kind to nature
not so many fossil fuels
or be blind
and heartless fossil fools
plant trees grow flowers
nature a blessed event
or view the world through brainwashed lies
cover everything with dead cement
Dragonfly poising (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Dragonfly poising (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Special Note: Happy Holidays to everyone worldwide!
We sure hope that the coming new year brings, with it, more sense and more compassion in people. People, unfortunately, are very gullible and it is easy for the fat-cat bureaucrats to get people to believe just about anything. Please do not get all wrapped up in belief; please intelligently go beyond all belief and tradition-oriented presumption. Do not ever merely believe what i write within this blog; i do not wish to be your authority. (There are plenty of charlatans out there who will gladly be your authority, if that is what you wish.) Each one of us has to deeply question things and look beyond all of the propaganda. If the world has any hope at all, we need to go beyond the ruts that we are mindlessly entrenched in. Governments that rob the poor to feed the filthy rich (and that neglect environmental health and global unity) need to be radically questioned/altered. The world is very small and fragile and it will not last — in its balance naturally as it has — if we continue to lack seriousness and continue to act with negligence regarding the delicate whole. Despite what you were “taught,” you may not be anything separate from all of the fragile creatures and humans of this planet; it may be that you are them. If you do not care — and continue reacting as the fat-cat bureaucrats want you to — it may be like the right hand not at all caring about the left hand (and thinking it is separate).
Alleged saying of Jesus… from the ancient Nag Hammadi Gospel of Thomas (that the hierarchical fat-cats rejected):
Jesus said: “The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. During the days when you ate what is dead, you made it come alive. When you are in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?”
Do not ever think that you are something separate. Wash clean of cold deception, false accumulation, and dead tradition.
Mostly alone… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
[Addendum: We saw the movie “Wonder” the other day; it was excellent; highly recommended!]
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But here
amongst
the light of shine
why couldn’t
when arcing was
as shading stared
even when
something moved
ever so
graciously
amid
perceptions reactions
and you’re
blinking
Amongst the Light of Shine (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Amongst the Light of Shine (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Everyone seems to exist with many psychological walls. In the aforementioned sentence, the word “exist” was used and not the word “live.” One is not sure whether existing with all of the psychological walls (that society had us absorb) is really living. We… early in life — in grade school and similar places — learned how to incorporate these walls into (and “as”) our consciousness. As adults, these walls have become heavily imbued into each one of us. We perceive — without even realizing it — with (and from) these walls of separation.
What do these walls consist of? They consist of a myriad of things; however, they are essentially ingrained thoughts. We perceive largely via separation and a wall of division. Each one takes for granted that the perceiver is separate from the perceived. Many of us think that humans are somehow separate from the animals. Many function with separative countries, religions, and traditions, and such people then look — despite saying that they do otherwise — with division and fragmentation. We were taught that we are separate individuals.
When a psychological fear takes place, if it is seen via psychological distance, then a manufactured psychological wall exists. That wall divides the perceiver from the fear. In actuality, the perceiver is not something separate from the fear. The fear itself is a protrusion or swelling of consciousness… a consciousness that one is. If jealousy takes place, the average mind sees it as something that it “has,” not as what it actually is. “Having” the jealousy — in the mind — puts it at a psychological distance. A psychological wall, in (and “as”) the mind seems to place the perceiver at a distance from “his jealousy.” That very wall, which separates something from the jealousy, helps manufacture the image of a separate perceiver. That may be a waste of energy; the perceiver is not (in reality) something separate from the jealousy. (This is not to say that a human being is just jealousy; that would be ludicrous; each of us is a unique dynamic). So, what is rather ludicrous — which, unfortunately, most people do not see — involves looking at what you actually are from a distance (as if it is not actually what you are). This is really not complicated. When you look in a mirror, you do not think, “There is a separate image at some distance,” … do you? Yet, partly because of faulty education, when hatred occurs, most people see it as what they “have” and as what they control from a “center” at a distance. We extend that inner separation outwardly (into the world, so to speak). We were taught that each one of us is an individual and that each one of us is separate from all other life forms in the whole world; that may not be true whatsoever. Manufactured walls, however, make it seem true. (Transcending the falsehood of separate individuality, by the way, does not negate the beauty of eternity for us whatsoever.) The world is in real chaos/decline because of accepting many (false) deluding walls as things that are true.
Many people can look at a hurt animal without any empathy. Such people inevitably look with a callous wall of indifference. That wall involves space. It is a very limited, distorted space. It is a very confined, circumscribed space that “exists,” and one would not immediately jump to call it “living.” There is, in most of us, a sensed distance between “you” and “what is seen.” This applies internally (such as involving fear) and externally (such as seeing a creature of nature). Either way, that sensed distance (too) makes up the consciousness that you are (and so does the image of what is seen); so there really is no wall, especially internally where the fear or hatred is an extension of the mind.
Though he harms others, even an extremely cruel man — in his isolated, cold existence — usually takes great pains not to harm himself. However, for such a man, false walls have isolated that so-called self to a very disconnected, limited (fallacious and fictitious) realm. We need to be more intelligent as a species; we need to go beyond our primitive walls and limited boundaries and stop butchering each other in archaic wars; we need to stop polluting the whole of nature, which we are not segregated from. We can be truly intelligent and live in the holistic eternal.
Jumping Spider (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Jumping Spider (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
One
pink day
in a curious
we kind of way
the camera landed
near what insects were focusing on
Serendipity (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Serendipity (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
It is important to have a mind and body that (together) work with great precision. Many people do not take great care of their bodies; nor do they delve into the nature and essence of their minds a great deal. Such behavior is often negligence. A body that consumes many foods that are not conducive to good health is operating in a way that is not harmonious, not orderly. Similarly, a mind that is operating with a lot of inner conflicts, resistance, fears, delusional manipulations, and a fanciful administration of power, is not being harmonious nor orderly.
A mind that is a hodgepodge of absorbed (i.e., learned) conditioning consisting of false psychological separation, inner conflict, inner resistance, and spurious (internal) domineering power can seemingly create a meditative silence that it may think is divine. However, a mind full of inner limitations, conflicts, suppositions, and learned attributes can easily deceive itself; such a silence is (inevitably) as limited as the mind that fabricated it. It may be that a truly profound and precise silence is never the product of a calculating mind.
A mind that is aware of itself, each and every day, without the stagnant patterns that society has impressed upon it, may (without effort or spurious inner dominating factors) function with (and “as”) real order, precision, and harmony. Thinking and the thought process is often used by (and “as”) such a mind; however, the thinking process is seen to be the limited tool that it is; the sagacious mind realizes that it need not exclusively cling to that limited domain. There is a cessation of thought/thinking that comes uninvited, that comes unprovoked; it is not the hypnotic, limited kind of fabricated silence that so many unfortunate minds have learned to materialize.
A mind that has profound awareness functions without a fictitious and misleading center (such as the kind that the majority have learned to accept and take as genuine). Most, with that misleading and inaccurate “center” that each takes to be genuine, function — especially internally — with fraudulent space and with fanciful separation. The fraudulent, limited space and fanciful separation are involved with protrusions of thought that are given (false) credit for being the source of power and domination (of the so-called other thoughts). Then, such minds of imprecision think that they can intentionally meditate, creating or concocting a space of true and legitimate silence. Does one see the absurdity of it?… A mind of delusional, distorted separation and fictitious space thinks it can fabricate a true silence (of vast space). What it produces will be an obtrusion (i.e., an extension) of its own inherent disorder and imprecision (and, therefore, will inevitably be of the conditioned and/or false). It is so easy for distortion to bamboozle itself into thinking that it is free, or whole, or divine (when it is not). Only an innocent, honest, truly humble mind (of real clarity and precision) is beyond self-deception.
A mind that examines without the burden of false values and the stale conditioning (of the past) can flower beyond limitation, internal imprecision, and fallacious separation (such as misrepresentation as when, in the mind, the so-called “controller” is misconstrued as being somehow separate from “thoughts seen with psychological distance”). Profoundly intelligent observation must be pristine, uncontaminated, undistorted, and beyond measure. It is very possible for the truly serious mind. Only a mind of real clarity and precision can see and understand the whole.
Green Lacewing… Predator of many harmful insects… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
We moved and in that moving looked
and in that looking many things were seen
and in that seeing labeled things were from the storehouse of memory
We re-cognized from patterns of the past
We saw everything the way we were instructed to see
We looked from (i.e., as) the screen of conditioning
We never looked originally spotlessly wholly
?Can the yes of awareness be beyond stagnant lies of no
as magic beautifully flowers
Depth with superficiality (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Depth with superficiality (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
We have had ideals for centuries. Yet mankind goes on, with all kinds of corruption and distortion. Ideals seem to help but, in the long run, do not change much whatsoever. When one has an ideal, it is a projection or obtrusion (of the mind) regarding what one “ought to be.” That “ought to be,” that “what one should be,” is a pattern that one has accumulated — over time — from others’ teachings or from experiences (of the past). It is a protrusion of the past into the present, concerning what the future “should be”; such a process is a sequence in (and “as”) psychological time.
Profound awareness is not what occurs when the present (in its wholeness) is constantly contaminated by past fragmentary symbols and patterns. People are energetic, habitual, lightning-quick “reacting organisms,” and learned, fragmentary symbols and patterns — of the past, like any “should be” — are usually not enough to entirely tame the deeply ingrained emotions/desires/reactions that “people are” (and to significantly change those reactions). So the projected “‘should be’s” from the past, are (for the most part) never enough to fundamentally alter behavior. Whenever what one “should be” is projected — in (and “as”) the mind — from the past, it is at odds with what “actually is.” The “ideals” and the “actualities” are often in conflict with each other; a mind that habitually feeds internal conflicts is not a healthy mind… it is a mind of friction and internal resistance. When the present time actually takes place, such internal friction and resistance prevent profound awareness. When one portion of the mind is at odds with another portion of the mind — which is so often the case with minds that harbor (and consist of) ideals — then such internal conflict prevents pristine awareness and holistic energy. When pristine awareness takes place, it has its own (unimposed) natural, intrinsic order; then there is no need for symbolic ideals or many regulating laws. Great, sagacious passion sees clearly (without distortion); that very seeing is its own order and compassion.
The wise mind does not merely carry and project ideals but, rather, sees what it actually is from moment to moment. If jealousy is taking place, in such a mind, it sagaciously perceives that jealousy (as what it actually is… not merely as something that it “has.”) Perceiving without “learned-accumulated space,” learned-accumulated patterns of what “should be,” and learned-accumulated patterns of “psychological effort” may enable the mind to be deeply aware beyond the realm of mere fragmentation and sequential expansion; then real insight and order can take place. Such order would not be merely manmade or imposed. Order that is imposed is never lasting and is never what can fundamentally change a person.
Innumerable people are the “should be” or “ought to be” images (of idealism) that they harbor. People who hold many ideals actually are those ideals (and are not something separate from them). The mind does not merely “have ideals”; in many, whether they realize it or not, ideals are what they actually are (at least partially, of course). They are (additionally) a lot of reactions and movements at odds with the ideals; so there is real friction and struggle within. Inner conflict doesn’t easily allow fundamental learning (beyond mere accumulation) to take place. Wisdom goes beyond separation, beyond fragmentation, beyond internal struggle and conflict, beyond very primitive ways of dealing with things. The passion of very intelligent awareness is an explosion beyond the dead sequence of psychological time and distortion; only then can a deep form of timeless compassion and intrinsic order manifest.
Mushrooms without ideals Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
There is an immeasurable energy
a sacredness that cannot be created or destroyed
and it is a field beyond thought/thinking
Its essence is an indescribable eternity that is
beyond words and mere mental patterns
It rarely visits the realm of man
When it visits
it fills the cup of the mind/body for a while
and departs as quickly as it arrives
but leaves some perfume of itself
that forever affects the mind
Its intrinsic order will not visit a concocted silence
nor any copied meditation
nor any secondhand distortion or twisted corruption
It is of an immense intelligence
beyond fragmented limitation and stagnant beliefs
It is not of the separative fabricated religions and countries
that divide man
Thinking is always “about” energy
Thinking is never (the actual boundless energy
with all of its holistic beauty)
Thought/thinking is limited fractional
and symbolic
Lichen near a pond (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Lichen near a pond (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Most of us, i feel, were educated to accept innumerable fallacies as facts and as ordinary phenomena to be taken for granted. These have been presented to us since birth and, although it wasn’t deliberate indoctrination, the word “indoctrination” is very applicable to what actually has largely taken place. In our youth, we were not encouraged to deeply question society’s values, doctrines, principles, beliefs, and systems (and go beyond them). We were molded to conform, to remain with (and “as”) the status quo, to accept competition… and deviating from that (significantly) was definitely not tolerated. Some people, reading or hearing about this, would say, “Yes, I know,” or “Yes, I realize that.” It is unlikely, however, that many have even the foggiest idea of just how vast the conditioning (and indoctrination) runs into their lives. We were not brought up to be truly open, creative, questioning, deeply insightful human beings; we were, for the most part, programmed to be copiers, replicators, and obedient parts of the machine.
Most of us do not see the world as “one organism”; we perceive the many parts, many species, many others, many sections. We’ve used thought (as we were taught to) for advantageous purposes, yet most all of us greatly overuse it (dwelling, almost exclusively, in that realm). (Some of us who absorbed calculated methods to go beyond thought, by sitting on mats and all such planned nonsense, have substituted mere glorified hypnotic technique to displace thinking, all the while thinking something great has been accomplished.) Very few of us have intelligently seen the limitation of thinking and have truly (intelligently) gone beyond that limitation. Thinking, being the sequential arrangement of symbols (that it is)… is always partial, always very limited. Thinking is a very necessary tool, a necessary instrument that is extremely useful (at times); however, at other times, it is unnecessary to remain in (and “as”) the realm of thinking. Need the mind always merely exist as symbols, as sequential tokens to attain (or “represent”) something? The very supposed core of most people’s selves consists of fragmentary images and symbols (such as “me” and “I”) that they have absorbed from others. So many are existing in a virtual world of man-made images and fabricated constructs that consist primarily of mere representational ideas and habitually learned patterns.
Real perception, real intelligence goes beyond all this — and that is where the real bliss and eternity exists — not by accumulating more methodologies, not by absorbing more systems and patterns, not by blindly adhering to more authority. The truly perceptive mind looks without outward and inward authority. It sees beyond the symbolic, the partial, and the taught. Such a mind is of real bliss and order. It has no teacher, no resting place, no anchor that others have provided in (and “as”) the past. Without looking with (and “as”) the dead past, such a mind may be truly free, pristine, and unspoiled. There is no procedure or “how” regarding getting there. A lot of people prefer to comfortably remain in the leftover debris that was shoveled to them, and they call it “security” and “wellbeing,” yet they remain full of anxiety, uncertainty, and sorrow. Real (fundamental) security and genuine bliss, however, go beyond the residual norms of a fragmented, nocuous society.
Together … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Denzel Epinstein ambled with a very crooked leg
His perceptions,though,were not jaded and askew
Mary Whitnun power-walked with perfect knees and thighs
Her subservient perceptions were full of broken fragments and distortion
Ed Sedentary was perpetually glued to his television
Temporary things were seen with separation and phosphorescent isolation
Tina Flow appeared to be alone in the golden meadows of nature
She wasn’t,however,apart from all of the wondrous and magnificent creatures
Grasshopper on Tugged Sunflower (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Grasshopper on Tugged Sunflower (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
It is very difficult for people to fundamentally change. One realizes, all too well, that whatever is written here, and in my other posts, will likely not have much of a meaningful impact for most who are reading this. People cling to their traditions, to what they have absorbed in school and to what they swallowed from others in the distant past; they cling to deeply ingrained conditioning, and (though they claim that they are changing) they are unwilling to really drop all of that baggage. It is unfortunate that most people cannot radically and fundamentally change.
If one merely reads these posts, accepts much of what is written, and builds a bunch of mental constructs out of it… it is not what is truly blossoming whatsoever. Awareness flowers when there is a flowering beyond mere conditioned responsiveness. That flowering has nothing to do with effort, agreement, absorption, practice, or dead tradition. (There, of course, remain to be oodles of religions, armies, and experts who are all too willing to give you more of those essentially unflowering falsities.)
Most people are very good at responding and reacting. That is what they were trained (i.e., indoctrinated) to do… and it is what they were trained to remain as. Practicing something to “be” in some state beyond that may be a foolhardy waste of time. As was written in the “Being and Becoming” posting: “Being and becoming are essentially the same thing. Being, as does becoming, reinforces the self, the center, with its dependence on sensations, pleasure, and time.”
A person can go out in nature and then be a series of mere reactions… seeing everything through a screen of images and mental compilations that one has “absorbed” from previous others in (and “as” the past). Then, a separate image of self is projected as a learned reaction, as an obtrusion of thought/thinking, and seemingly and pretentiously identifies that with images and with other mental compilations involving nature; it then claims “I am one with nature.” Unfortunately, however, mere reactions and obtrusions of thought may not be “one” with much of anything. Seeing with (and from) the past (i.e., from stuffy, old memory and imagery) is existing in (and “as”) the past.
As was written in the “Being and Becoming” posting: The intelligent mind does not try to be in a state of being, does not try to be what is non-becoming, nor does it try to be in a state of non-being. Such trying would be a further extension of becoming and would reinforce the self and its dependence upon time. In (psychologically) not trying to be or not be… the mind may naturally blossom as what is beyond greed, dependence (on others for how to get there), and measurement.
Awareness involves a depth, love, and a total perception that the limited domain of mere reaction cannot fathom. Such awareness, such love, and perception — though they are not separate things — go beyond being, beyond becoming, beyond measurement. Eternity is involved in such awareness.
Beyond words (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond words (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Without
make and how
this lit
tlest no
thing
hap
pens
be
yond
being
be
coming
is
was
and(of course)
will be
Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
All of us, in (and “as”) a succession of moments, in a series or sequence, react. In a very wise entity, however, these reactions are not always habitual, are not always the only activity taking place. In most people, conditioned into habits, what they actuate is always caused by some prior (usually some group of) antecedent factors. They may think and fully feel that they are dignified and elegant and in total control (for what they allegedly “choose”); however, they usually are a reacting part of a calculated, complex matrix devised by a larger society. Many then get stuck in mundane, dull routines and then often try to find various escapes to temporarily pull boredom out for a while. These escapes then create further reactions, many of which do not fundamentally benefit the earth nor those upon it.
What can go beyond this is real integrity, real wholeness, and soundness. To perceive integrally is to perceive beyond the fragments. Thought, being symbolic and partial, is inherently limited and fragmentary. However, most are habitually composed of (and habitually dependent on) thought and thinking. These habitual thoughts go much further (in their extent) than most realize. Thought often separates one group from another, oneself from so-called others at a distance, and the so-called central controller from what is seen (from an alleged distance) as his or her fear.
In a divisive, mad, chaotic world, can the mind exist as more than mere fragmented reaction? There is a quietness, a vast humility, beyond the shadows of spurious control and manipulation. That quietness is not the mere result of any kind of reaction, nor the product of any kind of intention or contrivance. You cannot make yourself be quiet (as so many try to do); the so-called “maker” of the quietness is a protrusion of thought; the concocted reaction from a protrusion of thought can never be genuine quietness. There must be a motiveless (effortless) perceiving without mere habitual rigamarole.
Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Real love can’t be reasoned
can’t be measured
can’t be sold
and doesn’t give a damn
about having tons of $
or a stinking pot of gold
Genuine wisdom isn’t pompous
isn’t pigheaded
isn’t forlorn sorrow
and won’t ever bring ecstatic truth
eternal perception and blissful joy
if seriousness is 4 2morrow
Alfalfa Sulfur Butterflies (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Alfalfa Sulfur Butterflies (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Real mindfulness, real meditation is not sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat. Such sitting is calculated and is structured to gain something… (which is greediness). On the other hand, innocent, pristine awareness throughout the day (that is not merely influenced by the patterns and symbols that others have provided) may be very prudent. Is it real awareness when one is looking with what other people have poured into one? Is real awareness, real living, what can take place through the secondhand edicts or patterns provided by others? When perception takes place through mere symbolic images and via learned psychological separation, is such perception what was copied from others and (additionally) limited and superficial?
It may be that secondhand has little to do with actual living. However, many rely on (and habitually exist “as”) secondhand, without question.
0.5 cm Scarlet-and-Green Leafhopper (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
0.5 cm Scarlet-and-Green Leafhopper (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
[Note: The following poem is not about the Praying Mantis; it is about the species who manufactured the metal rail that the Mantis is walking across.]
Bipedal
Hairy
Tends to dominate other species
Some act with great order and understanding while many are indifferent and uncaring
Often fights other imaginary sub-groups of its own kind
Takes far more — in terms of the domain of other species — than its fair share
Overpopulates its own kind over the entire planet
Covers life-areas with dead concrete
Feels intelligent and superior (while it — all along — ruins the planet)
Most do not realize that they are not separate from the world as a whole
Some are very caring, considerate, and compassionate
Mentally feeds on symbols and images rather than reality
Often uses others for profit
Often blindly follows/obeys power-hungry tyrants in high positions
Some fire projectiles from held devices to put holes in other species or in others of their own kind… rendering them lifeless
Some warmheartedly stay local, recycle, use alternative energy, and actually help nature and others of their own kind
Others hypocritically claim to love nature while they often needlessly fly for long distances in aircraft that spew out deadly fossil fuels in vast quantities
Most foolishly think that their species is separate from other species
Some refrain from harming multitudinous species who highly value their own existence
Some have real empathy while others are mere thinking/reacting machines
Most abandoned life in the trees and woodlands to become the obedient working slaves of others
Only an extremely small number have been visited by that sacred, eternal energy that is beyond the realm of standard causality and rigid boundaries
Many believe in a dominating super-organism who — up above — happens to be a tail-free ape like themselves
Most subscribe to the very primitive notion that the observer is separate from the observed
A small few exist beyond the shared madness
Shadow of Mantis in the World of Man (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Shadow of Mantis in the World of Man (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Today i will be going to the annual Halloween Party at the school for the multiply handicapped (where i had worked as a teacher before i retired); it should be a hauntingly fun day!
I knocked out all
of my teeth last night
to cash in big with the Tooth Fairy
and fill my pockets right
I’ll be buyin’ candy wid all of dat cash
which i’ll sweetly eat right away
(and the beauty is dat
i’ll not have to worry about tooth decay!)
Halloween Tooth Fairy Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Oh Tin Man
Being empty isn’t a bad thing
It’s a wise magical thing
that radiates compassion
The many that are so full of themselves
heartless
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Most of us each look with psychological space between a posited “I” and what that “I” — which is actually manufactured — supposedly sees from a distance. Even when a psychological fear takes place, we each tend to see it from a distance, as what each one of us “has,” rather than seeing it as what we actually are. (This psychological distance exudes a false sense of control.) However, if that central “I” is spurious, is mentally manufactured and not really central… and is essentially a projection of the thought process, then erroneous perception is taking place. An illusory “I” often may necessitate a concomitant illusory (psychological distance). The absence of a central “I” helps to curtail unnecessary psychological distance.
We are also separated by organized (concocted) religions, countries, cultural groups, rigid beliefs, systems, and prejudices… many of which we are willing to fight and die over.
Very few of us are truly simple (in an intelligent way) beyond the absorbed conflict, rifts, and illusory boundaries and spaces that were provided by way of direct or indirect indoctrination. The wise mind that transcends the very crass and illusory notion of a central “I” or “me” will live among many who habitually cling to absorbed images of a central self. Such a wise mind usually must function in a vast population of delusion and falsities. It may be that the very essence of those habitually expressing unnecessary psychological space consists of duplicity and inaccuracy. Deep compassion and profound holistic relationship occur not a moment sooner than when (psychologically) the limited “I” is wisely and fully transcended. When the limited “I” is wisely and fully transcended, needless separation and wasteful conflict end.
Snout Butterfly (Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017)
“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Halloween is a candylicious
fun for kids time of year
and the ugly monster
with the orangish hair
(who is a reflection of a sick national immorality)
is mostly what we should fear
Halloween Spider (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Halloween Spider (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
We exist in a world society that largely operates with a very amoral morality. It’s a society where ruthless competition is so hammered into people that many do it without question. It’s a society where it is largely accepted to destroy large parts of nature with chemicals, abuse, polluting fuels, and endless cement. It is a society where little is said or felt about human population control (as humans, as a species, are taking way more than their fair share quantitatively/environmentally). It’s a society where separation and division are often encouraged and reinforced. It’s a society where it’s easy to fit in (and be accepted) if one is indifferent, barbarous, and manipulating. It’s a society where, for example, one is often accepted and congratulated while one claims to love nature, all the while frequently flying long distances in fossil-fuel (very polluting) aircraft from continent to continent to take pictures of animals and plant life… although they are all are being choked off by pollutants and fumes. Of course, there are some who are truly sympathetic and good (even in a society that, for the most part, is of corruption and chaos). Many more are living in tiny houses, recycling, staying local, reproducing less, intentionally using less, using alternative energy, and are truly doing more to make a difference.
To really find out what happens at death, one must, first and foremost, understand life/living. One isn’t, however, even actually living if one is a cadaverous clone of stale traditions and secondhand (accepted) suppositions. Most were not encouraged to doubt, to question. However, intelligent doubting and sensitive questioning may help an individual bloom beyond rigid, rigor mortis states. Many end up being buried six feet down even though they were never fully alive in the first place, unfortunately. To go through life merely reacting (from what was poured into one) may not be real living whatsoever. Too many assume that they are actually alive. It may be that if genuine enlightenment would ever happen to you, as a visitation by that sacred immeasurability, you would definitely realize that we truly live in the land of the dead. Do not ever merely accept what i say or write. Find out for yourself. Please do not be like dead clay.
Buckeye Butterfly (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Buckeye Butterfly (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Thither we go
into a half-baked poem
hardly worth reading
We will continue to read it
despite its repulsive tendencies
to bring us closer to mediocrity
unless we allow the eyes to feast
on the accompanying photos
which are not as puerile and spineless
as the poem currently being read
Of course the poem can be
memorized and recited
if you’d like to fail to impress your friends
(who are imprisoned in all standard misconceptions)
Any disreputable poem
such as this one
neglects to suggest anything profound
and declines to mention
the beauty of nature
You (Mr. Prufrock) heard them each to each
Go ahead and eat your peach
I too am an easy tool
and i too grow old
(the bottom of my trousers rolled)
Enfolded (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Enfolded (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Sensibility can involve and does involve the ability to receive sensations. We wholeheartedly pursue pleasurable sensations throughout our life. We often avoid sensations that are unpleasant or uncomfortable. Thoughts are often involved in the pursuit of pleasurable sensations and in the avoidance of uncomfortable sensations. Reactions, as thoughts and feelings, often involve sensations of various types… and pursuit or avoidance involving them. Many of the cravings and evasions of people are learned (i.e., absorbed from others). What others — in overall society — pursue and crave is often examined and copied. Needless to say, in this day and age, many are into heavy partying, exotic vacations, and all kinds of entertainment. Much of this involves endlessly trying to find exciting and pleasurable sensations.
One can go on, for many decades, perpetually pursuing one pleasurable experience after another (ruining the environment along the way)… just as one has learned to do by observing many others (who buzz along in large fossil-fueled vehicles). It may be, however, that the values involved in a life of doing that kind of thing are rather superficial, without real depth. To remain in such a state may be rather infantile. Sensibility can also, beyond the aforementioned involvement with limited sensations, pertain to an acute awareness with an overall accompanying perception and intelligence involving what is significant and prudent. Real prudence involves sagacity and sensibility beyond what was merely poured into one by others. Such prudence goes far beyond what is merely pleasurable into realms that help life and humanity (without getting anything in return). The childish mind will be incapable of such prudence; real depth will elude such a mind.
Endlessly pursuing one pleasure after another (without depth), and a donkey perpetually chasing a carrot suspended from a stick tied to its saddle, both have a lot in common. Intelligence goes beyond mere reaction; it is not what is bound in (and “as”) endless reactions. What is restricted and circumscribed is limited. Sensibly going beyond the limitations of what is ordinary may be real intelligence. The carrot is really not something that is truly separate from the donkey, though he thinks it is. The next time desire takes place, please consider the possibility that it is what you actually are, not merely what you have.
Carrot Groping (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Carrot Groping (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Here I am riding on the Solar Sunflower Express
in first class.
Down below,in third class,a lowly soldier beetle rests;
he has connections on the web
but he is way below my esteemed riches.
I have my feelers out for the lush,green cash to be had,
and I feel secure in my dominance and expertise.
As for the servile soldier beetle,well,
he better hope that he is fit enough to fight in the
battles that I decree.
Now please excuse me while I give some
top-rate tobacco a little chew.
Riding the Solar Sunflower Express (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Riding the Solar Sunflower Express (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
A lot of us go through unbelievable hardships in life. Very many of us have had to go through tremendous turmoil, unfortunate tragedies, and unbelievably tough times. For some of us, maybe our parents were rather cruel and unstable; or perhaps such was the case regarding some of our teachers or classmates. Or maybe some of us have had to deal with significant physical or socioeconomic handicaps. Many of us have had to face real pain involving the loss of a loved one or dear friend. Most of us were shaped to be programmed by a society that is competitive, money oriented, and extremely superficial (in terms of deep meaning and real integrity). Most of us have been harmed psychologically (by cruelty and indifference); many of us do not even realize the vast extent of the damage that has been done to us. Beyond the past, we all, whether we like it or not, are facing a very precarious future. The world is getting more and more dangerous, more and more divided; we have not fundamentally changed (psychologically) since our early barbarian ancestry days. And now, with nuclear armaments being able to wipe out billions and with germ warfare a real possibility, here we sit. Violent winds and ferocious storms and wildfires are increasing as pollution gets far worse, as many politicians are indifferent, and as fossil fuelled homes and vehicles run rampant.
Given the aforementioned circumstances, it would be very arduous to be truly stable in such a tough, unstable world (such as it is). It would be very easy to remain truly stale in such a tough, unstable world (such as it is). One cannot really blame others for their staleness and lack of depth; they were educated and programmed to be that way. Many cannot change; many do not want to change. We were taught that we are separate from each other. We were taught that we are different. Within all of the vast darkness, there can be light and real intensity. That light must shine from you; it cannot merely be given by another. Such light is never really just secondhand; however, darkness can easily be secondhand (or of a residual, shadow-like, cold recurrence). To be a truly bright human being, here, has little to do with intellectual capacity, with copying and mimicking.
Struggling in Life (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Struggling in Life (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
In the reading of a poem
the depth of the poem may have meaning
which,coincidentally,depends upon
the depth of the reader
not that the reader and the poem
are necessarily two separate things
If superficiality is involved
it may be with regard to the poem itself
or it may involve the perception of the reader
not that the perception and the reader are separate
not that the poetry and the depth are necessarily separate
as when the reader and the read are not two separate things
which,in a world of tremendous conflict,friction,and division,
might not be a bad thing whatsoever
Fall (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Fall (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Haunted House Realtor Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Kankakee County Humane Society Benefit Booth Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
There is a psychological cessation that is beyond the parameters of motivation, desire, or striving. It involves a timelessness that is beyond sequential methodologies and practices. Such a cessation is a discontinuance of the same-old mental symbols, same-old perspectives involving separation, and same-old mental traditions. Such a cessation is natural, healthy, intelligent, and is not merely what can be measured. Those who perpetually and habitually function in (and “as”) the parameters of thought (endlessly using dead sequential symbols to cogitate about things) cannot be of such a living timelessness.
There is no path to such a cessation, such a timelessness… for, if there was, it would be reducing such a timelessness to being just another part of the continuum of temporal manifestations; there are plenty of charlatan priests, gurus, and so-called religious masters who are all too willing to give you the path (and methods), however. A lone Bumblebee went from flower petal to flower petal, caught in a sequence of endless reactions that never were transcended, never fully understood.
Immersed in reaction (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Immersed in reaction (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Squeak and Meek each went to take a peek
and what they saw was delectably ever so sleek
It buttery flowed meltedly through slippery slopes
and was spattered in sections beyond blind people’s hopes
Roly and Poly barrelled into town
they joined the loud circus and smiley jolly clown
They circled around the rainbowed ice cream shop
and drove to the intersection then came to a stop
Itchy and Stichy yelled into a huge microphone
and no one heard them since no one was home
And the tree in the forest down with a loud crashing sound
while the universe sure heard it because the universe was around
Skipper and Scatter burst onto the scene
to become part of this skinny poem and the pickings are lean
What do you expect at this hungry time of day
like some scrumptious corn on the cob in a splendid flowery kind of way?
Silver-spotted Skipper (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Silver-spotted Skipper (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
In an intelligent inquiry as to whether or not there is anything really sacred, the mind must be free from limited patterns of conditioning and opinion. For such an inquiring mind, there is no room for belief or conjecture. Both belief and conjecture are based upon supposition or primarily baseless, unscientific conclusions. This transcendence beyond the limitations of conditioned belief and conjecture additionally includes going beyond any formulated methodologies that one may be lead to believe are worthwhile. Very many have, with blind faith, clung to the structured methodologies and ideologies that various organized religions — such as Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and others — have provided over the years. Asking people to go beyond the conditioning of these organized groups (with their leaders) usually falls on deaf ears.
In such an inquiry, the mind must be supremely healthy; additionally, it must be beyond being influenced or programmed by any group or by any person. It may be that only a very healthy, balanced, unconditioned mind can discover what is truly sacred. Such a mind brings about its own order (and not according to what someone else says). It may be that to truly come upon the sacred, the mind must have its own natural, intrinsic order. Such order may not be the result of mere accumulation. No accumulation of beliefs, or structured methodologies to live according to, would be of interest to a truly orderly, unconditioned mind. In a big way, perception without dependence on accumulation is perception beyond the parameters of time; all accumulated beliefs and structured methodologies require (and depend upon) time. The timeless, unconditioned, truly free mind is beyond all of that (but don’t just take my word for it).
Can perception take place that is not the mere result of — and not dependent upon — past accumulation (as stored memory)? It may be that if one looks without all of the past accumulated memories and hand-me-down patterns of others then such a one is stepping out of the confinement and incarceration of conditioning. Such confinement was a limitation, a barrier; “mostpeople” refuse to let it all go. They cling to their so-called religions, groups, beliefs, and methodologies and refuse to let them go. The pristine, untainted mind goes beyond this conditioning and no longer uses others’ methodologies to “get something.” I, for one, will not give you patterns to follow, edicts to live by, or beliefs to cling to.
Accumulation, in any psychological form, is usually a manifestation of greed; greed, in any psychological form, likely negates discovery of the sacred. When one — not theoretically or idealistically — sees this, all organized religions and methodologies that are learned are out. There is a non-concocted silence that can never be brought about by the accumulation of memory, nor by learned patterns, nor copied procedures. That silence is not the result of conditioning and practice; it is not derived from greed or acquisition over time. Don’t waste your time in believing in such silence. Find out if there is such a silence, but not by mere abstraction, not by mere “idealistic image-projecting.” That “finding out” may have nothing to do with what you were ever taught. An elderly Great Blue Heron was looking for his next meal as the placid pond was getting ready to settle-in for the evening.
Great Blue Heron (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Great Blue Heron (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
We trot in eternity
though most see transiency
We move with infinity
though most react temporarily
We silently sail among endless waves
they thirst in thought’s bone-dry deserts
We are visited by the timeless
they are late for their appointments
Beyond limitation (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond limitation (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
The silence of a very aware mind is not what can be measured. Such pure silence goes beyond recognition; recognition (of separate things that the mind labels and pigeon-holes) is — or involves — measurement. The mind can, at times, beautifully function without merely relying on measurement, without exclusively relying on recognition, patterns of experience, and interpretation of stimuli. “Mostpeople” would not likely be involved with this immeasurable silence because remaining in sequential thinking, recognition, and constant comparison and measurement are what they were educated (i.e., programmed) to be. Leaving the domain of the known would seem frightening to a lot of people. Many may equate such silence, such emptiness, with ignorance; however, a vast, immeasurable silence, in actuality, is profound intelligence. “Mostpeople” rigidly cling to patterns of recognition, symbolic thought (and all thoughts are symbols), labels, and separative images. Going beyond these would seem unthinkable to most.
One cannot “know” that one is in such silence when it takes place, for such “knowing” would be in the realm of recognition and would negate the very essence of a silence beyond mere measurement. Such silence is beyond merely calculated patterns and sequential formulations concocted by man; this is why gurus and so-called holy men who want to provide you with techniques to “get there” are definitely out (including the fees that they often fraudulently charge)! One who is lucky enough to be involved with such silence is not in any way harmed but, rather, may be blessed to be in relationship with a timeless energy that is forever renewing itself. Such silence can never be brought about by an act of will; will is (fundamentally) desire… and desire can never attain such unadulterated silence via effort of any kind. It would be like trying to catch the wind (or catch love) in a bottle. The highly intelligent mind, through seeing and understanding itself in relationship (and in seeing itself, without deception, in everyday occurrences) may, with understanding, move beyond the psychological dependencies and repetitious mental habits that most exist as. Understanding transcends mere measurement and will. The immeasurable may occur for the man (or woman) who goes beyond the limited, the merely symbolic, and the stagnant. In the immeasurable, eternity abides. The immeasurable and the eternal are without confining borders. The gurgling sounds of the drinking Mallards are not something separate from a vast, immeasurable silence.
Mallard Ducks (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Mallard Ducks (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
A nonmediocre novelty lasted for relaxed nonseparative miles
as we drove past steady sunflowers who sweetly worshipped the sun
In a divided disorganized planet of perplexed savage wars
omniscient order majestically does nevertheless easily run
Multitudinous millipedes mingled in the downbelow grasses
as businesslike bumblebees hurriedly bustled in blossoms far up above
And the saintly sun’s devotees seemed to move like precision clockwork
with a passionate proclivity for life and for love
Sunflower Time (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Sunflower Time (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
[Note: Currently we are thinking of the victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, regarding the human species (and other animal species). We donated to the Red Cross for each specific area. Please consider donating if you haven’t done so already. Additionally, please do more to help curtail global warming. I’ve been warning, for a long time now, about the winds and weather getting substantially worse due to man’s neglect regarding clean energy; things will get far worse if we do not radically change our ways.]
A lot of minds are unbalanced these days. Most minds, really, are very unbalanced. A truly balanced mind is like a rare, precious jewel. Unfortunately, very few minds, in this rather rotten society, are truly balanced. To be truly balanced means not to have a mind that has been conditioned by the current rotten, immoral society in which we currently live. It involves having (i.e., being) a mind that has stepped out of the morass of selfish values, indifferent separation, cold competition, and crude status quo beliefs. A balanced mind does not follow the crowd, especially when that crowd has been indoctrinated to accept and hold orientations and tendencies that have been going on since ancient times. Many people, these days, would be able to fit in quite nicely into the ancient Roman culture; the changes necessary — to so fit in — would not be very dramatic in the least.
The balanced mind that goes beyond all this, that largely transcends beyond conditioning and fragmentation, is far from what the ordinary man can understand or discover. Real balance goes beyond unnecessary internal friction and conflict. The balanced mind is not composed of learned (i.e., absorbed) barriers which separate it from all life, or which separate a supposed controlling center from other thoughts. The balanced mind is not what looks from (or “as”) a screen of mere prejudices, edicts, beliefs, pigeon-holing labels, or hand-me-down values. When a balanced mind looks, it looks without the mental-programming that dictates to others about how they should look (with certain preconceptions). A balanced mind has its own intrinsic, natural empathy, holistic perception, insightful understanding, and unbounded wisdom.
Can the unbalanced mind, the conditioned, corrupt mind, step out (mentally) from the quagmire that it is in… and be balanced? Can separative, crass concepts and preconceived viewpoints go past the crude limitations that they are? The mind can psychologically die to its own accumulated corruption. Such a psychological dying is a real innocence, involves silence, and is real living… and it does not involve a learned method that takes time.
Chillin’ (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Chillin’ (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
The turning of the key looked south
and the room peered deeper into itself
When the circumscribed room left itself
it was outdoors where it was no longer a room
Gentle breezes again looked south
and the radiant depths of the garden penetrated the mind
Oh,dear Emily,that blue fly that interposed upon your death,
was she very alive in your confined,secluded space?
Ms.Dickinson,was that stillness what can never die,
even when the windows,with all their keepsakes,
fail?
Eternal Blooms (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Eternal Blooms (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
It is very easy to come to conclusions about things. Some things that many come to conclusions about seem like cut-and-dried facts that can be taken for granted. Often we come to conclusions about the behavior of others… when, however — over time — they have changed far from what we have “concluded.” In past postings, one has often written about transcending or dissolving the central “me” or “I.” Some people, no doubt, have concluded that doing so is foolish or even very dangerous. Many cling to that fabricated image of self and are terrified and very frightened about letting it go. It is very likely that their love of the absolute truth is likely not nearly as strong as the love and attachment to that image. Really perceiving — not merely intellectually — the falsity and delusion that a supposed central psychological controller inherently consists of, we maintain, is neither foolish nor dangerous. On the contrary, it helps eradicate the very root of conflict that causes so much indifference, neglect, and hatred in the world of man. Perception beyond such a fallacious center does not, as many might presume, tend to negate eternity for us. On the contrary, it may be that the eternal can more readily be perceived and appreciated once the supposed central “me” or “I” is truly transcended.
One read a post by someone, recently, that matter-of-factly pointed out that everything is temporary and that we all must die and come to a complete end. Coming to a complete end is, so they say, coming to a conclusion. Many people, while they are alive, come to conclusions — about many things — without ever having deeply and independently inquired. They absorb what was poured into them by others… and from there they — as self-appointed experts — spew out more and more myopic conclusions. However, we may presently live in a very primitive and crass world culture and a lot of what the so-called educators say may be utter rubbish. If, as most do, you fall into the standard or common lines of thinking (about things)… then it may be that you are making a grave mistake and are fundamentally making very deleterious decisions with (and “as”) the essence of your life. As one has stated before in some of my previous postings, some of the world’s top-notch scientists have said that reality is likely far different, in its fundamental nature, from what many of us have thought or suspected. Indeed!
Question everything that people tell you and everything that i say. Go beyond all the standard ways of looking at things and looking at the world. Perceive without looking through the screen of perception that others have built for you to look through (and “with”). Then, if you are very lucky, you will go beyond most of the fundamental conclusions; and then eternity will not merely be a representational symbol as part of your brain; then your essence will never come to any final conclusion.
Beyond Conclusions (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond Conclusions (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Past flying in time
beyond because and why
Further than sorrow’s self-pity
Lofty in nature’s design
Pent-up in clover not theories
Peppered impressions
beyond dark desperation
Red glorious sweet tastes like rhyme
Past Flying in Time (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Past Flying in Time (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Pristine perception is beyond the limited; if it is very limited, it is not pristine perception. Such perception goes beyond the fragmented, limited labels that people assign to things. Such labels, however “accurate” they may seem, are always partial, circumscribed, and merely symbolic. Symbols are not actualities. The word “water” isn’t wet. Their essence may hold aspects of reality, but they may not be of actual truth whatsoever. Mostpeople cling to symbols and sequential conceptual terms; without them, they (i.e., mostpeople) are lost. Wisdom goes beyond this, and what is sees is far from ordinary.
Depression and melancholiness, worldwide, are rampant in people these days. A lot of the problem deals with the fact that they were primarily educated to merely exist and remain as symbolic thought (and all thought is merely symbolic). Being one symbol after another, in sequence, creates an atmosphere that can, indeed, be depressed or of melancholiness. Even when many chase after exciting experiences, these experiences are usually seen through (or “as”) a screen of symbolic interpretation and label-oriented imagery; then, it ends up being an extension of more and more symbols, which are intrinsically not what is fundamentally whole and pristine. It is very easy to get lost because of poor education. It is not so easy to perceive the danger of the false and go beyond it.
Mating Monarchs (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Mating Monarchs (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
4
CRY
SAKE!
AM
AIR
I
CAN
PA
LIE
TICKS
HAS
BEE
COME
A
TRA
VEST
TEA
OF
JUST
ICE
WID
A
PRO
PEN
CITY
2
POLL
LUTE
D
ENVI
RON
MENT
WID
H8
&
ROT
10
SCUM
Wilting Environment Unless We Change (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Wilting Environment Unless We Change (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
There is often a fine line between erroneous judgment and prudent perception. Profound perception cuts through erroneous judgment and dissipates it. There is no “how,” set in stone, on “getting” profound perception. Like humility and real love, it is not something that one can merely cultivate. However, if the mind is passionately aware of its own workings — without merely depending upon the patterns and judgments of others — then, perhaps, that untethered awareness opens up (or manifests as) profound perception. A mind that is keenly interested in this is naturally and concomitantly interested in a correct relationship in all matters (internally and externally). By “correct,” we mean in accordance with real fact and truth. Naturally, deception, falsity, and illusion are not things that one would be eager to cling to and exist as.
Distorted minds, broken minds, fragmented minds, relatively superficial minds, will not be (at all) interested in this. They will be content to remain — and wish to remain — as the ordinary, everyday mundane things that they were programmed to deal with (and be). Going beyond this limitation will not suit them well. They won’t care to be bothered. Minds beyond this (limitation) may be somewhat interested in things, such as what is often written about here… or, perhaps, (though rarely) they may be extremely interested. This interest must flower into a real passion for any real significant change to take place. That “flowering” has little to do with retaining stale memories, old traditions, beliefs, or standardized procedures. Those four are best suited for those who wish not to be bothered.
A mind that looks without all the fragmented patterns, outlooks, judgments, and structures that others have poured into it is a very untethered mind. Such an untethered mind is free to see everything as it really is (beyond limitations and distortion). Such a non-separative, non-partial, holistic perception often is (and often exists “as”) undistorted relationship. That kind of relationship goes beyond those that think that they are in relationship with the world but actually are not. We are not really separate from what we perceive; and if what we perceive is dictated by the limited patterns and symbols that we have absorbed from a primitive society, then what we see will (inevitably) be second-hand, narrow, and circumscribed. We can be beyond such inaccuracy.
I eat a lot of green things too!
Eating a Green Lunch … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
We sat at the crossroads between two whys
and because came by and told us we couldn’t
We did anyway
and with great joy ran
And although there wasn’t anything where we were not
we unfolded outside in
to again when returning becomes begin
We mulled beyond the lackluster masses
past a jangled jeer of mediocrity
Literally we so deeply immersed in always
even though surrounded by cold clevers
all permanently flushed by a potty-bowl of transient hows
Canada Goose Gosling (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Canada Goose Gosling (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
A lot of people use the word love. Popular songs, needless to say, are riddled with the word. It is a word that is so easily dished out; however, its profound depth of meaning may have been long neglected or absent in human culture. If love, for an individual, is tied to self-interest, or motive, it is likely not actually deep love; then, in such very numerous cases, it is involved with (or “is”) desire. If self-motive is involved, then it usually is mere desire, relish, and craving. Deep love is not what is mere desire or what involves self-motive. If one says one loves one’s nation or immediate family, for instance, but does not deeply care for all humanity and all forms of life as a whole… then that so-called love may just be a form of self-gratification or motive for security (out of fear).
Profound love goes far beyond mere sensation, far beyond mere gratification from stimuli. A merely greedy, avaricious mind cannot be of it. It may be that few people (on this little globe) truly have love. It may be a rare jewel that one cannot cultivate or exploit. Like humility, one cannot program it to occur or make it happen; additionally, one “of it” would not “know” that one is imbued with what it is. Though it cannot merely be cultivated or manufactured, it may occur in a very perceptive mind that is deeply aware of internal and external relationship. Most, unfortunately, perceive with (and “as”) separation; this negates love via innumerable limited psychological walls and barriers. Does one really love another, or is it an image (or set of images) that one’s set of internal images are associated with and fixated upon? Is — in the mind — one set of images that cling to another set of images what profound love is? What is limited, self-centered, and small cannot — by natural law — deeply be in harmony with the whole. The limited (mind) will cause conflict (internally and externally), friction, wars, turmoil, pollution, and suffering. In awareness that is not the product of the separative images and patterns that others cling to in limitation, the free mind is of an untethered vastness that largely transcends what causes suffering, friction, and prejudice. Such a mind has no borders and, therefore, love is possible.
Mating Butterfly (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Mating Butterfly (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
We ascend)from the greatest miracle
that blindmost think never did happen
We sprightfully spring to always
beyond death’s empty reasons and hows
We transcend a trillion wishes and billions of prizes
and jump past dark was into now
We beseech the ever small-minded,far from ordinary’s cadaverous lair
to go beyond all of the cold puppetry and superficial lies
Let’s mail the old status quo to dead Pluto
and correct corrupt vision(with new purity in their eyes
Some friends’ tortoise (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Some friends’ tortoise (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
It is essential to be attentive throughout life. If one is a mind that endlessly chatters (internally) about trivial things, with a lot of “noise” going on, which one is only half-aware about, then the mind becomes more and more cloudy, more and more dull. If reactions are going on, internally, it is prudent to be aware of them, not to have them occur while one does not perceive their occurrence or implications. Most of us are addicted to being in a realm of reactions; we crave more and more reactions to cling onto (and to exist as). Without merely resisting reactions, be attentive to them; perceive how the mind habitually depends on them (and exists as them). Merely resisting having reactions is another (additional) reaction. Without merely resisting, but just by simply observing without separative friction, the mind can be extremely attentive and alert. That attentiveness, that great alertness and listening may, at times, allow the mind to exist without merely depending on reactions.
So, many are — and exist “as”– mere reactions. Reactions are always secondary, mechanical, reactionary, residual; merely being “them” may not be real living whatsoever. There can be a stability that is beyond the mere limits and fragmentary attributes that mere reaction entails. That stability can be deep and profound. That profundity will perceive beyond all of the superficial illusions, all the fallacies, all the nonsense, all the petty escapes. It will be compassionate, caring, sensitive beyond measure, and will perceive far beyond the ordinary. A rather ordinary mind who meets such a mind, who meets a person with such a profound mind, will likely merely see “someone” who just seems to be another regular person. However, that profound mind is far from regular. It will have seen so much more than what most have seen or will ever see. It will have done so by not traveling an inch (to get something).
[Note: The top photograph is of a young Praying Mantis on a Lily Flower. The photograph below it is of a young Praying Mantis fossilized in 20 million-year-old Dominican Amber.]
Young Praying Mantis on Lily. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Young Praying Mantis in 20 Million-Year-Old Dominican Amber. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
We will walk among young wild geese
and feed them
forgiving them for a velociraptor past
We will forage around elderly humans
and forgive them
for all the polluted lands and waters
Young Canada Geese (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Young Canada Geese (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
In great humility, there is an emptiness that exists beyond the “me” and “mine.” That emptiness is, in actuality, the absence (i.e., the non-existence) of the “me.” “Mostpeople” would feel frightened about the psychological absence of the “me,” or even about the possibility of the psychological absence of the “me.” To “mostpeople,” it would seem to be an “insecurity” to go beyond the “me” or beyond the supposedly “controlling center.” However, for the (truly) wise man, mere security is not a factor… truth is a factor. To the wise man (or woman), it is truth that is where the real beauty, the real treasure, exists.
Many years ago, in the early ’70s, when i was in my 4th year of college, i read an article about split-brain operations and how these surgical operations resulted in two totally separate fields of consciousness in one human being. Reading about how the corpus callosum could be surgically severed, resulting in two distinct, separate fields of consciousness — with each not knowing what the other was doing — pulled one even further away from the ancient orthodoxy that so many of us were indoctrinated by. It was back then that my insatiable quest for truth began (in the deepest sense), though even when one was much younger one still saw through a lot of the madness and falsities in the things that they tried to indoctrinate into us. Real humility occurs when the mind intelligently doubts and asks profound questions without relying on what one’s family or culture provides as the truth. If one largely relies on what one’s family or one’s culture has provided, it reflects a form of arrogance (which is far from true humility); one’s family and culture can, indeed, be a component or facet of oneself and, for sure, being certain of their validity is — in a big way — just a form of self-admiration and arrogance. Intelligent doubt goes beyond all this. Such intelligent doubt reflects the way Albert Einstein discovered things, by wisely questioning many things that were taken for granted as facts. Albert Einstein understood what it meant to “stand alone.” To really inquire into that which is truly sacred, immeasurable, timeless and uncontaminated, one must, of course, do it with an instrument (i.e., a mind) that is itself uncontaminated. It absolutely must be untainted, healthy, uncorrupt… that instrument (i.e., that true mind of inquiry). That, then, means no belief, no arrogant assumptions about the validity of one’s own faith, religion, culture, family creeds, and spiritual blueprints; so it means no beliefs or presumptions. However, “mostpeople” are totally unwilling to be that way. They want the comfort and security of “knowing.” It can be the “knowing” of others that they absorb and take on for themselves… it doesn’t matter. However, it may be that the real quest for truth lies beyond security and “knowing.” That is why so few ever come upon that real treasure.
Standing alone (without depending on others), going beyond the crowd, understanding the mind, going beyond mere images of the “me” and “I” — and mere images and learned concepts is all that they really are — may seem like abandoning security. However, a truly wise mind, that transcends beyond beliefs, realizes things that involve the only real treasure. That treasure has an essence of real eternity, immensity, and bliss in it (that “mostpeople,” unfortunately, have no clue about whatsoever). The scientists were, as it turns out, likely right about one thing; they said: Reality is probably radically different (i.e., far different) from what most of us assume it to be.
Crab Spider blending in (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Crab Spider blending in (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
There was a very rich man
(a man with a cadaverous, cold heart)
who walked along the barren, indifferent sidewalks
and, while he walked, he passed
the splendid flowers and trees by,
(without looking at their immense beauty).
As he walked, there was a limited separation
between what was considered to be “a central I” and
the other thoughts that occurred;
there was also a large gap or separation
between his consciousness and profound nature.
There was a rather poor man
(a man with a beneficent, warm heart)
who walked through the amicable gardens and meadows
and, while he walked, awareness
examined the magnificent flowers and trees,
(smiling at the immeasurable beauty).
As he walked, there was no separation
between a supposed “central controller”
and the occurring thoughts;
additionally, an effortless silence often occurred;
there was no gap or separation
between a “his consciousness” and natural beauty.
And here is a sweet, little secret that can always unfold:
The very rich man wasn’t really rich at all,
and the rather poor man wasn’t poor
what
so
ever.
Beyond words (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond words (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
As we have stated before, one must (in deep spiritual/philosophical inquiry) stand alone; one must go beyond seeking direction or blueprints from others (i.e., from supposed “experts.”) We are used to taking direction and following direction from others; it is our habit. We are obstinate in our deep dependence in regard to seeking and following direction. We have followed religious and political direction for eons and we remain lost and in disarray (fitting well into this immoral society). Inquiry beyond the direction and guidance of another requires that the mind stand alone.
Not following or seeking direction involves a directionlessness that most people are not used to or comfortable with. We have associated directionlessness with confusion; we see it as a jumble that is without an intelligent goal. However, there is an ineffable, intelligent directionlessness that is not a product of others. This directionlessness may be a real key to unlocking and perceiving the whole.
When one looks for the whole in a certain direction, it is not there. In quantum mechanics, if an electron isn’t measured it exists in many states (or places at once); once it is measured, it is in a limited state in a limited way. We want to understand the whole by following direction from others… which is a form of measurement; it may essentially be an erroneous process.
Psychologically, we each think that a central “I” or “me” provides necessary direction as to correct behavior. Yet such a center — being nothing more than a learned image — is a fallacy that does not exist. Split brain surgery, severing the corpus callosum, substantiates this. Holistic awareness, without dependence on a fictional center (or absorbed outside authority), may be what functions far more accurately and healthfully, without the ruse of a (false) directing controller. Even those who purport to “transcend” or go beyond the ego are (for the most part) just like everyone else; they constantly use images of “I” or “me” in a learned, automatic, passive-associative process. They constantly operate from what seems to be a central “I” or controller, whereas deep awareness would see this as a lot of inherited, automatic-associative processes. Going beyond this psychological ruse is nothing to be feared; going beyond any fallacious, illusory process need not involve fear.
Holistic perception beyond the false exists as true health, harmony, and bliss; eternity is one with it. Is there a manufactured method to get there? No! However, there are innumerable charlatans who are all too willing to tell you or sell you the way. They tell you how to pray, how to chant mantras, how to concentrate on your breathing, how to behave… with their stale methodologies; and many people, being very gullible, easily follow their directions, edicts, and stale blueprints.
Stability (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Stability (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
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