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some minds are open
some minds closed
some are separated from the earth
some have deep roots within
some minds blossoming
some withering away
some sharing bright beauty
others darkly cruel
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African Daisy, opening. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
African Daisy, opening. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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One may not like this, but it is true: Instead of taking vacations with polluting cars and planes, it is far wiser — and much more compassionate for nature’s sake — to stay local and not pollute.
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After a shower. (But showers can’t clean up everything.) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Two Haiku Poems… one from the Japanese poet, Issa (year 1822) and one from my (elderly) self (who likes to preserve plum tree scraps)…
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1822
.梅見るや梅干爺と呼れつつ
ume miru ya umeboshi jijii to yobaretsutsu
viewing plum blossoms–
they call old men
pickled plums
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In the blossomed Spring
plum trees recognized themselves
taking photographs
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Plum Tree Blossoms. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Plum Tree Blossoms. (2) (Digital Color Pencil Rendition) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Do not lifelessly become merely what they want you to become; flower into something magically more true, unlimited, beautiful, and dynamic!
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Amazingly Different. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Do not merely make a meditative silence into something that is isolated and separate from noise in life. Be very careful in what you accept and do. In all probability, a separate silence that is cultivated, that is practiced at a special time or place, is a rather second-hand, merely learned, rather dead, kind of silence. Actual, profound silence is an effortless phenomenon that occurs without premeditation, beyond calculation, and beyond techniques involving time. As such it is a timeless phenomenon that may occur often, spontaneously throughout the day (without some separate controller “making it happen”), such as while one is walking, looking at nature, petting a dog or cat, or exercising. If it occurs at all, it occurs naturally, without any false effort expended by a supposed “center” or “controller” that is essentially a learned image (involving separation). It (i.e., such deep silence) is not something that is isolated from the rest of life. It is of life, in life; it permeates life, it flows with life. Real life is not something that is practiced; it is something that is lived. To manipulate the mind into some isolated silence may be like trying to catch the wind in a sealed bottle. Attempting to confine the wind in a separate, little, “special” space — called a bottle — may be rather ludicrous.
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On its way. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
On its way. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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As this is being read, is your posture correct? Correct posture is important, as is correct and orderly thinking.
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Turquoise Severum. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Turquoise Severum. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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I never left where I’ve always been
and I’ve always been where I never left
I never found what I always lost
and I always lost what I never found
I never thought where I’ve never been
and I’ve never been where thought never was
Where thought never was is where the real magic has always been
and the real magic has always been where thought never was
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Flowers and me. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Flowers and me. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Listening to the babbling of a beautiful, nature-filled brook… rather than the babbling of stuffy, old politicians…
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Babbling Brook. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Babbling Brook. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Compassion and profound awareness are not two separate things.
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Four Horned Jacob. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Four Horned Jacob. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
(Just a few days ago was the 150th anniversary of the night Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth.)
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the energy… it’s swirling,twirling
moving through the hand
of a man named Lincoln
some leader of a land
the play went on the gun was cocked
the killer took his aim
some say the twirling,whirling cells
could only move in vein
precise premonition lying listless
across a sordid balcony floor
as disbelief and shock called out
and raced through the narrow(minded) door
icy hatred’s revenge seldom is ever beautiful
as twirling life flows beyond perceptual range
warm grace lies beyond cold malice and vengeance
apprehension leaves,arrives, as the winds of change
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Stealth. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Stealth. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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If you are a diminutive jumping spider, by all means jump! Jumping is your life and calling card. If you are a human being, by all means jump with your legs and feet too (and exercise a lot). However, it would be prudent not to — like so many do — jump to conclusions. Jumping to conclusions often stifles the mind and often causes it to perceive things that are not legitimate and true. So many of us jump to conclusions. When we jump to conclusions… we are those conclusions. Being a conclusion may be rather dead and “unalive.” Go visit a cemetery; most of the people there (I’ll bet) probably came to conclusions! 😉
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Tiny Jumping Spider. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Tiny Jumping Spider. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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A furry ball, with legs,
mischievous, bandit-like,
omnivorous, curious, stalking,
walking in our area,
which is also his area,
our area,
his kind were here first,
in a way, we are the intruders,
bare-skinned, bipedal, tall,
like-wise mischievous, ape-like,
dangerous, stalking, stealing…
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Local Night Bandit. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Local Night Bandit. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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The whole realm of thinking is figurative, fragmentary, and of symbolic representations (that are conditioned). Don’t merely dwell in the field of the conditioned virtual. You can’t hug a concept of a child. Don’t — as so many do — mostly exist in (and “as”) symbols; symbols (as words and mental images) are mere tokens. Most, even when they look at the world, see with (and “as”) the patterns and symbols that they were taught. Look without separative symbols and learned images.
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Shadow of thinking. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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For the sacred to visit you and be palpable, your innocence must be discernible and unmistakable. That innocence must penetrate far beyond crude conventionality. That innocence stands alone and is different… not for the sake of being different, but because it perceives deeply beyond the ordinary.
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Open for business. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Open for business. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Truth (and the treasure) are not in your wallet… they’re in your heart.
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Probing for needed minerals. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Probing for needed minerals. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Open yourself to Spring
Let your mind blossom to unfold
Go beyond stale words and symbols
Look without that learned and stuffy past
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Open yourself. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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the world is but a flower
unfurling for an hour
and that hour is beautifully and infinitely long
as is the innocence of a little butterfly who can do no wrong
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Cabbage Butterfly. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Cabbage Butterfly. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Close to the dazzling ocean
I wanted to mentor them
each and every single,spraying drop
each and every friend
Inside the combative,clashing waves
I tried to comfort them
within endlessly flowing life currents
with end inside of begin
Deep within the winding forest
we shouted loud to them
but no human sounds were ever heard
nothing but bold,towering trees within
Inside each of the ever joyous trees
perennial,green life continues to grow
without neural networks of pain
without the need to know
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The journey is the destination. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
The journey is the destination. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Mr. Average walked along in his very average way.
Mr. Average — according to his father — was born on a very average day.
Mr. Average, when he was young, went to a very average school.
Mr. Average, when in class, was around average with the breaking of the rules.
Mr. Average, within his mind, partook in an average degree of thinking.
Mr. Average, regarding his eyes (each day) blinked with around the average blinking.
Mr. Average, like most everyone around, saw his self as being separate and apart.
Mr. Average, when shopping with his wife, was a typical shopper at his local Walmart.
Mr. Average, regarding his diet, ate all of the typical meat.
Mr. Average lived in a rather typical American suburb and lived on a typical street.
Mr. Average, regarding his shape and weight, was not excessively round.
Mr. Average, regarding his thoughts and feelings, never felt anything profound.
Mr. Average, throughout his life, worked at a very average job.
Mr. Average, regarding living things suffering, was never inclined to sob.
Mr. Average, as a father, sent all of his children to an average school.
Mr. Average had around the normal degree of anger… when someone would call him a fool.
Mr. Average uttered the typical saying as he uttered his very last breath.
Mr. Average, when they hurriedly buried him, was interred at around the average depth.
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An average Cemetery Beetle (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
An average Cemetery Beetle. (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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a microscopic mushroom
growing on a tree
is an umbrella for someone little
who is large with joy and free
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Micro-mushrooms in Moss. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Micro-mushrooms in Moss. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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we think we’re modern
but we’re not
we’re rather primitive and unrefined
and all the pundits in our world
don’t understand space and time
we think we’re free
but we’re not
our causes are all effects
and all the reactions that we’ll retake
are what spacetime already expects
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Pearl Crescent Butterfly. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Pearl Crescent Butterfly. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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That sacred intelligence — the all-pervading energy — must affect men in profound ways that are evident to those who intelligently inquire!
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Little Nymph. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Little Nymph. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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He was totally (and repeatedly) bored by the things he saw…
because within his brain was a putrid, stagnant, significant flaw.
She is joyfully thrilled by the majestic things she sees…
because her mind transcends the musty past like a wise, cleansing spring breeze.
Life is sadly monotonous only if one’s mind becomes rather stale and dead.
Look at things anew… with childlike, fresh rejuvenation instead!
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[Excerpts from the ancient Gospel of Thomas:
Jesus said, “If your leaders say to you, ‘Look, the (Father’s) kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father’s) kingdom is within you and it is outside you.
When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty.”
His disciples said to him, “When will the kingdom come?”
Jesus said, “It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying ‘here it is’ or ‘there it is.’ Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.”
Rabbit… where’d you put the keys, girl? (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Rabbit… where’d you put the keys, girl? (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Grace is decency, consideration, compassion, and goodwill towards all. Grace is enjoying life and not harming it!
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Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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The whole world was a book
that I had read…
Or did it read me?
The whole rainbow was a look
of what eye held red…
Or did red hold me?
The whole time was a while
that I had lived in…
Or was time what was me?
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Lady(bug) in Red. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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True meditation is never what one can decide to do. Real meditation is only done without will, without mere knowledge, calculation, and methodology. If will, calculation, and methodology are involved, something may be happening… but it is not true meditation. Any uncouth person under the sun can purchase a yoga mat, sit on it perfectly (statuesque) still with legs crossed, and proudly say that they are “meditating.” However, real meditation is too dynamic, living, profound, and immense to be what can be brought about by some inane, calculated, copied procedure. What is truly dynamic and beyond a cause/effect continuum cannot (ever) be brought about as a mere “result” of some man-made patterns or practices. Thinking otherwise is foolish… and, unfortunately, there are plenty of foolish entities out there.
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Blossoming. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Blossoming. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Monday, the atheist, didn’t feel that Wednesday ever existed, but Tuesday feels a closeness to Wednesday that Monday can’t understand.
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Looking for Wednesday. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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You were
green with envy
and those big, greedy eyes — of course — were
a large part of the reason why.
And those massive, attentive ears of yours,
upon your knees,
were nature’s way of letting you stand up to what you hear
about yourself.
When you passed by that radiant tile
and reflectively peered at yourself,
you vainly realized
that you were
the most beautiful
Katy(that ever)did.
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(Note: Katydids actually do have hearing mechanisms on their front leg — knee — areas; this affords their narrow bodies with wide, stereoscopic hearing. This better, stereoscopic hearing aids greatly in locating prey and in evading predators.)
Beautiful Katy! (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Beautiful Katy! (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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At night — instead of dreaming inane dreams — let the mind be still, calm, and silent. The function of dreaming is to resolve issues that occurred during the day, so as to put the brain in order. Desires, fears, and problems all play their part in causing dreams in the brain to occur. The brain needs order… and, if it is not fully orderly during the day, dreams often occur primarily to help order to occur within (and “as”) the brain. However, if one is very attentive, aware, and sagacious throughout the day, then dreams become unnecessary. If, throughout the day, the mind is aware without needless conflict and friction — and without crass separation from the perceptions that take place — then the mind may be orderly and whole. Then, there is no need for petty, superficial dreams to bring order, for order has occurred throughout the day and there are no significant problems or fears to resolve during sleep. So a mind that is really whole, wise, orderly, and insightful, rarely dreams. If it eats some unusual or spicy foods, that may trigger some physiological reactions that cause some superficial dreaming; otherwise dreaming rarely, if ever, occurs. Then the mind can wake up really rested… not having had to struggle with unresolved conflicts, fears, and problematic patterns. At night, a truly orderly mind goes beyond patterns, friction, and self-fabricated images… and is truly resting and not wasting energy; and such a mind accomplishes such things during sleep because it often acts that way (as deep order) throughout the day. Then there is no disorder to “carry over” into the night; then there is no disorder to resolve with (and “as”) superficial dreams.
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Mayfly Study. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Love has no boundaries
Love is joyous life
Love makes little pollution
Love is not conformity
Love is beyond separation
Love does not hate
Love illuminates the truth
Love has no jealousy
Loves helps the needy
Love does not kill
Love is beyond words
Love protects its fledglings
Love is the whole
Love doesn’t crave power
Love brings life’s mysteries
Love is eternity unfolding
Love is ever renewing
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Not separate. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Toads and frogs, snakes and snails and insects…
When I was a child, they’d say:
Oh, where is Tom?…
And always the answer was…
Well, he’s with the toads and frogs, the snakes and snails and insects.
Now that I’m rather gray and elderly, they say:
Oh, where is Tom?…
Well, he’s with the toads and frogs, the snakes and snails and insects.
Toads and frogs, snakes and snails and insects…
😉
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(Note: Many insects see, in addition to other colors, ultraviolet – which we humans can’t see – so the following photo may be like what they actually perceive.)
Nature enthusiasts. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Nature enthusiasts. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Strolling under vast skies of blue
one’s self disappeared into everything new
Running through thick fields of green
one saw oneself in everything seen
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Viola Flowers. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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i stuck a stick
into the mud…
a stick in the mud am i.
i cut a paper
into many fragments…
and i fell to pieces.
i stared at the moon
on a dim blue night…
and i became very pale.
i zigged a zag
on the computer screen…
and ziggyzags became my fate.
i smiled at some children
who were frightened and sad…
then i became happy two.
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Small Planet. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Small Planet. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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give the stripes back to the zebra
give the bark back to the dog
give the insanity back to the politician
give the bulging eyes back to the frog
give the climb back to the mountain
give the remote back to the television show
give the red blood back to the warrior
give the water back to the plant (and watch it grow)
give the turn back to the brass knob
give the yellow leaves back to the fall
give the Cretaceous back to the raptors
give the baseball bat back to the ball
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Bulging Eyes. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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A mind that is endlessly babbling to itself is immured in its own prison of bad habits. Be silent and attentive!
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Calling for spring. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Calling for spring. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Breathtaking, exotic vacation views are not what is important. Deep understanding and heartfelt compassion are what’s important.
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Clinging. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Clinging. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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To run parallel with the implicit order of the universe is to dynamically act with intelligence and compassion.
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Silver-spotted Skipper. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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It’s not just about living in the “now” or following some absurd method… it’s much deeper than that!
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Wasp in Flower. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Wasp in Flower. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Towering skyscraper
beyond the roots of pain
endlessly growing
touching the heavens
tossing winds again and again
Perfect being
beyond shallow wants or needs
purer than proud
straight among brothers
never feeling hate or greed
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Skyscraper. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Skyscraper. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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You have to take it beyond the limit
and you are the limit.
Beyond that is a beautiful psychological (not physical) dying that is passionately burning…
but most are numbly frozen to something old, cold, and the chilling result of hardened learning.
Fluidly stream beyond that (and beyond rock solid words)…
reflect on what is rarely beautifully seen!
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Frozen in Time. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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compact and entwined
in each living Spring
are Life’s splendid creatures
majestic living things
like a chrysalis patiently waiting
to joyfully unfold
Spring has books of living stories
waiting to be told
from nothing comes something
it arrives every year
few love it enough
the Treasure is near
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Fledglings in a nest. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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On an extremely small, green planet, there was a large animal called “horse” that had four legs…
and not one of the legs felt it was separate from the other legs.
Each leg — of “horse” — walked and galloped in great beauty and harmony with the other legs;
had one or more of the legs felt it(they) was(were) separate from the other legs,
“horse” would kick and buck in disharmony.
Upon this diminutive planet, called “earth,” there were also billions of inhabitants, called “humans,”
and these “humans,” with bipedal legs, mostly thought that they were separate from those
upon other legs. They often fought in vicious wars and kicked others who walked and ran on two legs.
They also hunted and harmed many of those walking on four legs and were also often mindlessly indifferent
about the environment containing all the legs. However, a small few sagaciously and harmoniously realized
that their legs were not at all separate… and that none of the legs were really separate whatsoever.
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(Note: Left click on the art-oriented one to see the detail. Click on arrow to return.)
Eight legs. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Eight legs. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Tonight, go back in time to when you were a young child.
(Revisit that immortal youth that was)
far beyond the jaded, stodgy, leaden views of the overly-busy adults.
Soar again in those floating dreams… then go beyond dreaming to how
you were so very amazed at life’s wonderful, majestic living creatures.
Remember, back then, how you were small
but your perceptions were magical, large, and vast.
Return and youthfully run and fly again through that enchanting world.
Then never grow up.
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Able to fly. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Able to fly. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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little four legs
ears listening bright
innocent and beautiful
quiet eyes soaking all the light
little four legs
legs standing true
beyond limited fences
wander forever and new
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Beauty exemplified. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Beauty exemplified. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Ignorance often doesn’t recognize its own ignorance. Wisdom often goes unrecognized by those who have little wisdom. Many even indifferently pass by the beauty of flowers and nature. Be beyond that!
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Beyond the stigma. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Many shirk responsibility for others and for all of life… because doing nothing is easy. Go beyond dead comfort!
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Yellow Stars. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Penciled Stars. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Time is space and space is time
Mountains take some time to climb
Space is time and time is space
It takes some time to wash your face
Washing in space is movement in time
The soap and the bubbles say they feel fine
The clock’s hands move in a confined, little space
Along with the hands that wash your face
The face of the clock washed away time
As moving hands took away hours of grime
Our hearts keep on ticking at a regular pace
As helping hands smile at our round, cleanly face
The hands of the clock in each stage and each term
Say its time to wake up, to feel, and to learn
The chronology of you is swinging in space
A minute of love is an occasion of grace
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Swinging pendulum in Space. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Swinging pendulum in Space. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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“I think I’m separate from what is seen,”
said the complacent, lazy man.
“You probably are,”
said the wise man.
“I think I’m separate from what I visit,”
said the complacent, lazy man.
“You probably are,”
said the wise man.
“I think I’m separate from what is heard,”
said the complacent, lazy man.
“You probably are,”
said the wise man.
“I think I’m separate from what I want,”
said the complacent, lazy man.
“You probably are,”
said the wise man.
“I think I’m separate from what I dream,”
said the complacent, lazy man.
“You probably are,”
said the wise man.
I think I’m separate from what I think,”
said the complacent, lazy man.
“You probably are,”
said the wise man.
“I think I’m separate from the earth and the animals,”
said the complacent, lazy man.
“You probably are,”
said the wise man.
“I think I’m separate from people and their well being,”
said the complacent, lazy man.
“You probably are,”
said the wise man.
“I think I’m separate from whom I rob,”
said the complacent, lazy man.
“Your separate ‘eye’ is probably illusory,”
said the wise man,
as he closed a door
between
himself
and his blind complacency.
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Chives, together as one. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Chives, together as one. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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When I was young, I mustered up all the energy I had to find the truth and the whole. That’s the only way to be!
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Plush Pink. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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One man, a complacent, indifferent man,
looked at life as if through a distorted, little peephole;
everything he saw was of limitation;
everything he saw was fragmentary and small.
Another man, a dynamic, caring man,
looked at life as if from a majestic, magical mountain;
everything he saw was from a panoramic, unbroken view;
everything he saw was connected, limitless, and extraordinarily special.
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Top of the World. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Top of the World. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 