Today, unfortunately, if you talk about the sacred, people look at you as if you are completely off the beam. We, as a society, have shelved spirituality into the potty toilet area. If you are different from “mostpeople,” if you are truly interested in finding out if there is anything really sacred, what will your first step be? If it is to merely look within the parameters of the particular edicts and beliefs of the organized religion that you happen to have been brought up to accept, then that “looking” will be dictated — like an old, worn out, secondhand pair of pants — by what others want you to believe is the truth (which may not, at all, be the truth). There are so very many different religions (and sects), each with their own versions and beliefs as to what constitutes the truth.
If you look for a great philosopher, a wise man, a guru, a special kind of Zen monk, priest, or authority to lead you to the truth, your choice (of that person) is based upon supposition and confusion. If you were not confused, you would not need to pick someone else in the first place; enlightenment, and its absolute and concomitant certainty would already be a part of you. Out of your confusion and lack of having been enlightened, you choose another to guide you; that very choice (of that other person) may be — since it does not come from absolute, clear certainty — erroneous and very foolish. Even Hitler “felt right” to a lot of people. (A lot of people quote others and say things, concerning what they are sure is “truth,” and, it may be — as far as the rare individual, who was truly enlightened and visited by that profundity, is concerned — that what they say is often very erroneous and unfortunate.)
So what is one to do? If one is not very passionate about this… if it is merely some minor inquiry, then (of course) not much will happen; it will just be some rather trivial pattern on the marginal side of a large group of concerns. If one is not very passionate about this, one will merely remain as “mostpeople,” who all get wrapped up in the details and only seldom (or never) care about looking into the whole. They have children, they have money, they have impressive homes and automobiles, but they do not have any deep understanding of the whole; (nor do they really care to.) So then, essentially, they are in (and exist “as”) sorrow; because a mind without that profundity is, by absolute and natural law, a sorrowful mind… an empty shell.
So what is one to do? Obviously, the mind that deeply inquires into this must first examine the mechanism that is doing the looking. If the mechanism of the mind is distorted (and not clear) then, obviously, what it sees will be tainted, perverted, contaminated and not true. So the mind must understand itself. It must understand itself as it actually is (in life and in relationship) and not according to the opinions and beliefs of another. If the mind merely analyzes itself according to set and held patterns that it has absorbed from others, it is looking with (and “as”) others’ patterns, which may not be looking with an untainted, uncontaminated background whatsoever. Unfortunately, many of us depend upon others for instructions, for patterns. This inquiry, however, if it is to be pristine and honest, may demand that one stand alone. That means not depending on anyone. Most of us have no clue as to what it means to truly stand alone.
Inquiring Wild Canada Gosling (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Inquiring Wild Canada Gosling (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
File me under “one who is off the beam.” 🙂 Peace.
Ha! Good for you! I’m glad! 🙂
the duck seems to stand
alone, as a picture & painting 🙂
It’s actually a wild Canada Goose Gosling. I’m very grateful to the parents for generously allowing me to get so very close to their precious babies! 🙂
There are as you say so many beliefs and religions and I’ve read bits of lots. I take away with me little bits of all sorts that feel right to me and continue on my own little path trying to be kind to people. I rather feel I can’t be confined to one path with beliefs. Maybe our learning path is like a river, meandering here and there, sometimes slow and sometimes fast. 🙂
Yes, Jude, i understand. 🙂 I was like that too somewhat, for a little while. However, if one may suggest, there may be a much deeper, most significant, dimension of truth that exists away from what can be learned or absorbed. It is beyond any “path,” belief, dogma, philosophy, system, or series of patterns. Yet our minds are all primarily composed of patterns, systems, beliefs, psychological rigamarole, etc., learned from others. We carry all that junk looking on a path; however, it may be, without depending — as most do — on all that junk… there is absolutely no need for any path whatsoever!
I kind of understand that. I’ve done so much searching, examining, shredding, etc. Now I just enjoy living, and being. I like the idea of life being an ocean that we all go back to eventually – back to where we came from! 🐠🐠🐡🐟🐋😊
So many, including so-called organized religions, provide methods and patterns on how to get there. However, there may be no pattern or method that leads one there, because it is not merely a part of some primitive causal sequence. A silent mind may be a key to this; but if it is a silence that is made, via a calculated method, it is a very limited and mechanical silence. Real love may be a key too, but it may not be “what can be cranked out by a system” kind of love. 🙂
Tom where you take so many wonderful photos? So lovely the picture! 🙂
Thank you, Marcela! This one was taken in Momence, Illinois, at a beautiful split-river section of the Kankakee River. It was very generous of the parent wild geese to allow me to come so very close to their babies! 🙂
This is a great post Tom.
Much appreciated, Sylvia! 🙂 My wife, Marla, although she mostly liked it, said that (as usual) i write too much and that i repeat what i’ve posted before. Although much of it is similar, there are always nuances, i think, to what i write… and that is plenty good enough. As for the quantity, that’s a matter of opinion! 🙂
You are completely right, Thomas. Many people are like empty shells today. They own a lot of money etc. but somehow they have nothing, they are poorer than a hobo because they don’t find a deeper sense in their lifes. Hope they read your words, Thomas. Have a nice day, regards Mitza
So sweet that you wrote that about the hobo, Mitza, because i recently wrote a poem about the poverty of the rich and how a poor man may have the best treasures. The poem will come out in a couple of weeks. I prepost and preschedule most of my stuff ahead of time. 🙂
I’m glad you liked my comment, Thomas. I really like to read your thoughts about the world and agree with you in most points. I’m looking forward to your poem. Have a nice day, regards Mitza
Extremely cute gosling, it’s all.. a sparkle! And it really looks like it’s on its way of learning to stand alone, such a nice combination, words and image. 🙂
Thanks much, Nicole! 🙂 Canada Geese are rarely alone… since there are great advantages to remaining in groups; there’s a lot of predators that would more easily capture single ones. Of course, as i’m sure you realize, the aloneness that i was referring to has to do with a psychological breaking away from all the lemmings… (and not merely living as a hermit).
So true, Tom! People believe what they want to believe. I heard a survey report that the politician supporters only read the information they want to hear which is based on whom they want to support, despite so many true information out there…
It’s truly mindless, Amy, what goes on with politics! The U.S., for example, has much of its so-called freedom going down the drain. We haven’t really changed from ancient, barbaric times… and if we don’t change we will undoubtedly doom humanity.
Lovely post, Tom, I appreciate the honesty and passion here. And that adorable gosling is very special too.
I don’t have time to read this post right now, or right, but I am. 😀
I just wanted to say that the picture is amazing! So cute, you are very lucky!