When we were very young, we hadn’t yet learned things about death from society. Then we were full of innocent bliss and we truly felt eternal. Then we were not chock full of knowledge and ideas. We just timelessly looked and marveled.
As adults, most of us have been spoon-fed by a psychologically disturbed society. Most of us no longer feel eternal and timelessly blissful but, rather, feel frightened and insecure. We are afraid of the death that they told us about… about the death we had learned about. We, as adults, exist in a very linear, second-hand, and antiquated fashion. Even with our so-called “correct religious beliefs”, we fear death; beliefs often stem from fear. We fret about a lot of illusory things. It is disturbing to realize this, but it is even more disturbing not to realize it.
To be mentally youthful and untouched by the cadaverous ideas of others is a great order and intelligence.
My Blog primarily consists of close-up nature photos (that I've taken locally) combined with original holistic-truth oriented prose and/or poetry involving mindfulness/awareness. I love nature and I love understanding the whole (not merely the parts and the details). I'm a retired teacher of the multiply handicapped.
I have a number of interesting hobbies, such as fossil collecting, sport-kite flying, 3D and 2D close-up photography, holography, and pets. Most of all, I am into holistic self-awareness, spontaneous insight, unconventional observation/direct perception, mindfulness, meditation, world peace, non-fragmentation, population control, vegetarianism, and green energy.
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Yes, Kym! That’s for sure. If you haven’t seen it yet, please make the time to go see the movie Inside Out 2. It is a superlative movie that deals a lot with fear and certain emotions and feelings. It’s a very sweet pic! 😉😊
Very beautiful up-close butterfly Tom. Using your macro lens I feel like I see the powdery texture on its wings. I don’t feel a sense of impending doom, i.e. death because I am 68 years old, (an age some may feel is old, even I do not), but instead it is more about reading the headlines and the worry of every time I walk out of the house could be my last due to all the craziness out there, especially the erratic drivers, but also the random senseless shootings.
Thanks about the close-up of the butterfly, Linda! 😊 It’s good that you don’t feel old at 68. I am 72 and don’t feel old. I often act very youthful… chasing bugs and other critters, keeping aquariums, collecting fossils, etc. A number of people are dead long before they ever get to the grave.
Yes, it’s a dangerous world with all of the crazies roaming about. Be careful and do not go deep into remote places. And keep pepper-spray handy.
That’s a beautiful butterfly, captured wonderfully with that macro lens Tom. (And your skills too of course.) 🙂
I think being active keeps us young – blogging means we interact with others and that keeps us thinking and creating and humming along. I don’t have TV, so I watch the news and other programs online. I follow Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Twitter and I watched an interview with him today. He was interviewed by CNN colleague Jake Tapper on the topic of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Tapper asked Dr. Gupta if all the word games and crosswords he (Tapper) does will help keep his brain sharp … I do those puzzles online through the New York Times site, so I was interested what he would say. Dr. Gupta said “no” which surprised me. He said you have to keep moving as much as possible and instead of word games and puzzles, instead strive to learn new things: learn a new language, or how to play a new instrument, learn how to paint, then incorporate them into your life. I want to study French again – I loved it back in college – I studied five years, plus some in Canada when we lived there as it was mandatory. And I wanted to join a plein air painting group but I may not do that as I think I’d rather sketch/draw rather than watercolors. Also, they make two trips out a week from April through October and I think now that I’m retired, I’m not sure I want to have commitments of any kind – just do my own thing, on my own timetable. I worked while attending college, so 51 years of working gave me that mindset.
So that is Dr. Gupta’s two cents. I bought two of his books on brain health, but have not read them yet. I love to read, but where does the time go anymore? I get up the same time and the day goes zipping by. But I figure this is a year of transition after retirement … I’m trying to get this house looking nice again first, then I play.
P.S. – Yes, I am not going into any deep woods anymore and not on any rustic trails this year due to ticks. I do have pepper gel (less chance of blow back) … there are days I think about the world out there and quite honestly it is not the world I existed in for so many years.
I’m done with the woods too, Linda, due to the crazy-large populations of ticks in our area. It’s just not worth the risk and i have enough arthritis already. Getting Lyme Disease would even make the arthritis way worse.
Keeping the mind busy while pondering new things helps, but my cousin’s mother just passed away from Altzheimer’s and she was involved in all kinds of mind-stimulating activities (including crossword puzzles and memory enhancement projects). A lot of it may be genetic and a lot of it may be due to the fact that a lot of antioxidants cannot penetrate through the blood-brain-barrier. I take 1 capsule of Doctor’s Best Brain Magnesium (at night); it’s Magnesium L-Threonate, which research shows can penetrate the blood brain barrier. I also take time release Alpha Lipoic Acid (which is another antioxidant that penetrates the blood brain barrier). I get these through Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program and save a lot of money. Dr. Gupta is very smart but i don’t think that he has all the answers.
I suspect that the methodless meditation that i often write about can help the mind to stay dynamic, young, and energized.
Whatever gets you through this life Tom – we are being smart in what we eat or use as supplements. I just read a story that fish oil is bad for you. Cod liver oil is something I have taken since I was a toddler. All this torrential rain we have had is going to saturate the grass at the large parks and bring mosquitoes if the grass gets overgrown. I have to stay on the asphalt path. Lyme Disease is very debilitating. I wish we had just had a normal Winter and the ticks would not be as bad. We have two storms, overnight and early Sunday morning, which is supposed to break the heat except for a one-day occurrence on Tuesday.
We are being smart in what we eat or use as supplements. I just read a story that fish oil is bad for you. Cod liver oil is something I have taken since I was a toddler. All this torrential rain we have had is going to saturate the grass at the large parks and bring mosquitoes if the grass gets overgrown. I have to stay on the asphalt path. Lyme Disease is very debilitating. I wish we had just had a normal Winter and the ticks would not be as bad. We have two storms, overnight and early Sunday morning, which is supposed to break the heat except for a one-day occurrence on Tuesday.
Fish oil, Linda, is only possibly bad, i think, if you buy the kind without any antioxidants in the capsules. I get mine from Amazon Subscribe & Save and they have natural Mixed Tocopherols in them as a natural preservative… and i store them in the fridge.
I am staying on the paths and will avoid thickly wooded and wild areas in our area due to the innumberable ticks in the Midwest.
We have two good weather days this week Tom – the rest will be rainy or stormy (or both and Tuesday back to high temps). I figure they didn’t mow all last week at the big parks, so I’ll only go on the asphalt path to avoid ticks and with all the rain, likely the mosquitoes will have a field day with me as well on any exposed skin, which is not much. Last year I bought sun protection clothing, so I’m going out in long sleeves, long pants (which I always did anyway for the woods) and a wide-brimmed sun hat, all made with 50 SPF fabric. Going for a nature walk used to be a lot easier, not to mention more enjoyable without all the trappings, but I’m not wearing greasy sunscreen and using the camera.
I have been buying this brand of cod liver oil, also from Amazon, since only health stores carry them and often were out – these were recommended by a health store. I won’t send the link so it doesn’t go to your SPAM filter. but here’s the name:
Carlson – Cod Liver Oil Gems, 460 mg Omega-3s, Plus Vitamins A and D3, Wild Caught Norwegian Arctic Cod Liver Oil, Sustainably Sourced Nordic Fish Oil Capsules, Lemon, 150 Softgels
I’ll look into the cod liver oil capsules. I bet that they are very healthy, Linda! I get a lot of my supplements from Amazon’s Subscribe and Save. It’s a good way to save money and get quality, top-notch products!
Yes, the health store told me these were the best cod liver oil capsules on the market. That health food store was not really close to my house and Amazon sold them, so I just started getting them there. I forgot they have they auto-refilll on many things, (besides meds) so you get a discount. Yes, that is a win-win isn’t it!
Mentally youthful… so true, and nicely said, also psychologically and/or emotionally innocent, instead of conditioned be all kinds of limited thoughts and ideas continuously inoculated into us. Even this word, “inoculate”… it is “into our eyes” that it really is grafted, this restrictive worldly view, we get to wear “glasses” even if not needed, sadly enough…
Thanks, Nicole, and yes, society conditions most of us purposefully and deliberately. However, we must question crude perspectives and discover and find-out for ourselves. Don’t let yourself be adulterated by society’s assumptions and beliefs. Stay fresh, unsullied, and innocent. 😉
“To be mentally youthful and untouched by the cadaverous ideas of others is a great order and intelligence”. WOW Tom this is a tall order because I think we all fear death to some degree which i think is partly responsible for our obsession with noise/distraction/etc/ anything to keep us out of feeling….. maybe it’s better to allow feelings of fear of death to run through us like water? Acknowledge feel breathe? You must be bored with my ongoing astonishment of the skill of your photography – but I’ll say it again – incredible
Sara, if we deeply understand life, then we will deeply understand death. But most people do not understand either one. They are too full of the secondhand patterns from others.
hmm I agree but I add that fear of death is probably universal – though unconscious for many, I think…still this is only one perspective…I go back to Bohm – in the big matter is a process – and manifests as something concrete when it is not – such amazing truths we are tapping into here -oh Tom I was so worried about the turkey mamas and today I saw a whole tribe of babies – it made my day!!!! we are presently under a tornado watch for MAINE – good god -I actually think human violence has an effect on the weather creating more of the same –
We don’t have the innocent unblemished eyes of the youth, nor they the filtered, wise of the experienced mature adult. That was never an option on the table. The journey is personal and it is a track that we all must assume on our own path. No shortcuts allowed.
I guess if you experience death – of loved ones, for example – it forces you to reflect upon it, to understand it, and to question all the things you were previously told to believe about it. It certainly challenges your beliefs and asks you to examine what you really understand.
I look forward to the time when we will be with our loved ones forever. Never having to shed a tear because we lost a loved one in death. The passage Revelation 21:4 gives me so much comfort.
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
Well spoken Tom. Fear can debilitate us on so many levels! 😣😥😫
Yes, Kym! That’s for sure. If you haven’t seen it yet, please make the time to go see the movie Inside Out 2. It is a superlative movie that deals a lot with fear and certain emotions and feelings. It’s a very sweet pic! 😉😊
Very beautiful up-close butterfly Tom. Using your macro lens I feel like I see the powdery texture on its wings. I don’t feel a sense of impending doom, i.e. death because I am 68 years old, (an age some may feel is old, even I do not), but instead it is more about reading the headlines and the worry of every time I walk out of the house could be my last due to all the craziness out there, especially the erratic drivers, but also the random senseless shootings.
Thanks about the close-up of the butterfly, Linda! 😊 It’s good that you don’t feel old at 68. I am 72 and don’t feel old. I often act very youthful… chasing bugs and other critters, keeping aquariums, collecting fossils, etc. A number of people are dead long before they ever get to the grave.
Yes, it’s a dangerous world with all of the crazies roaming about. Be careful and do not go deep into remote places. And keep pepper-spray handy.
That’s a beautiful butterfly, captured wonderfully with that macro lens Tom. (And your skills too of course.) 🙂
I think being active keeps us young – blogging means we interact with others and that keeps us thinking and creating and humming along. I don’t have TV, so I watch the news and other programs online. I follow Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Twitter and I watched an interview with him today. He was interviewed by CNN colleague Jake Tapper on the topic of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Tapper asked Dr. Gupta if all the word games and crosswords he (Tapper) does will help keep his brain sharp … I do those puzzles online through the New York Times site, so I was interested what he would say. Dr. Gupta said “no” which surprised me. He said you have to keep moving as much as possible and instead of word games and puzzles, instead strive to learn new things: learn a new language, or how to play a new instrument, learn how to paint, then incorporate them into your life. I want to study French again – I loved it back in college – I studied five years, plus some in Canada when we lived there as it was mandatory. And I wanted to join a plein air painting group but I may not do that as I think I’d rather sketch/draw rather than watercolors. Also, they make two trips out a week from April through October and I think now that I’m retired, I’m not sure I want to have commitments of any kind – just do my own thing, on my own timetable. I worked while attending college, so 51 years of working gave me that mindset.
So that is Dr. Gupta’s two cents. I bought two of his books on brain health, but have not read them yet. I love to read, but where does the time go anymore? I get up the same time and the day goes zipping by. But I figure this is a year of transition after retirement … I’m trying to get this house looking nice again first, then I play.
P.S. – Yes, I am not going into any deep woods anymore and not on any rustic trails this year due to ticks. I do have pepper gel (less chance of blow back) … there are days I think about the world out there and quite honestly it is not the world I existed in for so many years.
I’m done with the woods too, Linda, due to the crazy-large populations of ticks in our area. It’s just not worth the risk and i have enough arthritis already. Getting Lyme Disease would even make the arthritis way worse.
Keeping the mind busy while pondering new things helps, but my cousin’s mother just passed away from Altzheimer’s and she was involved in all kinds of mind-stimulating activities (including crossword puzzles and memory enhancement projects). A lot of it may be genetic and a lot of it may be due to the fact that a lot of antioxidants cannot penetrate through the blood-brain-barrier. I take 1 capsule of Doctor’s Best Brain Magnesium (at night); it’s Magnesium L-Threonate, which research shows can penetrate the blood brain barrier. I also take time release Alpha Lipoic Acid (which is another antioxidant that penetrates the blood brain barrier). I get these through Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program and save a lot of money. Dr. Gupta is very smart but i don’t think that he has all the answers.
I suspect that the methodless meditation that i often write about can help the mind to stay dynamic, young, and energized.
Stay cool in this maddening heat!
Whatever gets you through this life Tom – we are being smart in what we eat or use as supplements. I just read a story that fish oil is bad for you. Cod liver oil is something I have taken since I was a toddler. All this torrential rain we have had is going to saturate the grass at the large parks and bring mosquitoes if the grass gets overgrown. I have to stay on the asphalt path. Lyme Disease is very debilitating. I wish we had just had a normal Winter and the ticks would not be as bad. We have two storms, overnight and early Sunday morning, which is supposed to break the heat except for a one-day occurrence on Tuesday.
We are being smart in what we eat or use as supplements. I just read a story that fish oil is bad for you. Cod liver oil is something I have taken since I was a toddler. All this torrential rain we have had is going to saturate the grass at the large parks and bring mosquitoes if the grass gets overgrown. I have to stay on the asphalt path. Lyme Disease is very debilitating. I wish we had just had a normal Winter and the ticks would not be as bad. We have two storms, overnight and early Sunday morning, which is supposed to break the heat except for a one-day occurrence on Tuesday.
Fish oil, Linda, is only possibly bad, i think, if you buy the kind without any antioxidants in the capsules. I get mine from Amazon Subscribe & Save and they have natural Mixed Tocopherols in them as a natural preservative… and i store them in the fridge.
I am staying on the paths and will avoid thickly wooded and wild areas in our area due to the innumberable ticks in the Midwest.
We have two good weather days this week Tom – the rest will be rainy or stormy (or both and Tuesday back to high temps). I figure they didn’t mow all last week at the big parks, so I’ll only go on the asphalt path to avoid ticks and with all the rain, likely the mosquitoes will have a field day with me as well on any exposed skin, which is not much. Last year I bought sun protection clothing, so I’m going out in long sleeves, long pants (which I always did anyway for the woods) and a wide-brimmed sun hat, all made with 50 SPF fabric. Going for a nature walk used to be a lot easier, not to mention more enjoyable without all the trappings, but I’m not wearing greasy sunscreen and using the camera.
I have been buying this brand of cod liver oil, also from Amazon, since only health stores carry them and often were out – these were recommended by a health store. I won’t send the link so it doesn’t go to your SPAM filter. but here’s the name:
Carlson – Cod Liver Oil Gems, 460 mg Omega-3s, Plus Vitamins A and D3, Wild Caught Norwegian Arctic Cod Liver Oil, Sustainably Sourced Nordic Fish Oil Capsules, Lemon, 150 Softgels
I’ll look into the cod liver oil capsules. I bet that they are very healthy, Linda! I get a lot of my supplements from Amazon’s Subscribe and Save. It’s a good way to save money and get quality, top-notch products!
Yes, the health store told me these were the best cod liver oil capsules on the market. That health food store was not really close to my house and Amazon sold them, so I just started getting them there. I forgot they have they auto-refilll on many things, (besides meds) so you get a discount. Yes, that is a win-win isn’t it!
Well written yes we all are afraid of death though we it must will happen.
Thank you! … and we need not be afraid of death if we are intelligent enough to transcend society’s foolishness.
👍
Mentally youthful… so true, and nicely said, also psychologically and/or emotionally innocent, instead of conditioned be all kinds of limited thoughts and ideas continuously inoculated into us. Even this word, “inoculate”… it is “into our eyes” that it really is grafted, this restrictive worldly view, we get to wear “glasses” even if not needed, sadly enough…
Thanks, Nicole, and yes, society conditions most of us purposefully and deliberately. However, we must question crude perspectives and discover and find-out for ourselves. Don’t let yourself be adulterated by society’s assumptions and beliefs. Stay fresh, unsullied, and innocent. 😉
Cool!
Thank you, MT! 😊 And you stay cool in this oppressive heat!
Amen brother!
An insightful closing to carry forward. Thank you, Tom.
Thank you, Michele! 😊 Stay cool in this crazy heat.
You’re welcome. Thank you, you too! 😎
“To be mentally youthful and untouched by the cadaverous ideas of others is a great order and intelligence”. WOW Tom this is a tall order because I think we all fear death to some degree which i think is partly responsible for our obsession with noise/distraction/etc/ anything to keep us out of feeling….. maybe it’s better to allow feelings of fear of death to run through us like water? Acknowledge feel breathe? You must be bored with my ongoing astonishment of the skill of your photography – but I’ll say it again – incredible
Sara, if we deeply understand life, then we will deeply understand death. But most people do not understand either one. They are too full of the secondhand patterns from others.
Thank you about the photograph! 😊
hmm I agree but I add that fear of death is probably universal – though unconscious for many, I think…still this is only one perspective…I go back to Bohm – in the big matter is a process – and manifests as something concrete when it is not – such amazing truths we are tapping into here -oh Tom I was so worried about the turkey mamas and today I saw a whole tribe of babies – it made my day!!!! we are presently under a tornado watch for MAINE – good god -I actually think human violence has an effect on the weather creating more of the same –
Glad that there are turkey babies! 😉
We don’t have the innocent unblemished eyes of the youth, nor they the filtered, wise of the experienced mature adult. That was never an option on the table. The journey is personal and it is a track that we all must assume on our own path. No shortcuts allowed.
Sorry, Chuckster, but there is no path to the timeless. and it certainly isn’t personal.
I guess if you experience death – of loved ones, for example – it forces you to reflect upon it, to understand it, and to question all the things you were previously told to believe about it. It certainly challenges your beliefs and asks you to examine what you really understand.
I’m sorry too, but I believe there are many paths, and all are personal. Perhaps along the way we two might cross paths and share notes.
I look forward to the time when we will be with our loved ones forever. Never having to shed a tear because we lost a loved one in death. The passage Revelation 21:4 gives me so much comfort.