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True joy exists far deeper than superficial desires.
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[An avian friend… a small bird in a wooded area by a river. It is a Cedar Waxwing fledgling. Cedar Waxwings eat a lot of fruits and berries.]
Avian friend. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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To hate others involves despising images that are part of one’s own consciousness. Intelligently go beyond hate.
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[This is a Robber Fly. They thrive along woodland edges and are voracious predators. I often see them flying around looking for insect prey to snatch up. They can go after wasps, bees, flies, and even larger insects such as dragonflies.]
Quick and agile! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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I’ve seen the sunset from an eternal shore.
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[This is a Tree Cricket. Tree crickets are found around the world, in a variety of colors; they live in trees, shrubs, bushes, plants and grasses. If you’ve ever been outdoors in summer or autumn, day or night, there is an excellent chance that you have heard the loud and beautiful trilling songs of male tree crickets.]
Jiminy Cricket! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Feel and care beyond yourself.
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[This conglomeration of insects consists of Buckeye Butterflies, two or three Drone (Hover) flies, and other insects. Buckeye butterflies cannot survive freezing temperatures in any stage, so they must migrate south; otherwise, they will perish. Therefore, many Buckeyes that spend their summers in northern states, fly south to overwinter in Gulf Coast states such as Florida. The buckeyes enjoy being together often, and prefer to fly in open areas, where they sun themselves. Their wingspan is 1.5-2.7 inches.]
The Important Conference (1). Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Plenitude of insight exists with (and “as”) direct and simple clarity (beyond mere symbols).
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[There’s some simple clarity here! These aren’t skydivers dropping down to earth… they’re the insects known as Water Striders; they “walk” on water! Water Striders use their forelegs to grab insects trapped by the water’s surface tension and also to make ripples to communicate with each other. (We use sound waves when we talk/communicate!) They use their middle legs for rowing and their hindlegs for steering. There is a living clam to the lower left.]
Having the time of their lives! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. — Aristotle
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[This is a Southern Cloudy Wing Skipper. They prefer wooded margins, especially near clover and other legumes upon which the larvae feed.]
Favorite resting place. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Establish value in orderly, direct perception… not in limited patterns of the standard, (rather mediocre) norm.
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[This insect is an adult Green Stink Bug. They can, when disturbed, emit copious amounts of foul-smelling fluid. Both adults and nymphs (a nymph was photographed not long ago) possess large stink glands on the undersurface, opening through conspicuous slits.]
Watching me! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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The keyhole to unlocking life’s mysteries and wisdom’s treasures lies in silent awareness and magnanimous existence. Love is the key.
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[These are dwarf tropical catfish of the species known as Corydoras trilineatus. (In Latin, Corydoras means helmeted, and trilineatus means three-striped or three-lined.) They only get around an inch and a half long. These are one of the species of dwarf catfish that I keep as pets and that I occasionally get babies from. All Corydoras species are extremely peaceful and non-combative. Each species has a tank all to themselves. I really like the patterns that this particular species has, once mature.]
Small bottom dwellers. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Avoid the pitfalls in life if you are lucky… and relax and grow with nature!
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[Trees that have enmeshed themselves upon this planet. In the foreground is lots of poison ivy. Just being near it sometimes gives me rashes. Poison ivy seems to have an endless vendetta against vegetarians, such as myself! This year, it caused my arthroscopic knee surgery to be delayed by two weeks. Enjoy the photo!]
Let’s take the overpass! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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A deceitful, twisted, distorted mind, unfortunately, does not perceive the truth. An honest, direct, undistorted mind runs parallel with the truth.
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[Wild Fox Grape vine; this particular plant is dazed and confused!]
Foolish and confused! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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The intensity of wisdom is in the insightful, (compassionate) moment of now!
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[This is the beautiful Orchard Orbweaver Spider. They are very beneficial, as they eat many insect pests, such as flies and grasshoppers. They are harmless… their bite cannot penetrate human skin. Sometimes they undergo parasitism by a wasp larva which attaches externally at the junction of the cephalothorax and the abdomen. These spiders are excellent weavers of intricate webs!]
Orchard Spider… master weaver of webs (Photo 1) taken by Thomas Peace 2014
Orchard Spider… master weaver of webs. (Photo 2) taken by Thomas Peace 2014
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Excellence in perception expresses itself as heartfelt compassion.
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[This small butterfly is a Tawny-edged Skipper. It’s a male. The caterpillars of these butterflies are speckled with maroon, brown, or tan. They feed on grasses.]
Tawny-edged Skipper contemplating his next move. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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There are no separate pieces to the universal puzzle… once you see the whole.
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[Queen Anne’s Lace, or Wild Carrot… Daucus Carota. (The universal whole… unfolding out of the folds.)]
The whole… unfolding out of the folds! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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True joy is living each moment afresh and psychologically dying to the old, dead past.
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[This moth is a Chickweed Moth. Because the larvae of this moth feed primarily on chickweed, which most people consider undesirable, this species should be considered “beneficial.” So, the caterpillars are herbivores that graze on vegetation. The adults may serve a role in pollination.]
Winged night flyer. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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It’s easy to conform and to blindly follow rigid patterns; it’s arduous to think for yourself and not merely follow the beaten path.
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[Ladybugs – Lady Beetles – as both adults and larvae prey on aphids (plant destroying insect pests) in open habitats. They hibernate, usually in groups, in the winter. The one pictured is one of the more rare species.]
Ladybug surveying the landscape from a good vantage point. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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In the interim between two sets of thoughts, a natural, effortless silence can exist (which may bring insight and wisdom)!
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[This is a Pearl Crescent Butterfly. These seem to always be around in the spring and summer at a particular prairie section that is adjacent to thick woods and a bend in a creek in our area. It is especially fond of butterfly weed or orange milkweed flowers. Spring butterflies are usually darker than summer generations.]
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Between the two wings is the treasure pearl! … Pearl Crescent Butterfly … Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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The distance between what you want and what you are, psychologically, is (additionally) what you are.
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[Dogbane Leaf Beetles have a deep sheen of iridescence that changes as we move in relation to the insect (or by the way it moves relative to us). Dogbane Leaf Beetles feed on prairie plants, such as the Milkweed plant. Dogbane Leaf Beetles can avoid predators by giving off a foul-smelling secretion when they are touched. An insect with a very splendid sheen of metallic-like iridescence!]
A Dogbane Leaf Beetle with an iridescent sheen that not even Harley Davidson motorcycle gas-tanks are capable of! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
. Go beyond the superficiality of seeing yourself as separate from the whole of life! .
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.(Milkweed Beetle and Fruit-fly on a Milkweed plant. Note how the Fruit-fly gradually moves in and feasts right adjacent to the precarious jaws (i.e., large, dangerous mandibles) of the Milkweed Beetle. The Fruit-fly’s jaws are too diminutive to successfully rasp at the Milkweed flower buds… so the Fruit-fly moves in and joins the “powerful” Milkweed Beetle… right adjacent to its “massive” jaws! Milkweed Beetles are quite “aware” for insects; in our area they sometimes roughly bang against my head – with their whole, flying bodies – to “warn” me to stay away from their precious Milkweed plants!)
Fruit-fly observing the Milkweed Beetle beginning to eat! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Fruit-fly trying to eat the Milkweed Beetle’s scraps from a distance! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Fruit-fly eating right next to the jaws of a Milkweed Beetle! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee.
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.
— Emily Dickinson
A clover and one bee (and revery). Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
. Each flutter of the butterfly’s wings is a true tribute to caterpillarism! Metamorphize too!
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Beyond mediocre! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. To go beyond opinions and prejudices is to perceive without contamination.
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Mid-afternoon siesta! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Waver from blind acceptance… and you may actually discover the truth!
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It’s not polite to eat with your mouth open! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Instead of the usual crass revolution of violent disruption, war, and disharmony, why can’t there be a magical revolution of affection/love?
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We were around before the time of the dinosaurs! Blue Dasher Dragonfly … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. So many have (and “are”) ideas/concepts of God or no Gods. Go beyond mere concepts and intelligently inquire (for yourself)!
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Beyond words…Lyretail Anthias … Pseudanthias squamipinnis (females are golden yellow without the elongated first dorsal ray) … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. There are no real boundaries anywhere in the cosmos, except those invented and perceived by thought!
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All r 1…Sempervivums sedums… Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. The teacher is the teaching; the criminal is the crime; the nurse is the healing; the woodpecker is the wood pecking; the arthropod is the blossoming.
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Be open minded… not just closed! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. The placid lake reflected his motionless mind… and the two, together, were one and the same.
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The stillness can sometimes reflect the whole! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Water Striders … insects that walk and “skate” on water! … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. One instant of bigheartedness is brighter than a million instances of disingenuous indifference.
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Bountiful love… Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. A man without a warm, caring heart is like a musician without thumbs!
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Warmth deep beyond the center! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. i am he
. as you are he
. as you are me
. and we are all together
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. — John Lennon lyrics
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. (Sometimes, great words of wisdom can occur in a seemingly jumbled mess. Most of us were miseducated to think that we are separate from each other. Not enough of us look with real unity, compassion, and wisdom in our hearts… but, rather, see through thick walls of separation.)
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Swimming, Smiling, Egghead … (Puffer Fish) … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. True poetic insight is graceful because its sensitivity crosses boundaries and perceives all as one.
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Don’t count your chickens… — photo by Thomas Peace 2014
… before they hatch! —– (Robin Fledglings) … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. The pointing finger isn’t the moon, and symbolic thoughts aren’t the realities. Go beyond the pointer!
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Don’t get lost in the details! …. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. To observe directly without deluding oneself with false images and beliefs is rare in this world… and is wisdom in action.
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Open wide, far beyond common, limited awareness! … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Awareness and compassion are priceless gifts for a consciousness to be, and with them comes great responsibility!
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Hungry fledglings and a late bloomer… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Happy Mother’s Day! And let’s all especially wish a happy Mother’s Day to Mother Earth too. She is all we have, and we all need to take better care of her (by recycling, using green energy, and planting more trees and such), not neglecting her. We can’t (as many foolish scientists suggest) leave home to go to another planet when things get bad here; some scientists are suggesting the wrong things; we have to wake up and treat her much better! Mother Earth is not at all separate from all true, good mothers!
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. Excerpt of a Navajo Native American Song (which, as a song of wisdom, occurs within my book):
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Song of the Earth
All is beautiful,
All is beautiful…All is beautiful, indeed.
Now the Mother Earth, and the Father Sky… Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
Sisnajinni, Tsodsichl,
Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
Now Doko-oslid and Depenitsa… Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
And the night of darkness… And the dawn of light… Meeting, joining one another… Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful…All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
Now Hastyeyalli and Hastyehogan… Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
And the white corn and the yellow corn… Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
And the corn-pollen and the Ripener… Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
Life-that-never-passeth,
Happiness-of-all-things… Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
Now all is beautiful,
All is beautiful,
All is beautiful, indeed.
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Happy Mother’s Day to all good mothers and to our good Mother Earth! … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
. . . . . . I don’t hug trees, but I do hug grandmothers, grandfathers, children, and the multiply handicapped! . .
“We don’t want hugs; we want sun, water, and nutrients!” … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. First thing in the morning, many birds sprightly sing to the joy of the new day, returning sun, and the exhilaration of being and sharing! 🙂 Namaste!
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“You two don’t ever sing to the sun in the morning. Are you atheists?” … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. You might think she’s ugly… but she has tied a little webbing — on her rear leg to the cement — to remind herself not to leave any time soon… and (though rather emaciated and hungry) she is not moving; so she is a very caring and good mother. That, my friends, is beautiful!
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. (Fishing Spiders get quite large. Some, legs included, can be over 3 inches long. Some can dive underwater to catch prey, or they catch prey near the surface of the water, even minnows. It is unusual for spiders to eat vertebrates, but these do! Females guard their eggs sacs for quite a long time… often over a month, not eating while doing so. The one below was on cement on the bank of a river. It was rather strange about how i came upon it. While at home, i had a premonition that if i went to the river bank… i’d see an unusually nice, large spider there. I grabbed a camera and walked to the river bank; as i approached the bank, the spider could be seen from quite a distance and one realized immediately that that was what the intimation was about. It didn’t budge while i took shots; then i politely left it with its highly precious orb.)
Dolomedes tenebrosus (Fishing Spider) with her egg sac … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Carry too many thoughts about “how things are” with you… and you won’t ever actually see where you are going!
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The center of attention… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. In compassion, there is no separate “you” and “I”!
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Who’s zoomin’ who? … (Saltwater Tang Fish, Blue Tang) photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Close-up photo of Ellen DeGeneres in Finding Nemo…
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. Dorothy: How do you talk if you don’t have a brain?
. Scarecrow: Well, some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t they?!
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Scarecrow: Boo! Scat! Boo! You see, I can’t even scare a crow. (Photo by Thomas Peace 2014)
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. Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.
. — Oscar Wilde
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Explosion of compassion!… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Marvel at life and nature! If things get you down, take a walk in the woods and drop the hurts behind (like dead weights)!
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Hidden in the micro-forest… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. The giver is the gift. The seer is the seen. The helping is the love.
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Morning Glory by the woods… Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it.
. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Being in the unseen… Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. They say that location is everything! Location! Location! Location!
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They say that location is everything! …. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. The door to success in the entertainment world… may be illusory.
. Real success is in finding truth, helping others, and ending suffering… not in showing off like some kind of monkey, getting all the apish stares!
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The door to success in the entertainment world… may be illusory. Mantled Howler Monkey at the zoo, briefly resting after antics with his group… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Never ever grow up! Never ever let them contaminate your youth and inner joy with their old words and systems!
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Eastern Amberwing Dragonfly (male)… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Cleanliness is not next to godliness… but genuine, heartfelt compassion is!
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Clouded Sulphur Butterfly (male) on pink clover… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Would you rather wake up while you’re you, or afterwards?
. — E.E.Cummings
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Flagtail Prochilodus, large tetra, South America species… 1 1/2 feet long… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 