frogs | Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog

All Posts Tagged ‘frogs’

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Sometimes existing Beyond the Limited Process of Thinking…

March 2, 2023

It’s not what we were taught to consider. The following contains a portion of what my response was to someone who gave comments in my previous blog posting.

Regarding what may happen when thought/thinking is not merely what occurs in (and “as”) consciousness… Well, what may remain is not a gut feeling or instinct. What we are talking about may occur when thought/thinking is in abeyance… and it is not what thought/thinking can easily grasp, label, pigeonhole, or categorize. But most people, in modern society, would be uncomfortable about often being where ordinary thinking is not… and they would likely say that what i am suggesting is malarkey. We are so indoctrinated with the process of thought/thinking, that anything else is unfathomable. Most of us were programmed to be what thought/thinking is… and anything else is unwelcome (and likely not what we are interested in).

Miseducation is often one-sided. Such so-called education is what can program us to wholeheartedly accept what is limited, confined, and false. The human world is a result of this miseducation… and currently, there is much conflict, violence, confusion, division, and separation. There may be an aspect of great compassion, bliss, and caring when transcending thought/thinking. Beyond the fragmentation that thought/thinking consists of, the burden of sorrow is not. Thought/thinking, by itself, on the other hand, often involves robotic, banal, sequential fragmentation; thought/thinking is primarily of a symbolic nature. Mere symbols are not true realities; they are mere tokens. It may be prudent to go beyond what your consciousness was educated to exist as.

**RibitRibitRibit … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2023**

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Thought it was separate…

August 25, 2021

52 comments

NOTE: I am having knee surgery next week, so i will not be blogging for a while (around that time).

*******************************************************************************************

I want my bed to be made

said

what thought it was

separate

from the tucking in of sheets

I want to shoot a duck

said

what thought it was

separate

from the perceptions of a duck

I want to turn on the television

said

what thought it was

separate

from the television turning her on

I want to see more photographs

said

what thought it was

separate

from the photograph being seen

I want to finish reading the poem

said

what thought it was

separate

from the perception of the words being read

**Tree Frog searching for insects on my house exterior. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2021**

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Barney the Bullheaded Bullfrog

November 12, 2019

14 comments

When Barney, the bulky, bullheaded Bullfrog
decided to take up residence under my car tire,
i told him politely, “Barney, that is quite a perilous spot
at which you can — most definitely — easily expire.”

Barney just sat there without a trembling twitch
and said, “You sure are a very worrisome bloke;
i can assure you, most greenheartedly,
that we brave Bullfrogs are, indubitably, not afraid to croak.”

Then i realized that all of my careful cautions and
pale-lectures would not cause Barney to fearfully quiver,
so i grabbed his humongous, bullheaded, brown-old butt
and — despite his slimy objections — threw him into the river.

**Barney the Bullheaded Bullfrog by my car tire. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019**

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Update on my Recent Heart Attack

November 8, 2019

37 comments

I am doing better but i’m still in shock over what happened. Like i mentioned before, i’ve been a vegetarian since 1973 and have (especially over the last couple of years) been eating mostly whole, organic, unprocessed foods. When i would make pizza, i would use fat-free cheese (with a little bit of organic, regular cheese sprinkled on too); i am gluten-free; i do not eat eggs, but when i did, they were mostly Egg-Beaters cholesterol-free eggs. Realizing that heart conditions run in my family, i would take 2,000mg of fish oil every day. I always religiously, very vigorously exercised on a Schwinn indoor bicycle, 15 minutes a day; plus i kept active with cleaning my aquariums and going on nature walks, etc. My total cholesterol (when i went into the hospital) was 104. My LDL cholesterol was 44. (Needless to say, these were very good numbers.) Other factors can play into what causes heart problems, especially, inflammation (and heredity). I have both osteoarthritis and mild rheumatoid arthritis. (Actually, there is a very good chance that if i did not live such a healthy lifestyle… i would have simply flat out died.)

When i was in the hospital, at one point 10 doctors, (as a group, for staff “learning” purposes), came into my room. I said, “Well if something happens to me now, i’m pretty well covered for care!” 🙂 The doctors told me that i was doing everything right. That is both very reassuring and very disheartening. (Hopefully, the medications that they are putting me on will help.)

My blogs keep running (as i had previously scheduled) them and when those run out, that will be it for a while. I will likely take a break. I will (in the future) likely continue to blog but i’ll be doing so with much less frequency. Thanks very much, everyone (for your very kind wishes) and please take good care of yourselves.

**Bullfrog up-close … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019**

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A Story-Poem (or Two)…

September 10, 2019

31 comments

Marla, my wife, said that my poems occasionally need to be more uplifting, so the first poem (here) is meant to fulfill that end. The second poem is what was written before her comment.

Poem #1

Here in his hands
is a flowery treasure
with sweet petals and leaves
much joy beyond measure

He is of hopes and images where
as he ascends up in the elevator
flowing fields of smiling imaginary angels
open doors that were dreamt of later

Can we lift a luminous whole
and bring new minds out of below
rise to the top ever so mindfully
in a towering highrise deep in the heart of Chicago?

(Well, elevators are uplifting, aren’t they?)

Poem # 2

There was a pond
and every time a frog jumped into the pond
the pond became a little froggier
a little splashier

There was a grasshopper
and every time he landed upon a weed
the weed became a little leggier
a little jumpier

There was a propagandizing political news-channel
and every time a person watched it
the television became a little duller
and a lot more dim-witted

Leopard Frog, a species that will not survive long in a world filled with crass people who do not act diligently to prevent global warming and who think that “Windmills cause cancer.”. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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I Had a Pet Frog (named Infinitum) but He Croaked… This Poem is Dedicated to Him…

August 12, 2019

24 comments

AD INFINITUM 😦

My wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
But then, my wonderful, magnificent
pet frog croaked, and i was very sad.
The next day, he was quite alive,
and i was very happy.
Ad Infinitum… 🙂

My Eastern Gray Tree Frog named Infinitum … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Lens of Awareness

July 1, 2018

11 comments

Many of us bloggers, who take pictures often, are scrupulously concerned about keeping our camera lenses clean and spotless. Many of our minds (and concomitant actions), however, are not taken care of so very diligently. We look at things through tainted, jaded, contaminated lenses, according to the way we were programmed to look. We see what we were programmed to see. We think what we were programmed to think. Most merely react, very predictably, according to the ways in which they were molded to react by. If one desires to clean the mind, to polish the lens of the mind, it is usually merely according to someone else’s system, methodology, or beliefs. That may merely be an extension of the crass conditioning.

Before considering cleaning the lens of the mind, please consider who (or what) is doing the cleaning. If the “perceiver” is not something separate from the perceived, then the cleaning itself may be part of the programming, part of the conditioning. Yet, most will just want to go out and take some mighty fine pictures.

I am quite aware that my blog only helps some people. Most will not see the seriousness of it. That lack of seeing the seriousness is what i have seen all my life, ever since childhood. Our world is going under because of it and, in the long run, our superficial images of things won’t matter one damn bit.

Leopard Frog Time… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Froggy

March 16, 2018

23 comments

Fast not last
and ditty dance
circulated bound

Not slow or first
or spongy thirst
or rivulet round

Not here just there
not underwear
resplendent like a clown

Just slippery soggy
not so groggy
a leaping up and down

Hop and jump
splash cur-plunk
a wishy-washy sound

Leopard Frog Ribbit Ribbit (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

Leopard Frog Ribbit Ribbit (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Froggie

April 8, 2016

19 comments

When)you croaked I cried for days

(four days)

Then eye saw hop

splash

jump

slurp

moths dis

appearing

(a peering here and there)

and then(Suddenly) I kicked the bucket

Some folks wept

(it is useful for hauling

things like

leaves and

sticks

and wasted t

Froggie (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Froggie (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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This Movement

January 17, 2016

20 comments

True poise, as we have said, includes intelligence, compassion, awareness, humor, balance, and transcending separation and conflict. Part of the reason that many of us don’t have it has to do with wrong education; or, despite a wrong education, many just don’t care to go beyond the parameters of limitation.

In previous posts, some time ago, one wrote about the brain as being like two halves of a walnut… and about how certain surgeries splitting these two halves — by severing the corpus callosum — left each half not knowing what the other half was thinking. So, in actuality, two fields of consciousness were produced from one field, via advanced surgery. Therefore, times and evidence has changed; yet so many of us continue to cling to the erroneous (primitive) notion of a central “I,” a central “me” or controller. For a very long time now, one — when thinking — instead of using the term “I,” has been using the words of “this movement.” Of course, one doesn’t verbally say “this movement,” instead of “I,” when actually talking to others; (things are at a rather unrefined and strangely unpolished level here in the Midwest U.S.A., and the rest of the world, so one just talks to them in the way that they are familiar with.)

Clinging to the notion of a central “I,” by repeatedly using it, reinforces the perception and feeling of separation. We were taught to function in (and “as”) this separation throughout our lives; just look at all of the competition and indifference in the world. This separation includes — and involves — internal and external forms. “I” am apart from “you.” If “I” hurt “you,” “I” will not be hurt. This “I” thinks that it is apart from the fears that “it has.” This “I” is supposedly apart from the jealousy that it can later “deal with.” This “I” is supposedly something separate from the unhealthy habits that “it has.” This “I” is supposedly apart from other organisms; and it is “their” suffering. This “I” is going to quiet thoughts in order to “get something spectacular out of it.” This “I” has freedom to do whatever “it” pleases.

Instead of thinking “I,” thinking “this movement,” however, doesn’t tend to reinforce the notion of any (so-called) center (that is fictitious anyway) from everyone else. “This movement” can include — and does include, in a big way — everyone else. (Therein lies responsibility.) “This movement” need not be separate from the perceptions that take place, including butterflies and fears. Fear may not be separate from what “this movement” is; however, thinking there is an “I” that is separate from fear, controlling it or managing it freely, is conflict and utter nonsense. When “this movement” is used, it negates a lot of energy wasting conflict that inherently goes along with the separative (erroneous, crass) concept of a central “I.” Eternity, the sacred and the timeless exists, but it has little to do with robotic, fragmentary, illusory, virtual, isolated, central images; that is one of the reasons why “this movement” is sharing this.

Defying gravity. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Give…

March 25, 2015

9 comments

give the stripes back to the zebra

give the bark back to the dog

give the insanity back to the politician

give the bulging eyes back to the frog

give the climb back to the mountain

give the remote back to the television show

give the red blood back to the warrior

give the water back to the plant (and watch it grow)

give the turn back to the brass knob

give the yellow leaves back to the fall

give the Cretaceous back to the raptors

give the baseball bat back to the ball

Bulging Eyes. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015

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Internal mirror of distortion…

March 3, 2015

2 comments

True integrity is the honesty of perception; not being one thing… and then internally claiming (to yourself) to be something else; and it’s not pretense to others either! A truly mindful, wise being is unrelenting regarding seeing the actions that he or she is (precisely for what they are); in this, there are no lame excuses, cushioning rationalizations, or softening distortions. You are what you are at (and “as”) that moment in time… plain and simple… without all the extraneous deceit.

A frog not a prince. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015

A frog not a prince. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015

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Clearly seeing…

January 14, 2015

2 comments

Lucid, profound perception often sees directly without mere learned and accumulated patterns. In such perception, there is no conception of an “observer” separate from (or independently doing) the “observing”; there is only the observing. If observation occurs exclusively based on past reactions, past memories, past prejudices, and past images involving separation — as it does in so many — then one is looking as an “observer” and primarily with (and “as”) accumulated patterns. Primitive notions that there is an observer that is separate are part of the old, traditional, learned, and accumulated patterns and are a waste of energy… and (directly or indirectly) involve friction, indifference, and conflict.