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. from Emily Dickinson:
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. The words the happy say
. Are paltry melody —
. But those the silent feel
. Are beautiful.
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Flowering Moment by Thomas Peace 2013
Silence and True Beauty…
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All Posts Tagged ‘photography’
Better Coverage on Climate Change…
In a year that brought the U.S. record-breaking heat, massive wildfires, a historic drought, and devastating storms like Hurricane Sandy, the nightly news programs on ABC, CBS, and NBC barely talked about what was fueling this extreme weather — climate change. We need better coverage if we want people to connect the dots and demand real action to curb global warming pollution.
Please sign our petition below to Michael Corn, Executive Producer of ABC World News, Patricia Shevlin, Executive Producer of CBS Evening News, and Patrick Burkey, Executive Producer of NBC Nightly News, asking them to give us more frequent, accurate coverage of climate change this year.
OUR PETITION
Give Us Better Coverage on Climate Change this Year
Dear Mr. Corn, Ms. Shelvin, and Mr. Burkey,
Every night, tens of millions of people tune into the news on the major broadcasting networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC, expecting to learn about the most pressing issues facing our families and our nation. Given the urgency of addressing the climate crisis, we urge you to put global warming at the top of that list.
After experiencing the hottest year ever recorded in the United States and a series of devastating extreme weather events including wildfires, droughts, and storms like Hurricane Sandy, the American people deserve to know how our changing climate is fueling this extreme weather and what we can do about it.
That can only happen if you devote more coverage to climate change, report on future extreme weather in a climate context, and interview more climate scientists who will be able to accurately connect the dots between human activity, climate change, and the weather we have been experiencing. Yet, a recent study by Media Matters for America found that last year climate change was only featured in 12 segments on your nightly news programs combined.
Confronting the climate crisis is the challenge of our generation, and we urge you to honor the best traditions in American journalism by putting the focus on science and accurately reporting on climate change.
We look forward to watching your thorough, accurate coverage of climate change in the year ahead.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]
To Add Your Name, go to:
http://action.mediamatters.org/tell_news_to_cover_climate_change
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Fall or Rise by Thomas Peace 2013
Thinking…
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. Thinking, per se, is merely a tool of problem solving; it may not need to be the essence of your being. If you don’t have problem after problem — and you needn’t have — then thinking need not (in wisdom) always take place.
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Katylily by Thomas Peace 2013
The Big-shots like suckers…
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. It may be that, these days, the Big-shots — in separative politics, in huge, ambitious religious organizations, in financial and luring commodity-selling institutions — have one enormous thing in common. They all like suckers.
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. My pet Plecostomus Catfish:
Pet Plecostomus Catfish (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
Pet Plecostomus Catfish (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
Miracles…
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. from Walt Whitman:
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. Miracles
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Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night
with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet
and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.
To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim–the rocks–the motion of the waves–the
ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?
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Flower Burst by Thomas Peace 2013
The flowering of man…
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. Perhaps, if it ever happens, the ending of pollution, overpopulation, wars, separative perspectives, and divisive institutions will be the evolutionary flowering of man.
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Clovers by Thomas Peace 2013
Survival of the fittest…
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. Though it is primarily survival of the fittest here in and above water… it may very well be that the truly sacred only directly visits (and fills) the glass that is innocent, clear, and open.
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Wild Morning Glory by Thomas Peace 2013
True hate is instant separation…
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. True hate is instant separation from the whole… and instant ignorance (and, hence, is always false).
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Wasp by Thomas Peace 2013
Each of us is highly responsible…
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. Each of us is highly responsible for getting the world cleaner, greener, and more peaceful.
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Toad by Thomas Peace 2013
Wars are essentially stupid…
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. Wars are essentially stupid… just like one’s left hand attacking one’s right hand is essentially stupid.
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Katydid (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
Katydid (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
Katydid (3) by Thomas Peace 2013
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Spring…
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. from E. E. Cummings:
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Now i lay(with everywhere around)
me(the great dim deep sound
of rain;and of always and of nowhere)and
what a gently welcoming darkestness–
now i lay me down(in a most steep
more than music)feeling that sunlight is
(life and day are)only loaned:whereas
night is given(night and death and the rain
are given;and given is how beautifully snow)
now i lay me down to dream of(nothing
i or any somebody or you
can begin to begin to imagine)
something which nobody may keep.
now i lay me down to dream of Spring
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Spring Fledglings (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
Spring Fledglings (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
- Spring Fledglings (3) by Thomas Peace 2013
Jealousy and Social-oriented Fear…
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. Jealousy and social-oriented fear are attributes of a crippled mind.
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Meadow Flowers by Thomas Peace 2013
Wisdom and Truth…
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. Wisdom and truth exist beyond the realm of superficial thought; most all thought is essentially superficial.
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Thorn-mimic Treehopper & Ant by Thomas Peace 2013
The “perceiver” is “the perceived”…
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. The “perceiver” is “the perceived”; you are, psychologically, really not separate from what you see.
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Stick Insect In Woods (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
Stick Insect in Woods (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
- Stick Insect In Woods (3) by Thomas Peace 2013
Stick Insect In Woods (4) by Thomas Peace 2013
Stunt Kite Tricking… Video and Photos (to Homemade Rock Music)…
I trick stunt kites (dual-line stunt kites) — for exercise and as a hobby — and have been doing it for many years. The tricks within the video may look easy; however, they are extremely difficult. Many of the tricks in the video take a very long time to nail and perform properly. For instance, when I, a few years ago — at a kite festival — asked an experienced kite trick flyer about how to do a trick called the Comete… he told me that he has been trying to learn the trick for 3 or 4 years so far, and still has not learned how to do it. Stunt kite flying is a lot like playing a musical instrument; it takes a lot of skill and a lot of practice to get it right.
I love the exercise that it provides! You wouldn’t believe how you get out of breath and burn calories when stunt kite tricking properly! There is nothing like being out there with nature, with the soaring birds and other creatures… just enjoying the moment! It is a very environmentally friendly hobby to have! No gas residues, emissions, or waste materials are involved! It sure beats staying indoors, stagnantly playing some video game. Oftentimes large hawks or other types of birds will stop, hover, and stay and watch the kite tricking for quite a long period of time (as if mesmerized)! Give it a try sometime! You’ll be glad that you did! Invest in a more inexpensive kite at first… but do give it a try! (Watch learning videos, on how to do it; and if the kite is quickly heading for the ground… give it plenty of slack; don’t panic and pull, as most people do!) You are never too young or too old to be kite flying! I’m in my 60’s… and don’t plan on quitting any time soon! (Be sure to always wear a good quality pair of sunglasses and to use plenty of sun screen!) Get out there, have a blast, and fly! And, above all, never get discouraged about things and let go… life is too (eternally) precious!
The music with the accompanying video was composed and played (on synthesizers) by myself.
from E. E. Cummings:
o by the by
has anybody seen
little you-i
who stood on a green
hill and threw
his wish at blue?
with a swoop and a dart
out flew his wish
(it dived like a fish
but it climbed like a dream)
throbbing like a heart
singing like a flame
blue took it my
far beyond far
and high beyond high
bluer took it your
but bluest took it our
away beyond where
what a wonderful thing
is the end of a string
(murmurs little you-i
as the hill becomes nil)
and will somebody tell
me why people let go?
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The photos, that follow, except for the first, were taken at the Grand Haven Kite Festival, in Grand Haven, Michigan.
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Here’s a direct link to the video website, which you can alternatively go to and watch if (quality-wise) the following attached video doesn’t work within this post well (for you):
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xxv9or_stunt-kite-tricks-to-homemade-rock-music_sport#.UTATEjCsiSo
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Older photo of Sea Devil Kite… by Thomas Peace 2013
Grand Haven Michigan Kite Festival (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
Grand Haven Michigan Kite Festival (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
Grand Haven Michigan Kite Festival (3) by Thomas Peace 2013
Winter Scene…
The following is a short (simple) video of it snowing where we live… along an Illinois river bank; a couple of photos are additionally included. Snow, even though it means the absence of all my favorite bugs and creatures (for a while), is cool (in more ways than one)! The snow was quite beautiful… as it always is!
Each snowflake is unique, not like the others; yet, from a distance, they all look rather the same. Each of us (humans) is unique; however, in a big way, we are all the same. We — each and every one of us — have hopes, fears, desires, and favorite people whom we love and cherish. However, each of our hopes, fears, desires, and favorite people are different from everyone else’s. We can even be considerably more unique when we stop blindly following our flaky leaders — who don’t have a clue about where they’re going (and drifting to) anyway — and, instead, independently look at life beyond what we’ve merely been molded and shaped to see.
from Emily Dickinson:
It sifts from Leaden Sieves –
It powders all the Wood.
It fills with Alabaster Wool
The Wrinkles of the Road –
It makes an even Face
Of Mountain, and of Plain –
Unbroken Forehead from the East
Unto the East again –
It reaches to the Fence –
It wraps it Rail by Rail
Till it is lost in Fleeces –
It deals Celestial Veil
To Stump, and Stack – and Stem –
A Summer’s empty Room –
Acres of Joints, where Harvests were,
Recordless, but for them –
It Ruffles Wrists of Posts
As Ankles of a Queen –
Then stills it’s Artisans – like Ghosts –
Denying they have been –
Winter Snowfall (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
Winter Snowfall (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
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Going beyond mere reflections…
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. To reflect on something — merely with images from the mind — may not be to see it (fully) in actuality. When one looks from (and “as”) images, one is looking from (or through) what one was taught. What one was taught is always “of the past”; therefore, what one sees through (and with) this medium… is always a distorted, partial view of what actually is. If one looks by way of “what one was taught to see”… one sees things as one was taught to see them; in actuality, one sees what one was taught. The “perceiver” and “the perception” are not necessarily two different/separate things. If the perception is a reflection of what one “has learned,” it is part of the absorbed and memorized constitution of the “perceiver.” When such a “perceiver” perceives, he (or she) is looking (at least partially) from (and “as”) what he is (i.e., from what he or she has absorbed via learned processes). Looking at all things by way of “what one was taught” is a form of mental reflection (learned from others). It may be that the truly sacred cannot ever be truly seen by what are mere reflections… not even partially (although perhaps hints of it can be seen in such a way). That is one big reason why the sacred seems so elusive to so many. Most merely reflect on things — and look at things — from mere symbolic representations that they were taught. All symbolic representations, no matter how “intelligent” they may seem — and no matter how helpful they may be — are, intrinsically, distortions. This doesn’t at all mean that one should give up on “thinking, reflecting, and learning”; those are all very useful tools. However, they are only tools; they need not be what the essence of the organism must always be. Over-identifying with the tools may make significant waves in the waters (of the mind) that never allow direct perception.
March is coming. No doubt, the river must soon be (in a reactive) flowing… just like most humans are fixated in a reactive flowing. An overabundance of reactive flowing may not easily allow for a direct perception of truth. Just as each surface wave of a turbulent (spring) river reflects things in a distorted, fragmentary way… so the essence of each thought is constituted of fragmentation and a significant degree of distortion. Time is as a river. Perhaps, in March, one will stand on the bank of the river and remember something about the call of a certain bird. However, it will not really be the call of a certain bird that occurs again; it will only be a virtual thing… as all thoughts are. (Don’t merely be satisfied with the virtual.)
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from Wallace Stevens:
NOT IDEAS ABOUT THE THING
BUT THE THING ITSELF
At the earliest ending of winter,
In March, a scrawny cry from outside
Seemed like a sound in his mind.
He knew that he heard it,
A bird’s cry, at daylight or before,
In the early March wind.
The sun was rising at six,
No longer a battered panache above snow…
It would have been outside.
It was not from the vast ventriloquism
Of sleep’s faded paper-mache…
The sun was coming from the outside.
That scrawny cry–It was
A chorister whose c preceded the choir.
It was part of the colossal sun,
Surrounded by its choral rings,
Still far away. It was like
A new knowledge of reality.
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.****************************************************************
A photo of the river bank that we live on; as one was taking photos, a goose, across the river, was calling out. (The river and this article may be something to reflect on.) (Left click on image to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
Winter River by Thomas Peace 2013
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Going after the truth no matter what the consequences are…
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. When I was rather young — which wasn’t just a few months ago — I was determined to search for the actual truth that lies behind the essence of everything. The consequences of what I found did not matter to me. I didn’t want to “sugar-coat” what I might find… and turn it into something more tolerable (if it turned out to somehow be unpleasant). One wanted to actually perceive “what was behind everything” without distortion, without concern as to whether my personal life had any lasting significance or was merely an evanescent flash soon to be diluted. What was important was the “seeing” of the truth without distortion, without altering it into something that might be more comfortable (though fictional). To approach the “actual truth of everything,” one must put away ones desires (or stored patterns) of “how things should be,” or “what would be comfortable,” or “what one was told about things (by others)”… and perception must be undistorted. If we approach the truth with “what we’ve been told,” or with “how things ought to be,” we’ll definitely find something, but it won’t be the truth (though we may erroneously accept that it is). To go towards the truth — without any baggage from the past — one must go without fear of the consequences of what one might find. (Carry a lot of baggage… and you’ll fall through the thin ice… as most people do.)
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. from Stephen Crane:
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. Mystic shadow, bending near me,
. Who art thou?
. Whence come ye?
. And — tell me — is it fair
. Or is the truth bitter as eaten fire?
. Tell me!
. Fear not that I should quaver,
. For I dare — I dare.
. Then, tell me!
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. Sheets of ice of the partially frozen river that we live on. (Left click on image to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
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Ice on River (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
Ice on River (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
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Frozen in Time…
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. Curiously, most human beings function within the very significant and important domain of time… yet they have no idea about the fundamental essence and nature of time; nor do they realize the opportunity of going beyond it. Though it sounds mysterious and rather supernatural — it isn’t — it is a fact that a truly enlightened being can (once and a while) exist in (and “with”) a timelessness that is beyond the limited and unlimited field of time.
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. excerpt from E. E. Cummings:
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. what time is it?it is by every star
. a different time,and each most falsely true;
. or so subhuman superminds declare
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. —nor all their times encompass me and you:
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. when are we never,but forever now
. (hosts of eternity;not guests of seem)
. believe me,dear,clocks have enough to do
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. without confusing timelessness and time.
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For a limited time (pun intended) my book about time and eternity is being offered as a signed copy with free shipping. Go to:
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The following pictures are photos that I took of ice along the river bank that we live on. These look much better expanded, so… (Left click on the pictures to enlarge them; hit the left “return arrow” to return.)
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Frozen in Time (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
Frozen in Time (3) by Thomas Peace 2013
Frozen in Time (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
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Wisdom is one of the most important things in life…
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. Wisdom is one of the most important things in life. For without wisdom, one’s life may be essentially like an empty shell; such a life would very possibly be like a light bulb that has no illumination; it would be like a caterpillar that never changes into a true butterfly. Without wisdom, one may, indeed, lead a very comfortable life, a very financially secure, safe, and luxurious life. However, without that inner profundity (of wisdom)… such an outwardly appearing “successful” life is likely (largely) a rather cadaverous existence. Without true compassion, heartfelt awareness for all, deep insight, and non-fragmented perception… deep wisdom is not. One cannot have true wisdom if one merely fits in nicely into the indifferent edicts of society, while languidly allowing things to remain as they are. The vast disorder (of society) may seem to be overwhelming; but a little bit of pure order can have tremendous power. Changing the way one lives and being a better example is one way to act. Wisdom acts; if it doesn’t often act — if it sits around merely comfortably reacting — it isn’t wisdom. It isn’t easy to be in the minority (different from so many who hardly ever care); but not to peacefully stand up and do something against indifference, suffering, disorder, and tyranny is nonsensical.
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from Stephen Crane:
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Once I saw mountains angry,
And ranged in battle-front.
Against them stood a little man;
Aye, he was no bigger than my finger.
I laughed, and spoke to one near me,
“Will he prevail?”
“Surely,” replied this other;
“His grandfathers beat them many times.”
Then did I see much virtue in grandfathers —
At least, for the little man
Who stood against the mountains.
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For a limited time, signed copies of my book are available with free shipping; go to:
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Pseudo-silhouette (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
Pseudo-silhouette (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
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Pseudo-silhouette (3) by Thomas Peace 2013
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True (not Pretentious) Compassion…
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Though many talk about it and pretend to have it… very few are truly compassionate. Those few that are truly and deeply compassionate (in a holistic, deeper than average sense)… may be, fortunately, sometimes even visited (at least once, twice, or more, during their lives) by the immensity of the truly sacred.
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from Emily Dickinson:
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. Sometimes with the Heart
. Seldom with the Soul
. Scarcer once with the Might
. Few — love at all.
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Resting Dragonfly (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
Resting Dragonfly (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
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A Robust and Healthy Mind…
A robust and healthy mind is essential. Just as the body should be tenderly taken care of, given the correct, healthy foods, and exercised daily… so the mind, too, must be operated with care and order. The mind and the body have a close relationship with each other. When one is distorted and broken… it often influences the other. A languid and indifferent mind easily allows for a body that indolently sits around. Additionally, a body deficient in good nutrients and decent exercise… can easily influence the mind to be less alert, joyous, and caring. It’s a close partnership… and not enough people deeply realize that. Interestingly, just having a healthy body does not ensure that the mind (involved with that body) will be concomitantly healthy and orderly. There are many unbalanced, uncaring, mentally disturbed people with excellent bodies.
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. from Wallace Stevens:
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. Poetry is a health.
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. There must be some wing on which to fly.
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. Poetry is a cure of the mind.
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Bre with Bubbles by Thomas Peace 2013
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Communing with Nature…
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. To have a close and profound relationship with nature, one must give up the mental symbolism (as words) that one was taught to observe through (and function as). It can only be done without methods and sequential procedures (that were taught to you)… for time is not a factor when being in deep communion with (and as) nature. When spacial separation, labeling, categorization, and learned recognition come (naturally) to an end (without the effort that time involves), then one — if one is lucky — may, in a most beautiful stillness, be truly in communion with nature.
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. from E. E. Cummings:
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.
. n
. OthI
. n
.
. g can
.
. s
. urPas
. s
.
. the m
.
. y
. SteR
. y
.
. of
.
. s
. tilLnes
. s
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For a limited time, signed copies of my book are available with free shipping; go to:
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Friend (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
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Friend (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
F(3) by Thomas Peace 2013
F (4) by Thomas Peace 2013
F (5) by Thomas Peace 2013
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Early Valentine…
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. from E. E. Cummings:
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.
. never could anyone
. who simply lives to die
. dream that your valentine
. makes happier me than i
.
. but always everything
. which only dies to grow
. can guess and as for spring
. she’ll be the first to know
.
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.
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Two-lips for Valentines… by Thomas Peace 2013
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You (psychologically) are what you perceive
One of the chief attributes of a truly sagacious mind is to look at things without the dichotomy between the “observer” and “the observed.” The “observer” is not truly separate from “the observed”; you are not separate from what your perceptions are.
It is easy to crassly think that one is separate from the perceptions that one experiences. Multitudes of crude, base organisms can easily think and perceive in such a manner. The truly wise, however, acutely perceive beyond these primordial demarcations and boundaries. The truly sacred does not ever pass through what is crooked and distorted; it only visits (and goes through) what is straight, non-separated, direct, and true.
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from Walt Whitman:
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.
THERE WAS A CHILD WENT FORTH
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THERE was a child went forth every day;
And the first object he look’d upon, that object he became;
And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of
the day, or for many years, or stretching cycles of years.
The early lilacs became part of this child,
And grass, and white and red morning-glories, and white and red
clover, and the song of the phoebe-bird,
And the Third-month lambs, and the sow’s pink-faint litter, and the
mare’s foal, and the cow’s calf,
And the noisy brood of the barn-yard, or by the mire of the pond-
side,
And the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there–and the
beautiful curious liquid,
And the water-plants with their graceful flat heads–all became part
of him.
The field-sprouts of Fourth-month and Fifth-month became part of
him;
Winter-grain sprouts, and those of the light-yellow corn, and the
esculent roots of the garden,
And the apple-trees cover’d with blossoms, and the fruit afterward,
and wood-berries, and the commonest weeds by the road;
And the old drunkard staggering home from the out-house of the
tavern, whence he had lately risen,
And the school-mistress that pass’d on her way to the school,
And the friendly boys that pass’d–and the quarrelsome boys,
And the tidy and fresh-cheek’d girls–and the barefoot negro boy and
girl,
And all the changes of city and country, wherever he went.
His own parents,
He that had father’d him, and she that had conceiv’d him in her womb,
and birth’d him,
They gave this child more of themselves than that;
They gave him afterward every day–they became part of him.
The mother at home, quietly placing the dishes on the supper-table;
The mother with mild words–clean her cap and gown, a wholesome odor
falling off her person and clothes as she walks by;
The father, strong, self-sufficient, manly, mean, anger’d, unjust;
The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the crafty lure,
The family usages, the language, the company, the furniture–the
yearning and swelling heart,
Affection that will not be gainsay’d–the sense of what is real–the
thought if, after all, it should prove unreal,
The doubts of day-time and the doubts of night-time–the curious
whether and how,
Whether that which appears so is so, or is it all flashes and specks?
Men and women crowding fast in the streets–if they are not flashes
and specks, what are they?
The streets themselves, and the façades of houses, and goods in the
windows,
Vehicles, teams, the heavy-plank’d wharves–the huge crossing at the
ferries,
The village on the highland, seen from afar at sunset–the river
between,
Shadows, aureola and mist, the light falling on roofs and gables of
white or brown, three miles off,
The schooner near by, sleepily dropping down the tide–the little
boat slack-tow’d astern,
The hurrying tumbling waves, quick-broken crests, slapping,
The strata of color’d clouds, the long bar of maroon-tint, away
solitary by itself–the spread of purity it lies motionless in,
The horizon’s edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragrance of salt marsh
and shore mud;
These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now
goes, and will always go forth every day.
.
.
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(Left click on image to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
__Four at the Clover Table (Thomas Peace 2013)_______
Four at the Clover Table… by Thomas Peace 2013
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We hold our hands together… be the sunshine…
Without the things that you perceive… you (as you are) wouldn’t exist. Consciousness (largely) is what it perceives. So the next time that you see something, realize (please) that you are not (in essence) separate from it (i.e., you are not separate from your perceptions). What you see is a part of what you are. When you see some beautiful sunshine… it is you. When you see the atrocity (i.e., darkness) of man to man — or the (brilliant) heartfelt compassion of man to man — it is you. The perceiver is the perceived. In deep wisdom, there is only a perceiving… and that perceiving (if it is seen sagaciously) is eternal.
This, believe it or not, is applicable fundamentally at our core… besides perceptually; we are not separate from each other; we are all one. You can hold your hands apart… but they are not separate. The left hand can “think” that it is apart from the right hand, but it is not. Hold something within your hand; it is — in a big way — you.
The following is an excerpt of lyrics from Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe… the self-titled album by four alumni of the progressive rock group Yes: Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, and Steve Howe. (Jon Anderson, the alumni singer of Yes, gave me permission to include the lyrics of a couple of his songs within my book. He offered these lyrics free of charge… which is awesome!)
.
.
.***********************************************************
.
.
Excerpt from Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (Live)— with lyrics edited, by Thomas Peace, to hopefully more accurately depict (more than what most online lyric sites offer) the live, true vocalizations:
.
.
.
.
Always the way it seems
Just hear your voice
In all the songs of the earth
Nothing can come between us
You’re a brother of mine
We hold our hands together
Be the sunshine
Nothing can come between us
Be the sisters of time
Just hear your voice
in all the songs of the earth
Nothing can come between us
Nothing can come between us
Nothing can come between us
So give it all the love you have
Never be afraid to show your heart
So give it all the love you have
There is a special reason to come true
So giving all the love you have
Never be afraid to show your heart
So give it all the love you have
There is a special reason
There is a special reason this time
Long lost brother of mine
Seeing your life for the first time
Long lost brother of mine
Watching me walk in the full moon
Long lost brother of mine
Waking this dream everlasting
Long lost brother of mine
Seeing my life for the first time
Long lost brother of mine
Seeing me fly like an eagle
Long lost brother of mine
Watching me walk in the full moon
Long lost brother of mine
Seeing my life for the first time
Long lost brother of mine
Waking this dream everlasting
So it’s there
Putting one into one special reason
Yes it’s there
Putting “one into one one another”…
Sure can! Sure can! Sure can!
It’s a certain dimension
Coming at us for the very first time
It’s the second attention
Realising it all of the time
Re-defining this long lost passion
For the living we’re in
This will be the first of many
I be telling you
Long lost brother of mine
Walking away from illusion
Long lost brother of mine
Singing the sisters of freedom
Long lost brother of mine
Seeing the fathers of wisdom
Long lost brother of mine
Seeing my life for the first time
So it’s there, putting one into one special reason
Yes it’s there, putting “one into one one another”…
So it’s there, putting one into one special reason
Yes it’s there, you can see what you want to see
Long lost brother of mine…
Just hear your voice
In all the songs of the earth
Nothing can come between us
You’re a brother of mine
We hold our hands together
Be the sunshine
Nothing can come between us
Be the sisters of time
Just hear your voice
in all the songs of the earth
Nothing can come between us
Nothing can come between us
Nothing can come between us
So give it all the love you have
Never be afraid to show your heart
So give it all the love you have
There is a special reason to come true
So giving all the love you have
Never be afraid to show your heart
So give it all the love you have
There is a special reason
There is a special reason this time
Long lost brother of mine
Seeing your life for the first time
Long lost brother of mine
Watching me walk in the full moon
Long lost brother of mine
Waking this dream everlasting
Long lost brother of mine
Seeing my life for the first time
Long lost brother of mine
Seeing me fly like an eagle
Long lost brother of mine
Watching me walk in the full moon
Long lost brother of mine
Seeing my life for the first time
Long lost brother of mine
Waking this dream everlasting
So it’s there
Putting one into one special reason
Yes it’s there
Putting “one into one one another”…
Sure can! Sure can! Sure can!
It’s a certain dimension
Coming at us for the very first time
It’s the second attention
Realising it all of the time
Re-defining this long lost passion
For the living we’re in
This will be the first of many
I be telling you
Long lost brother of mine
Walking away from illusion
Long lost brother of mine
Singing the sisters of freedom
Long lost brother of mine
Seeing the fathers of wisdom
Long lost brother of mine
Seeing my life for the first time
So it’s there, putting one into one special reason
Yes it’s there, putting “one into one one another”…
So it’s there, putting one into one special reason
Yes it’s there, you can see what you want to see
Long lost brother of mine…
Long lost brother of mine…
Long lost brother of mine…
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Tom with Katy (1)… by Thomas Peace 2013
***
Tom with Katy (2)… by Thomas Peace 2013
***
Tom with Katy (3)… by Thomas Peace 2013
.
******************************************************
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Enlightenment…
.
.
.
.
. True enlightenment — not the kind that some falsely imagine is
. enlightenment — rarely, unfortunately, befalls upon human beings.
.
.
.
*************************************************************************
.
. from Walt Whitman:
.
.
.
. Hast never come to thee an hour,
. A sudden gleam divine, precipitating, bursting all these bub-
. bles, fashions, wealth,
. These eager business aims — books, politics, art, amours,
. To utter nothingness?
.
.
.
.****************************************************************************
(Left click on photos to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
Close encounter… by Thomas Peace 2013
Feasting… by Thomas Peace 2013
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Like a Grey Rock Wandering…
.
.
.
.
. We are all one… we are not at all — as some would have you
. believe — separate. All creatures are (together) one. Not many
. creatures fully realize this.
. I (in my six-legged greyness) am supposed
. to “blend in”… so that you do not see me. But, you see me. Speak
. anything out loud, anything whatsoever, and you will
. also hear me.
.
.
.
.******************************************************************************************
The following photographs of a “like a grey rock” sort of a thing… were taken in a wild, natural meadow.
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.
. from E. E. Cummings:
.
.
.
. a like a
. grey
. rock wanderin
.
. g
. through
. pasture
. wom
.
. an creature whom
. than
. earth hers
.
. elf
. could
. silent more no
. be
.
.
.********************************************************************
(Left click on an image to enlarge it; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
a like a grey rock… by Thomas Peace 2013
a like a grey rock (2)… by Thomas Peace 2013
a like a grey rock (3)… by Thomas Peace 2013
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Thinking, per se, is rather cold and empty…
.
.
.
.
. Thinking, per se, is rather cold and empty. All thoughts are symbols. They are fragmentary tokens and representations that we “fabricate” about what reality may be. They (i.e., thoughts) are tools for dealing with the reality; however, they are not the reality. The idea of moving deeply through a warm beach full of sparsely clothed, beautiful people (who worship you) doesn’t give one (in the end) a sunburn. Yet most of us dwell as these “virtual,” symbolic representations almost all of the time… rarely, if ever, going beyond them.
Exclusively remaining in (and “as”) thought… is a form of suffering. Thinking is always “about” the reality; it is never the actuality of the reality. Remaining as “the virtual” is like staying within a computer world… accepting it to be essentially true.
Unfortunately, very few (these days) actually go beyond the symbolic tools that they were programmed to become.
.
.
.*******************************************************************************************
.
. from Wallace Stevens:
.
. Crude Foyer
.
.
Thought is false happiness:the idea
That by thinking one can
Or may, penetrate, not may,
But can, that one is sure to be able –
That there lies at the end of thought
A foyer of the spirit in a landscape
Of the mind, in which we sit
And wear humanity’s bleak crown;
In which we read the critique of paradise
And say it is the work
Of a comedian, this critique,
In which we sit and breathe
An innocence of an absolute,
False happiness, since we know that we use
Only the eye as faculty, that the mind
Is the eye, and that this landscape of the mind
Is a landscape only of the eye, and that
We are ignorant men incapable
Of the least, minor, vital metaphor, content,
At last, there, when it turns out to be here.
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(Left click on the photo to enlarge it; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
Trees on the Beach by Thomas Peace 2013
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Stopping violence isn’t easy…
.
.
.
.
. Stopping violence isn’t easy. There is plenty of violence in America and in the world. More laws may help (but only to a very limited extent)… but more than that we need to offer people more educationally. We need to fundamentally change (as a society) at a level much deeper. We need to change to where there’s not so much separation… separation between others and separation between education and (integral, deep awareness beyond mere “knowing”). If we teach people to merely be competitive, to take from others, to exploit and use others… we will have failed. Many are the product of their education… and laws will not confine those who are determined to exploit them. These things are age-old; they are not anything new.
.
.
.
. from the ancient Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu:
.
.
. The more laws and restrictions there are
. The poorer people become.
. The sharper men’s weapons,
. The more trouble in the land.
. The more ingenious and clever men are,
. The more strange things happen.
. The more rules and regulations,
. The more thieves and robbers.
.
.
.*****************************************************************************
(Left click on the photo to enlarge it; hit the left “return arrow” to return.)
Stopping Violence isn’t easy… photo by Thomas Peace 2013
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***************************************************************
.
.
Suffering is universal; we are all part of the totality of it…
.
.
.
.
. Suffering is universal; we are all part of the totality of it… and (together) we can go beyond it.
.
.
. Sometimes going beyond mere representative images and symbolic patterns (as what thoughts are)… is a fundamental way of truly transcending suffering. Such a “going beyond” is silent, perceptive, non-fragmentary, and devoid of mere separation and indifferent distance.
.
.
.***************************************************************************************************
. from Walt Whitman:
.
I SIT and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all
oppression and shame;
I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with
themselves, remorseful after deeds done;
I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children, dying,
neglected, gaunt, desperate;
I see the wife misused by her husband—I see the treacherous seducer
of young women;
I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love, attempted to be
hid—I see these sights on the earth;
I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny—I see martyrs and
prisoners;
I observe a famine at sea—I observe the sailors casting lots who
shall be kill’d, to preserve the lives of the rest;
I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon
laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these—All the meanness and agony without end, I sitting, look
out upon,
See, hear, and am silent.
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(Left click on image to enlarge it; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
Purple Passion… photo by Thomas Peace 2013
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Death Immense Is Not So As A Little Innocence…
.
.
.
.
. Youth is growing down… when they are slowly losing their innocence
. and are turning into more second-hand, dead copies of mere so-called
. grown-ups. Never grow up… never lose your innocence.
.
.
.
.
.*************************************************************************
. excerpt from E. E. Cummings:
.
. And something thought or done or wished without
. a little innocence,although it were
. as red as terror and as green as fate,
. greyly shall fail and dully disappear —
.
. but the proud power of himself death immense
. is not so as a little innocence
.
.
. ************************************************************************************
. (Left click to enlarge the following photo; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
a little innocence by Thomas Peace 2013
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Praying Mantises… and Primitive Notions of Entropy…
.
. (Somehow, the two always belong together.)
.
.
.
.
. Universal order eternally smiled at the limited, rather barbaric,
. miseducated, ironclad notions of entropy… as certain minds,
. after tha debate, star t ed 2 d tear e oar eight 2 knot in 8 all… & fine
. alley dis hip it 8 Ed a wwwwwwwayyyyyyyyyyyy..y..y..y………
.
.
.
.
Praying Mantises will make a quick meal out of other insects within their vicinity, which is a rather entropic situation for the prey, but a rather non-entropic situation for the Mantises. (Universal order, by the way, isn’t going bye-bye.)
.
.
. I love handling Mantises in the wild. Most, when caught, will tame down within a few minutes… after they bite the living daylights out of you! Most will tame down so quickly that — after several minutes, when you put them back down on the ground — they actually zealously try to get back on your hand; they love to climb the wiggling fingers; to them it must be a fun sort of activity or exciting experience. (At least that’s the case with the ones I’ve encountered.) In our area I only found one Mantid that would not tame down, no matter what. That one I called “a bronco”… and I hope not to experience another one like it for a very long time!
At one time, I had a Praying Mantis as a pet… in a large terrarium. I fed it thawed frozen brine shrimp (daily) from my fingers. It lived for a very long time and laid huge egg sacks full of many eggs (that I put in our backyard). Female Mantises can lay fertile eggs even without ever coming into contact with a male Mantis; in such cases, the babies are exact clones of the mother. (If they do mate with a male… the females sometimes eat the male’s head off… or consume much of his body.) My pet Mantis really enjoyed climbing around on my fingers often. I was with my pet Mantis on the day that it died; it continually kept kissing its arms/legs all around… as if it were saying “good-bye” to itself.
Mantises truly look “alien-like” in appearance!
***********************************************************************************************
(go figure)
.
.
. from E. E. Cummings:
.
.
. yonder deadfromtheneckup graduate of a
. somewhat obscure to be sure university spends
. her time looking picturesque under
.
. the as it happens quite
. erroneous impression that he
.
. nascitur
.
.
.
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(Left click on the images to enlarge them; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
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Mantis (1)… hanging out with Tom…by Thomas Peace 2013
Mantis (2)… hanging out with Tom… by Thomas Peace 2013
Mantis (3) by Thomas Peace 2013
Mantids are meticulous groomers!
Mantis (4) by Thomas Peace 2013
Peeking over the antenna… right into the camera eye!
Mantis (5) by Thomas Peace 2013
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You say you want a revolution, well you know…
.
.
.
.
Instead of the usual crass and ignorant revolution of violent disruption, war, and disharmony, why can’t there be an awe-inspiring, elevated, truly new revolution of respect, affection and (wise) holistic understanding?
.
.
.
********************************************************************************
excerpt from John Lennon:
You say you’ll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it’s the institution
Well, you know
You’d better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow
Don’t you know it’s gonna be
Alright?
**************************************************************************
(Left click photo to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
Well, you know… by Thomas Peace 2013
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**************************************************************************
Purple Condemnation…
.
.
.
.
. Can we look at ourselves without mere condemnation, without judgement and criticism… but just look without any of the past conditioning and knowledge that was instilled within (and “as”) us?
.
.*****************************************************************************************
.
. from Stephen Crane:
.
.
. “It was wrong to do this,” said the angel.
. “You should live like a flower,
. Holding malice like a puppy,
. Waging war like a lambkin.”
.
. “Not so,” quoth the man
. Who had no fear of spirits;
. “It is only wrong for angels
. Who can live like the flowers,
. Holding malice like the puppies,
. Waging war like the lambkins.”
.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
(Left click to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
Grape Hyacinths by Thomas Peace 2013
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Peace and Pieces…
.
.
.
.
. To have lasting peace in the world, you can’t just look at
. everything in pieces (i.e., in fragments). Peace = no pieces!
. The flowering plant (below) has many flowers (on different stems)…
. but they are all “one”; they are not separate. Each flower can be a bit
. different (than the others), but they all (in a big way) are also rather
. similar… and they are not separate.
.
.
The friction between nations and groups is a reflection of the friction, fragmentation, and separative outlooks within each one of us. We will never have a lasting and holistic peace if each of us continues to see things with a “broken” perspective. Almost all of us have been educated to see things in a fragmentary way (i.e., “them” and “us”). What is fragmentary, what sees and thinks with a “broken” perspective… must, by natural law, extend more conflict, disorder, and disharmony (to a significant extent) than need be. What is ruptured internally extends that to manifest as an external rupturing. We all can benefit from more holistic, intelligent, integral understanding.
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(Left click on photo to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
Floral Integrity… by Thomas Peace 2013
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Going beyond the conventional…
.
.
.
.
. Life is meant to be lived (with vibrant awareness)… not mere
. (second-hand) imitation; perhaps you shouldn’t spend it
. looking through dead images that others instilled in you.
.
.
.
.***********************************************************************
.
.
. from Stephen Crane:
.
.
. “Think as I think,” said a man,
. “Or you are abominably wicked;
. You are a toad.”
.
. And after I had thought of it,
. I said: “I will, then, be a toad.”
.
.
.
.**********************************************************************
(Left click on photo to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
Self Portrait… by Thomas Peace 2013
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There is no plurality…
.
.
.
.
.
.
. There is no plurality… we are all one.
.
.
.
………………………………………………………………………………….
(Left click on images to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
Shih Tzu (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
. ………………………………………………………………………………
Shih Tzu (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
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Shih Tzu (3) by Thomas Peace 2013
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Compassion is thick, warm, and deep; indifference is…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. Compassion — like the living, limitless heart of a truly dedicated, caring nurse — is thick, warm, and deep; indifference — like a limited, superficial pool of dead ice — is cold and shallow.
.
.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
.
.
. from Walt Whitman:
.
. And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral
. drest in his shroud.
.
.
.
. (Left click to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return back.)
Lacewing by Thomas Peace 2013
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One safe and quiet blade of grass…
.
.
.
.
.
.
. (Note: The following is rather subtle… and may be difficult for many to grasp.
. Please examine it carefully… and with a mind that has dropped — at least for a
. while — its ironclad, conventional background and inherited prejudices.) 😉
.
.
. One safe and quiet blade of lofty, unconventional grass,
. withstanding the traditional rain, soars higher (to the truth of
. her) than millions of trampled, overpowered, fallen
. “blade-unawarenesses.”
.
.
. **************************************************************************************
. from E. E. Cummings:
.
.
. the people who
. rain(are move as)proces
. -sion Its of like immens-
. ely(a feet which is prayer
.
. among)float withins he
. upclimbest And(sky she
. )open new(
. dark we all findingly Spring the
.
. Fragrance unvisible)ges
. -tured together-
. ly singing ams
. trample(they flying silence
.
.
*********************************************************************************
(Left click to enlarge; hit “return arrow” to return.)
Leaf of Grass by
Thomas Peace 2012
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.
Actual Photos of the Immortal Web of Time…
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One wonders… what can be wiser than a wise spider?
.
Certainly not a lot of ordinary humans. Most humans, strangely enough, are stuck in time… and don’t even have a clue…
**********************************************************************************************************
phys·i·og·no·my
[fiz-ee-og-nuh-mee, -on-uh-mee] Show IPA
noun, plural phys·i·og·no·mies.
1.
The face or countenance, especially when considered as an index to the character:
a fierce physiognomy.
2.
Also called anthroposcopy. The art of determining character or personal characteristics
from the form or features of the body, especially of the face.
3.
The outward appearance of anything, taken as offering some “insight” into its
character: the physiognomy of a nation.
.
.
.********************************************************************************************************
.
.. from Emily Dickinson:
.
.
.
.. A SPIDER sewed at night
.. Without a Light
.. Upon an Arc of White.
.
.. If Ruff it was of Dame
.. Or Shroud of Gnome
.. Himself himself inform.
.
.. Of Immortality
.. His Strategy
.. Was Physiognomy.
.
.
.
.
.
.
(Left click on a photo to enlarge it; hit the left “return arrow” to return back.)
.
The Immortal Web of Time (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
.
The Immortal Web of Time (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
.
The Immortal Web of Time (3) by Thomas Peace 2013
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Photos: Three Creatures in an Eternal Flower…
Curiously, it may be that “mostpeople” function in the details, but never seem to care about seeing the big picture.
Curiously, time and eternity may be parts of that bigger picture that “mostpeople” don’t care enough about seeing.
It’s always important to see the little details; it’s also always important to curiously see (and understand) the big picture.
.
.
.
from Emily Dickinson:
.
ESTRANGED from Beauty — none can be —
For Beauty is Infinity —
And power to be finite ceased
Before Identity was leased.
.
.
*********************************************************************************************************
(Left click on the photos to enlarge them; hit the left “return arrow” to return.)
…
Three Bugs in an Eternal Flower (1) by Thomas Peace 2013
.
Three Bugs in an Eternal Flower (2) by Thomas Peace 2013
.
Three Bugs in an Eternal Flower (3) by Thomas Peace 2013
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Video of a Royal “Painted Lady” in Eternal Sunshine…(plus an extra Photo)…
.
.
.(Left click on the photo to enlarge it; hit “left return arrow” to return.)
Painted Lady by Thomas Peace 2013
.
.
. from Emily Dickinson:
.
. THE BUTTERFLY’S Numidian Gown
. With spots of Burnish roasted on
. Is proof against the Sun
. Yet prone to shut its spotted Fan
. And panting on a Clover lean
. As if it were undone —
.
.
.
.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Other of Emily’s insightful poems occur in my book. eternalfountainofyouth.com
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Photos of Unusual Allosaurus Dinosaur Fossil Vertebra (150 Million Years Old)…
The name Allosaurus was derived from the Greek, and it means “different lizard.” It was considered “different,” by paleontologists, because its bones were a lot lighter than in dinosaurs previous to its existence. Its bones were much lighter because they were riddled with many more air channels and blood vessel channels that previous species of dinosaur did not have as much of. This allowed it to be faster and more nimble for its size, which are great benefits to a big, meat-eating animal.
As most of you probably know… Allosaurus was a huge, carnivorous dinosaur. It occurred in the Jurassic Period, around 150 to 155 million years ago. The following is a photo (not taken by me) of an Allosaurus skeleton on exhibit (at the San Diego Natural History Museum).
- Allosaurus (San Diego Natural History Museum)
The following are photographs of an Allosaurus vertebra (backbone) that I purchased at one time. The vertebra comes from southern Utah. The vertebra was split in half; then each half was polished (on the side where the split occurred) to show the beautiful cells and spaces within the bone. Certain dinosaur bones (in certain isolated localities) become (over millions of years) permineralized by various minerals that permeate into the bone cells over time. Depending what the minerals are… the colors (within the bone spaces) can be of many different types… some very beautiful. This particular Allosaurus specimen has white crystallizations within… which look quite nice.
After I had the bone in my possession for a while, I noticed that one of the halves had a couple of places (on it) that were entry ways for pneumatic diverticulae. Pneumatic diverticulae, in the more evolved of the dinosaurs, were branches and channels — that would come from the air sacs and lungs — that would bore into and through the bones, enabling air (from the lungs) to be stored and transported. (So, unlike mammals, they could transport and store air within their bones!) Some of these channels would (later) progress to the outside of the body (and allow gases to be emitted out of the organism). Younger dinosaurs do not have these, at first; they grow and increase (and branch out more and more) as the animal ages. Many birds have this. A turkey wing — that someone is preparing for consumption — may have a little hole in the skin here or there. These are the exit chambers of the pneumatic channels! (A young turkey may not have these holes; most turkeys sold — to consume — are young turkeys). Birds are actually evolved from (and they are) dinosaurs. Many mammals, including humans, have cranial pneumaticity (exclusively in their heads)… but only dinosaur/birds have the very advanced postcranial pneumaticity (as well as an advanced form of the cranial kind).
Mammals (such as we humanoids) do not have this advanced kind of respiratory system. Ours is much more primitive. You won’t hear this taught in public schools; they, of course, continue to put on airs of superiority for our species! (I tell things straight, though, just as I do in my book.) One of the reasons why dinosaurs had such a monopoly over mammals for millions and millions of years has to do with their superior respiratory systems. In dinosaurs (and birds), special air sacs and pipework keep (new) fresh air coming into their lungs consistently. Air flows into a bird’s lungs only in one direction. Air from the (pre-lung) air-sac that puts air into a bird’s (or dinosaur’s) lungs is always being replenished with fresh air. Air from another (post-lung) air-sac that comes “from” their lungs… always is pushing out “old-used” air. The lungs never get the bad (used) air coming in with the fresh. Air only travels in one direction through their (i.e., dinosaurs’) lungs; their lungs are not the inefficient “in and out” kind (like blowing in and out of a paper sack) like ours (i.e., the mammals’) are. In fact, the lungs of dinosaurs (and birds, which are a small type of dinosaur) do not ever move; only the air-sacs around them move! Our lungs (of mammals) that move with the ribs, muscles, and diaphragm around them, breathe in the same bad air that we were trying to exhale (and through the same pipework too); that is very inefficient. That is one of the reasons why dinosaurs reigned supreme for so many millions of years… until that 6-mile-across asteroid wiped most of them out (except for the birds); the impact of that asteroid also wiped out 70% of all species on earth. Mammals, during the time of the dinosaurs, were always small, mostly nocturnal, and would hide under rocks (which is one of the reasons why we survived that impact); there were no large mammals during the time of the dinosaurs… because the dinosaurs were too dominant over the mammals. Most dinosaurs were a lot more hot blooded — the average body temperature of birds is 105 degrees Fahrenheit — a lot better at breathing… and (hence) a lot more sprightly and agile than the mammals. (The dinosaurs were not “sluggish,” as we were once — not long ago — taught.) If that asteroid would have missed the earth… they would still be the dominant ones… and who knows what they would have evolved into…
The following is a photo of the two halves of an Allosaurus vertebra with crystal cells (after polishing). Weight: 5 lb 10 oz
The cells, which once were air channels and passageways for blood vessels, are now filled with crystallized minerals (various silica, calcite, dolomite and other minerals).
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Allosaurus Dinosaur Split Vertebra by Thomas Peace c.2013
Note (in the photo below) the larger oval crystal section around the center; look to the right and (especially) to the left of it to see where the pneumatic diverticulae have entry-ways (fossae pleurocels, or pneumatic pores) that enter the vertebra bone from the air sacs/lungs! If you look at such a dinosaur vertebra, you will see little spots here and there on its sides; these are the entry-ways (fossae pleurocels/pneumatic pores) that go into the bone. This vert was cut just at the “right spot” (i.e., right where the pneumatic diverticulae enter the bone… as pneumatic pores); the guy who used to polish these didn’t have the faintest idea about what these entry-ways were! I’ve sent pictures of this to, and have corresponded with, a noted paleontologist. (The action of the pneumatic diverticulae functions almost like an organism within an organism; it is a very advanced stage in regard to breathing physiology.)
(Left click on the photos to enlarge; hit left return arrows to return back.)
Allosaurus Vertebra (1) by Thomas Peace c. 2013
Some close-ups…(please note, in the first of the following photos, the entry-way — the pneumatic fossa, or pneumatic pore — going into the vertabra )… It’s the “spear-shaped” chamber on the left. (It would form a convoluted passageway throughout the vert in ways we can’t simply see via a slice-view.)
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Allosaurus Vertebra (2) by Thomas Peace c.2013
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Allosaurus Vertebra (3) by Thomas Peace c.2013
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Allosaurus Vertebra (4) by Thomas Peace c.2013
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Allosaurus Vertebra (5) by Thomas Peace c.2013
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[A subsequent post,we’ll have, is: Photos of fossil Troodon Dinosaur (the “intelligent” dinosaur)]
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Highly Recommended:
Cool DVDs of Allosaurus:
You can get these at amazon.com or at ebay:
Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special
Jurassic Fight Club: Season One
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In order to magically not be like “mostpeople,” one has to stand alone…
In order to magically not be like “mostpeople,” one has to stand alone… like a single leaf upon a branching tree… (which is not isolation; it is really joyously and steadfastly being connected to the whole).
“Mostpeople” will not deeply understand this. “Mostpeople” are not able to function via a profundity of much understanding. Do what you want… but I’m not interested in going with the masses of “mostpeople”; they all fall away from “being one with the whole.”
Like most of the leaves of a tree in late fall or in winter… “mostpeople” find it very easy to exist separately, apart from the whole. That is how “mostpeople” cadaverously go about their separate ways.
The “me” is what “mostpeople” are. “Mostpeople” are what they were taught. “Mostpeople” readily absorb and become what they were fabricated to become. “Mostpeople” are the fear of going beyond what they were merely taught; hence, they fear going into the truly unknown… into the truly mysterious. It is easy to become merely what you were (safely) structured to become. (However, such safety isn’t really safe by any means; it is a “being blown apart from the tree of wholeness and wisdom.” Such separation is a form of death.) “Mostpeople” are afraid of standing alone; they are afraid of not fitting in with “the rest of the crowd.”
The “me,” to “mostpeople,” is separate from everyone else. Each thinks that their “me” is what is essentially separate from “other” people, animals, and plants.” They think that there is distance from this “me” to “other” life forms and other beings. The “me,” to “mostpeople,” is separate from the desires and fears that it has. This “me” (according to “mostpeople”) can run from, try to alter, or subjugate its fears. The “me,” to “mostpeople,” is separate from the desires that it has. This “me” (according to “mostpeople”) can chase after, try to alter, or subjugate its desires. The “me,” to “mostpeople,” is separate from the ideas and thoughts that it has. This “me” (according to “mostpeople”) can recall, try to alter, or subjugate it ideas and thoughts.
To “mostpeople,” the “me” is a central, regulatory, decision-making presence that is apart from other beings… and is, additionally, apart from its very own thoughts (that “it” has power over).
To the ignorant and unaware, the following may seem a bit intimidating or disquieting… but (in reality) it is not anything to be alarmed about whatsoever.
To one who may, indeed, be of wisdom, there is not much of a “me”. The wise man goes far beyond what he (or she) was merely taught. The wise man does not merely become what he was molded, shaped, and programmed to become.
The wise man, to a great extent, is not separate from everyone else. He does not feel separate from other people, animals, and plants. The wise man feels responsibility for all… because there are no “learned,” illusory lines of demarcation separating him from the rest of life. The wise man understands that he is not merely something separate from his fears. He lucidly perceives that he and the fears are “one and the same.” He is not separate from what the fears are. The wise man understands that he is not merely something separate from his desires. He lucidly perceives that he and the desires are “one and the same.” He is not separate from what the desires are.
The wise man does not childishly try to run from, alter, or subjugate his fears… for he prudently sees that doing so involves primitive, superficial conflict along with a significant waste of time and energy. The wise man does not childishly try to run after, alter, or subjugate his desires… for he prudently sees that doing so involves primitive, superficial conflict along with a significant waste of time and energy. (This does not mean that he does whatever is desired; that would be foolish!) The wise man is not — unlike “mostpeople” — afraid of standing alone.
The wise man does not childishly (from something internal, with a distance) try to recall his thoughts… because he discerningly perceives that his thoughts are not separate from what he actually is. So, in a wise mind, when thoughts are being recalled, they are recalling themselves; they are doing the recalling… not something somehow magically separate from them that is “getting them to recall.” Any alteration of thought, by a wise mind, involves thought altering and rearranging itself… not something doing it that is, somehow, separate and distant from thought/thinking. (Interestingly, despite its close, non-divisive connection to thinking, the sagacious mind, by the way, in its all-pervading wisdom, is not merely confined to the realm of mere thoughts and thinking.)
The wise mind is not what functions with a lot of separation and needless conflict (between what it is and what it is not)… as does “mostpeople.” This does not mean, of course, that the wise mind will brush your teeth for you (if you can brush them). It does mean that the wise, holistic mind is not likely to be involved in fragmentary wars, ruthless competitiveness, indifferent unconcern, and uncaring debauchery. It may be that the wise mind is an awareness that pervades and permeates beyond all small, limited, selfish, immature lines of separation and restriction. One, major form or type of restriction… involves erroneously thinking that there is distance between you and your thoughts, fears, and perceptions… which, in reality, there is not. You actually are your thoughts, fears, and perceptions. Going beyond such restriction is the only true and real freedom and (wholeness)… and it is not, unfortunately, for “mostpeople.”
In order to magically not be like “mostpeople,” one has to stand alone… like a single leaf upon a branching tree… (which is not isolation; it is really joyously and steadfastly being connected to the whole).
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from E. E. Cummings:
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One winter afternoon
(at the magical hour
when is becomes if)
a bespangled clown
standing on eighth street
handed me a flower.
Nobody,it’s safe
to say,observed him but
myself;and why?because
without any doubt he was
whatever(first and last)
mostpeople fear most:
a mystery for which i’ve
no word except alive
—that is,completely alert
and miraculously whole;
with not merely a mind and a heart
but unquestionably a soul-
by no means funereally hilarious
(or otherwise democratic)
but essentially poetic
or ethereally serious:
a fine not a coarse clown
(no mob, but a person)
and while never saying a word
who was anything but dumb;
since the silence of him
self sang like a bird.
Mostpeople have been heard
screaming for international
measures that render hell rational
—i thank heaven somebody’s crazy
enough to give me a daisy
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(To enlarge the following photo, please left click on it; hit the left return arrow to return back.)
Connected to the Whole… photo by Thomas Peace c.2013
Photo of 300 Million Year Old Damselfly Fossil that I found…
Here’s a photo of a 300 million year old fossil of a Damselfly that I found in the Mazon Creek area (of Illinois). Mazon Creek is world famous for the soft bodied fossils of animals and plants from the Pennsylvanian Period.
The entire piece is a little over 6 inches wide. The Damselfly is toward the lower right section, is facing right, with its hind-end abdomen (on the left, tilting down below the wings). If you look closely at the fossil, under the head to the right, you can see little fossilized legs; these legs were (apparently) kicking at the time when the insect became entrapped in mud or sediment (hence the darker impression under the head from the kicking/struggling). There are sections with Pennsylvanian foliage, also fossilized on the piece.
I mentioned the fossil in the comment section of Jerry Stolarski’s blog… and he requested that I post a photo of it. So here it is…
300 Million Year Old Damsel Fly fossil Thomas Peace c. 2013
Below is a photo of Damselflies in a mating ritual. Note that, after millions of years of evolution, their abdomens are a lot thinner and streamlined. Why would that be advantageous? Well, it could enable them to fly better… and it would prevent their great enemy from getting a lot of extra nourishment… thus keeping their enemy’s population down!
Damsel fly mating ritual Thomas Peace c. 2013
Below: Their archenemy not getting as much nourishment 300 million years later! (I’ll post some pics of spiders in 55 million year old Baltic Amber in the future.)
Spider & Damsel fly by Thomas Peace c. 2013
3D Nature Photographs…
These are 3D nature photos that I’ve taken; they’re (like my writings) not superficial! They are best viewed online via the use of a Pokescope 3D Viewer. One can order these easily online. Or one can do it by utilizing the “Eye-cross” method.” I can do it instantly… I’m so accustomed to it. However, it may be a bit difficult for a “newbie.” The Pokescope 3D Viewer is better (and it would work best by looking at the pictures while not enlarged). Viewing the photos on the 3D camera LCD or on a printed 3D lenticular is best.
Here’s how to view (via the Eye-cross method):
First, left click on one of the photos (to enlarge it); you can later return simply by clicking on the left return arrow.
1.Sit around three feet from your computer screen. Put your fists together about one foot in front of you.
2. Lift your index fingers up and keep them about 2 inches apart (and pointing slightly toward the bottom of the middle of the two pictures). Still keeping your index fingers mostly pointing up (and two inches apart), cross your eyes and try to produce a steady floating image of a “virtual” finger that is between the two real fingers.
3. Once you get good at making that steady “virtual” finger… take a look at the middle “virtual” image behind it; it will be 3D… and will stay locked in place (and focused) once you get “good at it.” Enjoy! (It takes practice!)
Alternate Method: (You still have to cross your eyes correctly…but it’s more cool, by far…) Another good way to do it…(that I invented)… is to make “Fake 3d Glasses” with your own hands; first put your open hands against your face (just outside of each eye, with fingers pointing up… like visors); then cup your index fingers and thumbs together to make “glasses”; look at the middle 3D image as before. The palm of your left hand should block your left eye from seeing the left picture (but enable your left eye to see the right picture); the palm of your right hand should block your right eye from seeing the right picture (but enable your right eye to see the left picture). As you look through your fake human glasses… your palms should be cupping to block the necessary side pictures, while allowing the middle virtual picture to exist exclusively on its own! Sweet! 😉
Let me know if you were able to do it. Otherwise, just look at the enlarged (though not as clear) pictures in 2D. Some people are better at it than others; it takes practice!
My 3d camera shows 3d images on its LCD screen (without needing 3d glasses), which is really cool. It’s a Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W3. One can order 5×7 inch permanent 3D pictures, of photos that one has taken, that one can view (without the need for 3D glasses or needing to do the 3D method described above); the 5x7s are made with special lenticular coatings (to make them easily seen in 3D).
3D Dandelion and Bee photo by Thomas Peace c. 2013
Ladybug photo by Thomas Peace c. 2013
Bee’s Friend, Man’s Enemy by Thomas Peace c.2013
Fledglings by Thomas Peace c.2013
Jiminy Cricket by Thomas Peace c.2013
Lacewing by Thomas Peace c.2013
What I think about Gay people…
Not to stereotype… but the following is what I think about Gay people.
First off, let me inform you that I am completely “straight.” I am male and I have a female wife. I have always been straight… and I’m sure I’ll happily remain that way.
I’ve had tropical fish and parrots, as pets, for many years. Years ago, I met someone who shared his home with many parrots. He had a lot of breeding pairs — really cared for his many bird-friends — and was really fond of animals of all types. He was a real lover of nature. He went by the name of Buddy. Buddy became one of my very best of friends. As time went by, I learned that Buddy was gay. He, in all the long time that I knew him, never tried to touch me inappropriately or in any sexual kind of way. We hung out a lot together… and often talked about different kinds of animals and creatures; nature and wildlife was our real passion.
Buddy once confided, to me, about how difficult it was for his family (i.e., his parents and siblings) about accepting his “gayness.” He, additionally, once said to me, “Who would ever choose to be gay?” He said that nobody would choose to be different like that; that it was something that just “happens” (like biologically/physiologically). I agreed with him; felt empathy for him; and continued to accept him as a true and splendid friend.
Unfortunately, Buddy did not see himself as positively as I did. He was raised Roman Catholic and attended church on a weekly basis. Buddy told me that what he was doing was a “sin”… and that, in a way, he was “wrong” and “evil.” Following being told things like that from Buddy, I occasionally would tell him that what he was… was not in any way sinful, or wrong, or evil. However, just like oodles of others, Buddy was ingrained by a traditional, doctrine-oriented, obsolete system run by antiquated, old-fogeyish men. My words fell on deaf ears. To his mind, I was no longer a “believer.” So my words carried little weight.
Once, we went together (to a distant large town) to a huge convention — with many people attending — on parrots. Buddy invited me to stay overnight at his friend’s house (while we were there). He assured me that there would be no interference with my privacy. I agreed, and — though I had a room all to myself, with the door closed — I just could not sleep that night. Something, deep down and rather unconscious, would not let me sleep. Nothing happened that night, of course, and I could have slept just fine. I’m sure that Buddy had a great time with his friend. (My lack of sleep was something to laugh about the next day.) At the large (all day) convention, which was about parrots, they served “grouse” for lunch; each plate had a whole bird sitting there in front of each in attendance…(except, fortunately, for me… I’m a vegetarian)! That meal was ludicrous! Who planned that, one wonders! We laughed about it all the way home! 🙂
Ever since I was a young child, I’ve had tropical fish. Angel fish, which I’ve occasionally gotten eggs and babies from, mate for life. Once in a while, I noticed, two males or two females would become mates. These fish were not “swayed” by deviant other fish who “taught them deviant ways”! It was just some biological/physiological phenomenon that naturally happened now and then. (Like it or not, we, all land-dwelling vertebrates, evolved from fish… fish like Osteolepis.)
One day, they found Buddy dead in his back yard. This, by the way, happened years ago. It was a heart related cause of death. One wonders if stress played a role in his untimely demise. If he had more acceptance, from others, about his “condition that wasn’t a condition”… maybe he would have lived a lot longer and a lot happier.
I am so glad that I still am not a follower of those old-fogeyish men with their pointed, fancy caps and their fancy robes and buildings. I am glad that I was supportive of Buddy… and that I often said positive things about his lifestyle (that he didn’t choose).
One of my sister-in-laws is gay. She is married to another woman. My wife’s family, at first, had a bit of a difficult time with it. But now they are very accepting and understanding about it. I, from the get-go, did not have any problem with it; to me, at the time, the difficulty that others were having about it seemed to be rather nonsensical and silly. That sister-in-law — I have six others — happens to be one of my very favorite within the family. She and her awesome spouse now have two wonderful children (by way of a sperm bank for the deposit). They are the most splendid of parents… always fussing over their kids and taking them all over for learning and educational purposes. You couldn’t find better parents! Not only are they great parents, but they are kind, happy, considerate, warm human beings. They are both teachers… and people in their community love them!
At the family Christmas party, a few days ago, (we had one of those later parties), I overheard one of the other sister-in-law’s kids say to the girl of the twins, “Why don’t you have a father like the rest of us do? Isn’t that very odd?” She said it in a kind of half mocking, half despising way. I plan on asking my gay sister-in-law for permission to briefly talk to her two children about their parents. I want to tell them that my so-called normal parents were often very cruel and uncaring. My mother often asked me (as a child) to talk her out of suicide and my father was psychologically and physically abusive. I used to fear for my life (while living at home as a young child). I would like to tell my “favorite sister-in-law’s” children just how amazingly lucky they are… and how they need not ever be embarrassed or ashamed. Many (far too many) so-called “normal” parents leave a lot to be desired!
Some final comments: There is one thing that I do disapprove of. It is those authoritative, dictatorial, hierarchical, orthodox, old men with the pointy hats having their way with little children, while the system tidily covers things up. They are the ones that are truly the danger.
Walt Whitman, one of the most sagacious of poets — and I have some of his insightful, witty poems within my book — was probably gay (as indicated by many biographers). He was no follower of any rigid, antiquated system; he walked robustly and solidly… content and more than pleased with himself!
[from Walt Whitman:
Do you suppose you have a right to a good sight, and he or she has no right to a sight? Do you think matter has cohered together from its diffuse float, and the soil is on the surface, and water runs and vegetation sprouts, for you only, and not for him and her?]
The following bird is beautiful… but its beauty can never approach the deep beauty of someone who, without harming others, has profound and wise acceptance for the way he or she really (intrinsically) is.
Photo below… by Thomas Peace (Left click on the photo to see it enlarged; left click on the “middle” of it again if you wish to enlarge it more; hit left return-arrows, once or twice, to return.)
Photo of Scarlet by Thomas Peace c.2013
Beyond the superficiality of apathy…
Beyond superficiality of the mind… may exist the profound depth of insightful, direct, compassionate perception. Perception that is not (often) compassionate is the kind that is not (often) the result of keen and profound awareness or insight. Such perception — without compassion — is often rather callous, machine-like, indifferent, limited, and therefore, superficial. In order to be indifferent, apathetic, and unconcerned about the feelings and well-being of others, one must be psychologically bound in a limited, constrained, and fixed frame of mind. Such a frame of mind is little and small… because its concern involves only one little square within the entire chess-board… not the entire field. One does not care much about what happens to others… because, for one thing, one is likely to be concentrating almost entirely on oneself (as what is important).
All limited fields, including the limited field of merely concentrating on oneself, must be curbed by narrow, fixed demarcations. Such demarcations and boundaries often are not fluid; they are not dynamic, nor are they all-encompassing. What is heavily bounded often does not have a lot of depth. Not to be judgmental, but there are all too many people who are quite content to remain fixed in limited fields of concern, having little regard for the well-being of the whole (i.e., well-being of the earth’s many life forms). Being separated from others involves fragmentation… a fissure and a disjunction from them. This separation can be learned (such as via barbaric educational or primitive parenting practices) or it can be the result of certain biological qualities of the brain (as a result of biological/genetic inheritance or by cerebral chemical malfunctioning).
Some very social animals, such as monkeys and higher apes, tend to (at times) be rather compassionate (to a limited extent) to members of their own group or pack. This sharing within the group tends to benefit members within the group, and it extends order and mutual survival for all. Even some insects (such as ants) engage in instinctual sharing and group consciousness; they even create ladders (constructed out of many of themselves, as bodies clinging to bodies) so that other members can transversely move across difficult crevasses/chasms. Bonobo chimpanzees, a subspecies of chimps, have a brain anatomy that is significantly more developed, with larger regions assumed to be associated with the process of feeling empathy; they easily sense distress in others, and “feel their anxiety,” which makes them less aggressive and more empathic than their close relatives (i.e., the regular chimps and some of us humans). Bonobos have a thick connection between the amygdala, an neural area that can spark aggression, and the ventral anterior cingulate cortex, which helps control impulses. This thicker connection enables them to better regulate their emotional impulses, and to get a better grip on their behavior. I love how Bonobos are so full of empathy for other animals. One, for example, lovingly held an injured bird and kept it warm, until it was able to fly over the enclosure fence.
For us humans, to be shaped (mentally) by the edicts of society allows only for a very limited depth of insight and true compassion. Although there is sharing… society, currently, incorporates a lot of separative, competitive, and rigid views. Dynamically transcending these views may be necessary for a profound depth of insight, and for real compassion, to manifest. Society, currently, often deeply admires the man who is very financially successful, competitive, and dominant over others; such success often involves a rather ruthless, cutthroat, and machine-like mode of affairs. Real compassion crashes through the superficial perspectives (of normalcy) and intelligently goes where recognition and awards are of little value and meaning. The immature need to be “recognized”; the need to be given “awards”… involves ostensibly concentrating on a little, limited, fixed self.
Photo below… by Thomas Peace (Left click on the photo and scroll down to see it enlarged; left click on the “middle” of it again to enlarge it more; hit left return-arrows, twice, to return.)
Lily with Ant photo by Thomas Peace c.2013
On looking at life anew…
Life involves much more than having many symbols (i.e., thoughts) about it. Many of us go through life looking at everything through a screen of symbols and images. We recognize things merely via these symbols and images (that we were taught). To look freshly — without all of these blasé, worn-out images — is to really live. Otherwise, one is merely looking through (and with) the old, dead known. Direct, youthful observation only takes place without the contaminated past interfering. Such observation is, in itself, alive and free.
Structured and “learned” observation is never really of freedom; it is never implicitly free. Many merely look via the ways and modes that they were “taught” to look. Little wonder, then, why so many become bored, weary, melancholy, and depressed. They are not looking with what is joyous, fresh, alive, and spontaneous; they are looking with what is old, stored, categorized, and of the past. The beauty of existence and life is in its spontaneity and “nowness”… not in a remembrance of what “was before.” Go beyond what all the pundits have taught you. Go beyond what you stored and accumulated. Leave the dead past and perceive freshly in the “now.”
The next time you see the beauty of an animal, or a face, (or a tree)… please do not merely look at it via labels, classified-learned patterns, formulated systems, and antiquated memories. Please do not merely look with a lot of that “learned space” that exists between the perceiver and what is being perceived. Without all that baggage, maybe (if you’re lucky) you’ll actually be in relationship with what is observed.
“Beyond Labels”… pic by Thomas Peace (Left click on the photo and scroll down to see it enlarged; left click on the “middle” of it again to enlarge it more; hit left return-arrows, twice, to return.)
“Beyond Labels” photo by Thomas Peace
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 