and these physical process are not exempt from the cause and effect sequences that our universe moves as. The very notion of will implies the power of control that the mind has concerning its own actions. If all of these actions are (inherently) reactions, however, that opens up questions concerning what is actually taking place. (Never feel, however, that conditioning and the lack of free will constitute some kind of get out of jail free pass or “excuse” to whip up; we are, each of us, responsible for helping the world to be orderly and pain-free.)

Did real (free) volition not exist in the worm-like chordates and fish that we evolved from but sprang into existence with us? May it, whether we refuse to see it or not, be that free will, in essence, is a concept that has little or no validity for our current mental states? Most of us, either consciously or unconsciously, cling to the notion of having free will. If the mind has control over its contents, who is the controller? Is the controller separate from what the controlled (psychologically) is? If the controller is not something magically separate, then that has an altogether different meaning and significance.

Sensitively perceiving (not merely conceptually) that most all of what we think and feel is totally conditioned and is part of a cause and effect continuum can allow the mind to come upon a new and vital challenge. Can the mind not merely continue to operate in (and “as”) the same old ways (of conditioning) but, instead, function and live (at times) beyond mere reaction? Real liberty and emancipation may come when the mind sees itself as totally conditioned (when it is conditioned) and deeply ensnared in (and “as”) cause/effect patterns and, then, changes (not through reactions, as in the past), but in a wholly different manner. Then there is a possibility of real order, insight, and compassion to function, beyond the norm. He who clings to prison bars forever thinking that he is free will never run disentangled from all the bondage.

Fungus on Fallen Oak (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Fungus on Fallen Oak (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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