When one was very young, one loved nature a lot. Nearing 70 years of age, one still loves nature a lot.
Starting at the 5th Grade level, they put me in parochial school; we had to attend mass every morning. As a child, one thought, “They don’t have God locked up in a golden box on the alter; God (i.e., what is sacred) is outdoors in nature, with life… with all of the trees and creatures.” One still feels the same way.
In the playground, as a kid, they had us pledging allegiance to a flag. As a child, way back then, one saw it as a rag on a stick; one saw how so-called separate countries were in battle with each other (each with their own so-called “special flag”). As a kid, the whole thing seemed so mindless and totally absurd. One kept silent as the other kids endlessly repeated the pledge. At around 70, one still feels the same way.
As a child, one was the only kid in our grade school class who would help a fellow student (in class) who happened to be mentally retarded. At the end of the grade school years, his mother saw me in a department store and passionately thanked me. I also helped foreign students who were struggling to learn English. Much later on in life, my adult profession was being a teacher for the multiply handicapped.
While in grade school years, while one was sitting in one’s room alone, one suddenly went beyond the thought/thinking process; one realized how “special,” “magical,” “intelligent,” and “whole” it was. It was instantaneous (i.e., timeless) whereas thinking was a process that took time. One continued to engage with (or “as”) whatever it was; one continues to be appreciative of it to this day. One can call it “meditation,” but what it involves transcends all words and labels.
One was always amazed at how cruel and indifferent other fellow grade-school students could be. For instance, they would often tease and mock the boy who happened to be mentally retarded. Now, at around 70, one is amazed at how cruel and indifferent adults can be. For instance, former President Trump openly mocking a handicapped man (and mindless masses still voting for him — even with all of his cruelty and racism — and ardently supporting him).
When one was young, one didn’t just regurgitate what was poured into one; one questioned things and pondered things for oneself. After all of these years, one still (thank goodness) questions things and ponders beyond the stagnant, normative traditions.
Does my blogging help much if that person hasn’t previously already figured a lot of it out as a kid? One wonders, one really wonders…
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
Thank you! I’m always anxious to read when I see you’ve posted again – and never disappointed.
Thanks much, Susan… it means a lot! 🙂
I love this post Tom. Your childhood experiences mirror my own just as your reflections on these stupid flags do – all this mindless nationalism/separation. And like you, I too felt deep compassion for others and ended up as a professor and analyst – trying to educate – trying to help… and like you I continue to take joy from moments experienced outside of time.
I do want to answer your question – Does your blog help others? ( a question I ask myself with respect to becoming a writer)… I think that you offer a door into a different way of perceiving (my computer wrote ‘receiving’) – well, its both. If the door is opened some people will walk through… but the important thing is that you provide a door into reality – nature’s reality – not our superficial socially constructed false reality. Nature is REAL and always inviting us in…
Great to read about how your childhood moments may have somewhat mirrored my own. Yes, nature is more real and far less superficial; far too many neglect nature and are indifferent toward nature. But don’t stop at nature; go deeper. Go where nature has not even gone. “Where,” in the previous sentence, is rather misleading; it’s not a place or a spot. 🙂
Nature opens that door!
The beginners mind is a beautiful thing. It’s too bad most kids have trained out of them by the time they enter kindergarten.
Yes, exactly. Kids are miseducated far before they ever get to school. Then, if the miseducation didn’t finish them off, school certainly does its part to render them blind.
Don’t forget the medication too!! We haven’t evolved quickly enough to adapt to the industrialized lifestyle, especially little boys who are way too busy to assimilate properly. Adderall is a great tool to speed up the process.
So sad, what people do, isn’t it?!
Thanks One, I really enjoyed that…
Thanks much, Frank! Hug a dog or two for me! 🙂
Yes, your blog helps!
Birth to eventual death is a lifelong awakening – hampered for many by marginally-awakened parents/peers/teachers (saluting their flags, ignoring what does not fit handed-down preconceptions).
I appreciate your “bio” here – interesting to compare my personal awakening – my moments of clarity when young were never understood until I was into my 40s. I think we each have to be “ready” to receive – you were blessed to do so very young – and now your posts here are catalysts for others not yet so progressed. Thank you. Your posts often spin me into reflections of my personal coming-to. Reflecting reinforces receptivity for the ongoing awareness opportunities life offers. (In my 70s, I anticipate growing through my 80s.)
Thanks much, Jazz. One is glad that you find the blogging helpful. In youth, most all of the adults in my life were rather off the hinge, so to speak. That made it easy to question things and to go beyond what they were mindlessly orchestrating. Society, as it is now, is way off the hinge; it should enable many to question things and to look beyond the norm. However, many do not.
You empathy and compassion shine through your life. The world needs much more of that – so much more!
Thank you, Carol! Yes, empathy needs to be much more prevalent in society. It’s not enough to teach kids reading, writing, and arithmetic, and such; we need to teach them about compassion, helping others, and understanding beyond what was merely spoon-fed. 🙂
I totally agree.
Very thought provoking – & thank-you Tom. Our early life builds our whole life direction and if ones life is in the right direction, each year we experience adds to our direction of life. I am glad of my life’s direction. I believe I owe the starting of my direction to the way my parents introduced me to my early life & gave me a path to follow.
Andy, my parents and many of my teachers — in early youth — were so off-the-beam (i.e., crazy and wrong) that it invited me to look beyond what they were saying/maintaining. We must all go beyond the norm. 🙂
totally agree with that, I consider I was lucky re my parents.
Very good reflecion Tom! Mother natura, love, compassion, God! Everything inside us!
Thanks much, Marcela! We must all look beyond what we were programmed to see. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this journey of a searching soul. This blog is helpful in setting an example of how much there is to earn in searching, even if we’re never fully knowing.
Thanks much, Astrid. 🙂 Really, psychologically, i am not searching any longer; there is no need. When one searches, anyhow, one often has a mental supposition of what one might find… which makes it rather limited and circumscribed.
True, I find that stopping the search is helpful to find more.
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I think you One was a very serious and studious young man who looked around him, not only at nature, but those who struggled and helped them, so that those early years set the tone forever in One’s life.
Yes, not only at nature.
It’s great to help those who suffer, who are less fortunate, who are at a disadvantage. There’s not much of that in nature and there is not enough of that in the human realm.
No, the human realm is sadly lacking. The news is filled with stories that are just heartbreaking.