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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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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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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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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.]
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The Original Stealth Bomber! (Tiger Moth, Colona Moth) 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
. 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
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. To go beyond opinions and prejudices is to perceive without contamination.
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Mid-afternoon siesta! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Waver from blind acceptance… and you may actually discover the truth!
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It’s not polite to eat with your mouth open! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. 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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. Wow! Scientist’s have succeeded in creating a macro-photo of the system and intricate network of neurons composing the human brain (and the images that individual neurons contain)!
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Macro-photo of the Human Neural Network. And, as Elmer Fudd says:
“Finawee, here’s scientific pruuf dat humans are wey smarter den doze krazy wabbits and all doze udder animals!” Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. It’s easy to imitate others and to copy… and be so-called “normal”! However, to really question things and to truly think is not easy nor often admired, but it’s the only way to “be”! . .
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. (That everlasting “long and winding road” is time.)
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. “The Long And Winding Road” — The Beatles
For a diminutive insect, it’s: The Long and Winding Road… Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. There are no real boundaries anywhere in the cosmos, except those invented and perceived by thought!
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All r 1…Sempervivums sedums… Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. The teacher is the teaching; the criminal is the crime; the nurse is the healing; the woodpecker is the wood pecking; the arthropod is the blossoming.
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Be open minded… not just closed! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. One instant of bigheartedness is brighter than a million instances of disingenuous indifference.
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Bountiful love… Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. A man without a warm, caring heart is like a musician without thumbs!
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Warmth deep beyond the center! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. 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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. An ordinary mind will see things as being stale and humdrum; a profound mind will perceive things as being majestic and wonderful!
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There’s fungus among us! … cup fungi … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Happy Mother’s Day! And let’s all especially wish a happy Mother’s Day to Mother Earth too. She is all we have, and we all need to take better care of her (by recycling, using green energy, and planting more trees and such), not neglecting her. We can’t (as many foolish scientists suggest) leave home to go to another planet when things get bad here; some scientists are suggesting the wrong things; we have to wake up and treat her much better! Mother Earth is not at all separate from all true, good mothers!
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. Excerpt of a Navajo Native American Song (which, as a song of wisdom, occurs within my book):
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Song of the Earth
All is beautiful,
All is beautiful…All is beautiful, indeed.
Now the Mother Earth, and the Father Sky… Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
Sisnajinni, Tsodsichl,
Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
Now Doko-oslid and Depenitsa… Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
And the night of darkness… And the dawn of light… Meeting, joining one another… Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful…All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
Now Hastyeyalli and Hastyehogan… Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
And the white corn and the yellow corn… Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
And the corn-pollen and the Ripener… Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
Life-that-never-passeth,
Happiness-of-all-things… Meeting, joining one another,
Helpmates ever, they.
All is beautiful… All is beautiful… All is beautiful, indeed.
Now all is beautiful,
All is beautiful,
All is beautiful, indeed.
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Happy Mother’s Day to all good mothers and to our good Mother Earth! … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. You might think she’s ugly… but she has tied a little webbing — on her rear leg to the cement — to remind herself not to leave any time soon… and (though rather emaciated and hungry) she is not moving; so she is a very caring and good mother. That, my friends, is beautiful!
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. (Fishing Spiders get quite large. Some, legs included, can be over 3 inches long. Some can dive underwater to catch prey, or they catch prey near the surface of the water, even minnows. It is unusual for spiders to eat vertebrates, but these do! Females guard their eggs sacs for quite a long time… often over a month, not eating while doing so. The one below was on cement on the bank of a river. It was rather strange about how i came upon it. While at home, i had a premonition that if i went to the river bank… i’d see an unusually nice, large spider there. I grabbed a camera and walked to the river bank; as i approached the bank, the spider could be seen from quite a distance and one realized immediately that that was what the intimation was about. It didn’t budge while i took shots; then i politely left it with its highly precious orb.)
Dolomedes tenebrosus (Fishing Spider) with her egg sac … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Carry too many thoughts about “how things are” with you… and you won’t ever actually see where you are going!
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The center of attention… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. In compassion, there is no separate “you” and “I”!
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Who’s zoomin’ who? … (Saltwater Tang Fish, Blue Tang) photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Close-up photo of Ellen DeGeneres in Finding Nemo…
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. Dorothy: How do you talk if you don’t have a brain?
. Scarecrow: Well, some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don’t they?!
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Scarecrow: Boo! Scat! Boo! You see, I can’t even scare a crow. (Photo by Thomas Peace 2014)
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. The giver is the gift. The seer is the seen. The helping is the love.
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Morning Glory by the woods… Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. They say that location is everything! Location! Location! Location!
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They say that location is everything! …. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. The door to success in the entertainment world… may be illusory.
. Real success is in finding truth, helping others, and ending suffering… not in showing off like some kind of monkey, getting all the apish stares!
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The door to success in the entertainment world… may be illusory. Mantled Howler Monkey at the zoo, briefly resting after antics with his group… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Never ever grow up! Never ever let them contaminate your youth and inner joy with their old words and systems!
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Eastern Amberwing Dragonfly (male)… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Cleanliness is not next to godliness… but genuine, heartfelt compassion is!
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Clouded Sulphur Butterfly (male) on pink clover… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Would you rather wake up while you’re you, or afterwards?
. — E.E.Cummings
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Flagtail Prochilodus, large tetra, South America species… 1 1/2 feet long… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Multi-photo: Thirteen really isn’t unlucky… and neither is the blackbird that flutters in the mind.
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by Wallace Stevens
Following a song, a male Common Grackle Blackbird looks for signs of intelligent life in a thoughtless world. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
This is not a blackbird… as every wise old crow knows. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. You can’t climb to the top of the mountain of wisdom while carrying the burden of thought, fear, and memory.
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Climbing to the summit! Green Grasshopper 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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. Please do not merely look through the contaminated screen of what you were taught!
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Even a butterfly can look beyond what it’s programmed to see! … 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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. Deep intelligence sees that the psychological dichotomy between the “controller” of ideas and the “ideas” is essentially fallacious and illusory; one’s ideas and feelings are what one actually is… not — as we were erroneously taught — something at a distance that one “has.” Your reactions and thoughts are not truly separate from what you are. Conflict inwardly can project as conflict outwardly.
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At an end and a new beginning… female Widow Skimmer Dragonfly … photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Real sophistication doesn’t involve merely knowing a lot of facts; real sophistication involves deep compassion and an awareness of feelings.
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“Pleeze, I toad yew to wefrain from hiding in dat hole of yurz, yew crazy wabbit!” – Elmer Fudd … Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. Years ago when one was in parochial school, we were required to attend mass, in the church, every day before classes. As a youngster, kneeling in church as the requisite rules called for, i remember thinking: “God is not here (locked up for us to visit), God is outdoors among nature and the good, great outdoors.” I remember feeling like being in prison… but i realized that, some day, i would get out. Later, while in college (and away from home), i purchased a rock music album that happened to have lyrics that really “hit home” with me. The album was entitled “Aqualung”… and the second half of the album contained lyrics helping one to question orthodox perspectives about spirituality and, instead, think (and discover) for oneself. This album, among others, was integral for me regarding my independent search within the realm of the spiritual/philosophical. That search became far more important to me than girlfriends, far more important than having a good time, competing in the job market, or being admired by others in the social realm. I am very appreciative of that album and others like it. I feel that my writings and photos (and especially my book) attest to the fact that independent inquiry (including intelligent doubting and searching) is not only worthwhile… but very noble, fruitful, and magnificent. (Of course, one may be all wrong about this… and may still be primarily just a fool.) 😉
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Later in life, it was a pleasant surprise to discover that the historical Jesus himself seemed to not be in favor of — as my book is indicative of — orthodoxy, temples, and the priests within. It was the high priests, the Sanhedrin (in their fancy robes), that accused him of things and arranged to have him killed by the Romans. After the death of the historical Christ, there were many gospels and versions of gospels that many people could choose from. Ironically, it was high priests that eventually chose the ones they wanted people to adhere to; they (like they did to the historical Jesus) arranged to have those that cherished other versions… to be terminated and destroyed. Likewise their (banned) bibles were destroyed and discarded.
Many of the top biblical scholars of today acknowledge that the ancient Gospel of Thomas — discovered by a peasant in 1945 in an earthenware jug, (and also in Greek fragments in an ancient dump heap) — was very likely existent before the Gospels of Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John. The apostles did not, it is well known, write the four orthodox gospels. The gospels called Luke and Matthew copied Mark; some scholars contend that John is a rebuttal against the Gospel of Thomas.
from the ancient Gospel of Thomas:
Jesus said, “Why have you come out to the countryside? To see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a person dressed in soft clothes, [like your] rulers and your powerful ones? They are dressed in soft clothes, and they cannot understand truth.”
From the Gosp. of Thomas, Greek dump heap POxy 1 fragment:
[Jesus says], “Where there are [three, they are without] God, and where there is only [one], I say, I am with that one. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there. Split a piece of wood, and I am there.”
Lyrics from the song Wind Up… from the Aqualung album by Jethro Tull:
“Wind-Up”
A dancer to another tune… Blue-fronted Dancer Damselfly… 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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. Judging a person by the color of his skin is like judging the sun by the color of the clouds.
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Beyond superficial labels… photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 