Build a shape of love to him
and truth will come stay with you
Build a way to follow him
and wind will surely find you
Find in cycle
Wind in air
Cast in our lures
Stand with truth
Love adventure
Follow air
And our lives are to feel
the love
Red Tailed Ichneumon … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
When the vegetarian cameraman
took aim at the vegetarian mosquito
no one there was
(really)
out for blood
can couldn’t
and did didn’t
but nice knew
quaintness quickened
“be”s beckoned
while “wouldn’t”s were
“me”s mingled
“haven’t”s heard
steps stood
and said sermoned
cruel counted
must might
having had
tried thought
cricket chirped
but will won’t
_______________________________________________________________
[Note: Tree Crickets are very elusive; if they see (or hear) you coming, they hide on the opposite side of the bush or foliage that they are on. Please note the tympanal membrane on the front leg of this specimen; it is used as a hearing mechanism… an ear.]
With this third time of me bringing fresh meat to
the Colony,
i am sure to finally get the recognition that
i deserve.
Hopefully, i will be promoted up the ranks
and will be remembered as “The Great Provider” by
the Colony.
(All of this voluminous Beetle Meat is tough to
move, by the way!)
I will persevere and
will get this wonderful bounty to
the Colony.
Goodness! I keep hearing the huge, bipedal ape up above,
with his camera, singing the following song to me:
“Getting to know you
Getting to know all about you
Getting to like you
Getting to hope you like me…”
She prayed,
and when she prayed,
the whole world prayed with her.
Her eyes, those large bulbous eyes,
saw everything worth praying for,
and everything needed preying.
She preyed on butterflies, bees, moths,
and on a number of other things. It was what she preyed
that mattered, and it was the way she preyed.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[Note: This is a very unusual (very rare) Praying Mantis for our north-central Illinois area. It is probably a Carolina Mantis. These are southern mantids but, due to global warming, are moving more north. This one has wonderful chameleonic abilities. Note how it amazingly blends in with the different color tones of the park bench. It is a female and seems to be loaded with fertile eggs. It may not have mated with a male at any time whatsoever. Female mantises can lay many completely fertile eggs without a male. When this happens, the offspring are perfect clones of the mother.]
We live in extremely precarious times. We need to go beyond mere depression about things; we need to act and not merely “go along indifferently.” The planet is getting more and more overcrowded with people (and people are still cranking out more and more babies); there is less and less space (especially for animals and plants). Extinctions in nature are occurring at an unprecedented rate (with over a million species going extinct lately). There is much less healthy agricultural land (as pollution is creeping in everywhere imaginable). Carbon emissions and plastics are ruining the globe, while the Amazon and Western U.S. forests (and other world forests) burn rampantly, while some flat-earth political groups deny global warming and heavily contribute to the deterioration of the environment. There is less viable fresh water. Guns and weapons of mass destruction are on the rise; unfortunately, with many not realizing it, germ warfare is a very real possibility. Automated robots will soon be replacing millions of people in the workplace. The over-use of unnatural, made-made food products and the over-usage of synthetic medicines is making the human population more and more unnaturally sick and corrupt, with immune function diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, cancer, depression, mental problems, and such things as diabetes becoming all too common, with increasing frequencies of occurrence. We are rapidly losing what little freedom we had; political figures are becoming more and more dictatorial and propaganda news channels (much like what Nazi movies did in the past) are making crass people believe very crazy/hateful things.
What is one to do regarding all of this obvious insecurity? Too many of us are looking at the problems fragmentarily. The problems are not isolated; one problem is related to another problem. There is a bigger picture that is more holistic, more comprehensive, insightful, and caring. We must look beyond the $-oriented opportunistic greed that is contagiously expanding as if it (i.e., such greed) is an accepted disease (that is OK). A holistic, truly compassionate, non-indifferent mind of wisdom and insight would not be a huge contributing factor (to the above terrible situations) and would even seriously try to help change things. A mind that operates in the old, traditional patterns, staying fragmentary, staying comfortable and barbaric (full of bias, indifference, and callousness) would not significantly help with the earth’s present very serious problems and with the problems that human beings face; such an indifferent/crass mind would merely continue to make the earth a living hell. We can be stable and holistic or we can be fragmented and uncaring. We can, (in all of this danger, fragmentation, and disorder), be order, wholeness, compassion, and largely be freedom from fear.
No matter how terrible or disorderly things may seem on the outside, wisdom would primarily be stability and joyous harmony on the inside, in consciousness; it’s wisdom’s responsibility. It’s wisdom’s responsibility not to be sad in a sad world; it’s wisdom’s responsibility not to be nuts in a nutty world. Empathy would still exist; we wouldn’t look away from the suffering of those (supposedly) at a distance, and we would act to help; it’s wisdom’s responsibily.
It takes a lot of hard work to keep the colony healthy and thriving but i
realize that the colony and i are one. We are each other. What each of us does is done for all. (Unlike those ruthless, competitive, bipedal apes, we are 100% cooperative and act for all.)
So here i am,
hauling another large bounty of meat for the colony to feast upon.
Maybe now i will finally get the recognition that i deserve.
Maybe now i will be the great worker-ant that all of the
other ants will aspire to be like.
But first, i must get this great bounty to the anthill.
While they are feasting, they will be thinking of me.
Oh lucky me for finding this treasure of voluminous, wonderful meat!
P.S. — Don’t cringe! (I know that you bipedal apes are watching… and judging.) You bipedal apes eat hairy cattle and pigs and unquestioningly think and feel that it isn’t gross in the least.
So don’t judge!
It was such tremendous luck finding this big green meal for the colony
It is very difficult to move all of this fine meat toward our anthill but
when I get it to the colony I will become a
great heroine
I will be known as the one who courageously
brought a lot of protein for the many larvae
all the while risking being stepped on by
those giant frightening bipedal apes
I will be revered and may even be promoted to
the job of attending to the Queen
Oh I am so very excited and happy
There is the isn’t
which every couldn’t lost for
Its unquietness is what we were
and its non-absence steals our wonder
This is the joy(quite possible
that)every sorrow would ignore
Its murmuring is beyond our getting
and its thunder beyond your clapping
Tiny White-Striped Katydid on a Clover Leaf … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
Yes, dears, I am your long lost auntie.
We finally get to meet, my sweet loved ones!
Life’s been tough, as you can see by all of the
many timeworn scratches on my aged back.
Come, come, I have some sweet, fresh salad for you to enjoy!
You had better eat it while it’s fresh…
that way, you will get all of the best vitamins that will help you grow.
Eat plenty, eat!
After we eat, that is when
your loving auntie will hug you dearly.
We’ll hug and hug to make up for all of the lost time that
has befallen us.
Now, let’s eat, dearies, let’s eat!
Photo of Your Long Lost Auntie … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
Walking just walking along
gingerly and slowly swaying
waltzing alien-like from leaf to leaf
Stalking just stalking along
stick-like & Oh so lean
happily wondering whom next i can eat
Suddenly out of nowhere
a huge ominous creature appears
thrusting a blackish lens-thing right up to me
In a flash, I quickly leap away
and am so very glad
that the huge hideous creature didn’t eat me
[Note: This photo was taken about a month ago. This was the first Praying Mantis that i’ve seen this summer; it was young, just around 3cm long. And, yes — with blackish lens-thing macro camera in hand — i am the ominous, hideous creature. (You must admit, we ominous, hideous creatures are pretty huge.)]
Young Praying Mantis (praying that I don’t eat him) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.
The flower at a distance always looks better than the one you are standing on.
Separation is a definite illusion.
Young Katydid pining for a distant flower … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
What prey are you dreaming about
tonight, my adroit, winged friend?
What shifting air currents
are floating through your
fulfilled, slumbering mind?
[Note: I was in the woods taking nature pictures and stayed quite awhile. It started getting dark and as i was leaving i saw a White Tail Skimmer Dragonfly landing low in some wild plants on the forest floor, fortunately. I knew that that meant it was preparing for sleep (there). I waited a bit — for it to really dose off — and then i slowly moved in to photograph it. Poison ivy was all around me! Please note how they wrap their legs around plants while in sleep; this stance affords stability for possible upcoming windy conditions.]
Sleeping White Tail Skimmer Dragonfly … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee
walked through some woods, but one had to pee.
Said Tweedle-dum to Tweedle-dee,
“I need to pee, but so you
can’t see.”
“But I don’t want to go blind,”
said Tweedle-dee.
So Tweedle-dum did
not pee,
and remained good friends
with Tweedle-dee.
So the next time you are
walking deep in the observative woods,
hold it all in
as Tweddle-dum knows you should.
Spotted Green Tiger Beetle crossing the Urinary River … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
one little here
looking to there
another little how
moving past now
Bumble Bee hurriedly flying to Wild Purple Loosestrife … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Puff Ball Fairy,
when you floated past,
ever so gracefully,
ever so enchantingly,
i was, at once, captivated
by your spell.
As you gently floated away,
i, with camera in hand,
wished you would return
so that i could capture
some of your mysterious beauty.
Alas! You granted my wish
and again floated nearby,
alighting on a simple leaf.
Thank you, Puff Ball Fairy,
and may we meet again
someverymagicaltime in sweet eternity.
Puff Ball Fairy … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
This if
to never
and never
to twice
when found
came then
and no
cried yes
In new
was always
and discover
climbed find
while was
wasn’t truth
and poetry
became mind
Swallowtail Caterpillar … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Many of my fellow bloggers
have a close and wonderful
relationship with the animals
in their lives
(whom they often photograph)…
such as Scifi, Francis, Curious Introvert,
67steffen, and others, with their dogs;
others with their cats,
Linda with her pet-like squirrels,
and others with their cuddly pets.
So i tried to get close to one
of my sweet photography subjects,
a wonderful wasp.
It stung the hell out of me!
********************************************************************************
I was just kidding about the sting… but i was so close to it that i could have kissed it! 🙂
I did get stung by a wasp (while just walking along by the riverside) a number of days after taking this photo, but i am so impervious to bee and wasp stings — i don’t even swell up whatsoever — that it meant nothing to me.
Not so friendly wasp … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Silence is not an achievement that is the result of your reaction; true silence is when conflict ends.
Lucid, insightful wisdom doesn’t take time… but sequential, symbolic thought does.
Compassion isn’t the left arm hating the right arm and thinking it is separate.
John Lennon was right: “Living is easy with eyes closed… misunderstanding all you see.”
Each of us is responsible for getting oneself and the world right. Oneself includes — and is — the world.
Don’t think with a prefabricated mind, with a handmedown, archaic mentality; look at things beyond the ways you were taught.
Wood Boring Crane Fly … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
As if he crawled
out from M.C.Escher’s Dream Woodcut
he watches the camera
and the camera manipulator
waiting for
the aloneness
that he cherishes and lives by
beyond mere supplication
Praying Mantis Hanging Around… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Dreams are often a means for the mind to cope with everyday life, involving the past and the possible future, and all are projections from (and “as”) the mind. Phantasmagoria, in most minds, are the self-protrusions of thought, stemming from the old past (though often concerned about the future). Dreams, though superficial as they are, are an attempt by the mind at adjusting and dealing with life’s ups and downs. Dreams are often a scenario of what may occur that is challenging; they are often a postulated sequence of future events. Usually, though, they are far more superficial than what the waking brain would actually benefit from. If the mind is full of conflict, problems, fear, frustration, anger, friction, and manipulation during the day, chances are that it will dream with a great deal of these “scenarios” going on. A mind of great harmony, mindfulness, awareness, and wholeness, on the other hand, need not dream with such “scenarios” much at all. Dreams, for such a mind of awareness, would be few and far between. A mind of wholeness and integrity would not often dream; dreams, for such a mind, may occur, however, if certain unusual (rather incompatible) foods have been inadvertently consumed.
With a mind of great mindfulness, wholeness, and awareness, sleep is an extension of the quietness, awareness, and harmony that has gone on during the day. That quietness is natural and is not the result of some secondhand method or stale blueprint. Silence, during sleep, can be a motiveless vastness that is beyond accumulation, greed, fear, struggle, strife, wanting, getting, being, not being, conflict, opposites, time, concocted images, and disorder. Then, occasionally, such a mind may see images or patterns of what will actually happen in the future; however, these insights would not merely be speculative protrusions of the mind; rather, they would entail flashes concerning what actually takes place in the future.
Sleep can be when regeneration and rejuvenation take place, washing the mind free of habitual garbage from the past. Silence can be of clarity and great order. A mind without the beauty of real silence and harmony is an impoverished mind.
Giant Robberflies rival dragonflies in their effectiveness as predators. They easily catch other flying insects in flight and are voracious hunters.
Robber Fly … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Before after came
it took some time to remember
which, of course, came before
now was ever formulated
Supposedly, depending on circumstances,
once upon a time
was reading this
before the story’s ending was
conceived
like a grin without a face
or a tear without an “I”
as what was up
reads
d
o
w
n
Note: Buffalo Treehopper… The eye is not a double-exposure; that is how the eye and eye edge actually look.
Buffalo Treehopper… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
[While at the local Subway, getting a vegetarian sub the other day, i noticed a framed “Subway Diploma” hanging on the wall where the employees were working; the following Haiku was inspired by that Diploma certificate.]
I worked so very hard
to get a diploma from Subway
but I just couldn’t cut the mustard
Insects on Wild Celery… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
a different kind of bird
a different kind of nest
too many hate you but i don’t
Wasp with Nest Eggs… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Oops, I tore my pants!
For syllabic perfection,
legs are swarmed by ants.
Ants getting ready to invade the legs of Thomas Peace c. 2018
Flying meant a lot
in the open air so free
Soaring meant a lot
Scales on a Moth Wing… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
If you count those dots
upon my back, like gray wood,
your old head will crack.
Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
The seriousness
of zen-like Haiku: Profound!
Beetle Juice tastes great!
Beetle Juice main ingredient… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Gardening is easy.
It’s pollinating that’s hard.
It’s not just the bees!
[Note: After photographing this Ladybug, one noticed that, while covered in pollen, she was frantically intent on getting on to the next, adjacent flower. There aren’t many of their aphid insect prey targets around in early spring; eating pollen and helping pollen producers is a wise alternative.]
Beetle Pollination… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Not enough room here
on this leaf for both of us.
Guess you have to leave!
Crane Fly… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
We humans — most of us anyway — have a preoccupation with forms which rely on demarcations and which distinguish surfaces. We react to parameters just as we were instructed to, and we are satisfied to allow our brains to remain within those circumscribed fields. Even the so-called great scientists are immersed in the same methodologies and modes of perception and analysis. Most conform to standard patterns, even when they think that they are sophisticated and free. Most have been taught not to trust experience and feeling until they have passed through (and have been filtered by) the organizing chambers of rational thought. Most, rather like computers, have become mere information processors and, therefore, pitifully impoverished organisms.
We still — most of us anyway — have subject and object, self and other, man and nature. Most have very separative minds seeing things fragmentarily (with separation and division). Concepts and conditioning can never perceive the truth, yet most, even the professional scientists, remain caught within the realm of concepts and conditioning. Such conditioning can be modified and can evolve some, but it will never perceive and understand the whole over time… and conditioning and evolution are time.
Is it possible for the mind to change radically, such that it goes beyond all influence and all authority of the past? Tribal authority is “the past,” the past which is old, stale, and antiquated. Many can reason very cleverly, very precisely, about a lot of complicated things; but that reasoning inevitably is the essence of a background of a particular conditioning. Truth can manifest when influence and conflict cease, but any methods, beliefs, or systems directly employed to get there will be an extension of the same old game. There is no recipe, in time, that takes one to the timeless. The fabricated/learned psychological self depends upon conflict and time — actually, the separate self is conflict and psychological time — and most people will likely not care to significantly end conditioning; most will want to remain in (and “as”) that conditioning, yet conditioning binds and is suffering. True silence is deep awareness, a selflessness, a timelessness… and true silence is not what the conditioned mind can cause to happen at any particular point in time; the silence of awareness is beyond the self (and self-effort). Most are afraid of allowing the self to come to an end psychologically. Only in the nullification of the false is there the whole blessing of truth and real insight. Compassion and that truth are not two separate things, as is the “perceiver” and “that which is perceived.”
clinging to surfaces… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
in the heart of the tree… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
All of us function, in life, with regard to various motives. We react in (and “as”) conditioned responses involving these motives. Each motive gives us a certain direction to move in; we follow these specific directions, based on motives, throughout life (just as we were taught to). Very few of us have considered directionless. Very few have inquired into the possibility of perceiving without being constantly influenced by motives or directions. Each of us has motives and directions that each one clings to and functions from, (even the so-called great scientists). Often, these motives conflict — with the motives or directions of other people — and friction ensues. Desire and greed are often involved with the motives that people have (and desire and greed tend to function from — and “as” — the reactions that they are psychologically). One’s mind, too, can harbor conflicting motives… conflicting directions to pursue or go in.
A very wise mind, however, is involved with a measureless directionlessness. To observe purely, without tainted motives or covert conditioning influencing what is seen, requires a highly unprejudiced mind that does not merely perceive via fragmentation and limitation. Looking in a certain direction — which most all of us tend to do — by its very action (or, rather, reaction) precludes other directions and is always limiting and partial. Even precise scientists are limited — in their own fields and by their own (learned) processes, habits, prejudices, and procedures — and most would likely laugh if one suggested that they consider directionlessness. However, a truly sagacious mind would perceive the limitation and fragmentation that motives and directions inevitably bring with them; such a wise mind may then go beyond mere motive (and beyond mere direction).
A mind that perceives beyond merely having a “motive” or “psychological direction” must be a very dynamic mind. To look (at times) beyond mere motive or beyond specific desire takes tremendous intelligence and great purity. Directionless is not a stagnant state that one mesmerizes oneself in; rather, it is a causeless explosion of awareness without mere motive and without the influence of psychological conditioning. It truly is an explosion without any cause. It is a movement without any direction. Greed and desire have nothing to do with it; greed and desire are of motive; greed and desire always involve a specific direction.
There is a vast difference between a mind that often is of directionlessness and a (common) mind that always functions by way of motive and direction. Of the two mentioned in the aforementioned sentence, one of the two always (without exception) reacts (via motives and directions set up by limited influences); the other, of the two — though it also often reacts and is choicelessly aware of the reactions — may often go beyond that… such that it exists with (and “as”) motiveless perception (beyond borders). Only one of the two can ever perceive and understand the whole (instantly, without mere sequential process); the other must be caught in time-bound, sequential parameters that manifest as fragmentation and limitation.
The beauty of real ecstasy occurs only when harmful (i.e., fallacious) ways are finished while true joy blossoms without motive.
Jagged Ambush Bug in Cone Flower (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Jagged Ambush Bug in Cone Flower (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Blue skies
quick upon a florid day
Sun swell
in a sea of shine
Still fate
frozen beyond nowhere bound
End sorrow
in a jaunty rhyme
See far
beyond horrid dream
Love lots
perennial sunbeam
Blue Damselfly Sunbathing (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Blue Damselfly Sunbathing (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
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
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
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
But even just red
without any blue
would
(or to
whom without any who)
be
a strange sort of absence
like the death of
a living friend
now pronounced dead
Whose endings need
beginnings
(only as ups
require their downs)
and in the full spectrum
of things
certainly
beginnings their endings
need
Wherein darkness’s couldn’t
followed crescent’s moonly would
gingerly
(surely as trees
fell from leaves)
and in the grand colored scheme
of things
black seeds of silence sprouted to could
Growing (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Growing (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Let all the cadavers lie
where they remain buried in lies
Let fears turn into one beautiful winged insect
and let wisdom turn to joy
Let whispers turn into songs
where singing breathes as freedom
Let wise questions become insightful answers
let ends become beginnings
Let here be where compassion helps
while indifference goes to grass
Let the earth’s winds increase exponentially
as nature’s rage to pollution and carelessness
Let all the hateful hurt turn to kindness
as sweetly flowers smile
Let descending mutate to ascending
rendering death nonexistent for forever
Let the future be now
where the past will happen
From Fear to Damselfly (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
From Fear to Damselfly (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
This movement wishes to go
through life helping others
(who are,themselves,part of
the movement of life).
This movement wishes to be
life’s companion,not life’s enemy;
it doesn’t want to merely harm
or exploit life.
It wants to root itself in with
the majestic oak trees
and share in their
growth and freedom.
This movement wants to put its arms
around Mother Nature
and gently walk with her
beyond the synthetic and man-made.
This movement would like to
somehow share
the eternal secret of life
(that exists beyond all conclusions).
Mayfly Resting (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Mayfly Resting (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
She’s the most regal queen
that ever walked the earth
She servants in the hundreds has
who depend on her for birth
Royal jelly fed to her
for a weighty amount of time
formed her different from the rest
and kept her in her prime
Bees are Nature’s gift to flowers
and to blossoming trees
Without them not as much beauty
dancing in the breeze
If their kingdom you would love
to honor and reverently bless
consume more organics and in your monarchical yard
spray chemicals much less
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[The larger bee — in the center of the top photo, with the gold marking placed on its back — is the Queen. In the bottom photo, young bee larva can be seen in the comb (that the worker bees have been feeding). Many thanks to Chad McGinnis for allowing me to photograph; Chad is the beekeeper of these fine bees.]
Queen bee and worker bees (bees of Chad McGinnis) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Bee Larva and Bees. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Hey, even if you’re a vegetarian, what’s a few cockroaches, now and then?
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Merry Christmas to all of you two-legged, four-legged, and six-legged friends! 🙂
Santa is real… real love and giving! Anyone can be the Santa of others.
[Interesting how Santa, when we were very young, was something to get excited about and cherish. Then, as we get older, many see Santa as being something rather spurious and unreal. This has connotations that spill over into spirituality and religion. Many people do not (really) feel that anything truly mysterious and magical (as a sacred phenomenon) can exist. Deep inquiry, in this regard, is often considered to be a waste of time by many. Disbelief can be as blinding as mindless belief; insight goes beyond these.]
Happy Holidays!
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To function only as mere secondary after-effects… what is that? Most of us always function as responses to stimuli… one response (or set of responses) after another. Thinking about things involves responses to stimuli. Recognizing things constitutes responses to stimuli. These responses are reactions. They are much like the reaction when the leg jerks after the knee is tapped with a soft mallet. Most of us are conditioned responses in a cause/effect continuum. Conditioned responses (as effects), occurring in (and “as”) a sequence, is time. Thinking is time; thinking and time are not two separate things.
Can consciousness function without merely always being one series of reactions (in sequence) after another? Can the mind be aware without merely reacting, recognizing, labeling, and without merely seeing from an image of self? Can a wise mind exist without constantly being a myriad of effects due to a myriad of causes? To answer these questions adequately, what will one do? Will one answer them by way of reaction?
Can thought, when it is not needed — and, oftentimes, it is not necessary — not habitually function in (and “as”) the mind? If it is thought that merely answers the aforementioned question, is the question being intelligently answered? Does love go beyond mere thought and time?
If one’s love is a mere reaction — formulated to get something in return, contrived to get some kind of result for one’s personal self — is it partial and, therefore, not profound and not very substantial at all? Love exists when the image of self is not. It takes time and thought to concoct an image of self (with all the associated desires and fears). Profound love is timeless.
Six-legged Santa! (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
Six-legged Santa! (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
To be valiant, to be courageous in the deepest sense, may not involve merely following orders as part of some mechanized, calculated structure. Instead, it involves the deep and profound freedom of standing alone, away from all of the contrived patterns of others, away from all of the concocted and separative systems promising security. To truly — not feigningly — go beyond the ego (i.e., the central self or “I”) involves vast courage and penetrating insight from a realm of freedom. A mere follower cannot — and will not — do it. Too many of us run and cling to our little structures that we have absorbed and learned from others, without ever standing alone while seeing and thinking about things deeply for ourselves. It is easy to be told what to do; it is easy to be influenced by commercials, by propaganda, by so-called authorities, by words.
The mind can go beyond them. The mind can go beyond the ego and the so-called central controller or central self. The mind can go beyond what merely clings to one experience after another. The fearful, afraid mind will not care — among its modes of indifference and of being frightened — to have anything to do with this to any significant extent. When an experience or when fear occurs, the mind is not merely separate from the experience or from the fear. Freedom is in neither. Both are inexorably limited.
Ailanthus. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
Ailanthus. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
In terms of truth
everyone thought the world was flat
except (of course) the
wise man
who saw the world was round
In terms of space
everyone thought from separation
except (of course) the
wise man
who perceived that he was sound
In terms of experience
everyone thought they had (and were not actually) the experiences
except (of course) the
wise man
who joyfully went beyond mere experience
In the backyard. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
later last night or maybe the other
one went walking, and not with your brother
whatever was scene was a part of the seen
then walked along nowhere with nothing between
unseasonable whether, weather you feel it or not
fossil fuels as greenhouseffect gases drive and fly a lot
golfing umpteen politicians sling us to war
making plenty of excuses about what fighting is fore
far from Teflon where sticking doesn’t matter
a happy wren eats oily seeds naturally fatter
an error in writin tis a beutaful ting
avoid Zika fliers early next spring
The Zika virus, as you have seen on the local news, is carried by mosquitoes, and is supposed to spread globally. Pregnant women who are bitten can have children who are micro-cephalic. I taught, before i retired, multiply handicapped students with mental retardation. One girl, who i had at one time in my classroom — who was born to a mother who had Dengue Fever as the result of a mosquito bite — had a severe micro-cephalic condition. When you would touch the top of her very small head, it was like touching a sponge; there was little skull support surrounding the brain. She had very little awareness of her surroundings. Be alert to where this virus is spreading. Please, if it is an area where you live, seriously think about curtailing pregnancy; if you are already pregnant, please stay indoors and use all kinds of precautions. Both of these viruses cause joint pain in people. Be very careful! (If it comes to the area where we live… you won’t be seeing as many nature photos from me.) Hopefully, this disease will not be nearly as widespread as many scientists are saying. This year, the Olympics in Rio are where the virus oriented mosquitoes currently exist; here, and other parts of the world where this is happening, is where people will be spraying like mad (which isn’t good for the environment, but may curtail much of the spreading, hopefully). If people would stop vacationing to distant countries, it would help slow the spread and progression of this disease, plus the earth would be better off with less pollution from fossil fuels (which aircraft spew out like mad). By releasing sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide higher in the atmosphere, aircraft allow molecules of pollution more time to trap heat, causing havoc for our environment. These mosquitoes, scientists say, will spread by hiding in jet planes and other aircraft as they move from one country to another. Sorry if this is a bit frightening… but this is a precarious thing. One has seen what it can do.
Mosquito Eater. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
To be avoided. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
Here is where the matter ends
beyond the tick of space and the edge of time
it’s a nowhere that can’t be bought
in a depth further than the superficial can find
True life is where the past is gone
a placeless place beyond thought’s deprivation
it’s an everywhere that is priceless
in a union beyond a learned separative station
Red Milkweed Borer. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
Red Milkweed Borer. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016
Beyond what is
possible
one irrefutable mystery
existing
Beyond what was
there
one not so distant
here
Beyond all that
fear
leaping beyond death
living
Beyond profound change
stagnating
one ordinary mind
imitating
[Note: The photo is of a piece of fossil Baltic Amber containing a Pseudoscorpion (with 2 mm body) and a Gnat; the Pseudoscorpion is posed as if attacking the Gnat as prey. This amber is around 50 million years old. Pseudoscorpions (and Gnats) continue to exist worldwide, even in cold climates, like in the United States and Canada. Are “mostpeople” — who tend to live ordinary (so-called) lives, who merely exist accepting (and copying) the commonplace values, routines, and perceptions — stagnating (almost as if they are imbedded in rock-like amber)? You decide.]
Pseudoscorpion and Gnat in Baltic Amber. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Though the body ages, creaks with pain, deteriorates,
slowly withers like a flower…
one can have a youthful, budding, blossoming smile
on one’s face
Energy, action, movement
which make up the body
is, as Einstein suggested, eternal;
but eternity runs deeper than that
It permeates much deeper than the superficial
will ever realize;
and as they (unfortunately) continue to deteriorate
both mentally and physically
something (warmly) eternally eludes dullness, indifference, and
deadcold callousness
At the fall of one’s life. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
.
It’s taking off time
4 the bee.
4 U 2 soar, beyond being and unbeing,
there must be taking off time
4 U.
U can’t be there
if U are not taking off time.
A mere sequence of accumulating
patterns and experiences in time
isn’t soaring;
it’s unsoaring-merelybeing.
Every now and then
(beyond the mere groping after sequential patterns or the mere running away from patterns)
take off some time
(beyond conflict) and soar.
.
Taking off time. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Taking off time. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
.
Fishing for insects
in the lake so blue
did you realize
that what your eye can catch is you?
Are you searching for truth
as you sit in your chair?
Do eye realize that what is here
is an extension of what’s out there?
.
Fishing for insects. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
