To look without the background of the past is what looks without contamination and time.
It is most noble to investigate into truth without letting fear cause one to cling to inherited, comforting beliefs (or to self-concocted beliefs); deep intelligence does not let fear alter (or cloud) what it sees.
Education is not just memorizing and regurgitating back information; true education involves questioning, pondering, and investigating far beyond what you are “told.”
An intelligent, holistic mind is also a mind that is appreciative of humor and laughter.
The real problem with kleptomaniacs is that they always take things literally.
Intelligent, vicarious suffering often acts to help other people, animals, and the environment as a whole.
Marionettes are easily worked by strings; gullible people are easily swayed by nefarious, diabolical (so-called) news channels that perpetrate hatred, misinformation, and separation.
A truly good doctor (i.e., general practitioner) informs you about how to eat and act in a more healthfully appropriate way and does not merely robotically and hurridly dispense out synthetic pills to you.
Fear necessitates time and requires time. It is often the past dreading what may happen as the future. To transcend fear at its roots, psychological time must be deeply understood and transcended.
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
Nice close up of the nestling with a punk rock hairdo, Tom. I like your line about kleptomaniacs. I may steal it. 🤣
Ha! Good one, Siobhan! 😁
If we are not questioning then we are not being educated! Is vicarious suffering intellectual? I think it is more about being in our bodies and being able to feel…To root our fear psychological time must be understood – wow that one is a gem Tom. And my gosh that picture blows me away – how did you get this little fellow?
Yes, it’s more about feeling.
He(she) was in a nest in the satellite dish in the yard last year.
glad we agree – WOW – he was in a satellite dish! How amazing and that hair – oh! Wondrous photo
Yes, thank you, Sara. They are cute in their own little, ugly kind of way, you see. 😁
That’s brilliant. Thanks for the chuckle 🙂
So glad that it got you to smile! 🙂
What a sweet shot Tom – was it a Robin fledgling? A friend of mine had a nest on her deck railing and she walked by every day and took a photo to send me and their beaks, opened wide like that and looked like Donald Duck. Plus they had the sparse feathers. You were lucky to see it.
There is a good chance that it is a cowbird, the pirate of the avian kingdom! Birds often build nests (each spring) in that little section behind the satellite dish, and cowbirds seem to be good at using it often too. I just leave them be and let nature take its course. 😃
I’ve never seen a cowbird, so had to Google to have a look. I was going by the oversized beak for the rest of the body, but I’m sure all the nestlings look like that. 🙂
Yes, they don’t build nests; they lay their eggs in other birds’ nests (stealthily). Even nature has its cheaters and crooks! 🙄
Catching up after a traveling spell away from connectivity – a good thing, but also good to come back to posts like this one. I’m pondering “intelligent, vicarious suffering” – the world seems overflowing with it! I hope in the long run it does prove beneficial. I recognize that too often we deem anything uncomfortable negative, and that clearly is short-sighted.
Happy 2022, Tom.
Yes, Happy 2022, Jazz. Let’s hope it evolves to me more virus-free and much saner! 🙂