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It’s dangerous to perceive life directly and to observe without false (though supposedly secure) images; but it’s even more dangerous to wander as one who is secondhand, unperceptive, and blind!
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[Illinois wildflower seedpods… Japanese Lanterns…]
Festival time in the prairies! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Life involves suffering that all of us share and are engaged in (as one); curtail it – don’t increase it – in others.
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[This insect is a Japanese Beetle. They are known for destroying a lot of food crops and garden foliage. Farmers and gardeners tend to deeply despise them. They were particularly bad a few years ago. Back then, there were so many in our area that — even while driving your car for a short while — dozens of them would splatter onto your windshield! They are becoming less of a nuisance due to pesticides and an increase in the types of birds that eat them. The one photographed looks rather impressive… for such a despised nuisance!]
Beautiful Pest! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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When the thoughts of ego seem to sever themselves off from the other thoughts (and from the whole of life) then illusory conflict and limited space begins.
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[This butterfly is a Red Admiral. It is using its proboscis to suck nourishing nectar from the pink Cone Flower. Butterflies can only suck up fluids. They do have salivary glands. They don’t have saliva tubes in the proboscis but they can eject a drop of saliva to help dissolve more solid food.]
A probing and effective proboscis! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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An insect’s priorities don’t include understanding the whole. Go beyond an arthropodan mentality!
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[This butterfly is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on a Buttonbush tree. Buttonbush flowers attract many nectar loving insects. Eating sweet nectar is one of their priorities.]
A Tiger among in the dense jungle! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Perception sees the details and the whole.
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[A reddish grasshopper on some tall wild grass. Grasshopper feet are definitely goat-like! Look (now, before reading on) carefully at the photograph. Do you see anything unusual about the grasshopper? Look very closely… note that on the hopper’s right hind leg there is a tiny hitchhiker… (a parasitic tick); the leg joint is a spot where the hitchhiker can get through the “armor.” (Though grasshopper invaders wouldn’t want a human, I’m glad I used repellent!)] 😉
Reddish Grasshopper… Photo 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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In a big way, no thoughts and feelings are merely yours; they are of all life and humanity. Use them but not for domination over the weak.
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[This is a Crab Spider with its victim… a Drone Fly. Crab Spiders, as you can see, are aptly named! They are very crab-like in appearance! They have the chameleon-like ability to change to the color of the flower that they are in; then they patiently wait for the prey to arrive. (Earlier posts of mine show yellow ones in yellow flowers.) Once I saw one in a white flower that was colored yellow and brown… and thought: “Wow… this little guy has it all wrong.” Upon closer examination, it was observed to be in the process of pursuing and eating Leather-wing insects that were mating and that happened to be yellow and brown in coloration! So, instead of the flower… the spider turned itself into the color of the insects during their mating season! Naturally, a mating Leather-wing will seek out another Leather-wing to mate with; the Crab Spider was not foolish after all!]
Like a lion with her kill. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Before you pick garden flowers and place them in an indoor vase… look closely to be sure that no Crab Spiders reside in them! 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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The highest intelligence goes beyond the triviality of the ego… beyond a “central I” or “central me”!
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[Grasshoppers prefer to eat grasses, leaves and cereal crops, but many species of grasshoppers are omnivorous. There are 11,000 valid species described to date and many undescribed species exist. This particular one is resting upon a colorful, red lily flower.]
Dennis Hopper (close-up). Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
In a beautiful place. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Don’t be afraid about being labelled with the stigma that you are different. Be different; even a superb red lily was given a stigma (and pollen)!
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[A red lily flower with some stigma and pollen. Even a red lily has been stigmatized!]
Even a Lily has been stigmatized! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Enjoy the small and simple things in life… for they are large and more than sufficient!
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[The Eastern Chipmunk has pouched cheeks that are used to carry food. Chipmunks spend a large portion of their waking hours gathering and storing food for the winter. They are very vocal. Thank goodness, this very cute one wasn’t named Alvin and didn’t sing!]
Thank goodness… this cute little fell’r isn’t named Alvin! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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If trees had faces and could talk… they’d likely say:
Please don’t cut us down so much; please plant more of us; please take better care of Mother Earth; please see that we’re all connected and exist in many branches of life!
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[Forests are indeed “the lungs of the Earth,” absorbing carbon dioxide and pollutants from the atmosphere and releasing oxygen that human beings and nearly all animal forms need. And forests’ influence goes beyond that simple, amazing process: We also know that they play a critical role in managing the climate, air quality, and rainfall patterns — in ways we are just beginning to understand. Even though they have huge environmental value, over half of the world’s forests have been lost due to deforestation. What’s worse, we’re cutting them down at greater rates each year to plant crops, graze livestock and generate income from timber and other forest products. We can change to use less lumber, less paper, and plant more; it is “doable”!]
“Calling all tree huggers… I need a hug!” Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Being motivated and ambitious is rather meaningless if one is ambitious merely for selfish reasons that don’t truly help others and life. Feel.
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[This is a the nymph stage of the Green Stink Bug. The adult insects are fully green. They have needle-like mouth parts that feed on the juices of plants. Both adults and nymphs have large sized stink glands on the bottom side of the thorax. They discharge large amounts of a foul-smelling liquid when disturbed. This one bolted quickly away into the underbrush. I even wondered if I had gotten good shots of it! Fast indeed!]
This one took off fast -first up and then down – into the underbrush like lightning! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
A very elusive and fast running bug! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Don’t just look through the screen of what you’ve been taught! Perceive!
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[Green Lacewing insect resting on a blade of grass. They like to inhabit meadows and forest edges. They eat small insects, such as aphids and nymphs of scale insects and their kin. They lay their eggs on the bottom of leaves; the eggs hang from long silk-like stalks.]
Blending in with the foliage keeps you alive!… 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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Even when you get “old,” stay young on the inside; it’s the only way to be! (So many adults lose their child-like wonder and deep inquisitiveness as they age… and they turn to stone on the inside. It needn’t be that way!)
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[Top photo: Young Praying Mantis wandering near a creek in our area, in the age-old quest for nourishing prey. It has a splendid eye pattern! Below that is a photo of a young Praying Mantis preserved as a fossil; it is trapped in Baltic Amber; it was trapped in the sap (which hardened into amber) around 50 million years ago! (To give a little perspective, at around 50 million years ago, our human ancestors were around the size of chipmunks or squirrels… and probably would relish a meal of a tasty mantis.) So it’s a very old Mantis… even though it actually appears to be very young. (It’s your real essence that counts… not what you “appear” to be!) 😉 ]
Young Praying Mantis searching for its next meal. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Young Praying Mantis fossil (in Baltic Amber). 50 million years is a long time to stay in one position! 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
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Be careful about coming to conclusions about people and things; it may be a coming to a stagnant end psychologically!
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[Jagged Ambush Bug in a wild Yellow Daisy: They perch by day in flowers and mostly are “sit-and-wait” predators, attacking all kinds of insects, often insects that are much larger than themselves. They often even attack bees. They have powerful vice-like, mantis-like, front legs that are great for grasping.]
Patience is a virtue for a Jagged Assassin Bug in a wild Yellow Daisy Flower. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Spring emerged from the primitive, frozen cocoon and transformed into the majestic, yellow and fluttering summer!
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from E.E. Cummings:
*********Metamorphosis*********
We’ve plodded through a weird and weary time,
Called Winter by the calendar alone;
We have beheld an earth pool-deep in slime,
Image a heaven of stone.
We’ve found life hid between the folds of mire,
Sensed life in every place, heard life in tune.
The earth-shell cracks with underneath desire;
Spring crawls from the cocoon.
Her puny wings vibrant with will to grow,
She clings, expanding like an opening eye;
More large, more able, more developed, lo,
The perfect butterfly.
Yellow Swallowtail (photo 1) (The day I took these shots, I had a feeling that I should go to Perry Farm’s prairie, because I would find spectacular Yellow Swallowtail there; as soon as I arrived, there she was!) Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Yellow Swallowtail (photo 2) Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Most people — even the somewhat callous, indifferent ones — struggle and suffer so much in life that they should be admired greatly, with deep respect.
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[As are many frogs, Leopard Frogs are declining in numbers due to a combination of ecological factors: pollution, deforestation, and water acidity. These were often the formaldehyde-soaked specimens that were used for high school labs. These frogs will eat most any living thing that will fit into their mouths, including beetles, ants, flies, worms, other frogs, and even birds and garter snakes.]
Leopard Frog… in a froggish kind of place! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
. John Lennon was right: “Living is easy with eyes closed… misunderstanding all you see.”
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. [Strawberry Fields Forever. (Mushrooms in our lawn… and one of the reasons why one often dislikes to cut the grass!) Photo by Thomas Peace 2014]
Strawberry Fields Forever. (Mushrooms in our lawn… and one of the reasons why one often dislikes to cut the grass!) Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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In the rollercoaster of life, don’t let the low points ever truly get you down!
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At the height of his young career (and with evidence of his lunch endeavor in the background… and with his broadband antenna in the foreground). Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Do not despise it for being little — and seeming small — for its smallness contains a largeness.
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. (For RSS feeds to my new posts, please access them at tom8pie.wordpress.com)
Ant feeding on Milkweed plant leaf. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Ants busy communicating while on Milkweed leaf. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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We must all walk the razor’s edge path in life! It’s very difficult for all of us. Stay balanced and aware!
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May Beetle trying to keep some balance in the struggle of life! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Not: The less you care, the happier you will be. But: The more you care, the happier life and the world will be! (Anyway, you are not something truly separate from the world.)
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. [Though larvae of the Colona Moth – Haploa Colona – may, among other types of plants, feed on apple and peach trees (and I especially like peaches)… I like the moth a lot! They seem to be appearing more in northern areas (possibly due to global warming trends). The one in the photo was far from peach trees… in a natural prairie.]
(For RSS feeds to my new posts, please access them at tom8pie.wordpress.com )
The Original Stealth Bomber! (Tiger Moth, Colona Moth) Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Don’t just run from suffering and chase after pleasure like a pre-programmed robot; roll up those sleeves and truly help others.
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. (For RSS feeds to my new posts, please access them at tom8pie.wordpress.com)
Leafhopper Nymph (only around 3/16 of an inch long) with fluffy bum (which is an excess of sugar), while acting elusive on a Thistle Plant stem. 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
. Life is not for scheming and conspiring; it’s for caring and giving!
It’s good to be rather blue… (if you have six legs)! 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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. Don’t be indifferent and shirk away from the responsibility of helping others. The pain of compassionate work is beauty!
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Mr. Conehead out for a stroll! (Coneheaded katydid, Eastern Sword-bearer Katydid) Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. The map is not the territory… and merely remaining in (and “as”) symbolic words is not truly living. Live!
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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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. 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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. 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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. 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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. 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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. 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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. 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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. 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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. We teach kids math and spelling… but we don’t try enough regarding crucial and vital education involving empathy, compassion, and sensitivity.
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Easter will be here soon!…(Wild Rabbit) photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship. — R.W.Emerson
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The following is a Badger fossil that i am posting in response to fellow blogging friend Running Elk’s request, after i made a comment in his blog on Badgers (http://shamanicpath.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/spirit-of-badger/).
This is a fossil i’ve had for quite some time. It’s a fossil Badger from the Miocene Period (around 12 million years old) from the Gansu Province, China.
Badgers are very tidy, orderly, well-groomed animals and keep their deep burrows and bedding scrupulously clean. They sometimes team up with Coyotes to hunt. What the Coyotes can’t catch, because the prey scurry into holes… the Badgers dig up. What the Badgers can’t catch, because they can’t sprint fast, the Coyotes capture.
People ought to, instead of being so competitive, be more cooperative. Additionally: Most Badgers understand that going deep is prudent; i wish a lot more of those (humans) satisfied with the superficial – instead of just getting upset about petty details, though making a mess of their lives while neglecting the whole – would be more orderly and go deeper!
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12 million year old Badger Fossil, Miocene Period, Gansu Province, China (many of my friends are fossilized!) … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. To the dull mind, nature is leaden. To the illumined mind, the whole world burns and sparkles with light.
. — R.W. Emerson
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Mundane, dark, sameness, or radiant, sublime, splendor…. photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Quietly and effortlessly sit and look with keen awareness (and heartfelt unity) at nature; see its conflict and (especially) its deep harmony.
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The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. (He knew about the multiverse before scientists did.)
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. “I do not doubt that I am limitless, and that the
universes are limitless.”
. — Walt Whitman
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Endless trout (i.e., rainbow trout)… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. 4 Ever Yours
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4 Ever Yours…. photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 