Hoping you have a happy and healthy New Year!… even though there is really nothing new about it! 😉
Happy New Year!
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All Posts Tagged ‘photos’
Puff Ball Fairy
Puff Ball Fairy,
when you floated past,
ever so gracefully,
ever so enchantingly,
i was, at once, captivated
by your spell.
As you gently floated away,
i, with camera in hand,
wished you would return
so that i could capture
some of your mysterious beauty.
Alas! You granted my wish
and again floated nearby,
alighting on a simple leaf.
Thank you, Puff Ball Fairy,
and may we meet again
someverymagicaltime in sweet eternity.
Puff Ball Fairy … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Halloween Dream Time (Part 2)
The skull of my face
is back again
to pull you in
as such a friend
The face of my skull
with all its might
will wrap you up
and squeeze you tight
Tiger Spider Argiope trifasciata (revisiting) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Talk regarding a spy within The United Society of Ants
If there is a spy among us,
he shouldn’t be too hard to spot;
he’ll be at the top and have glaring eyes of red.
[Note: These insects are on a wild Celery plant. Wild Celery is very common in our area.]
Spy Among the Ants… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Our Internet is Down and Broken… & my Apologies…
Our internet has been down a few days. That is why i have not been responding to you guys, interacting, liking your blogs, or responding to your comments (which i apologize for). They finally got it going again but our rural-area computer wouldn’t work with the new system and so they got it going for us with a very antiquated, dial-up-cretaceous system. It is so slow that i have to wait a very long time just for one picture to download! The internet service provider promised me that they would come back with a fast system for us again (but that they would have to order it and didn’t know how long that would take.)
So, in the meantime, i will not even try to visit other blogs or do much online (unless it temporarily starts working faster, which one doubts will happen). I schedule my blog postings about a month in advance, so my blog posts will continue to appear. I will probably not — while this is super-slow internet is happening — continue to try to schedule many posts in advance, though i may continue with the mindfulness-philosophical prose stuff on Sundays, as i feel a responsibility to keep the significance of that going. (If i do, i will probably use images already used and existing in my WordPress media file, since it would be near impossible to upload at this point.) Hopefully, things will get back to technologically normal soon, and all of this will be just a bad memory! 🙂 Thanks much, all of you! 🙂
Mushrooming Love (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Count von Count
Why should Haiku involve
the counting of syllables?
This isn’t Sesame Street!
Face to face with a Red Admiral… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Love…Beyond measurement
The mind, for many, is incessantly measuring things, comparing, acquiring, accumulating and labeling. Can the mind, without a continuing effort — which isn’t laziness — simply perceive without all those things habitually going on mentally? Measuring and labeling have their place but there is also a time when they are not necessary and, if still used, are merely habitual and robotic in essence. Total separation, between the “perceiver” and “that which is perceived,” demands measurement, requires a type of psychological wall and resistance. Resistance occurs as an opposing force. If you separate yourself from all other life forms, that is a form of resistance, a manifestation of conflict. Indifference and conflict go hand in hand; there is so much of it in the world these days.
Perceiving without separation is not what most people are involved with. Perceiving with (and “as”) the standard norms (that were taught), because of the conflict, because of the resistance, because of the robotic repetitiveness of it all, leads to depression and psychological suffering; then many turn to drugs or alcohol as an escape (which really is no escape at all). There is an order that goes beyond all this. Mere measurement does not take one to that order. It is not within the realm of accumulating or acquiring, (yet so many are willing to pay money for instructions or systems to get there).
Its beauty includes its being beyond mere accumulation and “getting.” You can’t obtain what is beyond mundane getting, having, and measuring. Real love is not merely a product of accumulation; however, if one is very fortunate, non-fragmented, and serious, it is there (beyond measure). If one merely remains within the mental realm of getting, having, and measuring, one will stay miserable and secondhand (though one may erroneously think that one is doing marvelously). Deep awareness and profound psychological transformation are not a matter of time. Measuring and accumulation take time.
[A variety of crust fungus, Milk White Toothed Polypore (Irpex lacteus) seems to have “teeth” that, in actually, are tubes or pores in the spore-bearing surface which break apart with age and become tooth-like. This is a very small fungus; it was on a small, dead tree branch; the pictured portion was around one centimeter long.]
Milk White Toothed Polypore Fungus… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Observing
When most people are observing an animal, they are really not (usually) seeing purely without contamination. They usually are looking with (and “as”) images and labels of the organism… images and labels that are constantly being modified, changed, added to, and rearranged. Their seeing is not pure seeing per se but is more a part of a process of categorization, image-recognition, and processing.
When most people observe, there is a separative space between the perceiver and the perceived. In a very wise mind, however, in pure observing, there is no separate perceiver merely categorizing, merely engaging in image-recognition, and processing… and there is no separative space involved. Perception beyond learned accumulation does not merely continue to contribute to a learned accumulative process. Deep perception, then, is not merely reacting but, instead, is something entirely different. Profound perception is far deeper than mere superficial reacting. Real perception involves completeness, non-fragmentation, and timelessness. That may be what real mindfulness, real meditation consists of… and not all of that childish, practiced, self-hypnotic stuff.
Perception immersed only with (and “as”) reaction and accumulation is incapable of great depth and profundity. Perception beyond mere reactions and accumulative processes is immense and profound. Looking as a totally separate “perceiver” isolates and separates in a very crude and barbaric way. A man who, as a separate perceiver, is looking at “his fear” tends to see that fear from a separative distance, even though, in reality, he actually is the fear (not something separate from it at any distance whatsoever). Ignorance must end for true psychological order to exist. Only true psychological order can really be mindful in the deepest sense. Unintelligence, false (learned) separation, and a lack of compassion are all one pitiful thing.
Observing Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
One Little Raindrop Haiku
One little raindrop
on wildflower youandme
alltogetherwe
[Early Spring Wildflower deep in the woods… with one sole, little raindrop.]
Early Spring Wildflower Deep in the Woods… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Blue
Blue skies
quick upon a florid day
Sun swell
in a sea of shine
Still fate
frozen beyond nowhere bound
End sorrow
in a jaunty rhyme
See far
beyond horrid dream
Love lots
perennial sunbeam
Blue Damselfly Sunbathing (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Blue Damselfly Sunbathing (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Serendipity… (when there may be no you mindlessly separate from them)
One
pink day
in a curious
we kind of way
the camera landed
near what insects were focusing on
Serendipity (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Serendipity (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
That Sacredness
There is an immeasurable energy
a sacredness that cannot be created or destroyed
and it is a field beyond thought/thinking
Its essence is an indescribable eternity that is
beyond words and mere mental patterns
It rarely visits the realm of man
When it visits
it fills the cup of the mind/body for a while
and departs as quickly as it arrives
but leaves some perfume of itself
that forever affects the mind
Its intrinsic order will not visit a concocted silence
nor any copied meditation
nor any secondhand distortion or twisted corruption
It is of an immense intelligence
beyond fragmented limitation and stagnant beliefs
It is not of the separative fabricated religions and countries
that divide man
Thinking is always “about” energy
Thinking is never (the actual boundless energy
with all of its holistic beauty)
Thought/thinking is limited fractional
and symbolic
Lichen near a pond (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Lichen near a pond (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Mediocrity and the Unconditioned
Most of us, i feel, were educated to accept innumerable fallacies as facts and as ordinary phenomena to be taken for granted. These have been presented to us since birth and, although it wasn’t deliberate indoctrination, the word “indoctrination” is very applicable to what actually has largely taken place. In our youth, we were not encouraged to deeply question society’s values, doctrines, principles, beliefs, and systems (and go beyond them). We were molded to conform, to remain with (and “as”) the status quo, to accept competition… and deviating from that (significantly) was definitely not tolerated. Some people, reading or hearing about this, would say, “Yes, I know,” or “Yes, I realize that.” It is unlikely, however, that many have even the foggiest idea of just how vast the conditioning (and indoctrination) runs into their lives. We were not brought up to be truly open, creative, questioning, deeply insightful human beings; we were, for the most part, programmed to be copiers, replicators, and obedient parts of the machine.
Most of us do not see the world as “one organism”; we perceive the many parts, many species, many others, many sections. We’ve used thought (as we were taught to) for advantageous purposes, yet most all of us greatly overuse it (dwelling, almost exclusively, in that realm). (Some of us who absorbed calculated methods to go beyond thought, by sitting on mats and all such planned nonsense, have substituted mere glorified hypnotic technique to displace thinking, all the while thinking something great has been accomplished.) Very few of us have intelligently seen the limitation of thinking and have truly (intelligently) gone beyond that limitation. Thinking, being the sequential arrangement of symbols (that it is)… is always partial, always very limited. Thinking is a very necessary tool, a necessary instrument that is extremely useful (at times); however, at other times, it is unnecessary to remain in (and “as”) the realm of thinking. Need the mind always merely exist as symbols, as sequential tokens to attain (or “represent”) something? The very supposed core of most people’s selves consists of fragmentary images and symbols (such as “me” and “I”) that they have absorbed from others. So many are existing in a virtual world of man-made images and fabricated constructs that consist primarily of mere representational ideas and habitually learned patterns.
Real perception, real intelligence goes beyond all this — and that is where the real bliss and eternity exists — not by accumulating more methodologies, not by absorbing more systems and patterns, not by blindly adhering to more authority. The truly perceptive mind looks without outward and inward authority. It sees beyond the symbolic, the partial, and the taught. Such a mind is of real bliss and order. It has no teacher, no resting place, no anchor that others have provided in (and “as”) the past. Without looking with (and “as”) the dead past, such a mind may be truly free, pristine, and unspoiled. There is no procedure or “how” regarding getting there. A lot of people prefer to comfortably remain in the leftover debris that was shoveled to them, and they call it “security” and “wellbeing,” yet they remain full of anxiety, uncertainty, and sorrow. Real (fundamental) security and genuine bliss, however, go beyond the residual norms of a fragmented, nocuous society.
Together … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Gold, the Eternal Treasure
Denzel Epinstein ambled with a very crooked leg
His perceptions,though,were not jaded and askew
Mary Whitnun power-walked with perfect knees and thighs
Her subservient perceptions were full of broken fragments and distortion
Ed Sedentary was perpetually glued to his television
Temporary things were seen with separation and phosphorescent isolation
Tina Flow appeared to be alone in the golden meadows of nature
She wasn’t,however,apart from all of the wondrous and magnificent creatures
Grasshopper on Tugged Sunflower (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Grasshopper on Tugged Sunflower (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Awareness vs. Conditioned Responsiveness…
It is very difficult for people to fundamentally change. One realizes, all too well, that whatever is written here, and in my other posts, will likely not have much of a meaningful impact for most who are reading this. People cling to their traditions, to what they have absorbed in school and to what they swallowed from others in the distant past; they cling to deeply ingrained conditioning, and (though they claim that they are changing) they are unwilling to really drop all of that baggage. It is unfortunate that most people cannot radically and fundamentally change.
If one merely reads these posts, accepts much of what is written, and builds a bunch of mental constructs out of it… it is not what is truly blossoming whatsoever. Awareness flowers when there is a flowering beyond mere conditioned responsiveness. That flowering has nothing to do with effort, agreement, absorption, practice, or dead tradition. (There, of course, remain to be oodles of religions, armies, and experts who are all too willing to give you more of those essentially unflowering falsities.)
Most people are very good at responding and reacting. That is what they were trained (i.e., indoctrinated) to do… and it is what they were trained to remain as. Practicing something to “be” in some state beyond that may be a foolhardy waste of time. As was written in the “Being and Becoming” posting: “Being and becoming are essentially the same thing. Being, as does becoming, reinforces the self, the center, with its dependence on sensations, pleasure, and time.”
A person can go out in nature and then be a series of mere reactions… seeing everything through a screen of images and mental compilations that one has “absorbed” from previous others in (and “as” the past). Then, a separate image of self is projected as a learned reaction, as an obtrusion of thought/thinking, and seemingly and pretentiously identifies that with images and with other mental compilations involving nature; it then claims “I am one with nature.” Unfortunately, however, mere reactions and obtrusions of thought may not be “one” with much of anything. Seeing with (and from) the past (i.e., from stuffy, old memory and imagery) is existing in (and “as”) the past.
As was written in the “Being and Becoming” posting: The intelligent mind does not try to be in a state of being, does not try to be what is non-becoming, nor does it try to be in a state of non-being. Such trying would be a further extension of becoming and would reinforce the self and its dependence upon time. In (psychologically) not trying to be or not be… the mind may naturally blossom as what is beyond greed, dependence (on others for how to get there), and measurement.
Awareness involves a depth, love, and a total perception that the limited domain of mere reaction cannot fathom. Such awareness, such love, and perception — though they are not separate things — go beyond being, beyond becoming, beyond measurement. Eternity is involved in such awareness.
Beyond words (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond words (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Without Make and How
Without
make and how
this lit
tlest no
thing
hap
pens
be
yond
being
be
coming
is
was
and(of course)
will be
Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Reactions and Beyond
All of us, in (and “as”) a succession of moments, in a series or sequence, react. In a very wise entity, however, these reactions are not always habitual, are not always the only activity taking place. In most people, conditioned into habits, what they actuate is always caused by some prior (usually some group of) antecedent factors. They may think and fully feel that they are dignified and elegant and in total control (for what they allegedly “choose”); however, they usually are a reacting part of a calculated, complex matrix devised by a larger society. Many then get stuck in mundane, dull routines and then often try to find various escapes to temporarily pull boredom out for a while. These escapes then create further reactions, many of which do not fundamentally benefit the earth nor those upon it.
What can go beyond this is real integrity, real wholeness, and soundness. To perceive integrally is to perceive beyond the fragments. Thought, being symbolic and partial, is inherently limited and fragmentary. However, most are habitually composed of (and habitually dependent on) thought and thinking. These habitual thoughts go much further (in their extent) than most realize. Thought often separates one group from another, oneself from so-called others at a distance, and the so-called central controller from what is seen (from an alleged distance) as his or her fear.
In a divisive, mad, chaotic world, can the mind exist as more than mere fragmented reaction? There is a quietness, a vast humility, beyond the shadows of spurious control and manipulation. That quietness is not the mere result of any kind of reaction, nor the product of any kind of intention or contrivance. You cannot make yourself be quiet (as so many try to do); the so-called “maker” of the quietness is a protrusion of thought; the concocted reaction from a protrusion of thought can never be genuine quietness. There must be a motiveless (effortless) perceiving without mere habitual rigamarole.
Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Real Love
Real love can’t be reasoned
can’t be measured
can’t be sold
and doesn’t give a damn
about having tons of $
or a stinking pot of gold
Genuine wisdom isn’t pompous
isn’t pigheaded
isn’t forlorn sorrow
and won’t ever bring ecstatic truth
eternal perception and blissful joy
if seriousness is 4 2morrow
Alfalfa Sulfur Butterflies (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Alfalfa Sulfur Butterflies (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Second-handedness
Real mindfulness, real meditation is not sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat. Such sitting is calculated and is structured to gain something… (which is greediness). On the other hand, innocent, pristine awareness throughout the day (that is not merely influenced by the patterns and symbols that others have provided) may be very prudent. Is it real awareness when one is looking with what other people have poured into one? Is real awareness, real living, what can take place through the secondhand edicts or patterns provided by others? When perception takes place through mere symbolic images and via learned psychological separation, is such perception what was copied from others and (additionally) limited and superficial?
It may be that secondhand has little to do with actual living. However, many rely on (and habitually exist “as”) secondhand, without question.
0.5 cm Scarlet-and-Green Leafhopper (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
0.5 cm Scarlet-and-Green Leafhopper (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Happy Edentulous Halloween!
Today i will be going to the annual Halloween Party at the school for the multiply handicapped (where i had worked as a teacher before i retired); it should be a hauntingly fun day!
I knocked out all
of my teeth last night
to cash in big with the Tooth Fairy
and fill my pockets right
I’ll be buyin’ candy wid all of dat cash
which i’ll sweetly eat right away
(and the beauty is dat
i’ll not have to worry about tooth decay!)
Halloween Tooth Fairy Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Halloween Time…
Oh Tin Man
Being empty isn’t a bad thing
It’s a wise magical thing
that radiates compassion
The many that are so full of themselves
heartless
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
The Greatest Halloween Terror is not a Spider
“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
******************************************************************************************************************************************
Halloween is a candylicious
fun for kids time of year
and the ugly monster
with the orangish hair
(who is a reflection of a sick national immorality)
is mostly what we should fear
Halloween Spider (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Halloween Spider (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Many dead from the heart up…
We exist in a world society that largely operates with a very amoral morality. It’s a society where ruthless competition is so hammered into people that many do it without question. It’s a society where it is largely accepted to destroy large parts of nature with chemicals, abuse, polluting fuels, and endless cement. It is a society where little is said or felt about human population control (as humans, as a species, are taking way more than their fair share quantitatively/environmentally). It’s a society where separation and division are often encouraged and reinforced. It’s a society where it’s easy to fit in (and be accepted) if one is indifferent, barbarous, and manipulating. It’s a society where, for example, one is often accepted and congratulated while one claims to love nature, all the while frequently flying long distances in fossil-fuel (very polluting) aircraft from continent to continent to take pictures of animals and plant life… although they are all are being choked off by pollutants and fumes. Of course, there are some who are truly sympathetic and good (even in a society that, for the most part, is of corruption and chaos). Many more are living in tiny houses, recycling, staying local, reproducing less, intentionally using less, using alternative energy, and are truly doing more to make a difference.
To really find out what happens at death, one must, first and foremost, understand life/living. One isn’t, however, even actually living if one is a cadaverous clone of stale traditions and secondhand (accepted) suppositions. Most were not encouraged to doubt, to question. However, intelligent doubting and sensitive questioning may help an individual bloom beyond rigid, rigor mortis states. Many end up being buried six feet down even though they were never fully alive in the first place, unfortunately. To go through life merely reacting (from what was poured into one) may not be real living whatsoever. Too many assume that they are actually alive. It may be that if genuine enlightenment would ever happen to you, as a visitation by that sacred immeasurability, you would definitely realize that we truly live in the land of the dead. Do not ever merely accept what i say or write. Find out for yourself. Please do not be like dead clay.
Buckeye Butterfly (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Buckeye Butterfly (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Let us go and make our visit…
Thither we go
into a half-baked poem
hardly worth reading
We will continue to read it
despite its repulsive tendencies
to bring us closer to mediocrity
unless we allow the eyes to feast
on the accompanying photos
which are not as puerile and spineless
as the poem currently being read
Of course the poem can be
memorized and recited
if you’d like to fail to impress your friends
(who are imprisoned in all standard misconceptions)
Any disreputable poem
such as this one
neglects to suggest anything profound
and declines to mention
the beauty of nature
You (Mr. Prufrock) heard them each to each
Go ahead and eat your peach
I too am an easy tool
and i too grow old
(the bottom of my trousers rolled)
Enfolded (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Enfolded (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Haunted Houses 4 Sale
Haunted House Realtor Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Pucker Up!
Kankakee County Humane Society Benefit Booth Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Cessation
There is a psychological cessation that is beyond the parameters of motivation, desire, or striving. It involves a timelessness that is beyond sequential methodologies and practices. Such a cessation is a discontinuance of the same-old mental symbols, same-old perspectives involving separation, and same-old mental traditions. Such a cessation is natural, healthy, intelligent, and is not merely what can be measured. Those who perpetually and habitually function in (and “as”) the parameters of thought (endlessly using dead sequential symbols to cogitate about things) cannot be of such a living timelessness.
There is no path to such a cessation, such a timelessness… for, if there was, it would be reducing such a timelessness to being just another part of the continuum of temporal manifestations; there are plenty of charlatan priests, gurus, and so-called religious masters who are all too willing to give you the path (and methods), however. A lone Bumblebee went from flower petal to flower petal, caught in a sequence of endless reactions that never were transcended, never fully understood.
Immersed in reaction (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Immersed in reaction (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Mr. No-One and the Universe
Squeak and Meek each went to take a peek
and what they saw was delectably ever so sleek
It buttery flowed meltedly through slippery slopes
and was spattered in sections beyond blind people’s hopes
Roly and Poly barrelled into town
they joined the loud circus and smiley jolly clown
They circled around the rainbowed ice cream shop
and drove to the intersection then came to a stop
Itchy and Stichy yelled into a huge microphone
and no one heard them since no one was home
And the tree in the forest down with a loud crashing sound
while the universe sure heard it because the universe was around
Skipper and Scatter burst onto the scene
to become part of this skinny poem and the pickings are lean
What do you expect at this hungry time of day
like some scrumptious corn on the cob in a splendid flowery kind of way?
Silver-spotted Skipper (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Silver-spotted Skipper (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Trotting Beyond Limitation
We trot in eternity
though most see transiency
We move with infinity
though most react temporarily
We silently sail among endless waves
they thirst in thought’s bone-dry deserts
We are visited by the timeless
they are late for their appointments
Beyond limitation (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond limitation (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Silence
The silence of a very aware mind is not what can be measured. Such pure silence goes beyond recognition; recognition (of separate things that the mind labels and pigeon-holes) is — or involves — measurement. The mind can, at times, beautifully function without merely relying on measurement, without exclusively relying on recognition, patterns of experience, and interpretation of stimuli. “Mostpeople” would not likely be involved with this immeasurable silence because remaining in sequential thinking, recognition, and constant comparison and measurement are what they were educated (i.e., programmed) to be. Leaving the domain of the known would seem frightening to a lot of people. Many may equate such silence, such emptiness, with ignorance; however, a vast, immeasurable silence, in actuality, is profound intelligence. “Mostpeople” rigidly cling to patterns of recognition, symbolic thought (and all thoughts are symbols), labels, and separative images. Going beyond these would seem unthinkable to most.
One cannot “know” that one is in such silence when it takes place, for such “knowing” would be in the realm of recognition and would negate the very essence of a silence beyond mere measurement. Such silence is beyond merely calculated patterns and sequential formulations concocted by man; this is why gurus and so-called holy men who want to provide you with techniques to “get there” are definitely out (including the fees that they often fraudulently charge)! One who is lucky enough to be involved with such silence is not in any way harmed but, rather, may be blessed to be in relationship with a timeless energy that is forever renewing itself. Such silence can never be brought about by an act of will; will is (fundamentally) desire… and desire can never attain such unadulterated silence via effort of any kind. It would be like trying to catch the wind (or catch love) in a bottle. The highly intelligent mind, through seeing and understanding itself in relationship (and in seeing itself, without deception, in everyday occurrences) may, with understanding, move beyond the psychological dependencies and repetitious mental habits that most exist as. Understanding transcends mere measurement and will. The immeasurable may occur for the man (or woman) who goes beyond the limited, the merely symbolic, and the stagnant. In the immeasurable, eternity abides. The immeasurable and the eternal are without confining borders. The gurgling sounds of the drinking Mallards are not something separate from a vast, immeasurable silence.
Mallard Ducks (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Mallard Ducks (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Basking beyond the need for belief
A nonmediocre novelty lasted for relaxed nonseparative miles
as we drove past steady sunflowers who sweetly worshipped the sun
In a divided disorganized planet of perplexed savage wars
omniscient order majestically does nevertheless easily run
Multitudinous millipedes mingled in the downbelow grasses
as businesslike bumblebees hurriedly bustled in blossoms far up above
And the saintly sun’s devotees seemed to move like precision clockwork
with a passionate proclivity for life and for love
Sunflower Time (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Sunflower Time (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond Coming to a Conclusion
It is very easy to come to conclusions about things. Some things that many come to conclusions about seem like cut-and-dried facts that can be taken for granted. Often we come to conclusions about the behavior of others… when, however — over time — they have changed far from what we have “concluded.” In past postings, one has often written about transcending or dissolving the central “me” or “I.” Some people, no doubt, have concluded that doing so is foolish or even very dangerous. Many cling to that fabricated image of self and are terrified and very frightened about letting it go. It is very likely that their love of the absolute truth is likely not nearly as strong as the love and attachment to that image. Really perceiving — not merely intellectually — the falsity and delusion that a supposed central psychological controller inherently consists of, we maintain, is neither foolish nor dangerous. On the contrary, it helps eradicate the very root of conflict that causes so much indifference, neglect, and hatred in the world of man. Perception beyond such a fallacious center does not, as many might presume, tend to negate eternity for us. On the contrary, it may be that the eternal can more readily be perceived and appreciated once the supposed central “me” or “I” is truly transcended.
One read a post by someone, recently, that matter-of-factly pointed out that everything is temporary and that we all must die and come to a complete end. Coming to a complete end is, so they say, coming to a conclusion. Many people, while they are alive, come to conclusions — about many things — without ever having deeply and independently inquired. They absorb what was poured into them by others… and from there they — as self-appointed experts — spew out more and more myopic conclusions. However, we may presently live in a very primitive and crass world culture and a lot of what the so-called educators say may be utter rubbish. If, as most do, you fall into the standard or common lines of thinking (about things)… then it may be that you are making a grave mistake and are fundamentally making very deleterious decisions with (and “as”) the essence of your life. As one has stated before in some of my previous postings, some of the world’s top-notch scientists have said that reality is likely far different, in its fundamental nature, from what many of us have thought or suspected. Indeed!
Question everything that people tell you and everything that i say. Go beyond all the standard ways of looking at things and looking at the world. Perceive without looking through the screen of perception that others have built for you to look through (and “with”). Then, if you are very lucky, you will go beyond most of the fundamental conclusions; and then eternity will not merely be a representational symbol as part of your brain; then your essence will never come to any final conclusion.
Beyond Conclusions (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond Conclusions (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Prudent perception
There is often a fine line between erroneous judgment and prudent perception. Profound perception cuts through erroneous judgment and dissipates it. There is no “how,” set in stone, on “getting” profound perception. Like humility and real love, it is not something that one can merely cultivate. However, if the mind is passionately aware of its own workings — without merely depending upon the patterns and judgments of others — then, perhaps, that untethered awareness opens up (or manifests as) profound perception. A mind that is keenly interested in this is naturally and concomitantly interested in a correct relationship in all matters (internally and externally). By “correct,” we mean in accordance with real fact and truth. Naturally, deception, falsity, and illusion are not things that one would be eager to cling to and exist as.
Distorted minds, broken minds, fragmented minds, relatively superficial minds, will not be (at all) interested in this. They will be content to remain — and wish to remain — as the ordinary, everyday mundane things that they were programmed to deal with (and be). Going beyond this limitation will not suit them well. They won’t care to be bothered. Minds beyond this (limitation) may be somewhat interested in things, such as what is often written about here… or, perhaps, (though rarely) they may be extremely interested. This interest must flower into a real passion for any real significant change to take place. That “flowering” has little to do with retaining stale memories, old traditions, beliefs, or standardized procedures. Those four are best suited for those who wish not to be bothered.
A mind that looks without all the fragmented patterns, outlooks, judgments, and structures that others have poured into it is a very untethered mind. Such an untethered mind is free to see everything as it really is (beyond limitations and distortion). Such a non-separative, non-partial, holistic perception often is (and often exists “as”) undistorted relationship. That kind of relationship goes beyond those that think that they are in relationship with the world but actually are not. We are not really separate from what we perceive; and if what we perceive is dictated by the limited patterns and symbols that we have absorbed from a primitive society, then what we see will (inevitably) be second-hand, narrow, and circumscribed. We can be beyond such inaccuracy.
I eat a lot of green things too!
Eating a Green Lunch … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Surrounded by the crap of others…
We sat at the crossroads between two whys
and because came by and told us we couldn’t
We did anyway
and with great joy ran
And although there wasn’t anything where we were not
we unfolded outside in
to again when returning becomes begin
We mulled beyond the lackluster masses
past a jangled jeer of mediocrity
Literally we so deeply immersed in always
even though surrounded by cold clevers
all permanently flushed by a potty-bowl of transient hows
Canada Goose Gosling (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Canada Goose Gosling (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
It’s been a long time together…
We will walk among young wild geese
and feed them
forgiving them for a velociraptor past
We will forage around elderly humans
and forgive them
for all the polluted lands and waters
Young Canada Geese (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Young Canada Geese (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Truth, security, and the eternal…
In great humility, there is an emptiness that exists beyond the “me” and “mine.” That emptiness is, in actuality, the absence (i.e., the non-existence) of the “me.” “Mostpeople” would feel frightened about the psychological absence of the “me,” or even about the possibility of the psychological absence of the “me.” To “mostpeople,” it would seem to be an “insecurity” to go beyond the “me” or beyond the supposedly “controlling center.” However, for the (truly) wise man, mere security is not a factor… truth is a factor. To the wise man (or woman), it is truth that is where the real beauty, the real treasure, exists.
Many years ago, in the early ’70s, when i was in my 4th year of college, i read an article about split-brain operations and how these surgical operations resulted in two totally separate fields of consciousness in one human being. Reading about how the corpus callosum could be surgically severed, resulting in two distinct, separate fields of consciousness — with each not knowing what the other was doing — pulled one even further away from the ancient orthodoxy that so many of us were indoctrinated by. It was back then that my insatiable quest for truth began (in the deepest sense), though even when one was much younger one still saw through a lot of the madness and falsities in the things that they tried to indoctrinate into us. Real humility occurs when the mind intelligently doubts and asks profound questions without relying on what one’s family or culture provides as the truth. If one largely relies on what one’s family or one’s culture has provided, it reflects a form of arrogance (which is far from true humility); one’s family and culture can, indeed, be a component or facet of oneself and, for sure, being certain of their validity is — in a big way — just a form of self-admiration and arrogance. Intelligent doubt goes beyond all this. Such intelligent doubt reflects the way Albert Einstein discovered things, by wisely questioning many things that were taken for granted as facts. Albert Einstein understood what it meant to “stand alone.” To really inquire into that which is truly sacred, immeasurable, timeless and uncontaminated, one must, of course, do it with an instrument (i.e., a mind) that is itself uncontaminated. It absolutely must be untainted, healthy, uncorrupt… that instrument (i.e., that true mind of inquiry). That, then, means no belief, no arrogant assumptions about the validity of one’s own faith, religion, culture, family creeds, and spiritual blueprints; so it means no beliefs or presumptions. However, “mostpeople” are totally unwilling to be that way. They want the comfort and security of “knowing.” It can be the “knowing” of others that they absorb and take on for themselves… it doesn’t matter. However, it may be that the real quest for truth lies beyond security and “knowing.” That is why so few ever come upon that real treasure.
Standing alone (without depending on others), going beyond the crowd, understanding the mind, going beyond mere images of the “me” and “I” — and mere images and learned concepts is all that they really are — may seem like abandoning security. However, a truly wise mind, that transcends beyond beliefs, realizes things that involve the only real treasure. That treasure has an essence of real eternity, immensity, and bliss in it (that “mostpeople,” unfortunately, have no clue about whatsoever). The scientists were, as it turns out, likely right about one thing; they said: Reality is probably radically different (i.e., far different) from what most of us assume it to be.
Crab Spider blending in (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Crab Spider blending in (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
What real poverty is…
There was a very rich man
(a man with a cadaverous, cold heart)
who walked along the barren, indifferent sidewalks
and, while he walked, he passed
the splendid flowers and trees by,
(without looking at their immense beauty).
As he walked, there was a limited separation
between what was considered to be “a central I” and
the other thoughts that occurred;
there was also a large gap or separation
between his consciousness and profound nature.
There was a rather poor man
(a man with a beneficent, warm heart)
who walked through the amicable gardens and meadows
and, while he walked, awareness
examined the magnificent flowers and trees,
(smiling at the immeasurable beauty).
As he walked, there was no separation
between a supposed “central controller”
and the occurring thoughts;
additionally, an effortless silence often occurred;
there was no gap or separation
between a “his consciousness” and natural beauty.
And here is a sweet, little secret that can always unfold:
The very rich man wasn’t really rich at all,
and the rather poor man wasn’t poor
what
so
ever.
Beyond words (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond words (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Spiritual and Philosophical Inquiry
As we have stated before, one must (in deep spiritual/philosophical inquiry) stand alone; one must go beyond seeking direction or blueprints from others (i.e., from supposed “experts.”) We are used to taking direction and following direction from others; it is our habit. We are obstinate in our deep dependence in regard to seeking and following direction. We have followed religious and political direction for eons and we remain lost and in disarray (fitting well into this immoral society). Inquiry beyond the direction and guidance of another requires that the mind stand alone.
Not following or seeking direction involves a directionlessness that most people are not used to or comfortable with. We have associated directionlessness with confusion; we see it as a jumble that is without an intelligent goal. However, there is an ineffable, intelligent directionlessness that is not a product of others. This directionlessness may be a real key to unlocking and perceiving the whole.
When one looks for the whole in a certain direction, it is not there. In quantum mechanics, if an electron isn’t measured it exists in many states (or places at once); once it is measured, it is in a limited state in a limited way. We want to understand the whole by following direction from others… which is a form of measurement; it may essentially be an erroneous process.
Psychologically, we each think that a central “I” or “me” provides necessary direction as to correct behavior. Yet such a center — being nothing more than a learned image — is a fallacy that does not exist. Split brain surgery, severing the corpus callosum, substantiates this. Holistic awareness, without dependence on a fictional center (or absorbed outside authority), may be what functions far more accurately and healthfully, without the ruse of a (false) directing controller. Even those who purport to “transcend” or go beyond the ego are (for the most part) just like everyone else; they constantly use images of “I” or “me” in a learned, automatic, passive-associative process. They constantly operate from what seems to be a central “I” or controller, whereas deep awareness would see this as a lot of inherited, automatic-associative processes. Going beyond this psychological ruse is nothing to be feared; going beyond any fallacious, illusory process need not involve fear.
Holistic perception beyond the false exists as true health, harmony, and bliss; eternity is one with it. Is there a manufactured method to get there? No! However, there are innumerable charlatans who are all too willing to tell you or sell you the way. They tell you how to pray, how to chant mantras, how to concentrate on your breathing, how to behave… with their stale methodologies; and many people, being very gullible, easily follow their directions, edicts, and stale blueprints.
Stability (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Stability (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Colors
But even just red
without any blue
would
(or to
whom without any who)
be
a strange sort of absence
like the death of
a living friend
now pronounced dead
Whose endings need
beginnings
(only as ups
require their downs)
and in the full spectrum
of things
certainly
beginnings their endings
need
Wherein darkness’s couldn’t
followed crescent’s moonly would
gingerly
(surely as trees
fell from leaves)
and in the grand colored scheme
of things
black seeds of silence sprouted to could
Growing (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Growing (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Awake
That everywhere is awakingly here
is ouryourheshemy joy and compassion
until we
take
that
first
step
(which is also quite the
last)
in sequential perpetuity
(at which point some will wonder
why God doesn’t intervene or
show us the answers)…
We had them all along,you see
but eyes were kept perpetually closed
just as everyone else’s were
since we’re a facsimile of them
and they’re a facsimile of us
and everything conceived is
second-hand and artificial
And there are dreams while we sleep
though most are never really awake
Baby Katydid on Day-lily (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Baby Katydid on Day-lily (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Enmeshed in the chaos of the world…
At the precise moment that desire takes place, instead of merely running after some goal — like myriads of people do — deeply perceive/examine the desire. You cannot examine it very well unless it is examined very closely. How closely must it be examined? More closely than most would think! Desire cannot be deeply perceived if it is just another reaction (that some image of self supposedly thinks it “has”) which causes one to chase after something in a certain direction. Most people think that desire is something that they “have”; they do not see desire (at the precise moment that it happens) as something that they actually are. If desires are suppressed… it involves parts of the mind trying to suppress other parts of the mind, which is, of course, internal conflict. If desires are cherished and considered worthwhile… it involves parts of the mind being in agreement and recognizing some kind of value in other parts of the mind. Additionally, in our very complex minds, there are a series of reactions going on that involve a mixture of suppression and, concomitantly, the cherishing of desires, which oftentimes results in internal conflict and friction. Our minds are a hodgepodge of these conflicting internal reactions and we feel that we need to keep such things under control, psychologically. We, in reality, are all these things (occurring internally) and there is no separate “controller” (apart from them) whatsoever. It is separation and conflict that keeps us from being in right relationship with desires; separation and conflict occur in large degrees when there is little understanding; it is separation and conflict when opposing desires and images are in friction with each other. A mind of real integrity is not a mere slave to desire; this world is overpopulated and has run amok, largely due little understanding and superfluous desire.
A mind that perceives all this (deeply) does not turn into something that ends up “out of control.” On the contrary, a relatively shallow mind that assumes that it is in control, that assumes (as it was crudely taught) that it is something separate from its desires, fears, and internal friction… is, whether it admits to it or not, enmeshed in fanciful and illusory separation and conflict. That illusory separation and conflict — which it has copied from others and has absorbed secondhand — constitute something that is bound to project out into society as disorder (in one form or another). Wise internal (psychological) perception — that is deep — sees (and “is”) correct relationship; that correct relationship will not have (and “be”) a lot fabricated, idiotic conflict (endorsed by a foolish society’s modus operandi). A wise mind, at the precise moment of desire, does not perceive desire as something separate from what it actually is. In such a mind there is no separate controller who is going to “do something” about the desire; however, that intelligent perception of desire, not being separate, likely unfolds into further intelligent perception, which — unlike with many people — will not occur as conflict and false separative ideations. Such perception is orderly, deep, and not chock full of the chaos that misperceptions manifest as. That order acts beautifully.
So many of us run from our fabricated fears, never fully realizing that we actually are those fears. So many of us engage in (and “as”) conflict internally and then waste energy in so very many aspects of life and relationship (because we are habitually used to wasting energy in conflict internally, psychologically); what we are on the inside, we project to the outside. Look at society now as it currently is worldwide. Is it full of endless beautiful order and harmony? Or is it full of chaos, ruthless competition, territorial conflict, and much disharmony? Does it almost entirely involve minds that think that they are something separate from their fears, desires, and boredom… as well as thinking that they are each separate from others?
Crammed to the max! (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Crammed to the max! (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Let all the cadavers lie
Let all the cadavers lie
where they remain buried in lies
Let fears turn into one beautiful winged insect
and let wisdom turn to joy
Let whispers turn into songs
where singing breathes as freedom
Let wise questions become insightful answers
let ends become beginnings
Let here be where compassion helps
while indifference goes to grass
Let the earth’s winds increase exponentially
as nature’s rage to pollution and carelessness
Let all the hateful hurt turn to kindness
as sweetly flowers smile
Let descending mutate to ascending
rendering death nonexistent for forever
Let the future be now
where the past will happen
From Fear to Damselfly (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
From Fear to Damselfly (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Going beyond outside authority and inside authority…
Most of us see things in fragments (just as we were taught to). The intrinsic nature of thinking is, in itself, fragmentary. Thought, being symbolic, being limited, being merely representational, can never perceive the whole. Since most of us cling to thought, worship thought, and are tied to thought… we seldom, or never, perceive the whole. The whole cannot be seen through — or by — the fragments. People enmeshed in (and “as”) this fragmentation often then choose a priest, a guru, a zen monk, a leader, or an authority (and some techniques) to lead them to truth. Out of their fragmentation, out of their confusion… they choose someone to lead or guide them; or they choose some technique or method. (Out of their confusion, they choose.) It may be, however, that there is no path or map to the pathless… no authority, no procedure — in time and that takes time — to get to the timeless.
Few truly stand alone without depending on outside authority. Few, further still, go beyond inside authority. One can easily say that one is free and is not influenced by outside authority… while, all along, one is heavily embellished with structures (internally) that were — long ago — poured into one by outside authoritarian influences. One can maintain that one is untethered by outside authority, yet (internally) be riddled with conditioning stemming from outside structures and patterns that came from others early in one’s life and over the years. A mind that truly goes beyond the outside and accumulated inside molds and patterns is quite extraordinary and blessed. Eternity and the sacred then manifest. No one can take you there… not even your accumulated structures and sense of self. It takes real humility to go beyond your own accumulated patterns and judgments… real innocence and freedom. That true freedom, that true humility and innocence is a psychological dying; there is no method to “do” it. That unshaped (non-concocted) psychological dying is nothing cadaverous or to be afraid of; it is majestic life beyond canned, dead molds. The profound magic and the bliss are not in the limited patterns — including your own — that anyone can give.
Up close and personal (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Up close and personal (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Take a Gander (They’re your children — and responsibility — too)…
The other day
the shoreline went for a walk
It saw dogs walking their people
and it saw goslings swimming with joy
Laughing kites were what it saw
and blankets on grass eating strawberries
And(i’ll tell yew the leastlittlest of secrets)
we aren’t really separate from what we experience
After a while,the trees and shoreline sat
on a wooden bench to rest
Eyelids shut themselves and there(for a while or forever)
was(beautifully too)no
thing
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[Note: If we ruin the environment and casually let callous, pigheaded politicians ruin our environment… (while doing nothing about it), we will be forever etched in time as the cadaverous indifferent… and we will be the malignant enemies of all life. Period.]
Strolling with the kids (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Strolling with the kids (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Beyond all the so-called experts…
Profound mindfulness, deep awareness, and real meditation are not three separate things. They are all one in the same. Unlike what many so-called experts may tell you — including people who call themselves gurus, zen monks, priests, or spiritual guides — one doesn’t need to concentrate on a fixed point, on one’s breathing in and out, on a mantra, a prayer, or on anything else in order to be really mindful or deeply aware. Actually, doing the aforementioned things — to get something out of them — usually makes the mind duller and more mesmerized. As in hypnosis, concentration (purposefully done) tends to limit the mind to fixed points; concentration is an exclusionary process. Concentration and similar forms of effort all cause the mind to focus on details and to engage in a concocted plan (or plans) in order to get some kind of result. Profound awareness, however, is not exclusionary; it goes beyond mere details and is never the mere result of some blueprint or mentally formulated plan.
One can practice methods by so-called experts ad infinitum; one can concentrate on one’s breathing, one can concentrate on a repeated mantra or on a so-called special prayer, (or on any other image or set of images that the mind focuses on). These limited means — manufactured and provided by others — will never bring about true, pristine, and real enlightenment. One might get some relaxation or some feelings that the mind construes as being “invigorating” from them… but these things will never be real and profound enlightenment. A stale, limited means, psychologically, never leads to an unlimited, vast end. Profound awareness is not something that you can rotely learn from any book, any blog, any guru, any zen monk, any priest or any authority (including your own so-called central, inner authority). Real awareness (which may flower into true enlightenment) is never exclusionary and is never the result of some rote practice or structured technique. Effortless, non-separative observing without all of the preprogrammed conditioning — simply put — is not merely the result of more preprogrammed methods, procedures, or images put forth by yourself from what others have provided. Therefore, methods that so-called experts give to you, sell to you, or entice you with, are absolutely out. What they offer is not cogent, not viable, if you have significant awareness. And if you don’t have significant awareness you’ll be more than willing to play their games, give them money, adhere to their plans, worship their idols, or travel across the globe to be with them. If you want to be second-hand, then, by all means, follow their methods; however, one thing is for sure: second-hand never comes upon real enlightenment.
It takes no time for the wise mind to be empty of all of their methods, blueprints, schemes, and concoctions. Methods and techniques take time; however, not being conditioned by them takes no time whatsoever. Methods and procedures have nothing to do with pristine, non-manufactured awareness; and without methods and procedures, time is not a factor, time is not operating as it does for most people. I will not give you methods to practice… or plans to rigidly follow. We think that someone needs to show us the way, the path; we feel that there is security in that “showing.” However, real insight, real profundity functions in a motiveless, directionless, unplanned way… which is not at all to say that it is haphazard and chaotic. Most of us are perpetually relying on the methods, systems, images, and constructs of others; then we think we need further methods and systems to go beyond all this, which is absurd. The very way that most of us observe things via separation (from a so-called center) is the result of stale methodologies learned from others. There is no path that leads to the pathless. There are no procedures — that take time — that lead to the timeless.
Our Neighbor (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Our Neighbor (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
This Movement
This movement wishes to go
through life helping others
(who are,themselves,part of
the movement of life).
This movement wishes to be
life’s companion,not life’s enemy;
it doesn’t want to merely harm
or exploit life.
It wants to root itself in with
the majestic oak trees
and share in their
growth and freedom.
This movement wants to put its arms
around Mother Nature
and gently walk with her
beyond the synthetic and man-made.
This movement would like to
somehow share
the eternal secret of life
(that exists beyond all conclusions).
Mayfly Resting (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Mayfly Resting (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
The Outdoor Cuckoo Clock…
Note… Our internet is out due to a violent storm. Hence, I will not be able to correspond, etc. (My postings have been prescheduled so will continue to appear.) Using a little cellphone to type this, which stinks! Hopefully, we’ll get it fixed in a week or two. Lightning hit our large old-fashioned, rural tower antenna; the sound was unbelievable! Our neighbor’s television, garage door opening system, and phone fried; she smelled sulfur after the hit. Our internet and phone fried.
Most of us do not question enough. We accept, we conform, we remain stale, and we pretty much fit into the norm of the way things are. There are many who think that they are not of the mentality of the masses; however, essentially, fundamentally, despite what they think, they still are. There is a real art to questioning intelligently. In wise questioning, the answers exist curled; they are there. Can a highly shackled mind, a cuckoo mind, a mind that is heavily conditioned by society, ask extremely profound questions? Probably not. When the mind is tethered to a limited point, it has a limited circumference; its field is partial and restricted and it remains within (and exists “as”) limited bounds. A truly dynamic mind, however, perceives with more unlimited vastness; it is open rather than closed; it is free rather than enslaved.
Indifference, uncaringness, is a form of prison. A mind of indifference hasn’t questioned enough, hasn’t looked beyond restricted, little boundaries and domains. Such a mind is satisfied with merely feeding and caring for the little. Its space of confinement and separation — which is itself — is its very own prison; such a prison doesn’t require cold steel bars; it does require a coldness of a different variety. Intelligent questioning often consists of a warm benevolence that encompasses all, without learned boundaries, without power manipulation, without an isolated center.
The Outdoor Cuckoo Clock (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
The Outdoor Cuckoo Clock (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Poetry…
Note: Our internet crashed due to a violent storm. I cannot correspond with any of you until it is fixed, hopefully in a week or two. My postings have been prescheduled, so they will continue. It’s storming as this additional note is being typed on a tiny cellphone.
Note: The following reflects my personal outlook regarding the best types of poetry; if the poetry that you write or that you happen to be fond of is not of the type that i most admire, it does not mean that it is not valid poetry for you; (it does not mean that it is not interesting to me ; one finds many types of poetry interesting). Everyone has different tastes. Please do not be offended if the following poem does not reflect your viewpoints on poetry.
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If it takes your breath away
and helps you see the world with less fragmentation,
then that’s poetry
If it encourages you to take better care
of Mother Nature and of yourself(who is part of her),
then that’s poetry
If it goes beyond mediocrity,sameness,and bourgeois values…
causing you to not merely see through others’ eyes,
then that’s poetry
If it takes away the crass separation between
the observer and the observed,
then that’s poetry
If it merely enthusiastically entertains you
without a profoundly deeper meaning,
then that’s not poetry
If it merely helps you to fit in
with the copiers,the mimics,and the perpetually indifferent,
then that’s not poetry
If it fixates you with more mere details to maintain a blindspot
regarding truth for the rest of your so-called life,
then that’s not poetry
If it helps you to see
beyond the ordinary,
then that’s poetry
If it peels away your stiff,robotic dependence
on the patterns and symbols of others,
then that’s poetry
If it comes to you uninvited,silently in the middle of the night
bringing immense insight,true bliss,and vast understanding,
then that’s poetry
If it helps you to actually feel
rather than to merely mechanically react and think,
then that’s poetry
House Hunting (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
House Hunting (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
The mindless… and the deep well of the mind…
In the deep well of the mind, people often get bucketfuls of conclusions. It is through these conclusions that they perceive and contemplate the world. For many years, each of us has been groomed and molded to be the responsive use of these buckets. Our buckets have been carefully tailored and manufactured; their contents were shaped and influenced by the limited, fashioned nature of the buckets. So, our contents were molded and adapted to suit particular needs, objectives, and purposes. Our buckets were produced and fabricated by society to help society continue to exist in the way that it deems necessary.
Bringing up well water one bucket at a time may be fine for some time (and in certain respects). However, it involves very limited amounts. Our bucketfuls of thoughts, too, are very limited and fragmentary. There is a whole lot more down there… and a fragmentary, limited process may never afford one with the opportunity to deeply examine, deeply explore. Our buckets are full of symbols and representations, not actualities; yet, so many of us are indoctrinated with them and accept them as actual realities. Most of us were so imbued with limited bucketfuls that we rarely, if ever, consider going beyond the limited nature of what they consist of. We are so permeated by the bucket-mentality of limited, sequential symbols and images, we never even consider going deeper.
Mentally, we are perpetually bringing tidbits and symbols to the surface (and taking that to be reality). There is a superficiality that is merely at the surface. There may be an untapped, vast, deep stream of activity much deeper; however, most remain oblivious to it, unaware and unmindful of what is taking place in a much deeper and unlimited way. The notion of a separate self (apart from others and all life) is one of the limited buckets that society has developed and filled for each one of us; our current society, however, may be very primitive and crude, both psychologically and in regard to life’s deeper meanings. One can cling to the sequential bucketfuls, one at a time if one wants to; that so-called “one” that wants to, however, is not different from the buckets or their symbolic contents. Symbols are fragmentary representations and are not actualities.
Depths of nectar (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Depths of nectar (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
That’d be not ignoring the health of the environment…
These isn’ts and aren’ts
care not beyond what they were taught
which(by the way)wasn’t worth mentioning
These can’ts and nevers
trapped in sorrow’s mustn’ts and measures
never really move(though free they think they are)
When’ll “wouldn’t have a clue” ever transcend
shouldn’t’s dominance?
Mightn’t hasn’t’s pain
be why’s responsibility?
Where’ll we be when we transcend mankind’s empty should’ves
to,instead,keep nature’s ’tisn’ts always from happening?
Great Blue Heron (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Great Blue Heron standing on one leg. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2017
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 