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
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
Reblogged this on ravenhawks' magazine and commented:
Great post, thank you for sharing.
Much appreciated, Ravenhawks! 🙂
I completely agree with you, Thomas. I like the last sentence a lot. Your fish are really cute and colorful.
I like that last sentence a lot too! Thank you re the fish, Mitza; they sure are a neat species! 🙂
Your lovely and thought-provoking prose really had me thinking about how easy it is to make statements about “becoming better”. I never thought about the hypocrisy in this way of thinking. Being what we are in this moment – that really is being “brutally honest” and real.
Thanks much, Lori! 🙂 Using the terminology of “brutally honest” is a little bit inappropriate… as there is nothing really brutal about it (of course); it does have another “serious” meaning, though. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your wisdom, Tom! Very powerful!
Thank you for introduce you fish. Lovely capture. 🙂
Thank you, Amy! 🙂 The fish should be more popular than they are. Wisdom… we hope so!
It can be very hard to separate rational observation from emotion! At least for me!
Emotions often erupt quicker than thoughts. Raw emotion often is as fast as lightning; then thought comes in and often either rationalizes it, condemns it, analyzes it, or whatever. Most of us perceive emotions (often after they take place) through the screen of what we’ve been taught; then, from what we have accumulated, we further react. Observe all this as it happens without being something separate from it. Learn from it, let it flower, and then one may be beyond it.
Beautiful little fish, Tom!
Thank you, Karen! 🙂 I recently raised more fry and will soon place them in the bigger aquarium with the adults.