All Posts Tagged ‘Life’

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Living and Enlightenment

August 4, 2020
32 comments

Note: (I’ve dropped out of blogging for a while because i’ve been very busy with other projects. I may — or may not — be doing much blogging in the future; it depends upon my time and some other factors. For those who are truly “inquiring” in all of this, what i have written is always there — and elsewhere — if you know how to look. Regarding the blogging, posting close-up nature pictures has always been a small part of my offerings, although the main focus has always been the philosophy. Followers who have primarily focused on the pictures have really missed the whole point; it’s like focusing on the tie that a good philosopher is wearing, rather than actually listening to what he has to say… which is sad in regard to the picture — or mere tie — lover. That being said, the number of insect species and other small species disappearing in the environment is alarming, to say the least. It breaks my heart to go picture-taking and seeing fewer wildlife species each year, and it is not just in our area; it is all over. Additionally, so many millions of people, such as in America, succumbing to heartless political propaganda — that includes indifference to the health of the environment — is equally cataclysmic… and, of course, the two situations are closely related.)

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So many of us have assumed that we are fully living. However, a person who has been through true satori (i.e., true visitation from that eternal, sacred energy) realizes that people are only “alive” and “living” to a very limited, fragmentary extent. Such so-called “living” is only a rather seed-like state that has never really blossomed whatsoever. To truly change fundamentally, the instrument that is looking is perceiving beyond distortion. That instrument is the mind (and perception of the mind is not separate from what the mind is). Before one starts “cleaning” the mind into what one thinks it “should be” one must realize that there is no separate “cleaner” or “changer” and that time is not a necessary factor. And the “should be” is a projection of the mind that may help create illusions of separation, such as (psychologically) the so-called separation between the “changer” and the “changed.” Thought takes time; thought is psychological time and is separative and fragmentary. A vast, whole, timeless intelligence does exist.

Covered in pollen… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2020
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Fundamentally Erroneous

June 16, 2020
31 comments

To be fundamentally wrong is one thing. But to be fundamentally erroneous with regard to the basic framework or essence of one’s whole psyche is extraordinarily significant. From the day that you were born, they coddled you with warm words that supported the imagery of a center… a central dominating “controller” that is at the core of consciousness dominating and running everything. However, as we’ve mentioned in past blogs, scientists have split the brain (via splitting the corpus callosum) and have created two separate fields of consciousness. The center is fictitious (yet everyone believes in it).

The repetitive operation of a fictitious center — that is not really central at all — creates much mischief; it is separative, illusory, fragmentary, and power-oriented; it depends upon separative borders; it creates a circumference around itself. It, additionally, is a waste of time and energy. Little wonder why there is so much human havoc in the world. We operate with distorted (mental) equipment. Most humans are “off the beam.” Look at the world around you. Look at the narcissistic, sociopathic leaders in America and the world.

How can stability and harmony deeply exist if the essence of consciousness is based on a false premise? We say things like, “I’m working at improving my memory.” You are your memory… and there is no you separate from memory (using it from a distance). Then we surmise that without a center, we will not be secure in eternity. On the contrary, it is the very clinging to a dominating, illusory center that negates the full and comprehensive understanding of beautiful eternity. Distortion cannot perceive the fundamental nature of eternity clearly.

Mr. Lightning Bug waiving Hello on the Fern Plant… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2020
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Tadpole to Frog/Toad Metamorphosis, Quantum Mechanics, and Psychological Boundaries

June 9, 2020
24 comments

The following short video explains how Quantum Mechanics is involved in the transition of a tadpole into a mature frog or toad. Such metamorphosis is simply amazing; a lot of what nature does is very spectacular. The video probably explains it much better than i could with written words, and the video is a clip from that excellent Curiosity Stream segment that i mentioned to everyone in my previous blog posting. It’s certainly worth a watch! (When you were an embryo early-on in the womb, you had a tail.)

In the quantum world, boundaries can be penetrated. More of that needs to take place in the human psychological realm as well. When boundaries are truly transcended… that is when real eternity and sacredness can be perceived. But most of us are stuck in limited psychological boundaries. Too many of us hide behind (learned and absorbed) walls of racism, behind learned walls of indifference toward the handicapped and less fortunate, and behind (and “as”) learned walls of a “me” somehow separate from “others.” Have you ever considered that the learned walls of separation may actually help constitute what your consciousness is… and that without these mental (mis)conceptions, the separate “me” or separate “I” would not exist? Apparently, illusion and being “duped” is common, and “most-people” just accept it wholeheartedly without question. Little wonder why the world is quickly being ruined by a particularly odd, obtuse bipedal species. Will we wake up and transform beyond what is causing so much havoc in the world? Our biological clocks are ticking and there may not be much time left.

Please note the remnant tadpole-like-sucking-lips at the central area of this toad’s mouth. 🙂 Please note the eyes that are still very fish-like. Many of us — with our biological clocks — evolved (over time) from fish (but i won’t be eating our pet tropical fish’s food any time soon).

Mr. Toadster Head Study… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2020

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Photosynthesis in Plants, Quantum Waves, and the Mind

June 2, 2020
26 comments

—- In memory of George Floyd — (and those countries that were once free of dictators)

There exists some good evidence that plants, during photosynthesis, employ quantum processes to convert the energy that was captured from the sun into usable energy. During the light-absorption of photosynthesis in plants, a photon excites an electron in a chlorophyll molecule to create a structure called an exciton—an entity containing both the excited electron and the positively charged hole it leaves behind. This exciton then searches by moving until it reaches a protein complex called the reaction center where further processing of the energy is necessary.  According to traditional, incoherent processes, the exciton would have to hop from one chlorophyll molecule to another to randomly search for the reaction center. But that would take too long. In taking too long, its energy would be lost. It has to find the reaction center almost instantly.

In order to get there almost instantly, the exciton may actually be “quantum coherent” such that it travels like a wave, it can explore all possible paths simultaneously and only take the most efficient route. A television show that is featured on the Curiosity Channel offers excellent examples of this, but most of you probably do not subscribe to the Curiosity Channel. The Curiosity Channel explains that it is like a blindfolded man in a thick forest who has to get to the reaction center (which is somewhere within the forest). He can randomly search by bumping into tree after tree until he bumps into the reaction center; that is the standard way. But if he acts quantumly, he travels in all directions at once and quickly finds the reaction center. (It’s rather super-computer-like in a way!) If you throw a rock into a pond, the waves travel (in a way) in all directions at once. That is how the exciton may search; quantum tunneling may also be involved.

People who have clairvoyant tendencies may also somehow tap into this quantum oriented realm. Especially, a brain that does not merely depend on a man-made, illusory center may be able to penetrate beyond the ordinary, mundane barriers that restrict, that keep most people confined. That is when real meditation takes place. But there is no psychological center that can “make” real meditation happen. Eternity exists well beyond the confined, the restricted, the ordinary.

From Walt Whitman:

“The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it,
And ceas’d the moment life appear’d.

All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.”

(Also please watch the short included video if you have time.)

Wild Lamium … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2020



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RSKI5A_lsg

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Turtles and Freedom

May 26, 2020
47 comments

My wonderful, nature-loving wife, Marla, discovered this young, freshly-hatched Snapping Turtle wandering around in our yard and called me to take pictures. Snapping Turtles lay from 20 to 30 eggs on land — in sand or soil — and when the little “snaplets” hatch, they (hopefully) head for water. I took photos of this little fellow and then tossed him in the river that we live on. I saved him a lot of walking/wandering time and prevented him from being eaten by crows, raccoons, and such.

When i was very young — at grade-school-age — i went fishing one day with my grandfather and father. They caught a big turtle — it wasn’t a snapping turtle — and wanted to take it home to make Turtle Soup out of. Yuk! They kept the turtle in a huge fishing net (high up on the bank); the turtle was trapped in the net as it faced the water… wishing to run in. I felt very sorry for the turtle… and gave the big net a swift kick. The turtle managed to get out of the net; i never saw a turtle run so fast; it ran, like lightning, straight into the lake and quickly swam off. Of course, i got a good “yelling-at,” but felt that it was well worth it! That lovely creature got away!

Most humans are trapped and don’t even know it. The net is their traditions, their societal norms, their iron-clad religions, their immoral habits, their separative ways of looking at the world and its so-called separate parts. They think that their net, their beliefs, religions, prayers, mental projections, meditative techniques, and customs are ensuring that they remain very safe. But the net is a net… a limiting, fragmentary, man-made trap that is not helping in a holistic and truly healthy way. One cannot easily kick or leave the trap because one’s very foundation and mental constitution consists of the trap. It is very arduous to go beyond the trap but it is not so difficult if wise/keen and very pure perception occurs without all of the nettings that were crammed into (and around) one over the many years. To look without the known involves no learned technique, no remembered procedure.

That turtle, many years ago, cared more about freedom than most people do in this very nutty age… (with callous, narcissistic, dictatorial leaders popping up worldwide like mushrooms). Their well-designed traps were carefully fabricated to entrap you.

Baby Snapping Turtle (1) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2020

Baby Snapping Turtle (2) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2020
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Something is Fishy about Staying at Home Here… (2 pics and a video)…

May 18, 2020
44 comments

A man who doesn’t merely sugar-coat stuff and (lie like a snake), Governor Andrew Cuomo recently stated, “Do not underestimate this virus. It has beaten us at every turn, and it has surprised us at every turn. Don’t take it lightly. Don’t underestimate it. I believe the facts will change as we go forward. The more we learn about the virus, the more the facts change, and the worse it gets.”

With this Covid-19 situation going on, some people are going absolutely bonkers with regard to staying at home. Some people are vehemently protesting the staying at home orders. All this while most people see professional medical experts’ recommendations to stay home as being very insightful, intelligent, fact and data-based, and beneficial; many people don’t mind staying at home. We live in a very rural area, so we can go to nature areas without contacting people. At our home, we don’t have to go out to be close to nature; nature is part of the essence and foundation of our living space. (We have — and have had — dogs, birds, tropical fish, shrimp, and praying mantises; not that animals can ever truly be “owned”.)

I’ve kept tropical fish for around 59 years so far. Right now i maintain around 700 gallons of aquariums. Aquariums are a very relaxing, educational, and beautiful way of keeping nature within your own home. (Many apartments, where pets are not allowed, allow aquariums.) Think about getting one for yourself. Many can be maintained without a heater. Most tropical fish, despite what the stores tell you, do very well in aquariums kept at room temperature. Petco periodically has “$1 per gallon” sales, wherein you can get a 20 Gallon Long aquarium for $20 or a 40 Gallon Breeder aquarium for $40. Air pumps from Walmart cost around $10 and can run 2 or 3 aquariums at only 4 watts. Walmart sells natural gravel. Many home-bred fish, like Endlers Guppies or hardy Corydoras Catfish (or very colorful Shrimp), can be purchased on eBay.

Most all of my aquariums have live plants. There are all kinds of very beautiful live plants that you can get and they can be very enjoyable to raise and reproduce. Some of my aquariums have shrimp instead of fish, or shrimp combined with small fish.

The following well-done, short video is by Lucas Bretz, where he talks about the “Staying at Home” thing and aquariums. I disagree with him on a number of things regarding the way aquariums should be maintained but there are a number of good ways to keep aquariums that all work well. I met Lucas at an Aquarium Auction/Swap in Champaign, Illinois, and i gave him some young Daisy Neon Blue Ricefish that i bred. Daisy’s are extinct in the wild — due to pollution — and only aquarium enthusiasts like myself and others are keeping them alive. Cory (of Aquarium Co-op) is another great source for videos and aquarium plants and supplies. Prime Time Aquatics is also a great video source. LRB Aquatics sells home-bred fish, shrimp, and plants online.

Below are two different shots of my 8 feet long Angelfish aquarium.

Angelfish and Italian Val Plants … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2020
Large Aquarium with Angelfish, Emerald Corydoras Catfish, and Ivory Mystery Snails … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2020
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Goodness and Fear

May 11, 2020
24 comments

It is intelligent to be fearful during this Covid-19 thing. Not being fearful would be a form of foolishness and ignorance. Fear has its place. Is one separate from the fear that one has? Well, one doesn’t merely “have” or “own” fear. Psychological fear is actually part of what one is. If that part gets to be too habitual, too excessive, too dominant… then unnecessary disorder manifests. What is it that is going to “get rid” of excessive fear? What is it that is going to “control” fear from a distance? Is it going to be a supposedly separate set of habitual fabricated images and “learned mental patterns” that are designed to think that they are manipulating fears that are “there” (at a distance) to manipulate? (Such supposed psychological distance is fallacious and is a barbaric inheritance that maintains conflict and illusion. The internal psychological distance creates a false duality; it manifests as the “controller” and the supposed separate “controlled.”)

Security is important in terms of being healthy with food, clothing, and shelter. However, in the quest for mere self-oriented security, the mind-heart can become cold, mechanical, robot-like, over-anxious, and dependent upon strange and unethical patterns. Of course, in the present crisis, if you do not have enough food, fear is a very legitimate factor; good governments and groups need to do more to help people; currently, they are not doing enough. When i was young — and not so young — i quit a good number of jobs because i did not feel that what they were doing (or making) in them was ethical. I left quickly without much concern for what may happen to me. I like what Senator Bernie Sanders recently said: “We must break away from the worldview that everybody should try to become a billionaire — and you can lie, cheat, and steal if your goal is to make billions and not pay attention to the suffering of others.”

Life, real life, is so much more than a Monopoly game.
Compassion, these days, is not prevalent enough. But $ in people’s brains certainly is. Many cling to the apron strings of $ and security… and the real joy, extraordinary spiritual bliss, and meaning of life, unfortunately, pass them by. (Kudos to truly dedicated medical staff and other critical needs and essential needs people working at risk — selflessly — to help others in these very precarious times.)

We think internal fear is there to manipulate (at some kind of distance) and we think organisms that suffer are merely “there at a distance.” We may have been taught wrongly.

Mushrooms don’t have to Social Distance. Photo by Thomas Peace (from a distance) c. 2020.
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Why are so few of “wholeness”?

May 4, 2020
19 comments

Why do so few people perceive the whole? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Perhaps the question itself is a wrong (i.e., faulty) question. It may be that wholeness is simply “what is” beyond the dualistic, separative perception involving an “observer” and “that which is observed.”

Very few people are of wholeness, though (certainly) a good number think that they are. Most people are of fragmentation… perceiving from — and through — that fragmentation. We were taught, by elders, about how to perceive, how to react, and about what to believe in. We live in (and “as”) mental symbols; we accept those virtual-mental symbols as true realities. Most of us stay in the rut of that limitation, that conditioning, and remain that way until the day we die. Is that ever really living?

Throughout school, we were not encouraged to question things deeply; we were not encouraged to go beyond the accepted values and the accepted ways of perceiving things. Man, throughout the ages, evolved from animals; we (being so-called sophisticated animals) still harbor basic instincts for focusing on elemental parameters, (just like the animals do… only what we do is a bit more “sophisticated”). Few of us go beyond that. You could count those (living wholly) on one hand. What is the sound of one hand clapping?

Through eons of conditioning over generations, people are locked into reacting as they inevitably do. The following video, by Donald Hoffman, is worth a watch; it has its limitations, but it helps to illustrate some about what one has been saying for a long time. (With other of his video/audio sessions, one feels that he relies too much on old, fragmented, mathematical, and speculative approaches that can leave us merely analyzing ad infinitum.)
Is, by the way, the watcher separate from the watched?

This is not a toad… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2020
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Covid-19 and the Future

April 3, 2020
32 comments

This Covid-19 thing is affecting us all worldwide. We are all in this together. Clairvoyance, or whatever you wish to call it, tends to run in our family. My mother certainly had it, and i tend to have it. I’ve told my wife, for many years, that a terribly virulent virus or germ would be devastating to the human race. I had that “vision” when i was a kid and never forgot what it meant. I also, when i was a kid, saw that humans would pollute the world in very globally lethal ways. (Just a few months ago, one Thursday morning, i had a vision that i was precariously going into the side of a fast-moving Mack truck; the truck was coming from my right and going to the left… in the “vision”. I always go to grocery shop on Thursdays, so i bravely went to shop at our local Walmart, in spite of my vision. I was very cautious. I got groceries and was almost all the way home and thought, “Well that was an unusual false-alarm, thank goodness.” Then, about a mere half-mile from home, i came to a four-way stop. I came to a full stop, was about to proceed when a huge Mack truck came barreling through the intersection without stopping. I was glad that i hesitated at that stop. I was facing south; the truck was coming from the west going east… coming from the right of me and going to the left of me.)

Nature has a way of teaching us lessons. Right now the air across America is getting cleaner — so the scientists say — and the environment is getting healthier, from far less jets in the air and fewer cars on the road. Healthy environments usually produce healthy organisms; sick environments usually produce sick, diseased organisms.
Nature has a way of teaching us lessons. But we have to listen.

Shrooms … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2020

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From: March from a Clockwork Orange

February 25, 2020
46 comments

 

 

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

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The Controller of Thought

November 29, 2019
13 comments

[This post is very similar to a recent post, but reiterating some things is necessary (for it to possibly “sink in”); there are also some new twists.

This will end my posts now for a while (as i had scheduled them); i will take a break (after my recent heart attack) and will not be posting for a while. My cardiologist said that my heart sustained minimal damage, which is good. He said, “Let this be a warning sign.” Warning sign! I was living like a monk and doing everything right! Hopefully, the medication that they are giving me will help keep the bad things from progressing… even though i am no huge fan of Big Pharma.]

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Is there a separate controller of thought? Or is such a “separate controller” a product (an extension) of thought itself? Despite what we were taught, it really is the latter. Thought/thinking is a field or sequence of reactions. Positing that a separate controller exists just extends one’s (learned) attachment for some dominating factor, imagined powerful center, or “internal boss.” A very orderly mind can function quite nicely, thank you, without believing in some fictitious (imagined) boss as its “center.”

When someone states “I meditate for 20 minutes a day,” it implies, for one thing, that meditation is something that one can “decide” to do, and it additionally implies that there is a separate “controller” or “regulator,” a dominating entity that makes decisions controlling the thought process.
However, the real facts may be that all thoughts are totally conditioned reactions (i.e., symbolic responses to stimuli) and that positing a real “center” or “controller” directly contributes to crude, limited fields of separation. For example, there is the supposed separation between the controller and his or her thoughts. But the inner “controller” is an extension or protrusion of thought and is not at all separate from what thought is. (As we’ve said before, when one speaks to others, one must occasionally use the words “I” or “me,” even though such usage is rather primitive and involves a rather barbaric language system.) However, often thinking (or projecting) a central “I” internally tends to give one a fragmentary, separative view towards others, toward other life forms, and it even creates internal separation/conflict: “me” and the separate thoughts that “I” manipulate. This internal separation then (obviously) extends outwardly into the world. “I” am separate from their suffering… or nature is separate from “me.” The aforementioned sentence is an example of a very primitive, distorted, mindset; such mindsets are, unfortunately, very common, hence all of the indifference and lack of love existing in the world.

True meditation does not occur as a result of some thought process. All thought processes are secondhand (conditioned) reactions (i.e., aftereffects) and a mere secondhand reaction (or set of reactions) can never decide to be what is whole and beyond reaction. Meditation is a thing that occurs uninvited when the mind is not foolishly trying to make it happen. Realizing that one is not something separate from a series of thoughts (as those thoughts are taking place) involves wisdom that allows true meditation to take place. And, as we’ve written before, one cannot merely “know” that one is meditating; it is beyond the field of the known.

The beauty of meditation is that its wholeness and purity may allow the mind to see and exist beyond limitation. That limitlessness is of the eternal, beyond distortion.

Ant on Wild Celery Plant … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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Song Poem about The Future (unless we change)…

November 25, 2019
6 comments

 

 

Once there was a twice
        and then three times
Twice there was a once
        and then three times

Once there was great green earth
        and no crazy endless raging fires
Once there was clear ocean
        with everything freshly alive
with everything freshly alive…

Once fossil-fuel cars and trucks
         and redgreenyellow stop lights
Now there’s empty rust and black smog
        while nothing much is alive
while nothing much is alive

Once we made dead plastic
        we mindlessly tossed it all around
Now it’s a veryonceuponatimeplace
        where life used to be

Once there was heaven
         fresh air butterflies soaring sweetly in sun
Now a lot of toxic dead ocean smell
        and large bipedal mammals there are none
there are none

Once there was a twice
         and then three times
Twice there was a once
         and then three times

Once there was a Katydid. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Aloneness

November 22, 2019
7 comments

Real aloneness is that independence from all “influence.” It is that innocence that occurs when the mind is not tethered to achieving more and more and still more. It is to stand alone away from all influence, from all beliefs, traditions, suppositions, habits, fears, and conclusions. (Besides, beliefs and many iron-clad traditions tend to divide people and cause havoc in the world.)

Aloneness is when, without planning or effort, the mind is of an intelligent emptiness beyond mere thoughts and thinking. It does not occur when the mind consists of desires to get something out of such emptiness. Ambition and expectation have nothing to do with such emptiness manifesting. There is no acquisition or reaping involved with such emptiness. You don’t make yourself empty to “get something.”

When the limitations of thought/thinking in (and “as”) consciousness are intelligently seen, then there may be an abnegation due to seeing the false as the false. Clinging to falsities and limitations may involve effort akin to hugging onto shadows persistently.

That aloneness, that emptiness that is beyond falsities, is like an uncontaminated sky that is open, pure, and unspoiled by the activities of man.

An alone Grasshopper … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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If one knows that one is meditating, meditation isn’t there.

November 19, 2019
4 comments

If one knows that one is meditating,
meditation isn’t there.
If one knows that one is whole,
wholeness isn’t there.
If one knows that one is humble,
humility isn’t there.
If one knows that one is quiet,
quietness isn’t there.
If one knows that one is spiritual,
spirituality isn’t there.
If one cultivates simplicity,
simpleness isn’t there.
If one cultivates perception,
insight isn’t there.

Who is pulling my leg from down there? Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Take one step at a time, they said…

November 18, 2019
7 comments

Take one step at a time, they said.
But the steps,
if one steps enough,
are not separate from time.

And one step at a time
is too slow and mechanical
and ordinary.

So, we flew beyond what they
said to do.
We flew beyond their stale,
traditional ways.

We didn’t do it one step
at a time,
according to the patterns
and points that they
all so narrowmindedly accepted.

Cabbage Butterfly (female) taking it one step at a time. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

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Human Motives

November 15, 2019
8 comments

Much of what we do involves motive. Our reactions, throughout the day, largely emanate from motives. Oftentimes these motives are learned (i.e., absorbed) habitual responses, and the end-products (that they unfold into) usually are rather mundane and ordinary. The ramifications of this tend to be conformity, sameness, and a lack of real perception and real creativity.

Such sameness and conformity may not at all be beneficial for life as a whole. Superficial motives often keep one in stagnation, while imitating others. Such habitual motives are a form of inaction and are a wastage of energy. Beliefs stem from motives, and beliefs (with their separative groups) tend to cause division in the world.

The innocent/wise mind, throughout the day, can often look without mere motive. Such looking, such perception, is uncontaminated, whole, and pristine. Seeing beyond the ordinary, it flowers in insights and depth not merely dependent upon direction. Mere motive always has a direction. Such direction corrupts. Only what is beyond direction and motive can, perhaps, commune with the timeless, the immeasurable whole.

Hover Fly on Eastern Daisy Wildflower … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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Wordless Wednesday… Not… Vegetarian Mosquito

November 13, 2019
10 comments

When the vegetarian cameraman
took aim at the vegetarian mosquito
no one there was
(really)
out for blood

Vegetarian Saltmarsh Mosquito … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
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Barney the Bullheaded Bullfrog

November 12, 2019
14 comments

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

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

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

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

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Update on my Recent Heart Attack

November 8, 2019
37 comments

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

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

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

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

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Third Time’s a Charm… (i.e., further adventures of our very diligent Ant friend)

November 6, 2019
9 comments

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…” 






Hauling Beetle Meat to the Colony. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019






					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Humanity

		

			
November 5, 2019

							

				6 comments				

								

	


			

			


They scramble and they gamble
and they weep and they run
They wiggle and giggle
and they tan toast in sun


They piddle and paddle… 
pull dandelions from fresh grass
and waddle and dawdle 
and fish for striped bass


They fumble and they tumble
and they struggle in time
They chisel and they grizzle
and they wrote this short rhyme








Emerging Cone-flower … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Today is my Birthday, and here’s a little, true story concerning it (that you can unbelieve). Two Photos…

		

			
November 4, 2019

							

				33 comments				

								

	


			

			

[First, a few quick notes:  1. Albert Einstein, a vegetarian, and pacifist, had some of the best ideas about how to end all wars.  For instance, he advocated countries systematically, in an intelligent and coordinated fashion, exchanging military personal on an equal basis, thereby making invasions into other countries (because of nefarious goals) rather impossible.  But people don’t tend to listen to pacifists.
2. Most people just do not see the gravity of certain things, the seriousness of certain important things; they are oblivious, conform and fall in line, and life passes them by… and the many miracles never happen.]
3. This may not have much to do with anything, but here are what i hear as lyrics in the YouTube video of the Dharma for One song, as sung by Jethro Tull (live) at the Isle of Wright Festival. (This song, played in their first album, did not originally have any words/lyrics.)





Dharma, seek and you will find
Truth within your mind, Dharma.
Dharma, each to his own we say,
Together we’ll end our stream, Dharma.
Dharma, mad-time confusion burns,
Seek-money never learns, Dharma.
Truth is like freedom, it doesn’t fool me,
Being true to yourself, never think that you’re free.
Dharma will come eventually, Tao.
Dharma, Dharma…
Dharma, each to his own we sing,
Together we’ll end our stream, Dharma.
_________________________________________________________________________





Today is my birthday.  I was born on November 4th, 1951.  When i was the age to be eligible to be drafted (or not) concerning the Vietnam war, i was very concerned about what my draft number — according to the U.S.A. Draft Lottery — would be.  I was (and still am) a pacifist and was not at all interested in going to war;  i am a vegetarian; i don’t even care to contribute to the killing of animals.  The lower the draft number that one is assigned, out of 365 (366), the higher the chances of you being drafted.  Draft numbers were selected and assigned, via a Draft Lottery, according to your date of birth; the Draft Lottery, which was held to determine the draft status for my age-group, was held on December 1, 1970.  So what was my draft number — assigned to my date of birth — after the Draft Lottery was completed?  It was 39.  I detested that number.  I still detest it.  It, being a very low number, meant that i definitely would be selected to go to the war.  I was very disquieted about my “very draftable” draft number of 39.  Circumstances being what they were, i went to college, where a student deferment was applicable.  Later, when student deferments were terminated, i had to — because of my low 39 daft number —  submit extensive paperwork requesting conscientious objector status.   





So, while in college, around the time that i was becoming a vegetarian, i was visiting a friend of mine in his dormitory room.  He and i were both avid fishermen; we would often go fishing together (on the weekends).  On that particular day, my friend was not feeling well, so he could not go fishing with me (after i had invited him to).  Right before i left his room, he gave me — following our brief discussion about music — a large Jethro Tull LP record album that i had never heard or seen before; it was the first album that the group had ever made.  Since i liked the group, i thanked him for lending me the album; i left his dormitory room, and put the album on my bed, face up.  (I did not look at the back of the album cover.)  I went fishing.





I went fishing, alone, at the campus lake.  As i fished, i began feeling immensely connected with the fish.  One began seeing them as not being separate from what one was.  I began seeing their pain as my pain… (or, rather, the “I” was absent and one was everything that was around).  Around the same time at the lake, i began feeling like someone or something was watching the fishing; it was a very definite feeling, and i felt very embarrassed to be “seen” fishing (although no one was physically around).  





I went back to my dormitory room, without any fish.  After a short while, after relaxing a bit, i went over to the record album, that was on my bed, that my friend had given to me,  looked at it and (when about to play it) turned it around to look at the back cover.  The following is a picture of the album’s back cover.  The album, released in the U.S. in February of 1969, is titled “This Was.”










This Was … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019






					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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To Exist as Nothing Psychologically

		

			
November 1, 2019

							

				3 comments				

								

	


			

			

To exist as nothing, psychologically, is not an unfavorable, weak state.  Going beyond everything that you have been and believe in — instantly, without motive — is one of the most positive things, for it is of innocence, wholeness (beyond fragmentary reactions), and freedom.  In fact, always continuing as mere reaction (from the old memory bank of stale ideas and images) is the continuation of sorrow.  Sorrow must inevitably occur when mental things are second-hand and are constituted of mere reactions.  Of course, thought/thinking must frequently manifest for one to do certain necessary things proficiently, with care.  However, remaining in (and “as”) thought/thinking habitually, when such thinking is unnecessary, is sorrow and over-reacting.  (It’s like endlessly clinging to a stream of shadows when — with deeper awareness — such shadows can be seen to be superficial and often rather insignificant.) 





We, unfortunately, were miseducated to associate internal emptiness with internal poverty.  Pure, uncontaminated, psychological emptiness is the most positive action, for it is of a pristine, orderly wholeness; merely being the reaction of thinking, however, is essentially inaction… dullness.  Unfabricated emptiness is of a wholeness that is beyond mere sequential reaction in (and “as”) time; in that is vast energy, real freedom.  





Monarch Madness … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Update on my new Heart Condition… (and The Frightening Halloween Story That is True)

		

			
October 29, 2019

							

				39 comments				

								

	


			

			






[Over the weekend, i had a heart attack and went to the hospital.  I’ve been a strict vegetarian since 1973, and this sudden heart thing — with arterial blockage and all — certainly came as a big shock; this is especially since, lately, i’ve been eating mostly just whole, organic foods… and i was no longer eating eggs, while the cheese that i ate, twice a week, was “no-fat cheese,” with just a little organic regular cheese sprinkled on top (additionally).  I’ve been exercising daily, for years, on an indoor Schwinn bike.  Heart disease runs in my family and, apparently, heredity plays a way bigger role in this than i had suspected.  I didn’t get any stents; i had 40% to 50% blockage (in a curved area that is an undesirable site to place stents in); additionally, i had 100% blockage in a much smaller but significant artery.   So they are treating me with medication.  One of the medications that they are giving me is Lipitor, to help reduce LDL cholesterol, but my LDL levels are already low.  I am back home and am doing well so far.  I will not likely be making comments to my blogs (like i did in the past) for a  while, and i probably will not be visiting other blogs as much, like i did in the past.  The upcoming posts that i had made and had prescheduled (such as this one, below) will continue for a little while; after that, i will likely just post once or twice a week at the most.  Thank you for your consideration and support!  Tom] 





A few years back, around this time of year, i was taking a little nap on the living room floor while Marla, my wonderful wife, was watching television.  I was wearing shorts, and when i woke up and looked toward my legs, i saw a really huge spider suddenly run from my leg area.  Since i’ve been a nature-lover all of my life, constantly examining and appreciating insects, spiders, frogs, snakes, and stuff on an ongoing basis, i did not panic.  I  caught the very large spider and put it in a glass jar.  I did take photos of it back then.  It was a Fishing Spider.  Fishing Spiders tend to live around water, and we live right on a river.  This spider was so very huge; i wondered how on earth it could have gotten into our modern, well-sealed house, but it did!  This one looked like a tarantula; Fishing Spiders can get to be over 3 inches (8 cm) across.  Anyway, i released the spider safely into our backyard by the river.  





Later that evening, i noticed that on one of my legs, i had two sizable fang marks.  No doubt, they were from the huge spider.  I kid you not — and Marla can verify this — i had those fang mark scars on my leg for 3 to 4 months.  I did not have any swelling or noticeable side-effects (except for a little craving to eat insects now and then)…tee-hee.  So, this large spider probably ingested some of my blood (and blood DNA).  Fishing Spiders can inject venom, but it is not dangerous to humans unless you are allergic to it.





So, the story ends… NOT!  Just a little while ago, Marla spotted a big Fishing Spider on the front outside wall of our home.  I took pictures of it, thinking that it would be perfect for Halloween.   It had a big egg-case that it was protecting.  I did not disturb it or harm it, of course, since it could be an offspring from the aforementioned spider that bit me.  Epidemiological studies suggest that DNA ingested by animals can directly influence future generations and future evolutionary trends for that animal.  These spiders could be carrying around my DNA.  





Come home to papa!   Thanks for showing me the egg-case of the little babies you have made!   I feel so proud!    🙂
(I’ll post another photo of this beauty on Wednesday.)










Fishing Spider (1) Ain’t She A Beauty?!  Photo by Thomas Peace c.2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Halloween Praying Mantis

		

			
October 28, 2019

							

				11 comments				

								

	


			

			


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.]






Chameleonic Praying Mantis. … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2019 

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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The Big Bad Wolf on Halloween, and Other Creepy Tales of Old…

		

			
October 26, 2019

							

				14 comments				

								

	


			

			

We represent the Lollypop Guild, The Lollypop Guild, The Lollypop Guild
And in the name of the Lollypop Guild,
We wish to welcome you to Munchkinland.
We welcome you to Munchkinland,





Tra la la la la, la la la, la la la,
Tra la la la la, la la.





The Munchkins Lollipop Guild …. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019 










Then the wolf showed his teeth and said:





“Then I’ll huff,
and I’ll puff,
and I’ll blow your house down.”










“Well, then please use mouthwash,” said the three little pigs, “Your breath is strong enough to kill an elephant.”  










The Three Little Pigs … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019










Yet another truly horrifying story:





You, having a bad hair day, reading this stupid 
Halloween Blog while
at your computer.  










You, at your computer. … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Latest Sierra Club News as of October 2019

		

			
October 25, 2019

							

				20 comments				

								

	


			

			






(Please “like” this post if you perceive the seriousness of it, not because you like what is happening.)





The remote Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean are covered by 413.6 million pieces of plastic debris weighing 262 tons.  





People around the world could be ingesting five grams of microplastic each week, the equivalent of eating a credit card.  





July 2019 surpasses July 2016 as the hottest month in recorded history.





Emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane from ammonia-fertilizer plants are 100 times greater than what’s reported by the industry.





So far this year, 182 dead gray whales have washed up along the Pacific Coast, many likely having starved to death because of changing fish populations in warming waters.





In April 2019, for the first time ever, more US electricity generation came from renewables than from coal.





Human activity threatens 1 million species of plants and animals with extinction.





A heatwave bakes India. Temperatures in Rajasthan reach 123 degrees F, and the four reservoirs that supply Chennai (population 9.1 million) go dry.





Republican lawmakers in 18 states want to criminalize protests against fossil fuel infrastructure, like pipelines.





By the end of 2018, 11 million people were employed in renewable energy worldwide.





Current White House officials suppress State Department testimony that human-caused climate change will be “possibly catastrophic.”





More than 1.8 million people object to a Trump proposal to strip gray wolves of endangered species protections. 










Wild Thistle … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Wordless Wednesday… Not! Halloween Theme

		

			
October 23, 2019

							

				11 comments				

								

	


			

			






To disturb others with words
on a Wordless Wednesday
is a grave mistake
in a dark cemetery of verbal spiders





Wordless Webbing … Not!  Photo by Thomas Peace c.2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Halloween Time

		

			
October 22, 2019

							

				20 comments				

								

	


			

			

Houses running to adjacent houses
bags opening smiles rustling
spooky sounds from darkness growling





Halloween Time
comes laughinglyscreaming down the giggling sidewalks 
of candydropping thankyous





Don’t look behind you
Something’s there twistinglyclutching
Shadowysoon under your midnight bed










Something’s staring from that web.  … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019












					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Ant close-up (Yikes! for Halloween)… (Three Photos)…

		

			
October 19, 2019

							

				13 comments				

								

	


			

			











Good Grief!  With even closer macro shots…  we can see that some of the ants wear ties!   (They are better dressed than the photographer!)





Ant wearing Tie (macro) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019










Vegan Shot   (you are what you eat)…





Vegan Shot … (You are what you eat.)  … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019










Just another one of you meat-eaters. 





Just another one of you meat-eaters.  … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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The Precarious Times We Live In…

		

			
October 18, 2019

							

				13 comments				

								

	


			

			
 


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.    


 




Ants caring for their young (larvae).  Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Eyes of Starry Nights

		

			
October 15, 2019

							

				26 comments				

								

	


			

			
 


 


 




Prepare the later afternoon of me myself—prepare my lengthen-
ing shadows,


Prepare my starry nights.   — Walt Whitman


 


 


______________________________________________________________________________________________________


­


 


 


­


­


Being that
the perceiver is the perceived,


these soon to be starry nights
find themselves in your foreseeing eyes.


 


My long shadow and yours will coincide.


May we blend in a timeless wholeness
so very much vaster than mere ending
and so very truer than mere fragments.  




 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 




Grasshopper Shadow & Eyes … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019











					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Meditation

		

			
October 11, 2019

							

				20 comments				

								

	


			

			
 


I’ve read statements by people, in blogs and elsewhere, where they say, for example, “I meditate for 20 minutes a day.”   


Please!


Meditation cannot be practiced.  It is a quietude of the mind that is not made by some projected image of a central controller.  There is no central controller, or “I,” or “me” that can cause meditation.  Meditation is not a mere sequential effect or event (in time) brought about by some predetermined cause (i.e., by some form of causality).  True meditation is timeless and is not what can occur by any methodology in (and “as”) psychological time.  If you think that you are causing so-called meditation to happen for a specified period of time (each day or whatever), it is —  unfortunately — a form of glorified self-hypnosis. 


Real meditation is not even what one can “know” is happening.  It is beyond the field of the known.  One can neither practice it nor know that it is happening… and that is its beauty.  But most people are so addicted to their need to categorize and “know” things that they feel frightened or insecure with not existing (mentally) as the known.  They perpetually cling to the apron-strings of the known.  They have to know that they are meditating or know that they are practicing meditation… all of which are not real meditation whatsoever.  


Or they say such things as, “Well I am working on perfecting my meditation,”… or “I am practicing my meditation more and more each day.”  Who (or what) is this so-called “I” that is supposedly doing such things?  Really, if we are at all honest, it is a protrusion of thought (i.e., an image created by thought) that takes credit for being a central controller or central (mental) orchestrator, of which it is (in actuality) neither.  Most people — plain and simply — are afraid to transcend the false sense of security that the primitive notion of a central “I” projects as.   However, a false (fabricated) central “I” that thinks it is meditating is neither meditating, nor an actuality, nor truly central.  (Past blogs that one has written explain this more; read them if confusion exists at this point.) 


Real meditation may occur when the mind, without effort, is aware beyond superficiality.  That means that it is not merely attached to the field of the known.   The known is always limited; it is grossly circumscribed.  Wisdom is meditation, a non-concocted quietness, which may happen throughout the day without deliberate intent.  Then, perhaps, what is eternal, sacred, unlimited, and beyond words may enter.  But it does not enter if false notions, false practices, and false images are perpetually clung to.   


Real meditation can be a blossoming of the mind.   But if you (metaphorically) cling to fake, fabricated flowers all of your life, nothing profound will happen.


 




The Beauty of Real (not fake) Flowers.  … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Fourteen Steps Climbed to the Top

		

			
October 8, 2019

							

				26 comments				

								

	


			

			


Fourteen steps climbed to the top
from the bottom
An hour and fifteen minutes moved a short hand
and a long hand
One fishing line ignorantly reeled in
what it thought it wasn’t
Three opinions typed what
was surely right
Seven sayings scanned the screen
in a zigzag fashion
Thirty-seven pieces of candy
looked forward to Halloween
Twenty-five Black-Eyed Susans were arrested
for trespassing










A breach on humanity.  … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Carnivorous Capers…  (i.e., our Ant friend is still at it!)

		

			
October 7, 2019

							

				22 comments				

								

	


			

			
 


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! 


 




Wonderful Meat-find #2 … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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That Sacredness

		

			
October 4, 2019

							

				13 comments				

								

	


			

			
 


There is a vast, timeless sacredness that is beyond the illusory patterns of the world.  It did not create this world and it rarely manifests itself to those in it.  (The creation of the world or universe by a separate, calculating deity is a rather barbaric conceptualization inherited from our ancient forebearers.)   This sacredness is ineffable; it is beyond words and the representation of words.  (Most all words are symbols and are merely representations.)  It is beyond the framework of time.  All sequential patterns of words (and mental images) are time.  What is merely caught in time cannot touch or approach the timeless.  There is an innocence, a wholeness of mind, beyond thought/thinking, that can be open to a visitation of this timelessness, (and that can also involve insights that may be reflections from such timelessness).  Theories and beliefs have nothing to do with it.  


It can only visit you; you cannot visit (or approach it).  The “you” (i.e., that learned image of a “central me”), anyway, cannot merely exist as the illusion that it is (for a likely communion with that timelessness to take place).  Mankind, for the most part, being caught in rather vapid sequential symbols of thought/thinking, tends to go on suffering, go on in limitation and time.


 




Buckeye Butterfly in nice Fall colors … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Wordless Wednesday … Not!   …  (Halloween Moon-landing Style!)

		

			
October 2, 2019

							

				34 comments				

								

	


			

			
 


“That’s one small step for arachnid, one giant leap for arachnidkind.”


______________________________________________________________________________


They beat us to it.  


Neil Armstrong didn’t realize that he had a spider hitching a ride on his spacesuit (and that it jumped off and was what actually took the first lunar step). 🙂 


 




Neil Armstrong didn’t realize that he had a spider hitching a ride on his spacesuit (and that it jumped off and was what actually took the first lunar step).     🙂    … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019






					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Clock of Prejudice and Non-

		

			
October 1, 2019

							

				30 comments				

								

	


			

			


There was a clock
      with many hands


And the space between a certain hand
      at a specific area of the face
      (i.e., that limited space between the hand and the face)
      constituted a certain consciousness


Now each of the hands had different lengths and colors
      and different numerals and experiences upon the face
      to go through


There were black hands with long lengths
      there were white hands with short lengths
      there were wide little yellow hands
      there were thin long red hands


For one space of a hand to hate another space of a distant hand
      was insanity
      since each hand was a part of the same one clock


For one space of a hand 
      at four
      to want to eventually be wiser at eight
      was foolish
      since the space at four 
      could never really be the space at eight


Unless the space at four
      could fully realize that
      it was the space of all of the other hands


There is the limited little dull space of the segregated self
      and there is the not-so-limited timeless space of vast intelligence
      vast compassion


Which would you rather be?


One takes no time whatsoever to get to






Timely Droplets within Spiderweb … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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An Ant’s Perspective of Bigness

		

			
September 30, 2019

							

				28 comments				

								

	


			

			


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






On the way to the colony …  Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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The Sensitivity of Living Creatures

		

			
September 27, 2019

							

				15 comments				

								

	


			

			
 


Each living creature of life has a sensitive vibration of feeling, and many have a cherished awareness.  We human beings somehow think that ours is “superior,” better, and magnificent.  However, with much of our fancy ideas and thinking, we are destroying the ecological balance of the whole… of the globe.  We perceive and think in the ways that we were taught to perceive and think… primarily in parts, fragmentarily.  We see the so-called “outer environment” fragmentally, as what can be used piecemeal, to be exploited, manipulated, and used.  


However, the so-called outer is really not separate from the inner.  The observer is not separate from the observed.  Similarly, space and matter are not separate from what time is.  We are of matter’s (thought’s) doings; we are thought, time, and the movement of time.  The intelligence of meditation takes place when thought is not merely habitual and endless.  Thought/thinking is always partial, always fragmentary, and sequential.  Real meditation is consciousness beyond the stirrings of its content; it is an effortless, unplanned, holistic quietness beyond mere fragmentation and sequential patterns.   The timeless can only reveal itself when the mind intelligently perceives beyond the fragmentary movement of its content.  


 




Grasshopper enjoying the view … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Wordless Wednesday… Not!

		

			
September 25, 2019

							

				25 comments				

								

	


			

			


Are you a word, an image
     that you cling to,
     that is claimed to have “control of all the other words”? 










Bumble in the Jungle … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Winged and Ready

		

			
September 24, 2019

							

				18 comments				

								

	


			

			


Winged and ready
         to softly swirl
a long way off from
         man’s sad sordid fabrications and smoggy surgings


Bright eyes see
         beyond miserable madness(musts and can’ts)
and will fly
         beyond stale circumscriptions


Will we succumb to whirlwinds of hard
         indifference?
Will they plant their deadness into
         our innocent minds?


That is up to you






Winged and Ready (Painted Lady) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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We were Educated Wrongly

		

			
September 23, 2019

							

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We
             (too many of us)
have treated nature as
             a thing to be used
to be exploited


and not as a living beautiful delicate
             extension of ourselves


to be guarded cherished protected
            respected
loved


           and cared for


 




Cardinal Wildflower — Lobelia cardinalis … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Violence

		

			
September 20, 2019

							

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Violence not only involves shooting bullets, war, causing bloodshed, and physically abusing people.  It often occurs in (and “as”) more subtle or less obvious forms that people do not perceive as what is involving violence.   Conformity, remaining in a mold that you were programmed to be in, indifference, and imitation are indicative of violence.  Many lick the boots of authority, stay trapped in narrow, separative views about being a superior race, country, or religious group.  Many of these things tend to separate people socially, religiously, globally, psychologically and otherwise… and are (whether we like to admit it or not) forms of violence, conflict.  Many of us worship authority and power, the people with a lot of money and influence, and many of us ignore the person who is bereft of much intelligence and financial success.  Many of us are ruthlessly competitive, which is a form of violence (that we were miseducated to accept and think is normal and wonderful)… while real compassion, much cooperation, and holistic awareness (in the classroom) are still rarely touched upon.


Educating children in a run-of-the-mill, standard, ordinary fashion is a form of violence.  Cramming 30 kids in a stale classroom and indoctrinating them to conform to a lemming-like existence, to be slaves and victims of comparison, competition, and separative views, is violence.  


Mindlessly doing things that pollute the environment, without deeply considering the consequences or trying to alter one’s behavior, are forms of violence.   One can go on and on, further upsetting people about the forms of violence that they contribute to (or that they may be involved in).  What about violence ending?  Merely trying to control violence may not be a full, prudent answer to ending violence.  Psychologically, the controller is not really separate from the controlled.  A broken, miseducated, limited mind, trying to control violence, will only go so far… to a very limited extent.  It will operate within (and “as”) the confinements of its limitation.  For violence to fundamentally end, the mind must go beyond its conditioning and limitations; it cannot likely do that if it comfortably remains circumscribed by the limitation of others.  Most people, of course, will just not care about this.  Limitation, imitation, and mere conformity seem to be the norm. 


 


 




Long Dash Skipper Butterfly … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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His inquietude made him what he was…

		

			
September 17, 2019

							

				18 comments				

								

	


			

			
 


 


His inquietude made him what he was…

     a repetitive jumble of endlessly clamoring

     mental symbols that were not realities

     (i.e., they were the typical unreal, fabricated images of the mind).


Her quietude was the immense beauty that she was…

     a comprehensive wholeness of undivided reality,

     actualities of timeless life movement beyond the known

     (i.e., beyond mere superficial symbols of thought).


 


 


Neural Networks Personified … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019


 


 


 

					

	


			
				



	
	

		
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The Very Wise ToadMaster

		

			
September 16, 2019

							

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The very wise ToadMaster perched near the toadstool,

and with his croaky voice, he summoned all of the little tadpoles to swim up to the riverbank

to hear another lesson.


He, in his sagely way, bellowed, “Unfortunately, many of the upright, large apes — that we have mentioned in the past — foolishly refuse to judiciously see that they too evolved from swimming fish, even as you here, as swimming tadpoles (through a long passage of time), will soon be leaving your aquatic existence to join our terrestrial lot.  What is even more unfortunate is that the upright apes continue to mindlessly throw toxic debris into our water habitats and also

onto the beautiful terrestrial domain that you will all soon be graduating to.   

The upright, large apes continue to make things that destroy things.  The upright apes can be downright

destructive and dangerous, though some of them are very kind and considerate.  Overall, the whole world’s

life forms are all rapidly disappearing due to what these, large bipedal creatures are mindlessly doing.  Even as they claim that one of their kind is a God, they endlessly continue to pour cement and plastic over living things and spew out much toxic debris, killing our planet.  They often do what is called “mowing their lawn,” which they think is very beautiful (though such activity callously cuts and kills many precious creatures, including us amphibians.)  When you hop on land — which you all will be doing soon — do so with extreme caution, and avoid these large, bipedal creatures at all costs… and please

do your best to survive in the excessive heat (due to the climate rapidly changing).”


_____________________________________________________________________________________


If you have time, please watch the following 60 Minutes video on ocean plastic and pollution…


The Very Wise ToadMaster … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-cleaning-up-the-plastic-in-the-ocean-60-minutes-2019-08-18/

					

	


			
				



	
	

		
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It is Friday the 13th, and it is very unlucky to remain as illusion…

		

			
September 13, 2019

							

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More, yet again, is presented here on psychological time.  Most of us still function — in the psychological-sense — as if we are in time, as if we are (somehow) something separate from (or apart from) time.  The best scientists, including Albert Einstein, have told us that time and space are not two separate things; they have told us that spacetime is one holistic thing.  Yet we go on in this barbarian, primitive way… acting as if we are merely “in time” and not acting with the intelligence that sees that we are indeed what time is.   The thoughts that we exist as actually exist as networks of neurons and neural components in (and “as”) matter in our brains.  Our thoughts emanate from (and depend upon) a very material process… involving matter.  This matter — this brain oriented matter — must be constituted of physical materials just like what is contained in stars and planets.  This matter is, per se, a form of space.  And space and time are not two separate things; they are one.  They are different in their aspects, but they are one.  We are time (not merely in time).  


Now here is the crux of the matter (that we are pointing to).  Let’s say you wish to (psychologically) “get better” in time.  That distance, that is from where what exists “now” to what “you say you ‘will be'” takes up psychological space.  It is a limited (psychological) space projected concerning a “here” to “there.”  When you see someone of a very different familial or racial heritage than you, there often exists — in each of many people — a psychological space between “you” and “them,”  between your group and their group.  What we are suggesting is that the limited space of “here” to “there,” with your “I” or “me” psychologically “getting better in time” situation, is remarkably similar to the space separation with your “you” and “them” situation.   We are all extensions of the same holistic spacetime movement, and “as it,” in reality, we are not separate things.  Some perceptive people will see this; others (i.e., most) will just go on being stuck in primitive perspectives and will go on being greedy about the future and indifferent about others.   You are time; space too is what you are… and if that space is limited and illusory, consciousness will be limited and illusory.  If you merely remain as that limited space between “now” and “tomorrow,” and if you merely remain as that limited space between “you” and “them,” then primitive illusion is what you are; and primitive illusion is not separate from what suffering and ignorance is.  


Right now we are a society that gobbles up tons of synthetic pills (instead of solving the real, fundamental problems about health and mental wellbeing); we overpopulate the planet and do all kinds of hateful and callous things to “others”… including “other life forms.”  Many of us were miseducated to be stuck in indifference, separation, and blindness… and the wealthiest powers that be (at the top) are delighted… (although, in reality, they are suffering and are a tremendous cause of suffering).  


That timeless and immense perception can only occur when limitation is understood… when limitation ends psychologically.


 


 


Wild Blue Vervain and Bumblebee … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019

					

	


			
				



			

		
		

	
	

		
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Wordless Wednesday … Not!

		

			
September 11, 2019

							

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Looking beyond the darkness … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019


 


9/11 was an extraordinarily tragic thing.   Far worse than 9/11 is losing the ecological balance of the earth.  The earth is currently collapsing, nature-wise, because of our shortsightedness.  Heartless political forces, so-called big business, and indifferent so-called humans are zealously steering many of us in the wrong direction.  We all need to do much more.  A collapsing earth is a most terrible thing.   Stay local, use alternative energy, recycle, and vote green.    


 

					

	


			
				



	
	

		
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A Story-Poem (or Two)…

		

			
September 10, 2019

							

				31 comments				

								

	


			

			
 


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


Poem #1


 


Here in his hands

is a flowery treasure

with sweet petals and leaves

much joy beyond measure


He is of hopes and images where

as he ascends up in the elevator

flowing fields of smiling imaginary angels

open doors that were dreamt of later 


Can we lift a luminous whole

and bring new minds out of below

rise to the top ever so mindfully

in a towering highrise deep in the heart of Chicago?


 


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


Poem # 2


 


There was a pond

and every time a frog jumped into the pond

the pond became a little froggier 

a little splashier


There was a grasshopper

and every time he landed upon a weed

the weed became a little leggier

a little jumpier


There was a propagandizing political news-channel

and every time a person watched it

the television became a little duller

and a lot more dim-witted


 


 


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