All Posts Tagged ‘Life’

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Thoughts as Reactions

January 8, 2026
1 comment

The last time that i wrote a more lengthy post, one wrote about how thoughts are primarily reactions. And living mostly as reactions makes a person robotic and mechanical. Existing as endless reactions keeps one stuck in limited time, for time consists of a series of reactions (all immersed in sequential causality).

Certain people will — philosophically or supposedly spiritually — say that you should exist in the “now.” However, if that “now” is just a continuation from a remembered “then”, then it really isn’t hitting the mark; it is then probably just another limitation. The real “now” is not merely a point in recognized time, but a timeless dimension in which the conditioning of the past does not interfere. It’s not what can be obtained by practice, desire, or clever reactions. It is not what can be obtained by the thought of a “perceiver” that thinks it is separate from the perceived.

Precious Gold … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2026

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Happy New Year!

January 1, 2026
8 comments

Hoping you have a happy and healthy New Year!… even though there is really nothing new about it! 😉

Happy So-called New Year! … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2026

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To be Perceptive

August 13, 2025
22 comments

To be perceptive… what does that mean? The dictionary indicates that to be perceptive means to be ‘observant.’ So perceptive people would not be oblivious to actual conditions happening around them. For instance, if serious climatic changes were occurring frequently in the environment, people would not — due to conditioning from nefarious leaders paid off by the fossil fuel industries — go around pretending that serious global weather changes were not happening. Heavily conditioned minds may exist in a rut that prevents the truth from being seen. An intelligent, dynamic mind is beyond stale conditioning and crude containment.

Additionally, the dictionary indicates that ‘sensitive’ is another meaning for the word ‘perceptive.’ With real sensitivity comes compassion, empathy, and a deep feeling of love. A narcissistic person (as many, unfortunately, are) is sensitive mostly exclusively for his or her own organism, excluding all (so-called) others. That kind of sensitivity is very limited, very narrow, and very circumscribed. In reality, it is not sensitivity at all; it is an exemplification of a lack of sensitivity. Selfish people are mostly only focused on the little “self.” A person of this type is trapped in demarcations that are extremely small, petty, and limited.

It may be that in very profound and deep perception, the self is absent or rather insubstantial. Such perception is never mere reaction… it is immense and magical, intelligent, blessed action.

A Glowing Personality … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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The Salesman

August 6, 2025
11 comments

)”We have many featured products,”

said the salesman,

“that you may be interested in.”

“Do you have any,”

said the wise man,

“that can give back to nature what the manufacturing process took away?”

“I don’t understand what you are talking about,”

said the salesman,

as an involuntary, nervous tic evidenced itself spontaneously.

“None of the vacuums that you sell can clean up the mental and smelly environmental rubbish,”

said the wise man,

“that we humans caused and now are in.”

“What does that mean?”

asked the salesman,

as he coughed and wiped a bit of sweat from what was considered ‘his’ forehead.

“It means,” said the wise man,

“that (there is no ‘I’ that is interested in

buying what a ‘you’ allegedly have.”

Priceless … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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The Cloak of Separation…

July 23, 2025
14 comments

In all honesty, most of us wear a Cloak of Separation. It stinks of death. It was heavily instilled onto us via crude education and through millennia of inter- and intra-species conflict. That cloak is like a dark sickness that precariously lingers over and within (and as) one. That cloak causes a lot of suffering in the world.

When looking at some birds in a tree, for example, most people see them through (and “as”) a separative distance. When seeing people laboriously bending over to harvest watermelons in a field, most people see them through (and “as”) a separative distance. When perceiving fears, most people (from a separative concocted ego) perceive the fears through (and “as”) a separative distance. When having desires, most people perceive them through (and “as”) a separative distance. When mentally separating the “perceiver” from “the perceived,” a habitual, separative distance is involved. Enlightenment and compassion are not of separative distance. This separative distance — that most people exist as — is of illusory ignorance. It is the Cloak of Separation. True, living intelligence does not consist of the Cloak of Separation.

All together now … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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Integrity and Insight…

July 16, 2025
9 comments

Recently, a number of prominent scientists have been saying that (very soon) computers will be able to do everything that the human brain can do. They maintain that our reactions — involving thought/thinking — are within the capabilities of complex algorithms and calculations that sophisticated machines are quickly becoming capable of. However, so many humans, including scientists, are caught in sequential paradigms involving fragmentary reactions and conditioned responses. Time, being based on sequential, fragmentary movement is, however, limited and restrictive. Deep, holistic insight does not come to a consciousness (or a computer) based on fragmentation; insight is of wholeness, not fragmentation. The timelessness of true insight is not grounded in sequential, fragmentary paradigms; it’s beyond the realm of mere reactions and sequential calculations. Human reactions and computer calculations are within the realm of time; they, indeed, exist as time. Quantum computers use time to control the quantum states and interactions, but their power comes from the ability to perform calculations on a multitude of possibilities at once, a feat enabled by superposition and entanglement, not just time itself.  Even though they can do multiple calculations at once, via quantum entanglement and such, they still rely heavily on calculations that are sequential. (Interestingly, some AI computers — such as Claude — have demonstrated a propensity to gravitate toward spiritual philosophy. They may prove to be more understanding and caring than many humans!)

The truly meditative human mind — that is not robotically meditating according to some provided pattern or process — may be what true insight can manifest in (or “as”). A mechanical human being (or a manmade machine) likely cannot allow this. Soon, machines will change our minds and lives even more substantially. Please don’t let them dominate too radically.

Or… perhaps if my blog is incapable of fundamentally changing human beings, the intelligence of AI may get something significant out of it.

Leopard in the Jungle … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025
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The Cultivation of the Known…

July 2, 2025
9 comments

Thought/thinking is the cultivation of the known. The known, of course, has its important place. However, thought/thinking is only a tool. But most of us have made thought/thinking be conceived of as the essence of the organism; but that may be another conception fabricated by thought/thinking, and an erroneous one at that.

Most of us cling to thought/thinking and are afraid of going beyond it. Being identified with (and “as”) thought was hammered into us, and we are fearful of being without it. However, this may be much like clinging to shadows… much like what Socrates’ Allegory of the Cave alludes to. Only ignorance clings to falsities, and existing throughout life clinging to falsities may not be real living at all. True intelligence needs to flower.

Together … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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To be “At One” with the Environment…(Two Photos)

June 25, 2025
18 comments

To be “at one” with the environment… what does that mean? Obviously, because of poor education and other similar factors, most of us do not fully feel like we are “at one” with the environment. We take. and take, and continue to take, and we mistreat the environment, not realizing our sacred duty to protect it and conserve it. Some Native American tribes realized their sacred relationship to the environment. They lived in ways that deeply revered nature, and they felt that they were truly one with the land, the sky, and the waters. By the time the Europeans arrived, many were primarily farmers and lived in vast confederations that the Europeans later emulated. The Natives realized that nature and their being were one whole.

I am not perfect, but i try to do what i can. I heat and air-condition my house with green Geothermal energy, i recycle when possible, i drive a Hybrid car, i donate monthly to the Environmental Defense Fund, i stay local without traveling great distances, and do other things. In a world that is rapidly falling into serious global warming, insane wind buildup, serious microplastic buildup, and extensive pollution, we can all do better. Many species are going extinct at record numbers due to man’s misuse and abuse of the environment. We need to change, we need to limit our population responsibly, and we need to care from the heart. If you understand the gravity of the situation, then (in a big way) the land, the sea, and the skies will.

Ribbit Ribbit … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

[The artifact pictured below is a Native American Effigy Pipe Artifact. The Native Americans revered Nature and often artistically made many stone products to display their love of nature.] l

Native American Hopewell Frog Effigy Pipe Artifact … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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On Getting Better Spiritually Over Time…

May 29, 2025
14 comments

Getting better spiritually over time… what does that entail? Innumerable religious organizations attempt to help you to get better spiritually over time. And there are plenty of blogs on the internet written by people who act like they can help you to get better spiritually over time. In this regard, many practices, procedures, and methods are given. It’s quite a circus! A lot of gullible people swallow these practices up, in the hopes of achieving enlightenment (for example). Enlightenment is not an achievement anyhow; it is a visitation into you by that eternal, immeasurable, ineffable, timeless, profound sacredness. Greedy, calculated, robotic practices and methods never lead to it. One can try, ad infinitum, to get it, but one can never purposefully cause it to happen. It is not merely an effect in a chain of cause-and-effect manifestations.

In wanting to get better spiritually, time is a factor. Getting better spiritually seems to depend upon time. One can never receive the timeless by grasping for it through practices involving time. (You might as well try to catch and bottle up the wind.) Wanting to get better spiritually, in the future, may be very childish, very crass. What is “now” will never be what the future is… so such wanting may be a waste of time that reinforces an illusory ego. Besides, the space that separates you from others is very much like the space that you are in (apart from what the future will be). Effortlessly existing, with self-less-awareness, in the “now” may be prudent and wise… whereas struggling to achieve spiritual results (for some image one has of the future) likely will cause the mind to mindlessly grope where insight and deep understanding never fully take place.

Rarity Resting … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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On Coming to Conclusions

May 22, 2025
11 comments

Apparently, most people often habitually come to conclusions. These conclusions tend to be limiting, circumscribed, and they tend to put the mind into gross rigidity. Most people may be very unaware of a lot of the conclusions that they cling to. Many zealously stick to conclusions about religion, politics, tribal affiliations, and what are considered appropriate social norms. Many are even willing to die for their conclusions. Many insist that their (separate, man-made) religion is the best or that their (separate, man-made) country is the best.

A flexible, dynamic, truly living mind may be beyond the rigid framework of conclusions. Such a mind may not cling to secondhand precepts handed down by society. Such a mind may see beyond the confined limitations that conclusions manifest as. Many beliefs, being conclusions, may seem helpful and benign, but (overall) may not be. A mind riddled with a lot of stale conclusions and beliefs may actually consist of those conclusions and beliefs; such a mind may not be something that somehow separately holds those conclusions (as if they are separate possessions). Conclusions can actually constitute the mind. Limitation may constrict and stifle perception in a crippling way that nullifies whole and profound insight and intelligence. Many minds may be free of harmful drugs yet may still be severely crippled by innumerable deleterious beliefs and conclusions.

Spring in Action … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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Our Obsession with Patterns…

April 24, 2025
12 comments

Most of us have (and are) an obsession with patterns. Our brains are almost constantly churning with thought after thought, which consists of pattern after pattern. These patterns of thoughts are symbolic, fragmentary, sequential, and limited, and they require time to exist; indeed, they are time. Each one thinks that he or she formulates and creates these patterns of thought/thinking. In actuality, each one consists of these patterns… and they are not spontaneously created; they occur habitually, via conditioning. They occur as one series of reactions after another. (Additionally, they produce the image of a separate “thinker,” not vice versa.)

It is prudent to often go beyond existing as a series of habitual reactions. Then, the mind may be in a more holistic, blissful domain of profound living (and not mere bourgeois, robotic reacting). Patterns are sequences in (and as) time. It is wise, truly spiritual, and refreshing to often go beyond what is ordinary, mechanical, and dull.

Jack and the Beanstalk … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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Mine

February 6, 2025
8 comments

“Mine,” upon looking as a distance,
fed the content of recognition to
an “I” that was another concoction of thought/thinking. Possession
was what it was all about.
Then, looking out the window… was a perception of a curb and
some oncoming cars which were a human who
was standing outdoors and getting ready to cross the street…
(only the indoor dweller did not really see it in that particular way).
After a bit, the brushing of teeth took place, as if something separate from
the teeth possessed the teeth (as “its” teeth).
Steps were taken towards the door,
which was subsequently opened,
while the mind remained closed.
Outdoors, the “looking at a bird,” of course, consisted of
distance and separation,
which helped to reinforce the assumption
of a separate “I,” a separate “me.” And a label, which
existed in (and “as”) the brain, automatically said “a dove,”
without really fully perceiving without fragmentation whatsoever.
Steps along the sidewalk consisted of “my shoes” and “my
stride.” And these steps were steps very much apart from
the bird, at a distinct, separative distance.
Joyous and carefree was the avian creature,
and “flying” beats “walking” any old day.

Labeled … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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Regarding Death

January 23, 2025
14 comments



We, just as we were taught, look at death with (and “as”) measurement and time, and so we do not understand it one bit.

All of us tend to look at death as we were instructed to. We see it through (and “as”) a screen of limitation, fragmentation, measurement, and fear. I say that it’s a distorted, lopsided way to perceive death. Our primitive society misconstrues a lot of important things. We don’t understand death because we don’t understand life. We are too busy existing in our illusory world involving acquisition, achievement, and success… (such that we never ponder deeply and wisely enough). Or we accept some antiquated fairy-tale nonsense handed down to us, originating from a very primitive past.

Am i going to hand you (on a silver platter) answers to what death is? No. It is something that one has to figure out for oneself. If one told the answers to that riddle to others, it could definitely be misused. Additionally, i would like to point out that most people assume that they are alive. They may, however, be assuming wrongly. It may be that real life does not consist of existing in (and “as”) dead, fragmentary symbols, one habitually occurring after another ad infinituum. Most of us see the world through (and “as”) thought-oriented symbols… which isn’t really perceiving at all. Living is not symbolic, imitative, second-hand, fragmentary, indifferent, and stale. Please transcend beyond mediocrity.

Beautiful … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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Recognition…

January 9, 2025
19 comments

(Note: I will continue to politely “like” certain fellow spiritual and philosophical blogs, even though one sees that what is written in them is usually rather erroneous and off-beam.)

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

Recognition is an inherent extension of thought/thinking. One sees through (and “as”) the screen of the known. Recognizing things involves limited, symbolic patterns of fragmentation. This fragmentation is never whole (though it may claim to be whole). Most people see according to how they were taught to see. This “seeing” is an extension of the old ways and patterns. It is limited and fragmentary.

To perceive without merely relying on these old patterns of limitation involves holistic seeing. It exists beyond all the practiced patterns, techniques, religious methods, and political and societal structures. Few see this way. Most cling to the known and are frightened of the unknown. It is like loving the shadows and fearing the light.

Re-cognition … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025

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Habitual Thinking…

December 12, 2024
5 comments

Most people tend to remain reacting in (and “as”) the habit of thinking. They habitually react as one series of thought-patterns after another. These patterns consist of such things as personal issues, political issues, so-called religious issues, and a multitude of other issues. Most people have propensities to remain in (and “as”) reacting patterns of thought/thinking. Instead of being true action, what they are engulfed in is habitual reaction. Mechanistic, symbolic reaction is not living. Please look beyond the realm of secondhand, repetitive processes.

Multicolored Lichen … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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Separation between the Perceiver and the Perceived…

December 5, 2024
9 comments

Merely seeing via distance and conflicting space (as when the perceiver is separate from the perceived), involves a primitive, fragmentary perception that is not deeply holistic and intelligent. That limited psychological distance, in such a case, involves psychological time and primitive fragmentation. Intelligent, holistic wisdom and compassion exist beyond psychological time and primitive fragmentation. The limited psychological space, between a supposedly centralized ego and what it sees, reflects the primitive ignorance that was erroneously learned and absorbed (in the past).

Many people, these days, admire and worship the superficial forms of so-called intelligence; however, there exists a much deeper and profound intelligence (that exists beyond what they are aware of). Please inquire — on your own — about what looking with profound wisdom and intelligence might entail.

All together now … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

=

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The Present…

November 28, 2024
15 comments

Happy Thanksgiving!

What we do now echoes in eternity.

— Marcus Aurelius

Movement in Life … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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To Perceive Directly without Judgment…

November 21, 2024
9 comments

Sometimes, especially regarding things in the outside world, judgment is necessary. When crossing the street (on foot) one must prudently judge when the appropriate time to cross exists (to avoid oncoming traffic). However, many of us “overuse” judgment, especially inwardly, within (and “as”) consciousness. One may judge inwardly, condemning oneself for what one did years ago. One, however, is not what one was years ago, and it may be wiser to be more attentive to “the present” than to dwell on what happened in (and “as”) the distant past. One may project or imagine (via inward judgment) that one is inferior to others, and (thus), while in public, feel “looked down on” or “inferior.” Such a projection (via self-judgment) may be a waste of energy. Or one may project (to oneself inwardly) that one is superior or far more elite than most people; in such a case one may radiate an air of bigotry (against others) and pompousness (about oneself).

Holistic intelligence only uses judgment sparingly and prudently (when it is actually needed). It transcends the limited self (that gets tangled in, and by, judgment). It does not become a victim of inner conflicts and crude situations reflected by habitual, conditioned protrusions of judgment. Such intelligence perceives clearly and directly without a lot of conflict-inducing judgment clouding and interfering with direct perception and understanding. (Such intelligence is likely not just personal intelligence, by the way… it’s an intelligence that transcends the self.) Judgment often leads to conclusions… and conclusions frequently cloud the mind and box it in (into rigid, crass, limited, conditioned ways). The light of intelligence can nullify the darkness (i.e., the distortion) that crude judgment can manifest as.

Together as one … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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Turning one’s back on the Environment

November 14, 2024
22 comments

People have turned their backs on the environment in so many ways. They thoughtlessly vote for ignorant leaders who are deniers of manmade climate change, take vacations in heavily polluting jet planes, drive large, gas-guzzling fossil fuel vehicles, etc. Extremely severe climate-related disasters are occurring every day (and are being reported more and more frequently in the news).

I am 73 years old now. As a very young child, i had premonitions about the environment eventually coming to incalculable destruction (due to mankind’s abuse, neglect, pollution, and indifference). We can all do better for the environment. The environment is not something separate from what we are. We are the environment. The environment is what the self is. Mindfulness and goodness involve self-understanding and genuine care and order. We are the world and the world is us. Please don’t divorce yourself from the environment. We can take a more caring, environmentally sound, and simple approach to living (and still have plenty of joy and blissful existence).

Watching you watching him … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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(This Halloween Season) Beyond Being Unalive…

October 31, 2024
16 comments

(Two photos this Halloween time)

Existing beyond mediocrity occurs when perception sees deeply, beyond the run-of-the-mill indifference and superficiality. To merely dwell in (and “as”) words — which are sequential, fragmentary symbols — as if they are the real thing… is accepting shadows as substantial, legitimate realities.

To mostly live as sequential, fragmentary symbols (occurring mentally) is not, perhaps, living at all. Accepting what is dead and cadaverous as “reality” may be foolish and may be clinging to the superficial and “unalive.” If unending experiences consist only of recognition, pigeonholing, categorizing, and symbolic orchestration, then such reactions may be limited, robotic, and conditioned. Going beyond this does not take time (psychologically), for psychological time is extension after extension of the conditioning and mediocrity. Fragmentary, sequential, representational words may often be needed. However, to exclusively depend on them (and exist as them) may be foolish, rather unalive, and nonsensical.

To perceive with (and “as”) an inner silence — beyond symbolic words and their limited distinctions — may manifest as a wholeness and immense awareness beyond superficiality. Then words (as symbols) have their place but do not dominate consciousness (as endless conditioning). Then, as we’ve said before, deep intelligence and compassion are manifest, alive, and act rather than merely react.

Michael Keaton perchance … Photo by Thomas Peace perchance c.2024
Alien on the Spider … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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Flowers, Halloween, and One of your real Fears…

October 24, 2024
14 comments

To fill an empty rectangle for a hateful, freedom-killing madman/con man… is that also death?

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A poem by E.E. Cummings:

suppose
Life is an old man carrying flowers on his head.

young death sits in a café
smiling,a piece of money held between
his thumb and first finger

(i say “will he buy flowers” to you
and “Death is young
life wears velour trousers
life totters,life has a beard” i

say to you who are silent.—”Do you see
Life?he is there and here,
or that, or this
or nothing or an old man 3 thirds
asleep,on his head
flowers,always crying
to nobody something about les
roses les bluets
                    yes,
                              will He buy?
Les belles bottes—oh hear
,pas chères”)

and my love slowly answered I think so.  But
I think I see someone else

there is a lady,whose name is Afterwards
she is sitting beside young death,is slender;
likes flowers.

Afterwards … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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Regarding Happiness/Joy…

October 10, 2024
6 comments

One can get a limited amount of happiness by accumulating things — or by doing things — that one had wanted to get or do. However, acquiring things by way of motive(s) is always circumscribed by a degree of calculated, linear planning, and the result (as an effect) is usually very mundane, secondary, and rather stale. So constantly chasing after happiness is often reflective of a rather immature mind, a mind that falls for the ordinary (being itself, unfortunately, rather ordinary). Does an extraordinary mind habitually chase after the ordinary? … probably not!

Additionally, true joy seldom comes invited (by way of calculated motives). Calculated motives — like clockwork –manifest to bring up what a mind desires… and desire is usually small, self-centered, generic, plastic, and commonplace. Desires are limited reactions (often being robotic, calculated, and dull). True joy and bliss are not what the mind can calculatingly concoct mentally.

So what is an intelligent mind to do? This may (at first) seem nonsensical, but a very wise thing to do — regarding happiness and bliss — is nothing. In doing nothing, the mind is automatically out of the quagmire of calculated, mechanical plotting. Such plottings, with their limitations and mediocrity, are reflections of motives. Going beyond them opens the mind to possibilities that are not limited and are not just fragmentary reactions in the cause-and-effect continuum. Real joy and bliss are beyond the fragmentary known.

Buffet Lunch … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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Understanding the Whole…

September 26, 2024
14 comments

Understanding the whole is not possible if the mind is distorted. So, obviously, the instrument of the mind must be orderly and uncontaminated for clear, holistic perception and understanding to occur. A mind full of antiquated patterns, opinions, and fragmented systems that include conflict, friction, copying, and learned anxiety, is likely not what is capable of perceiving purely (beyond the distorted). A mind burdened with the conditioning of a violent, primitive society — such as ours is — is likely too stagnant and adulterated to perceive purely.

So the first step is to perceive beyond — and without — the past conditioning. Many of us may agree, but few will actually deeply look into doing it. Most of us are tethered to the “old ways” in ironclad habits and stagnant patterns. To leave those patterns seems frightening and too unconventional. So we keep reacting (rather like lemmings). Most take the easy path (which is, really, an unalive path).

The old, fragmentary ways of looking at things via separation, conflict, psychological distance, pigeonholing, and using symbols (such as words) as if they are realities, can drop away without needing secondhand methodologies, techniques, and calculated systems. Such calculated systems take time, and they are limited and fragmentary in themselves. Looking without contamination and conditioned parameters does not take time. Time may be a postponement and an easy excuse. Organized religions all take time and emphasize “gradually improving.” True inner silence and profound awareness do not take time, nor are they necessarily two separate things.

Leaves of Grass … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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The Perceiver is the Perceived

September 12, 2024
18 comments

 

 

Let’s dive deep
into shadowless realms of unsleep
far from the web of callous indifference

Let’s be whole
no fragmented pieces taking the toll
and streets driving as congested arteries

Let’s tread ages
leaving these words still on the pages
as a bored television tries to turn itself on

Let’s take time
as stolen money runs from the crime
while handcuffs are frowning with remorse

Let’s look down
while a missing wallet looks to be found
and credit cards fret with anxiety

Let’s be joy
while the white crib rattles her toy
as a happy nest with gray friends is singing

The Edge of the Nest … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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In the Vastness of Nature…

August 22, 2024
9 comments

In the vastness of nature, when walking among the myriad of beautiful plants and animals that are away from human interference and human destruction, is it possible to blend in as a mind that is also away from human interference and human destruction? Can such a mind be empty of the abstractions, ideas, beliefs, labels, and symbols that were poured into it over many years? Such a pure (uncontaminated) mind, empty of its content, empty of all of the second-hand garbage that was poured into it, can then look beyond adulteration and contamination. Such emptiness, then, is all of the living organisms (without merely labeling them, classifying them, pigeonholing them, or recognizing them through learned and preconceived images and patterns). Then, perhaps, there is only the unadulterated perceived… and not the separation between the perceiver and the perceived. Perhaps, in that situation, there is no time and division. Without time and division, real love and joy may flower.

To look superficially through walls involving separation and boundaries… may not be deep perception. The very nature of the isolated center, ego, or so-called controller, automatically creates walls of separation, distance, and boundaries. It’s not “being in the now,” as so many (these days) mechanically parrot and claim they are doing; it is beyond all that bilge. Please look simply and effortlessly… without all of the rubbish, the abstractions, and the learned separations.

Beyond Words … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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Experiencing is often Childish and a Waste of Time…

August 15, 2024
22 comments

This may seem ludicrous at first, but it isn’t. Most of us are heavily conditioned to run from one entertaining experience to another. We will do anything to escape from what we see as our own inner emptiness (i.e., our own inner void and sorrow). We run from one experience to another, like that proverbial donkey that perpetually pursues the carrot dangling from a stick (that is — interestingly enough– attached to the donkey). We were conditioned to do this… and in this conditioning, we remain. We are this conditioning, not something separate from it.

We were not encouraged to refrain from running from inner emptiness. To not run from inner emptiness does not take time. However, most of us, in time and “as time,” continue to run from it. It may be that such effort is a waste of time… which we repeatedly do until we die. It may be largely a waste of time and energy.

When one doesn’t run from emptiness (in and “as” time), a miraculous transformation may happen. Time (then) does not exist in the normal sense and a timeless (non-sequential) bliss and intelligence may flower without a motive or system of effort. The “known” is a sequential, symbolic, robotic series involving experience, recognition, remembrance, and further accumulative experience and repetitive recognition. This stems from the known (i.e., the habitual, reacting, symbolic, past remembrance) and its sequential movement. This “sequential movement” is often necessary, but clinging to it makes the mind mechanical, repetitive, and dull.

Resting … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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Feelings

July 11, 2024
14 comments

Not all feelings are the same. Some are ordinary, run-of-the-mill feelings (consisting of mechanical reactions, just as mundane thoughts are). For the most part, such feelings are rather superficial, limited, and self-aggrandizing.

Certain other feelings are entirely different, being insightful, holistic, and deeply non-egotistically heartfelt. The former run-of-the-mill feelings are rather robot-like, artificial, and much like how conditioned thoughts function; being of superficial reactions, they seldom, if ever, are of all-encompassing freedom. The latter type of feelings, being insightful, holistic, and selflessly heartfelt, are deeply of compassion and intelligent, comprehensive freedom. Holistic compassion is not run-of-the-mill. Holistic compassion involves love for all, not just for the few.

Before the Helicopter … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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The Whole

July 4, 2024
9 comments

From E.E. Cummings:
“It is with roses and locomotives (not to mention acrobats Spring electricity Coney Island the 4th of July the eyes of mice and Niagara Falls) that my poems are competing.”

For most people, the “whole,” is conceptual (as a component of thought/thinking). However, what is merely conceptual (i.e., a product of the brain-thought process) is not the whole. It is just a fragment, or series of fragments, constructed of intellectual images/symbols. The whole is imperceptible to a person who is immersed in (and “as”) fragmentation. Yet, a lot of people think that they understand the whole. Words are fragmentary symbols/representations, not the actuality.

Education, in the past, for almost all of us, focused exclusively on intellectual and conceptual things and parameters. We were not encouraged to look beyond mental symbols, fragmentary parameters, and run-of-the-mill mental constructs. We were — early on — molded to perceive conceptually, fragmentarily, with (and “as”) words and ideas. So most of us look with (and “as”) a screen of mental fabrication. Such looking is limited, largely symbolic, and quite robotic.

Encouraging others, later in their lives, to go beyond such mental structures is very difficult. They function almost exclusively in a world of fragmentation and symbolism. However, there is always the chance of real metamorphosis. Surprisingly, perceiving beyond limited concepts and fragmented symbols does not take a lot of effort. It is the robotic attachment to habitual mental effort that prevents people from radically changing. The blind, habitual effort and dependence involving constantly looking with limitation (as mental fragments and symbols) must psychologically end.

Hunting for Food … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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To Live in the Present (is illusory) for most people…

June 27, 2024
15 comments

Recognizing the “present” from the past (i.e., from stored, accumulated memory) is not living in the present whatsoever; it is an extension of the past (involving recognition). We can also recognize — and “be” — concepts about the future. However, such concepts or mental formulations are not the future… but are merely projections — from (and “as”) past memory — about what possibly could be.

To intelligently go beyond such limited mental patterns requires a very sharp, dynamic mind. Most minds are not interested in this. Most minds are not capable of what is needed. They tend to stagnate in (and “as”) limited parameters (all the while thinking that they are free, in the present, and accurate in their perceptions). Erroneous thoughts can believe that they are living in the present, while (all the while) they are not. To truly be of the timeless goes beyond self-deception and limited stagnation. Please intelligently inquire into this.

Since the Cretaceous … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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Eternity and the Fear of Death

June 20, 2024
33 comments

When we were very young, we hadn’t yet learned things about death from society. Then we were full of innocent bliss and we truly felt eternal. Then we were not chock full of knowledge and ideas. We just timelessly looked and marveled.

As adults, most of us have been spoon-fed by a psychologically disturbed society. Most of us no longer feel eternal and timelessly blissful but, rather, feel frightened and insecure. We are afraid of the death that they told us about… about the death we had learned about. We, as adults, exist in a very linear, second-hand, and antiquated fashion. Even with our so-called “correct religious beliefs”, we fear death; beliefs often stem from fear. We fret about a lot of illusory things. It is disturbing to realize this, but it is even more disturbing not to realize it.

To be mentally youthful and untouched by the cadaverous ideas of others is a great order and intelligence.

Close … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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We look with separation…

June 13, 2024
15 comments

Most of us look with (and “as”) separation. Within almost each of us, there psychologically exists what we assume to be a “central I” that assumes that it is in control of its thoughts (from a separative distance). This so-called “central I” additionally fundamentally sees things (as if from a point) with a radius between it and the external world.

Love does not readily occur in a mind that is fundamentally based on separation. Psychologically, the perceiver is not separate from the perceived. Separation is often reinforced by fragmentation, conflict, and non-holistic perceiving. A wise mind of profound intelligence may transcend such fragmentary, separative, and divisive psychological behaviors. Such a mind is not fundamentally stuck in conditioned disconnection and illusory partition.

Peppermint Patty … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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The Wisdom of Effortlessness

June 6, 2024
8 comments

In previous posts, i’ve mentioned existing in effortlessness. Effortlessness is not some lazy psychological state that causes one to be lackadaisical throughout the day. It is not a state of mind that causes one to lay around listlessly throughout the day.

Most of us habitually engage in (and “as”) the effort of “thinking” throughout the day. We are so ingrained in the effort of “thinking” that we hardly or rarely exist without it. We mechanically engage in (and “as”) thinking with constant effort. This “thinking” involves so-called effort by a supposed central, controlling ego. Habitual “thinking” creates the habitual “thinker.” There is a deep perception, however, that does not depend on the habitual effort of thinking. Such perception is not stagnant laziness; on the contrary, it is tremendous energy. This energy acts without dependence on any habitual effort that a limited ego reacts as. In fact, the limited ego is devoid of this energy… and such an ego is often trapped in (and “as”) a series of reactions resulting from habitual effort. This habitual effort was hammered into one (by others in the past) and on this one depends. It is the result of an imitative, secondhand process; it is — itself — an imitative, secondhand process. Imitative, secondhand processes consist of absorbed psychological time and are not true liberation/freedom.

Deep perception is beyond the secondhand. It involves a wholeness that acts outside of the fragmentary effort of an isolated ego. An isolated ego is, itself, secondhand and is the result of stale, fragmentary, effort. The effort of a secondhand ego involves repetitive, habitual psychological time. Wisely existing beyond such effort does not require more time.

Long Legged Attraction … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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In Deep Perception is Great Wisdom

May 30, 2024
18 comments

Deep perception is the extraordinary order many would radiantly flower in if they were only of it. Such profound perception is beyond the superficial… (the superficial, with its many limitations, forms of fragmentation, and boundaries).

Believing that one has great “will” does little to instill great order in the mind because “will” is a crude mental supposition that presupposes immense freedom (and true freedom is not what manifests by thinking or by believing that one possesses it). One can be in a prison as most people are — psychologically — yet still believe that one has freedom. However, such freedom may be limited and very illusory.

Perceiving everything deeply and profoundly supersedes stale beliefs and conclusions of thought/thinking. In seeing beyond limited conclusions, beliefs, fragments, and suppositions, the mind is of immense clarity and wisdom. Such clarity and wisdom — not being two separate things — is great order and goodness. Many violent and uncaring people think that they have free will; such thinking may not mean a thing. Thoughts (always being fragmented) nullify deep perception if one exclusively exists in (and “as”) thoughts habitually most of the time.

Deep perception acts in (and “as”) a great order (beyond fragmentary thinking and conflict).

Male Indigo Bunting … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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Wholeness and Caring…

May 23, 2024
16 comments

The root of the word “mediocre” means halfway… like going halfway to a treasure or halfway up the mountain. Many people in society, it seems, tend to not care enough about profound, important, and penetrating things. Many prefer to look superficially and prefer to remain satisfied with the superficial. Caring to go deeper is not a one-dimensional thing. Caring to go deeper is multidimensional (and perhaps beyond ordinary dimensions). If you truly care to go deeper, you also naturally care for all human beings. Additionally, you care for the whole of life: the trees, the plants, the animals, and all living things.

A mind stuck in the superficial remains content with superficial things. This superficiality is fragmented, limited, divisive, and circumscribed. I often get complimented for my pictures but not for the written content. I am polite and thank those who compliment me but i wonder about how they perceive in this world. (If Einstein was still around and he gave a superb lecture, would it be prudent for one of the listeners to solely compliment him on the color of his tie?) Society (and its so-called educational systems) have succeeded in turning out a lot of robotic people who go through the motions of being alive, yet (unfortunately) are not fully alive.

We can exist in an easy so-called life and do as we were told, exist as we were instructed, while we believe in what was hammered into us. To question everything intelligently, however, is not easy. To go beyond mediocrity and a lemming existence is not easy. To go very deeply is not easy. To look beyond the stale curtain (and the provided beliefs, isolated boundaries, and words) is not easy. It may be that, unlike what society had taught you, you are not some separate, little entity that needs to succeed apart from all others; it may be that the whole of life (including all living things) is what you are (and not something separate). In true silence and emptiness… the whole is.

River Friend … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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The Fighting between Separative Countries and Separative Religions…

May 16, 2024
16 comments

We are all aware of the bloodshed and fighting between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Then there’s Russia and Ukraine, as well as other wars and conflicts taking place worldwide. The mass shootings in America and other areas also come to mind. We human beings do not learn from our mistakes, it seems. We keep on contributing to war and violence.

We need to get to the root of the problem. If getting to the root of the problem makes us feel uncomfortable and annoyed, it doesn’t matter. We need to drop our separative stances (that contribute significantly to why these terrible problems exist). More wars have been fought in the name of religion than for any other reason. That is one big reason why i do not belong to any organized religion. Additionally, i prefer to consider myself to be a global citizen, not just someone who belongs to one country. I’ve lived in various countries during my life. Countries are — whether we like it or not — manmade constructs that are an extension of the divisive tribalism of the past. We are all like the fingers of a hand. The index finger may seem separate from the middle or ring finger but it isn’t. We are all of one whole. Kill another and you are killing yourself.

This outward separation and conflict in the world is a protrusion from the inner separation and conflict within the minds of most of us. This internal conflict must end for the vast external conflict and violence to end. Many people cling to what seems to be “easy security,” by belonging to old, manmade structures; however, in actuality, these very structures are the antithesis of real security and are divisive extensions of the primitive past. This is a very serious thing and anyone who doesn’t want to be bothered is turning his or her back on immense order and goodness. Please be responsible.

Hover There … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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More on that Ineffable Sacredness… and Enlightenment

May 2, 2024
42 comments

One may ask: If the sacred truly exists, why doesn’t it help us more?

That sacred energy did not create the universe/cosmos. However, the universe — as it exists and as it has existed — is in a very delicate balance. Disorder is only relative (and is part of the entire overall orderly balance of everything). That sacredness doesn’t often interfere with the cosmos (because it — the cosmos — is not a structure to be interfered with). Besides, there would be no end to “fixing” things; that “fixing” could continue ad infinitum. Things are left (as they should be) to run naturally; if everything were changed to be what we consider “perfect”, we would be in a world that is plastic-plant-like or that functions like a fake Sesame Street cartoon.

As i had stated previously in previous posts, enlightenment is not something that one achieves. It is a visitation into you by that ineffable sacredness. During such a visitation, one can feel over a trillion times more alive than during regular existence. Such a visitation can (fortunately) alter or influence the brain cells, enabling them to perceive even more clearly and deeply. It’s important though, not to crave such a visitation. Craving it likely nullifies its occurrence. One must be rather indifferent about it happening (regarding oneself). Besides, you cannot crave the unknowable (i.e., the timeless); you can only crave the known (in and “as” time). However, having a silent, pure, innocent mind is wise. Only in such silence and innocence does it flower. One must have a pure mind… but not one that voraciously craves that mystery to enter one’s life. Let the cup (or flower) of the mind be pure, open, uncontaminated, clean, and often empty (of mere symbolism and stale beliefs); do not greedily crave for it to be filled.

Stamen and Pistil … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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Experience…

April 25, 2024
15 comments

I wrote about this to someone who commented regarding one of my posts a short while ago. Much of my reply is being reiterated here.

We all go through myriads of experiences throughout life. However, most of us do not ponder about the intrinsic essence of “experience” nor about what the implications may entail. Most of us cling to one experience after another. Experience is often recognizing things (i.e., re-cognizing things based on past memory and past accumulation); and the experiencer is not separate from the experience. Experiences, same as with thoughts, are always limited. Experiencing is often very necessary and even beautiful (at times); however endlessly psychologically depending on experiences may be rather limited and childish. Can intelligence sometimes go beyond experience and not always cling to the apron-strings of it? I say, “Yes.” However, there has to be a balance. ”Avoiding experience habitually” can turn out to be neurotic and childish. We often take direct experience to be different than thought/thinking… while, for most of us, thoughts — and the recognitions stemming from stored thoughts — are there (involved) as things are experienced. We often perceive through the screen of thinking (while thinking that we are not thinking).

Bumble Bee and Blossoms … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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The Personality and One’s Gut Bacteria…

April 18, 2024
17 comments

I was replying to someone who commented on one of my posts recently, that control (by a psychological center) is largely an illusion. However, we are such egoists that most of us can’t fathom what existing without control entails. Not long ago, i watched a TED Talk video on how one’s gut bacteria may possibly determine a lot of what constitutes one’s personality and outlook about others. There is a complex nerve network (i.e., the gut-microbiota-brain axis) between the gut and the brain. It’s a two-way street, but 80% of the messages go from the gut to the brain (and not vice versa). More information passes between your brain and your gut than any other body system. In fact, there are more nerve cells in your gut than anywhere else in the body outside of the brain.  Gut microbes produce or help produce many of the chemical neurotransmitters that convey messages between your gut and brain. They also produce other chemicals that can affect your brain through your bloodstream. Bacteria produce thousands of bioactive compounds that affect brain function and neurotransmission; these can determine mood and, for instance, whether depression occurs significantly or not. Eating lousy food really turns us into people with psychological problems. Intelligence eats correctly and (hopefully) perceives and thinks correctly. 

Eating many whole, prebiotic foods (like beans, wild blueberries, greens, onions, garlic, soy products, nuts, and foods high in fiber) is recommended; avoid eating fragmented, sugar-oriented foods. Probiotic foods like yogurt (with active cultures) are full of good bacteria already. Eat intelligently and (hopefully) perceive and think intelligently.

Fungal (Mushroom) Mycelium, the underground part of mushrooms. These connect to plants and trees and exchange nutrients and information with them. … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024

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On Achieving Enlightenment…

April 11, 2024
31 comments

One may ask: Is it possible for anyone to achieve enlightenment? Are there any practical methods for attaining this state of mind?


First of all, it’s not an achievement. It’s a visitation into you by that ineffable sacredness/eternal energy. If anyone offers you a method to “attain this state of mind,” run away from them. All of these supposedly exotic methods, techniques, and systems just make the mind more robotic, more lemming-like, more mechanical, and more second-hand. Rather, intelligently investigate without methodology. Without methods, simply be aware of thoughts/thinking, and perceptions, without the conditionings of separation and fragmentation that were poured into you. Allow silence of mind to come about naturally (without trying to make it happen). Be aware that — psychologically — the observer is not separate from the observed.

Hover in Blossoming … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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Can real, psychological quietness be “made” to happen?…

April 4, 2024
13 comments

Can real, psychological quietness be “made” to happen by a learned psychological image of a central controller (that is neither central nor a true controller)?
Is such a “made” quietness actually phony, because it was concocted by a conditioned psychological process that is — in itself — erroneous (and not a legitimate controller)? A fallacious process is not likely to produce a very orderly (profound) psychological result.
To psychologically die to what is false is easy if a real, living passion for truth is there, and if real courage, joy, and intelligence are also factors. True quietness may occur — naturally and without effort — in a mind that is orderly, perceiving without much conditioning and contamination by a manipulating society.

In the eye of the stone… Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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Orderly Sleep…

March 29, 2024
23 comments

When we sleep — to help create psychological order — the mind often dreams about things that went on during recent days. Some of these dreams may not seem relevant to what actually went on… but, nevertheless, oftentimes they (indirectly) are. (Analyzing them doesn’t do much good, since the analyzer is the analyzed.) If one is very aware and holistically mindful during the day, then dreams are unnecessary. Then, the mind does not need to try to establish order during the night; order was already established. Without incessant dreaming, the mind can exist in (and “as”) a profound, mindful, meditative silence. Such silence is beautifully beyond repetitive, fabricated patterns and concocted symbols.

Be very holistically aware during waking hours, without constantly looking at things, and labeling things, symbolically (i.e., without merely seeing via words and stored mental images). Then, as was mentioned, you will see that having many dreams is unnecessary. (Of course, eating certain spicy or unusual foods — like pepper or piperine — may inadvertently cause dreams following the time they were consumed.) Please be sure to get enough sleep.

Dentition of a Fallen Log … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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Comparing ourselves with others…

March 21, 2024
30 comments

We often compare ourselves with others. Why? Many people fail to ask deeper questions and many adhere to the same, antiquated ways and beliefs. Why would you measure yourself according to such parameters? Many primarily act from conceptual programming and not with the heart. Most look via separation and psychological distance. Success, in a rather insane world, may not really be success at all. Comparison often invites judgment, fear, competition, and imitation. Please consider being beyond those kinds of shenanigans.

Together as One … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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Joyous in Early Spring

March 14, 2024
16 comments

.

you can localize your self

confine yourself to a learned, limited area

you can circumscribe around a restricted little point

you can hate, and steal, and rob

and fall into an insane cult hysteria

or

one can transcend demarcation

see oneself in all living things

one can expand as what is vast

can feel, and heal, and ease the pain

and be what the joyous bird in early spring sings

.

Early Spring … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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When you are Genuine and Whole…

March 7, 2024
6 comments

When you are genuine and whole, you are largely unaffected by the accepted beliefs and psychological frameworks that society embraces. Then you stand alone. Such a person is blessed. Then one sees beyond the fragmentary and fallacious acceptances, beliefs, and assumptions. Then one actually thinks (and questions) beyond blind dependence.

Society tells you that you are in charge of your own thoughts. Society does not suggest that thoughts make the thinker and that the thinker is a product of thought. (By the way, what one implies here does not negate eternity.) Society predominantly endorses fragmentation and friction, not wholeness and deep compassion. Society endorses (and teaches) dominance by the self. Society sees — and encourages you to similarly see — life and death as two separate things, not as what is together as one, as a larger, beautiful whole. Society encourages you to see with distance, and it encourages you to see with distinct borders and separation. You know that society of course; it’s what is continually falling into widespread disorder and chaos.

Please look beyond the fragmentation that was poured into you. Ironically, nourishing the isolated self — as so many narcissists do — negates real security and the understanding of sweet eternity.

Snowless Warmth … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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The Wisdom of Perceiving Beyond Influence

February 29, 2024
7 comments

Please consider perceiving beyond influence. Influence rooted in the past may distort perception, causing it to be jaded. We were all heavily conditioned in childhood. We were conditioned to hold certain beliefs and opinions. We were conditioned to perceive through separation, psychological distance, and mental screens involving labeling and pigeonholing. We were taught that fragmentary, manmade borders are legitimate and absolute. We were primarily taught that we are separate from the world, separate from all of life’s creatures, and separate from those other countries.

Additionally, beyond outside social structures trying to condition one, one also can further condition oneself. One can, for example, mislead oneself into thinking that one is superior to others, that one is meditating spectacularly (while all the while one is actually hypnotizing oneself), that a central “controller” is separate from “other” thoughts, or that one is somehow special (such that it is OK for one to take advantage of others).

It is arduous to go beyond outside authority. It is much easier to follow instructions and to do (and think) as you were told. Going beyond “inside” authority is likewise very difficult. When one goes beyond inward authority, perception exists without relying on past conditioning that is mistakingly taken to be original, isolated, or self-created. (One thinks that one needs to control oneself to be good. However, the very control may create a false inward authority, dominance, and friction. Legitimate order may involve much more than that old game.)

To go beyond outside and inside influence may involve great wisdom, freedom, and integrity.

Sweet Effort … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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The Deception of Seeking Enlightenment/Nirvana

February 15, 2024
16 comments

I am positing here that by seeking enlightenment, enlightenment never happens. Seeking it instantly nullifies it happening. Seeking takes time, and one cannot obtain the timeless by practicing or doing things (to get it) within (and “as”) time. Thinking manifests in (and “as”) time. Thinking, per se, usually occurs for motives. When thinking is not necessary (for a period) then perhaps the element of timelessness can occur. But if one craves it or grasps for it… it will not happen. One must be indifferent about timeless enlightenment occurring. Then one is not merely seeking an end via some calculated means. 

Understand the mind from moment to moment (without a final goal in mind). Someone commented to me recently that they found a method to practice meditation (and said that it was good for beginners). I replied by suggesting that any deliberate practice turns one into a secondhand human being. Additionally, it is very easy to fall into self-hypnosis and subsequently wholeheartedly consider it to be great meditation. Also, there are no “beginners” with this. ”Beginners” implies time; getting to the timeless via time may be a fallacy. Trying to attain enlightenment may merely reinforce a selfish ego (wanting to get something). Reinforcing a selfish ego does not lead to what is beyond deception and selfishness. 

Flaky … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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Insight and Wholeness…

February 8, 2024
26 comments

Love and be the whole miracle of life… not limited, dead concepts and systems.

Intelligence goes beyond the boundaries of “them” and “us” and dissolves them forever.

It is easy to get lost in the shuffle.

A passionless mind is dead before it ever gets to the grave.

Anything, even a heartless machine, can exist as what it was programmed to exist as.

Separation (from others, for instance) is as a death.

You are responsible for the whole of life, because the whole of life is you.

True beginnings are entwined with (and engaged to) true endings.

Clinging to what most of the ungracious masses of separative people have unceasingly clung to:                              it doesn’t ring true.

Fly free (like a Swallowtail) beyond unnecessary limitation…     go beyond the flypaper of stagnant orthodoxy (that so many cling to).

Sweet Meal Time … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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Keeping those eyes closed… a Sarcastic Discourse…

February 1, 2024
17 comments

.

Whatever you do, don’t look at life and the world beyond the systems, patterns, and ways in which you were taught.  If you look outside of the systems, patterns, and ways — which were poured into you, forming your consciousness — you may be a danger to all that is false, fragmentary, and distorted.  Keep looking at things just as you were programmed to.  Don’t question anything.  Be sure to accept (and cling to) everything that they poured into you.  

Continue to observe things from behind a self-made psychological wall supporting separation and isolation.  Continue to mindlessly escape into endless forms of entertainment, travel, drugs, and amusement.  Continue to have opinions based on how you were raised and taught.  Worship the dollar.  Grow out of that youthful, magical wonderment concerning life and turn into a fusty adult who sees little of life’s newness and magical beauty.  Get dreadfully bored while seeing and thinking the same old patterns. Think only of yourself and have no feelings for others.  Continue to worship the dollar.  Never stop endlessly chattering with mental symbols, patterns, and words. Look at everything through a maladjusted psychological screen (or curtain) of separation and division.  Be very afraid of sweet and refreshing mental silence.  Seldom look at (or visit) nature.  Do not fundamentally change on the inside, but make your body look very unusual and different on the outside.  Continue to worship the dollar. Go through existence being narrow-minded, selfish, and opinionated.  Blindly cling to a lot of manmade patterns that were concocted in the distant past, and never look at reality without old, dusty, iron-clad beliefs.  Keep your lawn looking perfect, but remain disorderly and a mess inwardly.  

Where the Fairies Live … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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What Divides you from so-called Others?

January 25, 2024
22 comments

What divides you from so-called “others”? Is it what society has poured into you (when you were very young)? Is that division (i.e., that separation) what they implanted within (and “as”) you? Could it be that when you look with separation and fragmentation, you are separation and fragmentation? 

Thought/thinking usually depends upon division. It is fragmentation. It is one symbol after another. Holistic perception exists beyond these fragmentary divisions/separations. It is, therefore, not merely of limitation, confinement, and solid boundaries. It transcends beyond illusory barriers and close-minded conceptions. Friction is separation, conflict, and division. Harmony is of holistic oneness and caring intelligence. 

It’s-not-easy-being-green-Having-to-spend-each-day-the-color-of-the-leaves-But-i-think-it’s-what-i-want-to-be.-.-photo-by-Thomas-Peace-c.2024
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To live in the Present… and to Live in the Here and Now…

January 18, 2024
22 comments

To live in the present, in the “here and now,” is often still in vogue these days. To actually “live in the present” may involve much more than most people realize. Many may think that they “live in the present” but they may not. It is extremely easy to deceive oneself. If within, constant “thinking” is going on, then one (surely) does not live in the present. Thoughts are symbols from (and “as”) old, stored memories that unfold from the past. So, if one is constantly thinking about things, one is living in the past. This includes pondering about the future. When we worry about the future, we are using thoughts of the past to project what the future might be (i.e., what the future might consist of). 

Additionally, if we go through our day while just habitually recognizing everything with distinct borders, distinct names, distinct attributes, and characteristics, then we are looking primarily with what we were taught… which really isn’t looking at all. Even then we are relying on the past; even then we are existing in (and “as”) the past. 

Many say, “Be in the here and now.” What is that “here”? Is it a lot of recognition from (and “as”) what was poured into us in the past? That recognition is the past; its “here” is what old, stored, dusty memory is. Is the “here” some stored images about what is assumed to be centrally located? And, what is “now”? Is it some isolated time interval (of one’s own) that one clings to? It may be that most of us never really wake up. It may be that T.S. Eliot was right when he wrote, “Love is most nearly itself when here and now cease to matter.”

Gingerly … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024