There is a vast seriousness that radiates its discipline holistically, healthfully, and with tremendous joy and insight. This seriousness is not what merely childishly depends upon the blueprints of others. Being whole, it need not grope for more, for improvement, nor does it mechanistically function according to any prearranged laid out patterns. The flame of this seriousness burns away illusion, separation, death, and time.
I write to encourage others to go beyond conditioning, blind acceptances, and stagnation. Most of us were deeply conditioned in early childhood — and beyond — to absorb and follow what elders spoon-fed to us; they (i.e., the elders), without question, were deeply conditioned themselves throughout their early (and later) lives. We accept so many myriads of things and most of us blindly adhere to these things without question. Most of us are unaware of the extreme degree of our conditioning.
Conditioning is largely illusory in its essence; a conditioned mind is often a rather disorderly mind (though, to itself, it appears to be very orderly and “normal”). A conditioned mind primarily goes on in the same, old patterns while not questioning their value, essence, or impact. Society is a reflection of this conditioning and society is full of illusion, disorder, conflict, separation, friction, and turmoil. Many of us try to escape from such situations via entertainment, amusements, sports, incessant music, vacations, dreams, and various activities. However, the problem is not solved until we question intelligently and understand our own minds deeply. But going beyond being secondhand is very uncomfortable to a lot of people and so fundamental change does not take place.
Three beautiful blue wishes,
circumscribed by a rigid limitation.
Soon they will emerge beyond
weakness and constraint
and will fly free enchantingly.
Do you think that you are beyond your
enclosing limitation?
Most are circumscribed by more
rigidity than these three ever were.
Most will never break free
but
because of blind beliefs
darkly will remain
bound in rigidity forever.
Three Beautiful Eggs from Mother Robin … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
Sweet Mourning Dove seeds
planted and ready to grow
Afternoon is hopeful
Mourning Dove Eggs… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
When most people are observing an animal, they are really not (usually) seeing purely without contamination. They usually are looking with (and “as”) images and labels of the organism… images and labels that are constantly being modified, changed, added to, and rearranged. Their seeing is not pure seeing per se but is more a part of a process of categorization, image-recognition, and processing.
When most people observe, there is a separative space between the perceiver and the perceived. In a very wise mind, however, in pure observing, there is no separate perceiver merely categorizing, merely engaging in image-recognition, and processing… and there is no separative space involved. Perception beyond learned accumulation does not merely continue to contribute to a learned accumulative process. Deep perception, then, is not merely reacting but, instead, is something entirely different. Profound perception is far deeper than mere superficial reacting. Real perception involves completeness, non-fragmentation, and timelessness. That may be what real mindfulness, real meditation consists of… and not all of that childish, practiced, self-hypnotic stuff.
Perception immersed only with (and “as”) reaction and accumulation is incapable of great depth and profundity. Perception beyond mere reactions and accumulative processes is immense and profound. Looking as a totally separate “perceiver” isolates and separates in a very crude and barbaric way. A man who, as a separate perceiver, is looking at “his fear” tends to see that fear from a separative distance, even though, in reality, he actually is the fear (not something separate from it at any distance whatsoever). Ignorance must end for true psychological order to exist. Only true psychological order can really be mindful in the deepest sense. Unintelligence, false (learned) separation, and a lack of compassion are all one pitiful thing.
Observing Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Without a compass
the geese fly in perfect form
True north stands wisely
With Mother Goose… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
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 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
At the precise moment that desire takes place, instead of merely running after some goal — like myriads of people do — deeply perceive/examine the desire. You cannot examine it very well unless it is examined very closely. How closely must it be examined? More closely than most would think! Desire cannot be deeply perceived if it is just another reaction (that some image of self supposedly thinks it “has”) which causes one to chase after something in a certain direction. Most people think that desire is something that they “have”; they do not see desire (at the precise moment that it happens) as something that they actually are. If desires are suppressed… it involves parts of the mind trying to suppress other parts of the mind, which is, of course, internal conflict. If desires are cherished and considered worthwhile… it involves parts of the mind being in agreement and recognizing some kind of value in other parts of the mind. Additionally, in our very complex minds, there are a series of reactions going on that involve a mixture of suppression and, concomitantly, the cherishing of desires, which oftentimes results in internal conflict and friction. Our minds are a hodgepodge of these conflicting internal reactions and we feel that we need to keep such things under control, psychologically. We, in reality, are all these things (occurring internally) and there is no separate “controller” (apart from them) whatsoever. It is separation and conflict that keeps us from being in right relationship with desires; separation and conflict occur in large degrees when there is little understanding; it is separation and conflict when opposing desires and images are in friction with each other. A mind of real integrity is not a mere slave to desire; this world is overpopulated and has run amok, largely due little understanding and superfluous desire.
A mind that perceives all this (deeply) does not turn into something that ends up “out of control.” On the contrary, a relatively shallow mind that assumes that it is in control, that assumes (as it was crudely taught) that it is something separate from its desires, fears, and internal friction… is, whether it admits to it or not, enmeshed in fanciful and illusory separation and conflict. That illusory separation and conflict — which it has copied from others and has absorbed secondhand — constitute something that is bound to project out into society as disorder (in one form or another). Wise internal (psychological) perception — that is deep — sees (and “is”) correct relationship; that correct relationship will not have (and “be”) a lot fabricated, idiotic conflict (endorsed by a foolish society’s modus operandi). A wise mind, at the precise moment of desire, does not perceive desire as something separate from what it actually is. In such a mind there is no separate controller who is going to “do something” about the desire; however, that intelligent perception of desire, not being separate, likely unfolds into further intelligent perception, which — unlike with many people — will not occur as conflict and false separative ideations. Such perception is orderly, deep, and not chock full of the chaos that misperceptions manifest as. That order acts beautifully.
So many of us run from our fabricated fears, never fully realizing that we actually are those fears. So many of us engage in (and “as”) conflict internally and then waste energy in so very many aspects of life and relationship (because we are habitually used to wasting energy in conflict internally, psychologically); what we are on the inside, we project to the outside. Look at society now as it currently is worldwide. Is it full of endless beautiful order and harmony? Or is it full of chaos, ruthless competition, territorial conflict, and much disharmony? Does it almost entirely involve minds that think that they are something separate from their fears, desires, and boredom… as well as thinking that they are each separate from others?
Crammed to the max! (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Crammed to the max! (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
The other day
the shoreline went for a walk
It saw dogs walking their people
and it saw goslings swimming with joy
Laughing kites were what it saw
and blankets on grass eating strawberries
And(i’ll tell yew the leastlittlest of secrets)
we aren’t really separate from what we experience
After a while,the trees and shoreline sat
on a wooden bench to rest
Eyelids shut themselves and there(for a while or forever)
was(beautifully too)no
thing
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[Note: If we ruin the environment and casually let callous, pigheaded politicians ruin our environment… (while doing nothing about it), we will be forever etched in time as the cadaverous indifferent… and we will be the malignant enemies of all life. Period.]
Strolling with the kids (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Strolling with the kids (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Note… Our internet is out due to a violent storm. Hence, I will not be able to correspond, etc. (My postings have been prescheduled so will continue to appear.) Using a little cellphone to type this, which stinks! Hopefully, we’ll get it fixed in a week or two. Lightning hit our large old-fashioned, rural tower antenna; the sound was unbelievable! Our neighbor’s television, garage door opening system, and phone fried; she smelled sulfur after the hit. Our internet and phone fried.
Most of us do not question enough. We accept, we conform, we remain stale, and we pretty much fit into the norm of the way things are. There are many who think that they are not of the mentality of the masses; however, essentially, fundamentally, despite what they think, they still are. There is a real art to questioning intelligently. In wise questioning, the answers exist curled; they are there. Can a highly shackled mind, a cuckoo mind, a mind that is heavily conditioned by society, ask extremely profound questions? Probably not. When the mind is tethered to a limited point, it has a limited circumference; its field is partial and restricted and it remains within (and exists “as”) limited bounds. A truly dynamic mind, however, perceives with more unlimited vastness; it is open rather than closed; it is free rather than enslaved.
Indifference, uncaringness, is a form of prison. A mind of indifference hasn’t questioned enough, hasn’t looked beyond restricted, little boundaries and domains. Such a mind is satisfied with merely feeding and caring for the little. Its space of confinement and separation — which is itself — is its very own prison; such a prison doesn’t require cold steel bars; it does require a coldness of a different variety. Intelligent questioning often consists of a warm benevolence that encompasses all, without learned boundaries, without power manipulation, without an isolated center.
The Outdoor Cuckoo Clock (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
The Outdoor Cuckoo Clock (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Note: Our internet crashed due to a violent storm. I cannot correspond with any of you until it is fixed, hopefully in a week or two. My postings have been prescheduled, so they will continue. It’s storming as this additional note is being typed on a tiny cellphone.
Note: The following reflects my personal outlook regarding the best types of poetry; if the poetry that you write or that you happen to be fond of is not of the type that i most admire, it does not mean that it is not valid poetry for you; (it does not mean that it is not interesting to me ; one finds many types of poetry interesting). Everyone has different tastes. Please do not be offended if the following poem does not reflect your viewpoints on poetry.
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If it takes your breath away
and helps you see the world with less fragmentation,
then that’s poetry
If it encourages you to take better care
of Mother Nature and of yourself(who is part of her),
then that’s poetry
If it goes beyond mediocrity,sameness,and bourgeois values…
causing you to not merely see through others’ eyes,
then that’s poetry
If it takes away the crass separation between
the observer and the observed,
then that’s poetry
If it merely enthusiastically entertains you
without a profoundly deeper meaning,
then that’s not poetry
If it merely helps you to fit in
with the copiers,the mimics,and the perpetually indifferent,
then that’s not poetry
If it fixates you with more mere details to maintain a blindspot
regarding truth for the rest of your so-called life,
then that’s not poetry
If it helps you to see
beyond the ordinary,
then that’s poetry
If it peels away your stiff,robotic dependence
on the patterns and symbols of others,
then that’s poetry
If it comes to you uninvited,silently in the middle of the night
bringing immense insight,true bliss,and vast understanding,
then that’s poetry
If it helps you to actually feel
rather than to merely mechanically react and think,
then that’s poetry
House Hunting (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
House Hunting (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
These isn’ts and aren’ts
care not beyond what they were taught
which(by the way)wasn’t worth mentioning
These can’ts and nevers
trapped in sorrow’s mustn’ts and measures
never really move(though free they think they are)
When’ll “wouldn’t have a clue” ever transcend
shouldn’t’s dominance?
Mightn’t hasn’t’s pain
be why’s responsibility?
Where’ll we be when we transcend mankind’s empty should’ves
to,instead,keep nature’s ’tisn’ts always from happening?
Great Blue Heron (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Great Blue Heron standing on one leg. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
There was a white faced circus clown
On odd days he would smile
On even days he would frown
He said he wished more people were odd like him
with juggling all the whiles
There was a white faced circus clown
who could easily summersault
He realized that most thought that they were separate
from what they see
but that it was not their fault
There was a white faced circus clown
who earned their whistles and cheers
He helped them leave their troubles behind
though they were not separate
from their fears
There is a little circus clown
with long orange floppy awkward feet
and if you ever meet with him
(who you are too)
you’re in for quite a treat
White Faced Circus Clown (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
White Faced Circus Clown (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” — T. S. Eliot
Most of us are perpetually measuring with the brain. We, so often, compare ourselves or our possessions with other entities (or what they have). We measure time, perpetually, as the past, present, and the future. We endlessly categorize things, label things, analyze things, and recognize things via a series of measurements and sequential paradigms. And, since the observer is really not so separate from the observed… we are what measurement actually is. We think that we are somehow separate from this measurement… but we are not. We are actually what the measurement is. However, life — real life — is so much more than what mere measurement entails.
Many are very proficient at measuring their monetary achievements; some think of little else. Many measure their power. Many measure their day by how much entertainment they experienced. This entertainment, however, is often merely an escape from their own emptiness, their own limited vacancy. Recognition (of things), along with their categorization, is a continuity of measurement. Thinking that you are “in the ‘now'” is a continuity of measurement. Considering possibilities of what the “future may be” is a continuity of measurement. Thinking that you are a separate “controller” with power over “other thoughts” is a continuity of measurement. Trying to be silent (and supposing you are silent) is a continuity of measurement. Calculating the length of your kitchen countertop is a continuity of measurement.
Many of us are perpetually measuring. Is that what life is about? May it be that there is much more to life than mere measurement? Is real love measurable? Is real compassion what can be measured? Is profound insight the result of mere measurement? Can wisdom be measured?
It may be that all measurements, by man, are limited, partial. We have been indoctrinated to frequently use measurement; we have not been encouraged to consider living (at times) beyond mere measurement. We will not be an intelligent divergence away from habitual reactions (with their limitations) if we remain exclusively in (and merely “function as”) measurement. It may be possible to go beyond mere measurement into what may be — all measurements aside — truly unlimited. Does it take a limited amount of time to get there? Of course not.
Beyond Far (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond Far (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Sweetest little red thing
sitting in the trees
can PeterPan fly whenever he wants to
into the breeze
Precious tiny life
looking all around
needn’t pay taxes
wears a feathered crown
Beyond the Internal Revenue So-called Service (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond the Internal Revenue So-called Service (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
One has read blogs (recently) wherein those composing them write about meditation as if it is something that one can make one’s mind do… as if one can decide to do it (like turning a light switch on or off). Real meditation is not what one can decide to do. The accumulation of knowledge, as the past, cannot (under any circumstances) decide to be what it is not. Any planned or deliberate meditation is not real meditation. Charlatans abound, however, who are all too willing to tell you how to meditate. (It must be very easy to mesmerize yourself, in a rather self-hypnotic way, and then be all too willing to encourage others to do the same with themselves.) There is no “how” to real meditation. If it takes place, it is like a sudden spontaneous silence or quietude that was not (in any way) preplanned and brought about by a mental blueprint or calculated procedure. It may happen when one is walking through a wooded area, or when moving occurs from one room to another, or when sitting (without motive) takes place for a while on the back porch steps. When a bundle of memories, as the accumulated past — called thinking — decide to meditate, what they strive for is loaded with reactions of motive and acquisition. Whatever they reacted to become is an obtrusion of thought that projects with — and reinforces — a learned reaction constituting an image of “me” or “I,” which is itself another extension of thought/thinking. Deciding to sit down and meditate (for any motive), via a learned procedure, merely strengthens the fallacious “I” and its supposed ability (which it really does not have) to alter consciousness to a true and profound silence. The known cannot decide to be the unknown. Conditioned reactions, even sophisticated ones, cannot decide to be the unconditioned.
Awareness can — without the separative nonsense of an “I” apart from and controlling “its” thoughts — function with thinking, and if intelligence functions without calculated, separative psychological nonsense, then perhaps real meditation, without effort, may actually (naturally) occur. However, one cannot decide to meditate any more than one can decide to have — or be — an insight. Neither can one decide to be what humility is.
Another thing that people have been posting about is how they are so sure that everything in their world will turn out to be rosy and wonderful. Fanciful ideas! Because of underlying fears, many have an indoctrinated belief (either on the surface or deeper in their psychological unconscious) that a deity somehow is benevolently pulling the strings for things that go on in their world. Their security blankets, born out of fear (stemming from thinking and psychological time), are their beliefs. Fear, in people, is often buried in the hideaway of concocted belief. These beliefs, unfortunately, often encourage waiting for some future after-death utopia or some external power (to make things better in time). I am suggesting that we grow up (from those blankets), face the fears without separation, and not presume that God created this universe (and continues to manipulate it); (one is not suggesting that the sacred does not exist… on the contrary!). Additionally, if you actually want real security, perceive (without mere imagery) what is actually taking place, and act (don’t merely react) with intelligence and care. Perhaps you could write (like i have done many times) to governments, asking them to curtail nuclear armaments, fossil- fuels, and wars. Do environmentally friendly things, join the Sierra Club (or other such environmental groups), work for a more peaceful, environmentally cleaner world, do more and more green things, actually help life, and then maybe things will be truly wonderful.
Only in pairs (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Only in pairs (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Fragmentation
is the scientists’ piecemeal
way of ripping everything
a
p
a
r
t
to perhaps 
The true wise man,however,abandons
chopping things up,abandons dissecting things
little by little.
The wise man clearly sees beyond the bits and segments
because his consciousness is devoid of mere bits and segments.
That is why he timelessly understands the whole better
than any sequential calculation wearing thick glasses.
In flight (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
In flight (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
We all cling to something
You cling to part of an old white birch tree
Some of us cling to corrupt politicians who promise sunny heaven
while connivingly making shady deals under the table
I’d rather cling to a simple old white birch
and then soar joyfully through the vast wondrous sky
rather than grasp onto what driveling babbling politicians say
I’d rather fly free into that wordless timeless immensity
Redpoll Finch. Video by Thomas Peace c. 2016
Eye couldn’t conceive so simply a pure blue
as perfectly miraculously feathered you
who far into the vast and cloudless skies
can fly deep from any terrestrial primate’s whys
Indigo Bunting. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
If we sincerely wish to be truly peaceful and help the world go beyond the conflict that tears people apart, then it would be prudent to exist as that which does not contribute to much of the separation and conflict. It would be wise to be a global citizen, not a mere adherent to a particular political party, country, or race. This isn’t anarchy here; it is intelligently working together as one, beyond all of the insane, disconnected nonsense. It would also be foresighted and very thoughtful to not belong to an organized religious structure, with its own separate set of dogmas, beliefs, and hierarchical systems. It is separative countries, traditions, organized religions, and beliefs that have largely contributed to wars and friction between people. This is no small matter; people die over this stuff; young people die. If we could come together, just as friends, putting away the absorbed patterns that cause so much of the friction, maybe that would be the start of truly being spiritual. However, so many refuse to let go of the inherited patterns and traditions that they cling to. If that would change, and if they would perceive and care instead of repeat and belong… we would have a planet with much less bloodshed. So many of us were brainwashed into thinking that belonging to things gives us security; however, real global security, ironically, comes when man transcends belonging to systems that separate and cause friction.
White-breasted Nuthatch. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
Pristine beauty there beyond everything
(unnoticed by thoughts and all of their symbols)
in awareness limitlessly wisdom does spring
Boundaries dissolve and so time truly ends
Here,not just patterns and learned separations
Living magically in flowing harmony,my friend
Impeccable movement with deep immovability
where there doesn’t exist and neither do I
Beyond conflict,separation,and inscrutability
Red Cardinal. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
Red Cardinal (2) Ditital Photo Art by Thomas Peace c. 2016
In every miraculous eternal blink
beyond the very primitive world of think
the joy of order
and the order of joy abides
In every cadaverous indifferent stare
leaden within pre-worn underwear
the anchor of self
outweighs the swimming of we
Halloween Feat (i.e., Feet) (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Halloween Feat (i.e., Feet) (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
.
Most of us, in existence — because of the way we were educated (or miseducated) — are immersed almost exclusively in the conceptual, rather than in what is of real energy and substance. Our concepts (and our perceptions that are based on concepts) are almost always about virtual patterns and images; they are seldom (or never) of the essence of actual energy. Our modes of consciousness are almost always based around “patterns” within energy; we are seldom (or never) pure and unadulterated energy. Certain people and groups maintain that you should strive to exist in the “here and now” to better come into contact with that pristine energy (or the essence or source behind all things). (They’ll give you all kinds of techniques or methods for getting to the “here and now,” which is so ludicrous, as if a technique from the past can fabricate the present.) Really, for many, the “here and now” is often the result of more concepts, more propositions and proposals put forward by others to absorb and react to. Then such a “here” or such a “now” becomes a learned frame of mind or mindset (that seems to be divorced from the past), but that really is an extension from (and of) the past. Perhaps the conditioned recognition of the “now” (as being separate from the past and the future) requires reactions (from the past) that negate the actuality of really being in (a now that is not merely part of the past). So there is a strong possibility that the moment you recognize that you are in “the here and now”… you really aren’t in (or of) it.
Most of us are endlessly talkative (to ourselves), endlessly chattering (or visualizing mental images) throughout the day (and night, as we sleep). We thrive on these endlessly chattering patterns… we are these endlessly chattering patterns. We are used to being the past, endlessly restructuring itself from (and “as”) patterns that were learned and absorbed. If the mind (naturally, without method or effort) is quiet (at times) throughout the day, (extremely aware and alert, but without endlessly chattering to itself internally), then at night it can really rest and sleep (without any continuing and habitual, conditioned chattering). Then, when it sleeps, dreams (and the many absurd patterns that they entail) need not take place; then the mind can really rest and gather energy, without friction, without fears, inner struggles, needless conflict, and all that clutter. Then, when such a mind wakes, it is naturally (without any effort whatsoever) quiet. In that quietness, there is no conflict, struggle, friction, control, or domination. Then there’s no recognition of a “now” separate from the past or the future; but there is an intensity (an intelligent awareness) without dependence upon anything — not even dependence upon recognition and knowledge (which so many are frightened to leave) — (and this includes being beyond the patterns that were poured into it when it was younger). Then, when it looks, it doesn’t merely robotically perceive what was taught. Such a mind is truly alive and doesn’t exclusively perceive through (and “as”) the screen of the learned/programmed past.
.
Downsideup. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
.
Having money
in the bank
is important
2 many;
but this mom
has something
much more precious
in the bank.
Money isn’t
everything.
.
Precious little one. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
.
Many minds depend upon experiences in order to exist… without fully realizing that they are those experiences. Reacting to (and “as”) experiences involves conditioned responses following each other, in sequence. Without such experiences most minds would be lost, for their very composition desperately depends upon such experiences. Even ancient organisms, such as the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, had brains that exclusively depended upon experiences. However, a few very intelligent minds — very few — though being highly appreciative of many experiences, have realized that they need not just exclusively depend upon experience. Such minds, though they often use and appreciate experience, go beyond it at times. Such minds are a light to themselves, and they do not exclusively depend upon things… not even upon experience. To be beyond dependence is to be truly free; the other way is primitive, limited, partial, and without majestic vastness.
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Duck with a T-rex face. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
.
All of the mumbo jumbo
from all of the politicians
and bureaucrats
doesn’t hold a candle
to the radiant mojo
that a white candle heron
in nature has
as it silently
wades
beyond
the
superficial
.
Heron gulping down its prey. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
.
If you duck the issues and don’t pay full attention in life… then when thoughts and feelings occur in (and “as”) you, you will not attend to them completely and fully. To attend to thoughts and feelings completely (as they occur) there is intense observation without separation, without the indifference of distance. In looking fully and attentively, which is deep learning, there need not be mere judgment, condemnation, or control according a learned authority at some (supposed) distance (be it external or internal).
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[Note: Paleontologists have been saying that birds are a branch of dinosaurs that survived the great extinction event. A close-up of this duck shows what eerily looks like dinosaur raptor teeth. The tooth-like structures are really lamellae… sieve-like projections that help to extract edible items, such as seeds or insects, away from mud or sand. They also may be beneficial for defense. Duckasaurus rex!]
Duck Teeth. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Top scientists have stated that it is likely that our universe functions in ways that are totally different than what we expect or think. One couldn’t agree more. So, one has to discard what one has been taught, and look and perceive freshly, without all that was poured into one to mold and shape the way that one perceives. If one merely sees with the patterns that were implanted into one, then there is likely mostly jaded perception (that is looking through a fabricated psychological screen). Only a dynamic mind can go beyond what was rigidly poured into it. If we don’t see beyond the limitation that has been provided, then we will remain circumscribed by those who were also defined and shaped by others who, in the old past, delineated and fabricated them. If we remain in the limited, we will never discover the new, the timeless, and the truth.
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At the County Fair… Rooster, Hen & Youngster. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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When we are young, we are like fledglings, depending on the those who are more mature to help us to do well and survive. However, at some point, we (if we are to really soar in life) have to leave the nest. As human beings, many of us never actually leave the nest; we continue to depend. We cling to the ideologies, patterns, religions, politics, traditions, and habits imprinted upon us by others; and so we never really independently soar. Most of us “feel safe,” nested in their ways and traditions. For human beings, however, true enlightenment is never merely within the circumscribed confines of a limited, little nest (or prepared space). Most of us are afraid to take the plunge, to let go of all the habits and traditions that we have been nesting in. Most merely cling to symbols, words, representations, ideologies, and learned concepts of (and including) a central “I”… and never ascend from being supposedly “safely nested” in those limited conceptions. That is why most never soar, and it is as simple as that.
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Hatched and Hatching. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Unhatched. Photo by Thomas Peace c.2015
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In my birdhouse
we take shelter from the rain
In my birdhouse
we sleep well,without pain
In my birdhouse
we are safe from violent wind
In my birdhouse
we are born,we come in
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[Note: Birdhouses at my sister-in-law’s (Mary’s) and brother-in-law’s (Gary’s) place. They were constructed, homemade, by Gary…. painted by Mary.]
Birdhouse (4… At my sister-in-law Mary’s place.) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Birdhouse (3… At sister-in-law Mary’s place). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Birdhouse (2… At sister-in-law Mary’s place.) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Birdhouse (1… at sister-in-law Mary’s place). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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If you are melancholy and blue, transcend what you are. This can be done by, without method, being highly observant from moment to moment, without clinging to the methods, systems, and stale images that were seeded within (and “as”) you. If one often merely perceives with (and “as”) stale, redundant images that one constantly “recognizes” things with… then one is seeing what was taught; and that is the old, stale, antiquated, and musty “known.” Perceive without that dust-laden past… and one may see joyfully without merely just recognizing. That may bring real ecstasy. Then one won’t be blue any longer… unless one is an Indigo Bunting.
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Returning Indigo Bunting. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your reality. Either face reality as it really is or adhere to something false that will render you blind in the long run. That is the gist of it! (Facing reality as it really is involves looking without the accumulated past… involves not looking with what you were “taught.” Very few are willing or able to do that. To face reality as it really is involves there being no fear, no desire according to someone’s system and promises… involves looking very scientifically, but without hoarded conclusions and beliefs. Most feel naked and afraid without being clothed in accumulated beliefs, practices, methodologies, and conclusions.)
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Resting Fledgling. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Resting Fledgling. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Grace is decency, consideration, compassion, and goodwill towards all. Grace is enjoying life and not harming it!
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Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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compact and entwined
in each living Spring
are Life’s splendid creatures
majestic living things
like a chrysalis patiently waiting
to joyfully unfold
Spring has books of living stories
waiting to be told
from nothing comes something
it arrives every year
few love it enough
the Treasure is near
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Fledglings in a nest. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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The learner is the learned; the controller is the controlled; the reader is the read.
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[A Red-winged Blackbird informing me that I’m in “his” territory. I promptly departed.]
This vast spot is not big enough for the both of us! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Psychologically, one is not truly separate from the perceived. Realizing this is true wisdom.
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Red Cardinal… by Thomas Peace 2013
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. The space that seems to separate us is nonexistent; we are all one… united.
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. Below is a photo of a male Indigo Bunting; these nest in our yard every spring. Only the males have the bright blue coloring.
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Indigo Bunting… by Thomas Peace 2013
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 