We will walk among young wild geese
and feed them
forgiving them for a velociraptor past
We will forage around elderly humans
and forgive them
for all the polluted lands and waters
Young Canada Geese (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Young Canada Geese (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
In great humility, there is an emptiness that exists beyond the “me” and “mine.” That emptiness is, in actuality, the absence (i.e., the non-existence) of the “me.” “Mostpeople” would feel frightened about the psychological absence of the “me,” or even about the possibility of the psychological absence of the “me.” To “mostpeople,” it would seem to be an “insecurity” to go beyond the “me” or beyond the supposedly “controlling center.” However, for the (truly) wise man, mere security is not a factor… truth is a factor. To the wise man (or woman), it is truth that is where the real beauty, the real treasure, exists.
Many years ago, in the early ’70s, when i was in my 4th year of college, i read an article about split-brain operations and how these surgical operations resulted in two totally separate fields of consciousness in one human being. Reading about how the corpus callosum could be surgically severed, resulting in two distinct, separate fields of consciousness — with each not knowing what the other was doing — pulled one even further away from the ancient orthodoxy that so many of us were indoctrinated by. It was back then that my insatiable quest for truth began (in the deepest sense), though even when one was much younger one still saw through a lot of the madness and falsities in the things that they tried to indoctrinate into us. Real humility occurs when the mind intelligently doubts and asks profound questions without relying on what one’s family or culture provides as the truth. If one largely relies on what one’s family or one’s culture has provided, it reflects a form of arrogance (which is far from true humility); one’s family and culture can, indeed, be a component or facet of oneself and, for sure, being certain of their validity is — in a big way — just a form of self-admiration and arrogance. Intelligent doubt goes beyond all this. Such intelligent doubt reflects the way Albert Einstein discovered things, by wisely questioning many things that were taken for granted as facts. Albert Einstein understood what it meant to “stand alone.” To really inquire into that which is truly sacred, immeasurable, timeless and uncontaminated, one must, of course, do it with an instrument (i.e., a mind) that is itself uncontaminated. It absolutely must be untainted, healthy, uncorrupt… that instrument (i.e., that true mind of inquiry). That, then, means no belief, no arrogant assumptions about the validity of one’s own faith, religion, culture, family creeds, and spiritual blueprints; so it means no beliefs or presumptions. However, “mostpeople” are totally unwilling to be that way. They want the comfort and security of “knowing.” It can be the “knowing” of others that they absorb and take on for themselves… it doesn’t matter. However, it may be that the real quest for truth lies beyond security and “knowing.” That is why so few ever come upon that real treasure.
Standing alone (without depending on others), going beyond the crowd, understanding the mind, going beyond mere images of the “me” and “I” — and mere images and learned concepts is all that they really are — may seem like abandoning security. However, a truly wise mind, that transcends beyond beliefs, realizes things that involve the only real treasure. That treasure has an essence of real eternity, immensity, and bliss in it (that “mostpeople,” unfortunately, have no clue about whatsoever). The scientists were, as it turns out, likely right about one thing; they said: Reality is probably radically different (i.e., far different) from what most of us assume it to be.
Crab Spider blending in (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Crab Spider blending in (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
There was a very rich man
(a man with a cadaverous, cold heart)
who walked along the barren, indifferent sidewalks
and, while he walked, he passed
the splendid flowers and trees by,
(without looking at their immense beauty).
As he walked, there was a limited separation
between what was considered to be “a central I” and
the other thoughts that occurred;
there was also a large gap or separation
between his consciousness and profound nature.
There was a rather poor man
(a man with a beneficent, warm heart)
who walked through the amicable gardens and meadows
and, while he walked, awareness
examined the magnificent flowers and trees,
(smiling at the immeasurable beauty).
As he walked, there was no separation
between a supposed “central controller”
and the occurring thoughts;
additionally, an effortless silence often occurred;
there was no gap or separation
between a “his consciousness” and natural beauty.
And here is a sweet, little secret that can always unfold:
The very rich man wasn’t really rich at all,
and the rather poor man wasn’t poor
what
so
ever.
Beyond words (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond words (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
As we have stated before, one must (in deep spiritual/philosophical inquiry) stand alone; one must go beyond seeking direction or blueprints from others (i.e., from supposed “experts.”) We are used to taking direction and following direction from others; it is our habit. We are obstinate in our deep dependence in regard to seeking and following direction. We have followed religious and political direction for eons and we remain lost and in disarray (fitting well into this immoral society). Inquiry beyond the direction and guidance of another requires that the mind stand alone.
Not following or seeking direction involves a directionlessness that most people are not used to or comfortable with. We have associated directionlessness with confusion; we see it as a jumble that is without an intelligent goal. However, there is an ineffable, intelligent directionlessness that is not a product of others. This directionlessness may be a real key to unlocking and perceiving the whole.
When one looks for the whole in a certain direction, it is not there. In quantum mechanics, if an electron isn’t measured it exists in many states (or places at once); once it is measured, it is in a limited state in a limited way. We want to understand the whole by following direction from others… which is a form of measurement; it may essentially be an erroneous process.
Psychologically, we each think that a central “I” or “me” provides necessary direction as to correct behavior. Yet such a center — being nothing more than a learned image — is a fallacy that does not exist. Split brain surgery, severing the corpus callosum, substantiates this. Holistic awareness, without dependence on a fictional center (or absorbed outside authority), may be what functions far more accurately and healthfully, without the ruse of a (false) directing controller. Even those who purport to “transcend” or go beyond the ego are (for the most part) just like everyone else; they constantly use images of “I” or “me” in a learned, automatic, passive-associative process. They constantly operate from what seems to be a central “I” or controller, whereas deep awareness would see this as a lot of inherited, automatic-associative processes. Going beyond this psychological ruse is nothing to be feared; going beyond any fallacious, illusory process need not involve fear.
Holistic perception beyond the false exists as true health, harmony, and bliss; eternity is one with it. Is there a manufactured method to get there? No! However, there are innumerable charlatans who are all too willing to tell you or sell you the way. They tell you how to pray, how to chant mantras, how to concentrate on your breathing, how to behave… with their stale methodologies; and many people, being very gullible, easily follow their directions, edicts, and stale blueprints.
Stability (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Stability (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
But even just red
without any blue
would
(or to
whom without any who)
be
a strange sort of absence
like the death of
a living friend
now pronounced dead
Whose endings need
beginnings
(only as ups
require their downs)
and in the full spectrum
of things
certainly
beginnings their endings
need
Wherein darkness’s couldn’t
followed crescent’s moonly would
gingerly
(surely as trees
fell from leaves)
and in the grand colored scheme
of things
black seeds of silence sprouted to could
Growing (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Growing (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Today, unfortunately, if you talk about the sacred, people look at you as if you are completely off the beam. We, as a society, have shelved spirituality into the potty toilet area. If you are different from “mostpeople,” if you are truly interested in finding out if there is anything really sacred, what will your first step be? If it is to merely look within the parameters of the particular edicts and beliefs of the organized religion that you happen to have been brought up to accept, then that “looking” will be dictated — like an old, worn out, secondhand pair of pants — by what others want you to believe is the truth (which may not, at all, be the truth). There are so very many different religions (and sects), each with their own versions and beliefs as to what constitutes the truth.
If you look for a great philosopher, a wise man, a guru, a special kind of Zen monk, priest, or authority to lead you to the truth, your choice (of that person) is based upon supposition and confusion. If you were not confused, you would not need to pick someone else in the first place; enlightenment, and its absolute and concomitant certainty would already be a part of you. Out of your confusion and lack of having been enlightened, you choose another to guide you; that very choice (of that other person) may be — since it does not come from absolute, clear certainty — erroneous and very foolish. Even Hitler “felt right” to a lot of people. (A lot of people quote others and say things, concerning what they are sure is “truth,” and, it may be — as far as the rare individual, who was truly enlightened and visited by that profundity, is concerned — that what they say is often very erroneous and unfortunate.)
So what is one to do? If one is not very passionate about this… if it is merely some minor inquiry, then (of course) not much will happen; it will just be some rather trivial pattern on the marginal side of a large group of concerns. If one is not very passionate about this, one will merely remain as “mostpeople,” who all get wrapped up in the details and only seldom (or never) care about looking into the whole. They have children, they have money, they have impressive homes and automobiles, but they do not have any deep understanding of the whole; (nor do they really care to.) So then, essentially, they are in (and exist “as”) sorrow; because a mind without that profundity is, by absolute and natural law, a sorrowful mind… an empty shell.
So what is one to do? Obviously, the mind that deeply inquires into this must first examine the mechanism that is doing the looking. If the mechanism of the mind is distorted (and not clear) then, obviously, what it sees will be tainted, perverted, contaminated and not true. So the mind must understand itself. It must understand itself as it actually is (in life and in relationship) and not according to the opinions and beliefs of another. If the mind merely analyzes itself according to set and held patterns that it has absorbed from others, it is looking with (and “as”) others’ patterns, which may not be looking with an untainted, uncontaminated background whatsoever. Unfortunately, many of us depend upon others for instructions, for patterns. This inquiry, however, if it is to be pristine and honest, may demand that one stand alone. That means not depending on anyone. Most of us have no clue as to what it means to truly stand alone.
Inquiring Wild Canada Gosling (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Inquiring Wild Canada Gosling (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
That everywhere is awakingly here
is ouryourheshemy joy and compassion
until we
take
that
first
step
(which is also quite the
last)
in sequential perpetuity
(at which point some will wonder
why God doesn’t intervene or
show us the answers)…
We had them all along,you see
but eyes were kept perpetually closed
just as everyone else’s were
since we’re a facsimile of them
and they’re a facsimile of us
and everything conceived is
second-hand and artificial
And there are dreams while we sleep
though most are never really awake
Baby Katydid on Day-lily (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Baby Katydid on Day-lily (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
At the precise moment that desire takes place, instead of merely running after some goal — like myriads of people do — deeply perceive/examine the desire. You cannot examine it very well unless it is examined very closely. How closely must it be examined? More closely than most would think! Desire cannot be deeply perceived if it is just another reaction (that some image of self supposedly thinks it “has”) which causes one to chase after something in a certain direction. Most people think that desire is something that they “have”; they do not see desire (at the precise moment that it happens) as something that they actually are. If desires are suppressed… it involves parts of the mind trying to suppress other parts of the mind, which is, of course, internal conflict. If desires are cherished and considered worthwhile… it involves parts of the mind being in agreement and recognizing some kind of value in other parts of the mind. Additionally, in our very complex minds, there are a series of reactions going on that involve a mixture of suppression and, concomitantly, the cherishing of desires, which oftentimes results in internal conflict and friction. Our minds are a hodgepodge of these conflicting internal reactions and we feel that we need to keep such things under control, psychologically. We, in reality, are all these things (occurring internally) and there is no separate “controller” (apart from them) whatsoever. It is separation and conflict that keeps us from being in right relationship with desires; separation and conflict occur in large degrees when there is little understanding; it is separation and conflict when opposing desires and images are in friction with each other. A mind of real integrity is not a mere slave to desire; this world is overpopulated and has run amok, largely due little understanding and superfluous desire.
A mind that perceives all this (deeply) does not turn into something that ends up “out of control.” On the contrary, a relatively shallow mind that assumes that it is in control, that assumes (as it was crudely taught) that it is something separate from its desires, fears, and internal friction… is, whether it admits to it or not, enmeshed in fanciful and illusory separation and conflict. That illusory separation and conflict — which it has copied from others and has absorbed secondhand — constitute something that is bound to project out into society as disorder (in one form or another). Wise internal (psychological) perception — that is deep — sees (and “is”) correct relationship; that correct relationship will not have (and “be”) a lot fabricated, idiotic conflict (endorsed by a foolish society’s modus operandi). A wise mind, at the precise moment of desire, does not perceive desire as something separate from what it actually is. In such a mind there is no separate controller who is going to “do something” about the desire; however, that intelligent perception of desire, not being separate, likely unfolds into further intelligent perception, which — unlike with many people — will not occur as conflict and false separative ideations. Such perception is orderly, deep, and not chock full of the chaos that misperceptions manifest as. That order acts beautifully.
So many of us run from our fabricated fears, never fully realizing that we actually are those fears. So many of us engage in (and “as”) conflict internally and then waste energy in so very many aspects of life and relationship (because we are habitually used to wasting energy in conflict internally, psychologically); what we are on the inside, we project to the outside. Look at society now as it currently is worldwide. Is it full of endless beautiful order and harmony? Or is it full of chaos, ruthless competition, territorial conflict, and much disharmony? Does it almost entirely involve minds that think that they are something separate from their fears, desires, and boredom… as well as thinking that they are each separate from others?
Crammed to the max! (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Crammed to the max! (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Let all the cadavers lie
where they remain buried in lies
Let fears turn into one beautiful winged insect
and let wisdom turn to joy
Let whispers turn into songs
where singing breathes as freedom
Let wise questions become insightful answers
let ends become beginnings
Let here be where compassion helps
while indifference goes to grass
Let the earth’s winds increase exponentially
as nature’s rage to pollution and carelessness
Let all the hateful hurt turn to kindness
as sweetly flowers smile
Let descending mutate to ascending
rendering death nonexistent for forever
Let the future be now
where the past will happen
From Fear to Damselfly (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
From Fear to Damselfly (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Most of us see things in fragments (just as we were taught to). The intrinsic nature of thinking is, in itself, fragmentary. Thought, being symbolic, being limited, being merely representational, can never perceive the whole. Since most of us cling to thought, worship thought, and are tied to thought… we seldom, or never, perceive the whole. The whole cannot be seen through — or by — the fragments. People enmeshed in (and “as”) this fragmentation often then choose a priest, a guru, a zen monk, a leader, or an authority (and some techniques) to lead them to truth. Out of their fragmentation, out of their confusion… they choose someone to lead or guide them; or they choose some technique or method. (Out of their confusion, they choose.) It may be, however, that there is no path or map to the pathless… no authority, no procedure — in time and that takes time — to get to the timeless.
Few truly stand alone without depending on outside authority. Few, further still, go beyond inside authority. One can easily say that one is free and is not influenced by outside authority… while, all along, one is heavily embellished with structures (internally) that were — long ago — poured into one by outside authoritarian influences. One can maintain that one is untethered by outside authority, yet (internally) be riddled with conditioning stemming from outside structures and patterns that came from others early in one’s life and over the years. A mind that truly goes beyond the outside and accumulated inside molds and patterns is quite extraordinary and blessed. Eternity and the sacred then manifest. No one can take you there… not even your accumulated structures and sense of self. It takes real humility to go beyond your own accumulated patterns and judgments… real innocence and freedom. That true freedom, that true humility and innocence is a psychological dying; there is no method to “do” it. That unshaped (non-concocted) psychological dying is nothing cadaverous or to be afraid of; it is majestic life beyond canned, dead molds. The profound magic and the bliss are not in the limited patterns — including your own — that anyone can give.
Up close and personal (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Up close and personal (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
The other day
the shoreline went for a walk
It saw dogs walking their people
and it saw goslings swimming with joy
Laughing kites were what it saw
and blankets on grass eating strawberries
And(i’ll tell yew the leastlittlest of secrets)
we aren’t really separate from what we experience
After a while,the trees and shoreline sat
on a wooden bench to rest
Eyelids shut themselves and there(for a while or forever)
was(beautifully too)no
thing
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[Note: If we ruin the environment and casually let callous, pigheaded politicians ruin our environment… (while doing nothing about it), we will be forever etched in time as the cadaverous indifferent… and we will be the malignant enemies of all life. Period.]
Strolling with the kids (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Strolling with the kids (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Profound mindfulness, deep awareness, and real meditation are not three separate things. They are all one in the same. Unlike what many so-called experts may tell you — including people who call themselves gurus, zen monks, priests, or spiritual guides — one doesn’t need to concentrate on a fixed point, on one’s breathing in and out, on a mantra, a prayer, or on anything else in order to be really mindful or deeply aware. Actually, doing the aforementioned things — to get something out of them — usually makes the mind duller and more mesmerized. As in hypnosis, concentration (purposefully done) tends to limit the mind to fixed points; concentration is an exclusionary process. Concentration and similar forms of effort all cause the mind to focus on details and to engage in a concocted plan (or plans) in order to get some kind of result. Profound awareness, however, is not exclusionary; it goes beyond mere details and is never the mere result of some blueprint or mentally formulated plan.
One can practice methods by so-called experts ad infinitum; one can concentrate on one’s breathing, one can concentrate on a repeated mantra or on a so-called special prayer, (or on any other image or set of images that the mind focuses on). These limited means — manufactured and provided by others — will never bring about true, pristine, and real enlightenment. One might get some relaxation or some feelings that the mind construes as being “invigorating” from them… but these things will never be real and profound enlightenment. A stale, limited means, psychologically, never leads to an unlimited, vast end. Profound awareness is not something that you can rotely learn from any book, any blog, any guru, any zen monk, any priest or any authority (including your own so-called central, inner authority). Real awareness (which may flower into true enlightenment) is never exclusionary and is never the result of some rote practice or structured technique. Effortless, non-separative observing without all of the preprogrammed conditioning — simply put — is not merely the result of more preprogrammed methods, procedures, or images put forth by yourself from what others have provided. Therefore, methods that so-called experts give to you, sell to you, or entice you with, are absolutely out. What they offer is not cogent, not viable, if you have significant awareness. And if you don’t have significant awareness you’ll be more than willing to play their games, give them money, adhere to their plans, worship their idols, or travel across the globe to be with them. If you want to be second-hand, then, by all means, follow their methods; however, one thing is for sure: second-hand never comes upon real enlightenment.
It takes no time for the wise mind to be empty of all of their methods, blueprints, schemes, and concoctions. Methods and techniques take time; however, not being conditioned by them takes no time whatsoever. Methods and procedures have nothing to do with pristine, non-manufactured awareness; and without methods and procedures, time is not a factor, time is not operating as it does for most people. I will not give you methods to practice… or plans to rigidly follow. We think that someone needs to show us the way, the path; we feel that there is security in that “showing.” However, real insight, real profundity functions in a motiveless, directionless, unplanned way… which is not at all to say that it is haphazard and chaotic. Most of us are perpetually relying on the methods, systems, images, and constructs of others; then we think we need further methods and systems to go beyond all this, which is absurd. The very way that most of us observe things via separation (from a so-called center) is the result of stale methodologies learned from others. There is no path that leads to the pathless. There are no procedures — that take time — that lead to the timeless.
Our Neighbor (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Our Neighbor (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
This movement wishes to go
through life helping others
(who are,themselves,part of
the movement of life).
This movement wishes to be
life’s companion,not life’s enemy;
it doesn’t want to merely harm
or exploit life.
It wants to root itself in with
the majestic oak trees
and share in their
growth and freedom.
This movement wants to put its arms
around Mother Nature
and gently walk with her
beyond the synthetic and man-made.
This movement would like to
somehow share
the eternal secret of life
(that exists beyond all conclusions).
Mayfly Resting (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Mayfly Resting (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Note… Our internet is out due to a violent storm. Hence, I will not be able to correspond, etc. (My postings have been prescheduled so will continue to appear.) Using a little cellphone to type this, which stinks! Hopefully, we’ll get it fixed in a week or two. Lightning hit our large old-fashioned, rural tower antenna; the sound was unbelievable! Our neighbor’s television, garage door opening system, and phone fried; she smelled sulfur after the hit. Our internet and phone fried.
Most of us do not question enough. We accept, we conform, we remain stale, and we pretty much fit into the norm of the way things are. There are many who think that they are not of the mentality of the masses; however, essentially, fundamentally, despite what they think, they still are. There is a real art to questioning intelligently. In wise questioning, the answers exist curled; they are there. Can a highly shackled mind, a cuckoo mind, a mind that is heavily conditioned by society, ask extremely profound questions? Probably not. When the mind is tethered to a limited point, it has a limited circumference; its field is partial and restricted and it remains within (and exists “as”) limited bounds. A truly dynamic mind, however, perceives with more unlimited vastness; it is open rather than closed; it is free rather than enslaved.
Indifference, uncaringness, is a form of prison. A mind of indifference hasn’t questioned enough, hasn’t looked beyond restricted, little boundaries and domains. Such a mind is satisfied with merely feeding and caring for the little. Its space of confinement and separation — which is itself — is its very own prison; such a prison doesn’t require cold steel bars; it does require a coldness of a different variety. Intelligent questioning often consists of a warm benevolence that encompasses all, without learned boundaries, without power manipulation, without an isolated center.
The Outdoor Cuckoo Clock (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
The Outdoor Cuckoo Clock (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Note: Our internet crashed due to a violent storm. I cannot correspond with any of you until it is fixed, hopefully in a week or two. My postings have been prescheduled, so they will continue. It’s storming as this additional note is being typed on a tiny cellphone.
Note: The following reflects my personal outlook regarding the best types of poetry; if the poetry that you write or that you happen to be fond of is not of the type that i most admire, it does not mean that it is not valid poetry for you; (it does not mean that it is not interesting to me ; one finds many types of poetry interesting). Everyone has different tastes. Please do not be offended if the following poem does not reflect your viewpoints on poetry.
**********************************************************************************************************
If it takes your breath away
and helps you see the world with less fragmentation,
then that’s poetry
If it encourages you to take better care
of Mother Nature and of yourself(who is part of her),
then that’s poetry
If it goes beyond mediocrity,sameness,and bourgeois values…
causing you to not merely see through others’ eyes,
then that’s poetry
If it takes away the crass separation between
the observer and the observed,
then that’s poetry
If it merely enthusiastically entertains you
without a profoundly deeper meaning,
then that’s not poetry
If it merely helps you to fit in
with the copiers,the mimics,and the perpetually indifferent,
then that’s not poetry
If it fixates you with more mere details to maintain a blindspot
regarding truth for the rest of your so-called life,
then that’s not poetry
If it helps you to see
beyond the ordinary,
then that’s poetry
If it peels away your stiff,robotic dependence
on the patterns and symbols of others,
then that’s poetry
If it comes to you uninvited,silently in the middle of the night
bringing immense insight,true bliss,and vast understanding,
then that’s poetry
If it helps you to actually feel
rather than to merely mechanically react and think,
then that’s poetry
House Hunting (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
House Hunting (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
In the deep well of the mind, people often get bucketfuls of conclusions. It is through these conclusions that they perceive and contemplate the world. For many years, each of us has been groomed and molded to be the responsive use of these buckets. Our buckets have been carefully tailored and manufactured; their contents were shaped and influenced by the limited, fashioned nature of the buckets. So, our contents were molded and adapted to suit particular needs, objectives, and purposes. Our buckets were produced and fabricated by society to help society continue to exist in the way that it deems necessary.
Bringing up well water one bucket at a time may be fine for some time (and in certain respects). However, it involves very limited amounts. Our bucketfuls of thoughts, too, are very limited and fragmentary. There is a whole lot more down there… and a fragmentary, limited process may never afford one with the opportunity to deeply examine, deeply explore. Our buckets are full of symbols and representations, not actualities; yet, so many of us are indoctrinated with them and accept them as actual realities. Most of us were so imbued with limited bucketfuls that we rarely, if ever, consider going beyond the limited nature of what they consist of. We are so permeated by the bucket-mentality of limited, sequential symbols and images, we never even consider going deeper.
Mentally, we are perpetually bringing tidbits and symbols to the surface (and taking that to be reality). There is a superficiality that is merely at the surface. There may be an untapped, vast, deep stream of activity much deeper; however, most remain oblivious to it, unaware and unmindful of what is taking place in a much deeper and unlimited way. The notion of a separate self (apart from others and all life) is one of the limited buckets that society has developed and filled for each one of us; our current society, however, may be very primitive and crude, both psychologically and in regard to life’s deeper meanings. One can cling to the sequential bucketfuls, one at a time if one wants to; that so-called “one” that wants to, however, is not different from the buckets or their symbolic contents. Symbols are fragmentary representations and are not actualities.
Depths of nectar (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Depths of nectar (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
These isn’ts and aren’ts
care not beyond what they were taught
which(by the way)wasn’t worth mentioning
These can’ts and nevers
trapped in sorrow’s mustn’ts and measures
never really move(though free they think they are)
When’ll “wouldn’t have a clue” ever transcend
shouldn’t’s dominance?
Mightn’t hasn’t’s pain
be why’s responsibility?
Where’ll we be when we transcend mankind’s empty should’ves
to,instead,keep nature’s ’tisn’ts always from happening?
Great Blue Heron (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Great Blue Heron standing on one leg. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
We all suffer. We suffer physically and psychologically. None of us escape it. Here is a little secret about the true nature of suffering: It is neither just yours nor mine; it is universal. It is our suffering. We all share in it… some more than others. When one of us suffers… we all suffer.
So many of us habitually run from suffering. We use all kinds of legal and illegal drugs to escape from suffering. There are plenty of drug-addicted and alcohol addicted people in the world, many of whom insist that they don’t have a problem and can stop whenever they wish to. Instead of habitually fleeing from suffering, few of us have embraced it without separation, without deep-seated bias and friction. Of course, if suffering is overwhelmingly intense (physically), then one would naturally not care to embrace it or have much of a relationship with it. A wise mind, however, may act — and not merely react — to milder forms of suffering in ways unlike what most people do.
Unlike most minds, the wise mind rarely suffers psychologically. A mind that is wise — due to understanding itself and its contents — is of a vast, immense order. Such order is a flame that incinerates the chaotic disorder that psychological suffering feeds upon; hence, psychological suffering, for such a mind, dissipates. Order doesn’t easily manifest as disorder. A mind that is truly orderly rarely suffers.
Thinking, in human beings, stems from (and involves) problem-solving. Thinking is a tool. Many of us continue to think (and entertain thought) even when thinking is no longer necessary. This strict adherence to thought/thinking is a distorted habit that nourishes all kinds of psychological disorder. Thinking is largely symbolic and representative; merely existing as one symbol after another (in sequence) is much like substituting symbols and signs for the real thing. Such substitution rarely leads to lasting joy and pristine revelry; accepting shadows as reality rarely leads to sunlit bliss. Too many of us were educated wrongly; thinking is only a tool; it need not be the essence of consciousness. If you have made tools as the essence of your consciousness, you are bound to suffer.
A wise mind can exist beyond the tools, beyond the shadows, beyond mere symbols and abstractions. Such a mind is beyond suffering (though it has immense empathy); it never needs to take recreational drugs, alcohol, or take antidepressants. Wisdom begins when psychological suffering ends.
Diminutive wildflowers (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Diminutive wildflowers (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
If trees could swim
and rocks could crawl
perception would rise
and feet would fall
When ladders climb
and coffee cups drink
wisdom would flourish
as thoughts needn’t think
Boats went rowing
as plants watered themselves
books read their contents
and nestled in shelves
Leaves went hopping
while photos sat still
up went down
and deception went nil
Toadingly you (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Toadingly you (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
How were we educated? Were we educated about what to think, with things being poured into us to absorb? Or were we educated to find out for ourselves, to inquire and to investigate beyond what was merely put forward by others? Were we shaped (for the most part) by preset molds, or were we encouraged to be whole and independent human beings who can intelligently question things, take nothing for granted, and who probe deep beyond the ordinary, unfeeling, and commonplace?
When we were very young, our canvas was blank; they (for the most part) painted it with what they thought should be painted. What they thought should be painted — of course — was an extension of how their canvas was painted in the past. So they painted our canvas. However, they (fundamentally) did not encourage us to be extremely creative painters. (The painting-like rendition of the ant — down below — has little or no relevance with what we are actually writing about, by the way.) Most of us are a product of their painting… and we see the world through (and “as”) the network of that painting. If that network largely consists of separation, isolating images of self, accepted conflict and fragmentation, acceptance of ordinary values, boredom, and groping for more… can one, in a profoundly significant way, change to a blank canvas and paint a very different picture?
It may be that the painter is the painted, that the tree and the ant are not merely two separate things, and it may be that we have to unlearn a lot of the baloney that we learned. Just like the ant and the tree, unlearning and learning may not be two separate things, just like living and dying are not two separate things (though so many of us think they are).
Tree Climbing (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Tree Climbing (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
She’s the most regal queen
that ever walked the earth
She servants in the hundreds has
who depend on her for birth
Royal jelly fed to her
for a weighty amount of time
formed her different from the rest
and kept her in her prime
Bees are Nature’s gift to flowers
and to blossoming trees
Without them not as much beauty
dancing in the breeze
If their kingdom you would love
to honor and reverently bless
consume more organics and in your monarchical yard
spray chemicals much less
*******************************************************************************************************
[The larger bee — in the center of the top photo, with the gold marking placed on its back — is the Queen. In the bottom photo, young bee larva can be seen in the comb (that the worker bees have been feeding). Many thanks to Chad McGinnis for allowing me to photograph; Chad is the beekeeper of these fine bees.]
Queen bee and worker bees (bees of Chad McGinnis) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Bee Larva and Bees. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
In the excellent movie “Arrival,” which is now out on DVD, aliens come to earth to help humanity (and themselves). One thing that they do, for humanity — while behind a thick, glass-like barrier (separating them from the humans) within their spacecraft — is to reveal, to humans, the erroneousness and primitive nature of linear time. Most of us, by the way, think and perceive exclusively in terms of linear time. This movie hit home with me because for many years one was not fooled by the illusion of linear time. In the movie, there was someone (and there were those) who could see the future as if it was not separate from the present in any way, shape, or form.
Throughout my childhood, my siblings and i knew (all too well) what it meant when my mother would say that she “had a feeling” about someone. It meant that that person was about to pass away within the next few days, even if they were healthy. We always wondered if she’d “have a feeling” about one of us! Whatever it was that my mother had must have some form of genetic makeup (or something) because i tend to see things beyond the mere present too. What i see, fortunately, doesn’t involve death or dying; it entails more ordinary occurrences, for the most part. This has been going on ever since i was a kid. Some examples, for instance: When i was a very young boy, we — my friends and i — would go to the corner store to purchase some snacks, like a bag of potato chips or some Mr. Freezies. My grandmother never went shopping, never went to that store… but on one particular day as we headed toward the store, with the store far from where we were, i had a strange feeling. I felt that my grandmother would be in that store when we arrived there, and that i would be a bit embarrassed about running into her there. When we later arrived at the corner store, she was there; she said something to me, in front of my friends, that made me feel a bit embarrassed. And more recently, for example: I would see mental images of our large garage overhanging door (and wonder why i would be having recurrent images about something silly like that)… and later come home to find out that my wife (without consulting me whatsoever) had a new garage door installed. Or i would have repeated visions about a woman (Sandy F.) who was a direct-care assistant at the school for the handicapped where i worked before i retired. However, she (Sandy F.) was one of the direct-care assistants in some other teacher’s classroom… not mine. (I thought: “Why would i be repeatedly having images of her, since she wasn’t even in my classrom?) A day or so later, i was invited to come to a retirement party for a teacher who was retiring from the school where i used to work; she was the teacher in whose class Sandy F. worked in as a direct-care assistant. Later, when at the retirement party, the woman who i was seeing visions of was sitting right next to me at the dinner table of the restaurant; then they told me that Sandy F. was going to be taking over the classroom as the new teacher. I congratulated her (while she had a big smile on her face)! Just the other day, while still in bed in the morning, i had a vision of being in a vehicle and starting to crash into the side of a big semi truck. That day, i went shopping… and on the way home — in my car — was stopped at a four-way stop intersection. It was my turn to go, after a stop, but a big semi truck (perpendicular to my car) came roaring through the intersection without stopping (only very slightly slowing down). I am more than glad that i wisely hesitated at that intersection!
There is a lot more (much more, in fact), involving this, that one can tell you about, but i definitely think that it is best left unsaid (and private); it is way more involved than what i have ever told others (including my wife)… way more involved. There are very deep implications in all this. Like the movie suggests, we are a very primitive species, though we think that we are highly evolved. The world isn’t flat; this one is the only real viable one we have; we can’t mindlessly trash this one and fly away to escape to some other pristine sphere. And finally, in ending this posting, i will refer to Albert Einstein who said, “For those of us who believe in physics, the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
For Your Eyes Only (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
For Your Eyes Only (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Of course,everything that we ever warmly saw
was exactly what we were
With this,clocks might disagree
or limited walls of where
just as when the frost yawns
or the tide jumps
or the winds,in their caprice,
change their minds about moving
Suddenly they shouted
and their shout was what we were
and always will be
as when the sun and flowers
dance so close that each
the other is
or how birds fly in unison
as one organism
together but not
as many
Like when the poetic words
and the reader are
not two separate things
when why the she and he
of love is not
the cold separatist
apart from analysis
Dancing (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Dancing (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Appearance matters. However, what is much deeper matters much more. To look elegant and spectacular on the outside, yet to have an inside that is corrupt, uncaring, tainted, depressed, and disorderly… is a bit of a sorry waste. Many wear fancy suits and ties or fashionable dresses that look sensational; however, sensations are one thing, real order and profundity are another. To have a marvelous house, an impeccable lawn, a stunning car, and name-brand clothes is one thing; to be internally rich, orderly, caring, perceptive, and sagacious… is another. Most of us were groomed and tutored to chase after — and care about — the outward things. Most were not deeply encouraged to care about the inward things.
Though many have riches, possessions, and fancy clothes, a huge number of them are not beaming with ongoing joy and compassion. It may be that real richness, in life, has little to do with possessions and things; rather, it involves order beyond separation, accumulation, groping, and mere desire. A profound, inward order cannot occur when the mind merely falls for outward appearances and ordinary values. The real treasure is not out there “to get”; distance and time have nothing to do with it. Why have so many of us depended, so heavily, on distance and time? At the precise moment that the mind seeks pleasure… joy is gone. We are not suggesting that one should not do pleasurable things now and then; just don’t get mesmerized by a pursuit that may often not be necessary at all.
With the real ending of distance and separation — not the mere abstraction of an ending or intellectualization about ending — joy is blossoming, compassion is blossoming. Then there is no striving for superficial things. Depth does not cling to superficiality. To see this, one must perceive beyond the surface.
Just beeing (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Just beeing (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
There was a white faced circus clown
On odd days he would smile
On even days he would frown
He said he wished more people were odd like him
with juggling all the whiles
There was a white faced circus clown
who could easily summersault
He realized that most thought that they were separate
from what they see
but that it was not their fault
There was a white faced circus clown
who earned their whistles and cheers
He helped them leave their troubles behind
though they were not separate
from their fears
There is a little circus clown
with long orange floppy awkward feet
and if you ever meet with him
(who you are too)
you’re in for quite a treat
White Faced Circus Clown (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
White Faced Circus Clown (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” — T. S. Eliot
Most of us are perpetually measuring with the brain. We, so often, compare ourselves or our possessions with other entities (or what they have). We measure time, perpetually, as the past, present, and the future. We endlessly categorize things, label things, analyze things, and recognize things via a series of measurements and sequential paradigms. And, since the observer is really not so separate from the observed… we are what measurement actually is. We think that we are somehow separate from this measurement… but we are not. We are actually what the measurement is. However, life — real life — is so much more than what mere measurement entails.
Many are very proficient at measuring their monetary achievements; some think of little else. Many measure their power. Many measure their day by how much entertainment they experienced. This entertainment, however, is often merely an escape from their own emptiness, their own limited vacancy. Recognition (of things), along with their categorization, is a continuity of measurement. Thinking that you are “in the ‘now'” is a continuity of measurement. Considering possibilities of what the “future may be” is a continuity of measurement. Thinking that you are a separate “controller” with power over “other thoughts” is a continuity of measurement. Trying to be silent (and supposing you are silent) is a continuity of measurement. Calculating the length of your kitchen countertop is a continuity of measurement.
Many of us are perpetually measuring. Is that what life is about? May it be that there is much more to life than mere measurement? Is real love measurable? Is real compassion what can be measured? Is profound insight the result of mere measurement? Can wisdom be measured?
It may be that all measurements, by man, are limited, partial. We have been indoctrinated to frequently use measurement; we have not been encouraged to consider living (at times) beyond mere measurement. We will not be an intelligent divergence away from habitual reactions (with their limitations) if we remain exclusively in (and merely “function as”) measurement. It may be possible to go beyond mere measurement into what may be — all measurements aside — truly unlimited. Does it take a limited amount of time to get there? Of course not.
Beyond Far (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond Far (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
These old shoes
finished with hopscotching
on colorful sidewalks
and have put red and blue marbles
and jump-ropes into cessation
These wrinkled hands
interred their baseball bats and ping pong balls
deep into the cobwebbed past
and forgot about sweet kites soaring
amongst the bluest of skies
Old,impaired eyes
traded the joy of simple flower-filled days
for the complexity of money
while they finished with oak trees
and became buried in paperwork
Enjoying the Flowers (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Enjoying the Flowers (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
A mind that is not constantly groping may be a deeply profound mind, a sapient mind, not merely a mind that is lazy or unproductive. Most of us pursue more and more entertaining experiences, more and more sensational things to see or partake in. It’s our habit. Once something is experienced, we usually then (eventually) get bored with it to one extent or another, and then want different experiences… further things to experience. Few of us ever delve into this whole process and examine it deeply. We were, for the most part, educated to strive for things the way we do, and we take for granted that that is the way everyone functions as.
Of course, it is healthy and prudent to investigate into things, to have some interesting hobbies and interests to explore. Few of us, however, perceive the wisdom that involves — in addition to striving and exploring — perceiving beyond mere experiencing and mental-cataloguing. When he (or she) who is “experiencing” realizes that he (or she) is not really separate from the experiences… then a different kind of intelligence may be functioning. That lack of separation may also involve, in a very sagacious mind, the cessation of time… (since it takes time to merely continue seeing things via separative psychological processes). Psychological distance, for so many — such as between an ego and an object — involves psychological time… such as the time it takes to label or mentally categorize (i.e., recognize) an object from a so-called center, the time it takes to crave a certain ability, the time it takes to deal with (or come to terms with) a certain fear, or the time it takes to crave a certain pleasurable experience. A mind that understands directly, without internally fabricated separation, is beyond these internal, contradictory sequences and, hence, is not merely involved in fragmentary, psychological time. Ordinary psychological time always involves separative, fragmentary, mental constructs (that often grope, avoid, judge, resist, and pigeonhole). A wise mind goes beyond these separative elements (internally) and often is beyond mere “reactions” and conditioned responses. In such a mind, there is not always mere striving for more and more experiences, amusements, or entertainment; such a mind, being beyond mere separation and groping (which take time), may be what real bliss is. This bliss has nothing to do with achievement, categorization, gain, or recognition.
For so many, experience is like a carrot hanging by a string, attached to a pole; and the donkey endlessly keeps going after the carrot. However, the donkey never perceives that the pole is attached to the donkey — that there is no real separation there — and that the donkey and the carrot are not separate whatsoever. Groping and experience are splendid, at times, but so is not groping and not being a mere puppet to endless experience. So many of us, though, are so immersed in the habit of experiencing and groping… that we are at a loss for existing as anything else.
Resting (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Resting (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Diddle and Twiddle each played
their own fiddle
and since there were only two of them playing
No one was in the middle
They played tactfully(and as Diddle
ejected a bit of spittal)
Twiddle nervously giggled and said,
“It seems to be starting to drizzle”
Next,Diddle remarked,
“Please don’t piddle;
the rhyme does have a middle”
And then,in his transmittal,Twiddle said,
“This poem seems to
have a riddle”
Then,his third brother,No one,said,
“I’m just a triple nobody
stuck here in the middle,
so please do not belittle”
And it’s enlightening to psychologically exist
as nothing
With that,you need not quibble
[Note: The following are photos of an old dead tree that is adjacent to a large, local hospital. It is situated within the hospital grounds, right next to where many handicapped parking spots exist. Almost as if it had been in tune with the comings and goings of the patients, face shapes exist in places where the tree’s bark fell off. How many “faces” can you see within the tree’s patterns?]
Faces in the wood (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Faces in the wood (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Meditation — so-called meditation — is often compartmentalized by people to fit into a certain part of their day or week. During a specific time, they then practice what they’ve been taught in order to achieve something. However, the real thing may not be what the two aforementioned sentences shine a light on. The real thing may occur all day long, even as one is driving a car, walking on a wooded path, planting flowers, or washing windows. It may involve watching (without learned separative images or opinions) at the way you talk to others at work, or the way the mind reacts to a hurt creature or mentally sick person. Then the mind is aware… not according to someone else’s blueprint, not according to someone else’s concocted methodology… but just naturally, completely, effortlessly, without mere past conditioning. Meditation is extremely simple, but our complex minds are often too “knotted up” to perceive directly without looking through the contaminated screen of past knowledge. We were brainwashed to perpetually categorize everything, to look with a fabricated space from a learned image (of a supposed central “controller”) at things (via separation). That separation was traditionally inherited or learned. Even when there are no problems, we invent problems to solve. Another thing: we, as so many others, constantly strive to be perpetually entertained. What if we needn’t always be entertained? What are so many using entertainment to escape from? If our inner selves were not so imbued with limitation and stagnation… then maybe we wouldn’t be so disturbed about not being entertained and with facing what we (internally) really are.
Mindfulness, too, has those so-called experts who tell you how to manufacture clever, little tricks in order to keep your mind “mindful.” However, a mind that merely uses procedures from others (and little tricks) to be aware… is aware as a result of something. Profound awareness is not a mere result, however, but hypnosis and being a mere automaton certainly is. The real thing is not what someone can teach you to be, or give you to absorb (or mechanically practice). Real meditation is measureless and beyond conditioning… and what is measureless and unconditioned cannot merely be learned from another. The one who truly meditates does not know that he or she is meditating; nor does he or she care to know. However, in real, whole self-understanding and profound awareness, there is a profundity that negates sorrow, depression, fear, and mechanical mental parroting. There is real bliss when the mind is aware without being in a mold poured by others. However, there is no map or set of procedures (called religious or otherwise) that was devised by others that will really get you there. You have to do the work. And that work isn’t sitting on one’s behind on a superficial mat for 30 minutes, thinking one has achieved something marvelous.
Pink Veronica. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
?Are you evaluating this poem
as it is being read
?Are you wondering what the motive is
behind the writing of this poem
?Is a good poem a poem that helps
you to look at yourself without distortion,
without fragmentation,without preconceived judgments
?Is a question within a poem
a good thing to exist as
?Is the mind really separate
from the questions that are asked of it
?Is Saturday near,but the living organisms
(that one looks at)…distant
?Why would a question mark exist
at the beginning of a written question
?Can real empathy exist when there is
distance and separation
?Is intelligence without empathy and compassion
a superficial kind of intelligence
?Is “More all Day?” a cholesterol-laden,superficial question,
or is it a deep question from entities who really care about human beings
?Can one blossom beyond mediocrity
and staleness
Is one separate from the words
of this poem?
More All Day? Hooray! (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
More All Day? Hooray! (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Finding decent employment in today’s world is very difficult. It isn’t easy to get a job, yet alone a very ethical job. I am elderly (and retired from being a teacher of the multiply handicapped) and it was even tough to get a decent job when i was very young. I empathize with young people in this day and age. It will become even more difficult in the near future, with more and more robots doing the work, with more automated machines cranking things out; these automatons will do things efficiently and without needing to get paid. Many employers, these days, are not treating workers like human beings; they are cutting benefits, not giving them decent retirement plans, and are loading them with extra work. Miseducation and empty hearts have a lot to do with this. If you are young, or not so young, do not get depressed over having a difficult time in the job market; it is not your fault. It is just the way things are now.
Additionally — let’s face it — the world is getting to be a much more dangerous place. Scientists have moved the Nuclear Clock closer to midnight, largely due to people in high governmental places wanting to proliferate nuclear weapons even more. There are all kinds of conflicts between separative countries and religions. Populations are increasing and not enough is being done to curtail the usage of fossil fuels. However, with all of what is going on, one can function with stability, goodness, and real care and love for the environment. There’s a lot of darkness out there — for sure — but one has to be that starlight that is beyond that vast darkness.
When i was just out of college, i (instead of the regular route) became involved in a rural intentional community. (Many called them “communes” back then.) We did everything by consensus, had no leaders, were non-denominational, shared the land, did not allow drugs or nudity, did all kinds of volunteer work in the local community, were largely self-sufficient, grew much of our own food, and cooperated instead of being competitive. The local (outside) community loved us. I’m not sure what is out there (similarly) these days, but back then there were some intentional communities that were quite sane, cooperative, down to earth, and oriented toward more reasonable self-sufficiency and being closer to Mother Earth. This may be an alternative for (some) young people in the future. A lot of people, though, who were educated to be competitive, have an extremely difficult time when it comes to a very cooperative lifestyle.
To young people, i would suggest that they question things intelligently, look beyond mere self-gratification, and do things that will really benefit people and nature. Far too many have been programmed to be greedy, competitive, self-serving, and merely specialists. Do not merely fall into the rut of merely being a specialist in some limited field. Care about the whole of life too — or care about it more than anything — and don’t just care about some little section. You are not a pawn in all of this. You are the king (and you are the whole board and more). If they don’t treat you like a king… it is their mistake, not yours.
There is a new movie coming out this week… “A Quiet Passion.” Try to see it if you can; deep learning is real joy. Often, a quiet passion is the very best kind.
Not really separate (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Not really separate (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Sweetest little red thing
sitting in the trees
can PeterPan fly whenever he wants to
into the breeze
Precious tiny life
looking all around
needn’t pay taxes
wears a feathered crown
Beyond the Internal Revenue So-called Service (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond the Internal Revenue So-called Service (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
People who belong to a cult will — as members of the cult — insist that they are there of their own volition, and are not (in any way) being brainwashed. They will inform you about how secure and happy they are. The leaders of the cult will inform them about what is what and how things should be done, and they (the leaders) will not (under any circumstances) invite them to question everything and to go beyond the patterns provided.
Society, as it currently exists, is largely like that; it is very “cult-like” in the way it operates. However, most people do not want to go into that possibility… just like the way cult members do not want you to question their position within the cult. Whether we care to admit it or not, politics, religion, education, and similar branches of society are very cult-like. Suggesting, for instance, that the Catholic Church — with its (pointy hat) bishops, with its robed members who claim to be middlemen between you and God, with its symbols, methodical (esoteric) gestures, ringing bells, threats of punishment/eternal damnation, and strict practices/beliefs — is a cult would shock and disturb many people. However, just because something is immensely popular does not nullify the possibility that it is, indeed, a cult. So many of us are mesmerized by our orthodox religions, by nationalism, by ingrained educational precepts (that we adhere to without question) that we would even fight or kill for them. In fact, this is what is largely going on in the world right now — as it has been for many crass generations — this fighting for what they taught us to believe in. They don’t tell us to intelligently question our patterns, to go beyond our divisive patterns and beliefs and to love without promise for future rewards.
When you accept being a pawn, and have accepted it for many years, it is very disturbing when someone challenges you to transcend beyond being in that rigidity. Most of us were educated by those whom (themselves) have been produced by (i.e., indoctrinated by) the system. Some of this education, of course, has value. However, some of it is extremely deleterious; yet we accept all of it without question. Most of us were educated about what to think… not how to think. Most of us were educated to be specialists and to react in certain definite ways, not to be what sees and acts holistically. Most of us were educated to accept and to believe… not to deeply question. The end result, of all this, is that most of us are not dynamic, whole individuals but, rather, are brainwashed puppets (who think that we have freedom).
Psychologically, the very way we look at the world has been heavily tainted by others (and by the language that we absorbed); and through that second-hand screen, we look. Instead of considering that the observer may not be separate at all from the observed, we look — as we were taught to — with separation, division, and symbolic labeling. Where ingrained separation and division exist, there must be friction. The world is full of friction and conflict and is far from being an orderly place. Few of us flower beyond all of the cold, programmed rigidity. That must change.
Frozen in Time (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Frozen in Time (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
An elemental Frown
wore a serendipitous gown
and danced with a Smile all around
They flowed through the night–
what a breathtaking sight–
if only there was enough light
Eventually,the Frown was kissed by the Smile
It was most definitely worthwhile
until both were swallowed by an enormous crocodile
The crocodile swam west
as his gastric juices began to digest
(and inside his stomach muscles)both were depressed
The crocodile choked
The two were ejected,soaked
Happily,as they ran away,they were very stoked
Though both were together,the Frown disappeared
and a Grin kissed a Smile next to his beard
(while the crocodile hunted,just as we feared)
As for the croc,well,he inherited Frown’s prior frustration
as he slowly died of starvation
Now,museum kept,he’s under sterling preservation
One mean, old Croc! Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Integrity, in the dictionary, means wholeness, soundness. Wholeness is being complete. Wholeness is not one fragmentary image involved with thinking that it is related to other fragmentary images. A fragmentary image that maintains, with a series of ideas and imagery, that it is “one” with other fragmentary images (that it sees out there) is merely deluding itself… and is still reinforcing fragmentation. Wholeness is absolute. One definition for absolute, in the dictionary, is “unconditional.” Though the truly sacred is what cannot ever be thoroughly defined by limited words, it is — nevertheless, for what we must use here to communicate — inherently unconditional. All words are symbolic and limited, and there is a supreme sacredness beyond all words, beyond all man-made, clever attempts at silence, beyond all the divisive religions that separate man (and lead to war).
Its unconditional beauty is beyond the limited patterns and clockwork paradigms of this universe. Few are ever visited by it, for it is not what inhabits separation, fear, jealousy, indifference, and falsities. A practiced or calculated silence designed to “get it” will only manifest false, self-created manifestations, not that profundity. The conditioned — no matter what technique is used, no matter what expert is followed — will never bring about the unconditioned. Conditioning must end (through uncharted, non-concocted understanding and natural self -awareness), and not “to get something.” Sitting cross-legged (with your eyes shut) in order to achieve something “special” merely reinforces acquisition and the greed of the self. If observing takes place naturally, quietly, without always trying to achieve, without learned separation and abstractions, without merely always groping to get… then, perhaps, that sacred, eternal movement may explode through the organism; if not, it simply doesn’t. One must be indifferent about whether or not it comes; that can only take place if the mind is whole and sound… (and that timelessness, that sacredness need not appear just because the mind is whole and sound). The ending of conditioning occurs when awareness exists beyond mere acquisition, beyond mere symbolism, beyond limitation, and beyond the mere glorification of a fallacious, psychological center. The repetitious notion of a controlling center is a misrepresentation, and is a furthering of the conditioning actually taking place; it is an extension of erroneous conditioning. Few of us realize about the real joy of psychologically dying to an inner psychological center, to inner psychological greed; the image of a central controller (i.e., a central boss that dominates) is a big part of (primitive, inelegant) greed. Going beyond that is real wisdom and joy. Such joy is bliss without motive… and it is not a mere result… is not a mere reaction.
Vertical Climbing (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Vertical Climbing (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Hey, even if you’re a vegetarian, what’s a few cockroaches, now and then?
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One wishes that things were much better, such that one could just blog about wildlife and nature’s flowers, but they are not. The ship of the world, whether we realize it or not, is in a very precarious condition and it, due to indifference, is most definitely sinking; too many of us are walking around as if we are on a luxury cruise.
In ancient Rome, the conniving politicians held the masses in complacency by providing them with plenty of entertainment in the Colosseum; there were many forms of entertainment that involved death. Now, dancing from the strings of fossil fuel corporations and big industry, most politicians robotically react, and people get big fossil fuel transportation vehicles to have a lot of fun in. If all fossil fuels ended today, our atmosphere would remain critically polluted for 60 years. At the Colosseum, there was a lot of indifference among the endless entertainment back then; many of us haven’t changed from that paradigm whatsoever.
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The fusty,old politicians have succeeded,so far,
at keeping myriads of us(in this particular
galaxy)at bay
So many of us sit complacently,hog-tied mentally,
while hitching a ride with hypocrisy
laughing at jokes along the way
Most of us should be pronounced DOA(not
necessarily down in any hospital,but just
psychologically,upstairs)
They divert our minds,consume our integrity,
and want us to philander with superficiality
as we lower our underwear
Old, antiquated, and in control. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Old, antiquated, and in control. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
This post will not try to lure you into being a vegetarian. I sit and eat comfortably with people who eat meat, and i don’t try to convince them to do otherwise. I’ve been a vegetarian since 1973. My reason for vegetarianism is mostly related to a compassion for animals, rather than simply for health reasons. Currently, i am an Ovo-Lacto vegetarian, though for a few years i was a vegan (not eating any animal oriented products, including milk and eggs). I do not use much (at all) in the way of dairy products, but do eat eggs fairly often. Over the years, one has met all kinds of vegetarians and non-vegetarians. It has been an interesting ride. Some vegetarians, whom i’ve known or lived with, were simple and non-arrogant about their vegetarianism. They were simply that way, and they didn’t flaunt it or look down on those who were not like they were. I was appreciative of the way they were… of their non-judgemental approach. I’ve also met plenty of vegetarians who were rather arrogant and pretentious about it… looking down on those who did not fit into what they thought was the only correct way to be.
Years ago, i was introduced, by two female vegetarian friends, to a man who was a fruitarian. He did not eat plants because he thought that plants had feelings. He was rather pitiful to look at… looking very emaciated and sickly (though he was only in his 20’s). He claimed that it was “wrong” to even eat bread… since yeast — used to make bread — is closely related to animals. To me, what he said didn’t carry much credibility… especially since he looked like death warmed over. For a meal, he would eat some fruit… and he looked down on people who ate plants (as if they were immoral). One can take idealism to levels that negate the correct and proper care of the physical organism that the mind inhabits, causing irreparable harm to that organism.
When one was a vegan, after a period of time, though eating a good variety of foods, there developed unnatural cravings to eat more and more. Something was missing in that diet. Eventually, one went back to an Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian regimen. I was taking Chia oil capsules for the essential fatty acids. However, skin started to come off of my inner legs by my thigh area; it literally fell off! When i started taking Fish Oil capsules and/or Krill Oil… the skin problem went away. What i didn’t know before then, was that vegetable oils, including Chia, Flax, oils from nuts, and such, are in the form of ALA fatty acids. Most people cannot readily convert the ALA into the needed DHA. DHA is critical for proper brain function and body chemistry; many vegetarians are lacking in information about this (and in the necessary DHA). In a big way, this is a real crisis, and few are knowledgeable about it. Even non-vegetarians can be very lacking in DHA… which can lead to all kinds of problems, including cognition problems and Alzheimer’s disease. Recently, DHA from algae has become commercially available, which is great for vegetarians and even vegans. I currently use the Diet Standards brand called “Prenatal DHA”; please don’t laugh (like my wife did)! It can be purchased for less $ (than on some sites) on eBay, if one shops around. Fish oil and Krill oil, additionally, contain very large amounts of DHA.
As we age, we — vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike — especially need plenty of DHA; the brain consists largely of fat and DHA; DHA is essential! DHA is the predominant structural fatty acid in the central nervous system and in the retina of the eye, and its availability is vital for the development and health of the brain.
Lately, one has been into studying Native American culture, before the arrival of Europeans. They ate plenty of vegetables (back then) as well as meat. They respected nature… and lived in real harmony and balance with nature. Many of us, these days — vegetarians included — don’t even come close to that genuine harmony… that genuine balance. We, with our fossil-fueled cars, fossil-fueled plane trips, excessively large homes, overpopulation, and endless plastics, are far from that harmony. (One has been trying, with geothermal home heating, a small home, with using small cars, not having children, and recycling, etc.; but one can never do enough.) Being a vegetarian does help environmentally and with nature; however, there are many other factors that affect life in very significant ways.
Please — vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike — take the time to read the following regarding DHA:
http://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2012/11/dha_essential_brain_food/page-01
http://www.dhaomega3.org/Overview/Conversion-Efficiency-of-ALA-to-DHA-in-Humans
Not for eating (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Not for eating (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
If we all did more regarding green energy, if we all wrote emails (concerning cleaning up the environment) to the White House and to our Congressmen… then our little planet would have a chance.
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Excerpt from E.E.Cummings:
so rah-rah-rah democracy
let’s all be as thankful as hell
and bury the statue of liberty
(because it begins to smell)
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On the other side of nowhere
while everyone believes they’re somewhere
they numbly make their children(and nature)waltz completely out of time
and voting to ruin the environment is not a crime
Standing with you. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Standing with you. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
One has read blogs (recently) wherein those composing them write about meditation as if it is something that one can make one’s mind do… as if one can decide to do it (like turning a light switch on or off). Real meditation is not what one can decide to do. The accumulation of knowledge, as the past, cannot (under any circumstances) decide to be what it is not. Any planned or deliberate meditation is not real meditation. Charlatans abound, however, who are all too willing to tell you how to meditate. (It must be very easy to mesmerize yourself, in a rather self-hypnotic way, and then be all too willing to encourage others to do the same with themselves.) There is no “how” to real meditation. If it takes place, it is like a sudden spontaneous silence or quietude that was not (in any way) preplanned and brought about by a mental blueprint or calculated procedure. It may happen when one is walking through a wooded area, or when moving occurs from one room to another, or when sitting (without motive) takes place for a while on the back porch steps. When a bundle of memories, as the accumulated past — called thinking — decide to meditate, what they strive for is loaded with reactions of motive and acquisition. Whatever they reacted to become is an obtrusion of thought that projects with — and reinforces — a learned reaction constituting an image of “me” or “I,” which is itself another extension of thought/thinking. Deciding to sit down and meditate (for any motive), via a learned procedure, merely strengthens the fallacious “I” and its supposed ability (which it really does not have) to alter consciousness to a true and profound silence. The known cannot decide to be the unknown. Conditioned reactions, even sophisticated ones, cannot decide to be the unconditioned.
Awareness can — without the separative nonsense of an “I” apart from and controlling “its” thoughts — function with thinking, and if intelligence functions without calculated, separative psychological nonsense, then perhaps real meditation, without effort, may actually (naturally) occur. However, one cannot decide to meditate any more than one can decide to have — or be — an insight. Neither can one decide to be what humility is.
Another thing that people have been posting about is how they are so sure that everything in their world will turn out to be rosy and wonderful. Fanciful ideas! Because of underlying fears, many have an indoctrinated belief (either on the surface or deeper in their psychological unconscious) that a deity somehow is benevolently pulling the strings for things that go on in their world. Their security blankets, born out of fear (stemming from thinking and psychological time), are their beliefs. Fear, in people, is often buried in the hideaway of concocted belief. These beliefs, unfortunately, often encourage waiting for some future after-death utopia or some external power (to make things better in time). I am suggesting that we grow up (from those blankets), face the fears without separation, and not presume that God created this universe (and continues to manipulate it); (one is not suggesting that the sacred does not exist… on the contrary!). Additionally, if you actually want real security, perceive (without mere imagery) what is actually taking place, and act (don’t merely react) with intelligence and care. Perhaps you could write (like i have done many times) to governments, asking them to curtail nuclear armaments, fossil- fuels, and wars. Do environmentally friendly things, join the Sierra Club (or other such environmental groups), work for a more peaceful, environmentally cleaner world, do more and more green things, actually help life, and then maybe things will be truly wonderful.
Only in pairs (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Only in pairs (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Look what having leaders has gotten us so far!
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At the forefront of all the political drivel
kingsize greed and the lust for power
reigned supreme
While(elsewhere beyond “will be”)supple intelligence
innocently perceives without the cadaverous trappings
of frigid and oblivious experience
The more one gropes for it,the more it eludes
and our complex and fearless leaders(full of fear)
are too disconnected to simply see it
Ice cold bureaucrats (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Ice cold bureaucrats (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Many of us feel that we are in the network of things, operating freely and doing what we choose to do according to our own individualistic preferences and whims. Few of us consider that it may be the other way around. Few of us consider the possibility that the vast majority of us are a projection of the system, an extension of the system. Most of us were inculcated by the system and, when we function and react, it is the system operating. That system, developed and maintained by man’s tradition, seems to give us much security and order. However, if that very system is largely based on fragmentation, separation, domination, and friction — which it is — then the security is fallacious… non-existent, or limited. Many of us accept — without question — that there are separate countries and separate individuals (these individuals each with their own separate ego). None of this may be truly separate, but the system has us perceive and react to accept that; then friction and wars (and suffering) go on and on.
We were taught that we are separate from our fears. We were taught that we are separate from “others.” We were taught that nature and man are (somehow) separate. Our “I”s, our “me”s, our separative countries and religions, may be essentially a projection of the system, where there is no real freedom whatsoever. Few of us step out of it (into a larger whole that is not merely absorbed). Most of us are content to remain in (and “as”) the system. We think it offers security and joy. However, look at the world around you and how people react in in it (and “as” it). There is overwhelming disorder in what is currently going on in (and “as”) society. We need to change. We need to change, not according to more ideas about how things “should be,” not by more political and religious differences, or according to the same old, traditional ways. Real wholeness, real integrity is beyond the system; however, few care to truly move beyond the system. It is like forever staying in a limited, rusty old cage (and thinking that you are joyous and free).
Beyond the cage (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond the cage (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Like an ocean spray in Iowa
Like a tidal wave in the middle of the Sierra
Like a wise man aiming his gun to kill
Like a happy tree frog in an early March snowfall
Like up without any down
Like a “For Sale” sign on Europa
Like mind not separate from poem and fundamentally changing
Sticking to the facts (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Sticking to the facts (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
In watching, there is (ordinarily) the watcher and the watched. The watcher, as he or she was taught, feels separate from what is being observed. This also occurs when psychological/emotional phenomena manifest… as when one thinks that one “has” jealousy, but thinks that one is not the actual jealousy.
In profound awareness, the so-called central “I” or “me” does not — as the learned image that it is — exist. Then, an altogether different relationship may manifest… wherein there is no separation between the watcher and the watched. Then, an ingrained, inherited kind of friction and conflict ends. Then, there may be real integrity without any piecemeal disorder. For such integrity to take place, there must be instantaneous transcendence beyond the ordinary and mundane. When one looks at a bee, for instance (in beautiful nature), one is not, of course, actually the wings and the antennae; however, the patterns and the image (and, perhaps, the essence) of the bee are not at all separate from what one is. One need not always robotically label the bee (or whatever creature it is) as per what species or type of organism it is, but may look without mechanical memory and separation. Love transcends separation and mechanical categorization.
Transcending separation (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Transcending separation (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
looming flux(therefour)
from symbiotic muck
summoned by Mother Oak
now spurt from mycelium
to merge near and welcome baby
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By Dr. Mercola:
The name mycorrhiza literally means fungus-root. These fungi form a symbiotic relationship with the plant, colonizing the roots and sending extremely fine filaments far out into the soil that act as root extensions. Not only do these networks sound the alarm about invaders, but the filaments are more effective in nutrient and water absorption than the plant roots themselves—mycorrhizae increase the nutrient absorption of the plant 100 to 1,000 times.
In one thimbleful of healthy soil, you can find several MILES of fungal filaments, all releasing powerful enzymes that help dissolve tightly bound soil nutrients, such as organic nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron. The networks can be enormous—one was found weaving its way through an entire Canadian forest, with each tree connected to dozens of others over distances of 30 meters.
These fungi have been fundamental to plant growth for 460 million years. Even more interesting, mycorrhizae can even connect plants of different species, perhaps allowing interspecies communication.
More than 90 percent of plant species have these naturally-occurring symbiotic relationships with mycorrhizae, but in order for these CMNs to exist, the soil must be undisturbed. Erosion, tillage, cultivation, compaction, and other human activities destroy these beneficial fungi, and they are slow to colonize once disrupted. Therefore, intensively farmed plants don’t develop mycorrhizae and are typically less healthy, as a result.
Communication (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Communication (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
In real mindfulness, in profound awareness, there is an eternal simplicity (i.e., an uncomplicated movement) beyond excessive and needless mental ornamentation. Then there is not a separate watcher apart from the observed… perceiving from a so-called center. In profound awareness, there is no separate center that is perceiving thoughts or emotions that “it has.” One is the thought or thoughts (or emotions) as they occur; the idea that something separate “has” them is just another pattern of thought (that is primitive and fictional). That so-called center, invented by the other thoughts, is not only unnecessary… it is what leads to needless conflict, friction, and separation in (and “as”) the mind. This internal friction then extends out into society. Awareness of the illusory self need not take place if there is no projected, illusory self. In profound awareness, one cannot “know” that one is deeply aware, nor does one care to; profound awareness exists beyond mere measurement (and that is part of its beauty).
When the real beauty of awareness exists beyond all of the unnecessary complexities and friction, then needless patterns (of thinking) do not take place. Such an occurrence is not a lack of intelligence; on the contrary, it is supreme intelligence (that goes beyond repetitive, second-hand reactions). Without effort, awareness beyond all of the superfluous patterns goes beyond mere disorder, mundane experience, and recognition. A learned, isolated, fallacious center would be incapable of understanding the depth of what the aforementioned sentence means.
Winged (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Winged (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Our universe is expanding(the slick scientists say)
We’re headed in that direction,come what may
Elite physicists tell us all about energy and power
But to me,they’re like a bug on a little,swelling flower
They’re studying their “Big Bang” and its incipient phases
like a spider on a protuberant bud who inquisitively gazes
But the eternal whole can’t be understood by studying mere sections,
nor by looking from a bogus center that is a primitive projection
Studying the Universe (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Studying the Universe (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
To wield witty words, to accumulate a lot mentally and in the material world, to have power, and to have security, is zilch if one is not of a holistic compassion beyond the so-called central self. Holistic compassion (beautifully) does not depend on any outside or inside authority for guidance. In holistic compassion, there is no direction, no blueprint as to the right way to go. Society spoon-feeds us everything. So many of us are used to being spoon-fed. We are so impressionable and easily influenced by (and “as”) reaction. Our propensity for looking with what others have spoon-fed to us runs deep. What may be intelligent is a quantum leap going beyond all that. That quantum leap may not be of time. Psychological time, as the associated past of what one has learned, and as obtrusions from the past as what the future might be, does have some place. However, the timeless, beyond that limited domain, is also of great significance.
In the timeless, there is no seeking, no authority, no goal (projected from, and “as,” the past), no direction, and there are not mere tokens and labels (as words) that keep one in fragmented, sequential symbolism. In the timeless, real compassion and holistic intelligence — beyond the limited, isolated, coldly indifferent, and false — manifest.
Frozen through (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Frozen through (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
This little world needs more jubilance and wholeness
and intense insight and sound compassion
This little round place doesn’t need fossil fuels
nor indifference that kisses the behind of out-dated political drivel
and doesn’t need complacency when separation and
fragmentation devour all inside and out
Frozen in Time (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Frozen in Time (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 