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

“All the world’s a stage,” wrote William Shakespeare in “As You Like It.”  That stage, too, is the mind and the perceptions of (and “as”) the mind.  Whatever characters — as the thoughts and mental images of the mind — that make an appearance on that stage are inevitably what was absorbed from imitating others or from copying and taking mental snapshots of the external world.  How these snapshots were taken and how they become rearranged, recognized, and recalled in (and “as”) consciousness has always involved learned and inherited processes.  Snapshots and thoughts are of a partial, piecemeal, fragmentary nature; they are never the complete essence of that which they try to capture.  The usage of supposed volition regarding the manipulation of these thoughts and images is itself sketchy and quite questionable, since — if truly intelligent observation is taking place — the “I” or supposed center that is allegedly manipulating is likely itself another specimen of the learned (sequential) images or thoughts.  Mentally, whatever appears upon the stage (of consciousness) is fundamentally old and of the past; this is because it comes from stored memory (which is always of the accumulated past).  Most of us are mentally existing as these images and thoughts (brought out and rearranged) from the past.  Most of us are living in the past.  

That stage — of consciousness — can exist (some of the time, anyway) without the components of the past making their appearance upon it.  Then there is no spurious volition; then there are no obtrusions from (and “as”) the past… neither in the form of thought-oriented symbols nor imagined visual (or auditory) snapshots.  Technique and practice have nothing to do with this, as techniques and practices are all extensions of the old, dead past.  Then the stage is not the same-old stage anymore.  

When the stage is truly empty naturally and intelligently, without having willed anything, or thought anything, or practiced anything, then it may be beyond the concocted, the old past, the symbolic, and the partial.  When that takes place, the stage is not of mere experience, partial images, learned symbols, and jaded characters.  You know, a limited little stage, with superficial dimensions, is what anyone can recognize and fill with the old and ordinary.  However, a living, dynamic, whole, uncorrupt, limitless (immeasurable) stage is another thing altogether.  Such a stage (in life) is beyond measurement by the antiquated patterns of the hoarded past.  

The learned image of self (or “me”) creates an intrinsic radius (from a center) and a circumference around itself… with limited space between what is considered the central “me” and that which is observed.  It is this learned image and absorbed space that helps manufacture a stage of limitation.  Such a stage,  with its concocted (or learned) center and a radius and circumference, is full of absorbed demarcations/boundaries.   Compassion can take place when the falsity of that stage is wisely perceived.   Such compassion involves eternity; it goes beyond the many limitations.  If it is not perceived with (and “as”) wholeness and integrity then there will not be much compassion.  There is no wholeness in a limited, false center (thinking that it is the center of the stage); such a center is partial and learned; neither does the limitless (which is not something that can merely be learned) manifest for such a center.

Two Together. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

There is space between what is seen outwardly (i.e., there in the outer environment) and — for most of us — there is space between what is considered the central controller (i.e., the “I”) and the other (controlled) thoughts.  It may be, however, that there is no space between the so-called central controller and the other thoughts whatsoever.  Correct perception would be the thoughts or images of the mind (including the thought of “I”) without the imagined space (of using them at a distance) that most people have (and “are”).  A mind with less self-deception would function more accurately with less friction and conflict than would a mind full of falsities and concocted limited space.  Asserting power and domination (inwardly), when it really isn’t there, may be one of the reasons why people assert power outwardly, trying to dominate over others (or other life forms) while not perceiving their true relationship with them.  True relationship, which often involves real compassion, insight, and holistic seeing, is what negates limited space and superficial domination.  So many of us extend outwardly what we are inwardly.  So many of us take this inward separation, domination, and limited space and (also) utilize it to look outwardly.  Indifference is often what then occurs.   All thought is limited, but thinking that one is something separate from thought (controlling it) from some sort of inward distance… is much more limited.

Instead, we can transcend inner (false) conflict, transcend separation (that really isn’t there if one sees accurately) and go beyond mere domination and isolation.  We can tear down the walls that separate and divide us.  We cannot do that fully, however, unless we go beyond our primitive inner separations and fragmentary ways.  We can do this.  There is something magical and whole beyond limited inner and outer perspectives, beyond mere (absorbed) limited space and conflict.  

Spring flowing. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

In photography, we want our cameras to be in good condition, with clear lenses that are not sullied with any debris or greasy smears.  If the lens of the camera is opaque or grimy, we take care of it immediately.

What about consciousness?  To be of keen understanding and discerning, holistic perception, the mind must be clear and untainted.  Distortion doesn’t perceive things for what they truly are; therefore, it is prudent to care to observe without twisted or tainted patterns or values.  A clear lens is a simple thing, even with complex, digital photography.  A clear lens is not burdened with a lot of fabricated symbols, onerous images, or profuse patterns; it is simple and pure.  The mind can be like that if it is lucky; but not if it is contaminated with the parameters and limitations that society implanted upon it.  Indeed, our rote structures of rather mechanical and/or separative observation (that we have learned and blindly accepted), including our so-called separative countries, political groups, religions, hypnotic (mat-sitting) techniques erroneously called meditation, and that so-called separate “internal controller, called ‘I’,” are all, whether we like it or not, contributing factors toward limited and contaminated perception.  Most of our mind-lenses are more than cloudy, yet we think we see just fine. 

Only an inner lens untouched by man can be of the purity to transcend distortion.

Black and White. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Black and White. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Often, in the backyard, there “is” the trees, the birds, and animals and no “me.”   The space between things (then) — like the clear parts of a dragonfly’s wings — does not separate them.

Beyond what was taught. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016