The last time that i wrote a more lengthy post, one wrote about how thoughts are primarily reactions. And living mostly as reactions makes a person robotic and mechanical. Existing as endless reactions keeps one stuck in limited time, for time consists of a series of reactions (all immersed in sequential causality).
Certain people will — philosophically or supposedly spiritually — say that you should exist in the “now.” However, if that “now” is just a continuation from a remembered “then”, then it really isn’t hitting the mark; it is then probably just another limitation. The real “now” is not merely a point in recognized time, but a timeless dimension in which the conditioning of the past does not interfere. It’s not what can be obtained by practice, desire, or clever reactions. It is not what can be obtained by the thought of a “perceiver” that thinks it is separate from the perceived.
What is the relationship between thought and action? Actually, fundamentally, there may be none. In other words, thought may not have any relationship with true action. It may be that each and every thought is a reaction and, being in (and “of”) the realm of reaction, thought cannot create what is beyond reaction. It may be like asking a shadow to create light. Only the absence of the shadow may, perhaps, allow light to be. The shadow cannot create (or “make”) the light.
However, when thought/thinking is absent (and not endlessly functioning, such as with a truly meditative mind), then insight may occur, which involves deep understanding and real compassion. Thought/thinking, being of endless reaction in most people, is very mechanical and robotic. This explains a lot of the conflict, wars, miseducation, and insanity that go on in the world, caused by humans. Most people have been educated (i.e., programmed) to exist primarily as thought/thinking (i.e., as reactions).
Desire is limited space, isn’t it? There is a gap, a separation, between what actually exists and what you want. That gap is part of desire. And desire is what you actually are (as it occurs). Don’t create another mindless gap that separates you from the desire. The desire is you, not something magically separate from what you are. So, please don’t crudely say that you (as some separative center) “have a desire.” There is no legitimate center apart from what takes place.
The intelligent mind, without the illusory trappings of a false center, then has (and is) the energy to transcend limited space, such as unnecessary desire. Such energy may be deep and profound. But do not merely desire it. And some desires may be necessary… like the desire for food when hunger exists. Of course, we humans tend to have innumerable desires concerning things that are not necessary, and all kinds of chaos and problems emerge from such unnecessities. Society has conditioned us (and continues to condition us) to be riddled with (and “as”) innumerable desires (many of which are silly and unnecessary). Ah, those commercials!
We can be orderly, whole, sagacious, and deeply intelligent. Or we can be riddled with limited pockets of unnecessary greed and selfishness. We can be healthy or infected.
Humans are constantly battling themselves in war after war, year after year. It is so barbaric and primitive. It is just like the left hand trying to hurt and harm the right hand, not realizing that the right hand is itself too. We perceive in conditioned ways that involve separation, limited space, and conflict. We were educated to perceive in such ways via having competition, fragmentation, and crude views of separation instilled within (and “as”) us. We do not perceive — not enough of us anyway — with deep intelligence, wholeness, compassion, and wisdom. And is the observer — as we were crudely taught and conditioned to accept — really so divided from and separate from the observed?
We all do innumerable things due to motives. We all do things for reasons, to get something out of it. Our calculating minds were programmed to react primarily with self-centered motives in mind.
What place has true meditation (and mindfulness) in all this? I have been, in the distant past, to so-called “meditation gatherings,” where i have observed people sitting cross-legged, smugly acting like they are achieving something immensely profound. But is that really meditation? It may be that true meditation is not what a person can arrange to happen. True meditation might not merely be just another effect brought about by a scheming cause. You can work out (via motives) how to acquire money, knick-knacks, drugs, and self-satisfaction from asking favors from a learned (imagined) deity, but can you similarly plan or plot how to truly meditate or partake in real, spontaneous insight? It might be that true meditation and insight may occur when one is not plotting how to meditate and not plotting to have insight. It might be that a mind that is not wrapped up in “plotting” may be touched by what cannot be reached by groping in (and “as”) time. And far too often, a person tends to do something for himself (or herself) and not for others. It all can be very robotic and infantile while one lives foolishly. The self can think that the “special spotlight” is on it, with its beliefs and spiritual conclusions. Beliefs and conclusions are what someone is (which often results from programmed motives).
There is often a space between the self and “others,” and there is often a space between what actually exists and what one wants for oneself. Such space is extremely limited. It is of mechanical, animalistic foolishness. But most of us take that bait and run with it. Limitation is its own prison… a prison that is self-concocted.
The fingers of a hand need not fight each other. Space and distance need not separate. Fingers can be together without space, and fingers can be spread out with some apparent space; but that space is not really what divides them from each other. They actually are each other.
Similarly, all of us life forms are part of the same organism or being. The distance need not separate. However, too many of us look with separation and fragmentation. Too many of us perceive in the way we were programmed to perceive. Compassion exists when false separation and false division are absent. Then real, supreme intelligence may occur.
In last week’s blog posting, one wrote about how merely perceiving with (and “as”) separation, causes limitation expressed as illusory ignorance. Such separation negates enlightenment and profound intelligence. The separation that many minds habitually perceive through (and “as”) naturally involves limited space and limited time. Speaking of separation, we can scientifically understand — as Einstein eloquently indicated — that space and time are not fundamentally separate things. Limited space involves limited time.
Interestingly, that may be why when nirvana/spiritual enlightenment occurs (as a blessed visitation), one of the things that happens (while it is occurring) is that one’s visual field (involving depth perception) collapses… probably because even that space (involving perceiving distant things) has little importance to that sacredness that is timeless and beyond limited space. (Please don’t try to mentally collapse your visual depth perception through effort to get something out of it; that would be childish and futile. You can’t “make it happen.”) Unfortunately, we obtusely stick to so many edicts and presumptions that our crude society dishes out to us. We tend to faithfully cling to these limited realms, embracing them without question; it’s much like a turtle mindlessly sticking solely to his little, stagnant pond, while all the while a beautiful, pristine, majestic, large lake exists nearby.
One actually is one’s fears, but when a person feels separate from the fears that he says “he has,” he is manufacturing a fictional, illusory space between the fears and what he (as a thought) claims he is. So, analyzing and trying to subjugate those fears will take time (in relation to the limited space that was fabricated). That space and that time — being of one thing — is limited. A consciousness stuck with such dynamics (or lack of dynamics) is naturally limited. Limitations can be stagnation. There is an intelligence that exists beyond such limitations.
In all honesty, most of us wear a Cloak of Separation. It stinks of death. It was heavily instilled onto us via crude education and through millennia of inter- and intra-species conflict. That cloak is like a dark sickness that precariously lingers over and within (and as) one. That cloak causes a lot of suffering in the world.
When looking at some birds in a tree, for example, most people see them through (and “as”) a separative distance. When seeing people laboriously bending over to harvest watermelons in a field, most people see them through (and “as”) a separative distance. When perceiving fears, most people (from a separative concocted ego) perceive the fears through (and “as”) a separative distance. When having desires, most people perceive them through (and “as”) a separative distance. When mentally separating the “perceiver” from “the perceived,” a habitual, separative distance is involved. Enlightenment and compassion are not of separative distance. This separative distance — that most people exist as — is of illusory ignorance. It is the Cloak of Separation. True, living intelligence does not consist of the Cloak of Separation.
Einstein has shown us that Time and Space are not two separate things; they are tied together as one. We human beings are still extremely primitive creatures. Most of us continue to function in (and “as”) time in a very linear, crudely sequential way. We function in (and “as”) time, but most of us don’t deeply investigate into the nature of time. We are somewhat like guppies that don’t ponder about the full nature of the aquarium they are in.
Just as we were taught, we divide and separate the past, present, and future. Thought is sequential, and — by being robotically and habitually stuck pretty much exclusively in thought/thinking — we continue to react sequentially. These reactions depend upon a space between a so-called observer and the observed; without that limited space, the so-called observer would be lost. It may be that limited space tends to form a limited “observer”; a limited observer may react as limited space. Limited space may enable (and be) a so-called “observer.” This limited space may necessitate a limited time. We spend a lot of time wasting time on a lot of foolish things (that do not help Mother Earth and the Environment). We need to act more responsibly.
It may be that there is no “you” really moving from the present into the future. It may be that your so-called moving isn’t moving at all (and that the present, the future, and the past are what you are). With all of the moving (i.e., traveling) that you feel you’ve done, it may be that your consciousness has (in actuality) not really moved anywhere other than where it has always been. Let it shine wisely.
Fragmented humans can make you feel uncomfortable in their presence. They can project their lack of harmony and wholeness your way, and if this is not keenly seen, it can drain your energy. They can, if you are not cautious, make you feel inadequate, unintelligent, and full of faults. These fragmented human beings often project their fragmentation onto you (because it makes them feel more powerful, more supreme). But that is not supremacy, it is an illusion and is child’s play. Distancing yourself from such people, both physically and emotionally, may be the wisest option. Otherwise, you may depend on them… and they can drain you of your dignity and spiritual energy if you let them. Often, standing alone is the wisest option, the best course of action. Or one may exist near them without letting their toxicity penetrate, without allowing their shallow words to penetrate into (and “as”) your inner core. Toxic reactions projected at a truly wise man (or woman) do not turn him (or her) out to be broken.
Apparently, most people often habitually come to conclusions. These conclusions tend to be limiting, circumscribed, and they tend to put the mind into gross rigidity. Most people may be very unaware of a lot of the conclusions that they cling to. Many zealously stick to conclusions about religion, politics, tribal affiliations, and what are considered appropriate social norms. Many are even willing to die for their conclusions. Many insist that their (separate, man-made) religion is the best or that their (separate, man-made) country is the best.
A flexible, dynamic, truly living mind may be beyond the rigid framework of conclusions. Such a mind may not cling to secondhand precepts handed down by society. Such a mind may see beyond the confined limitations that conclusions manifest as. Many beliefs, being conclusions, may seem helpful and benign, but (overall) may not be. A mind riddled with a lot of stale conclusions and beliefs may actually consist of those conclusions and beliefs; such a mind may not be something that somehow separately holds those conclusions (as if they are separate possessions). Conclusions can actually constitute the mind. Limitation may constrict and stifle perception in a crippling way that nullifies whole and profound insight and intelligence. Many minds may be free of harmful drugs yet may still be severely crippled by innumerable deleterious beliefs and conclusions.
In order to hate, in order to feel superior to others, in order to exist without much compassion, one must look with (and “as”) limitation. Such limitation also, in such a person, must (by necessity) also exist in a multitude of other forms. Fear and greed would likely also manifest in (and “as”) such a person. When one is full of fear, for example, one actually is that fear; one is not something separate from what that fear is. When one hates, for example, one actually is hate; one is not something magically separate from what hate is. To exist as conditioned hate requires a lot of conditioning based on limitation. Learned conceptual borders, boundaries, lines of demarcation, and division (all based on circumscribed limitations) feed and manifest as that hate. Without them hate would not exist. Interestingly, such a conditioned mind would see hate as something that it has — not as something that it is — for that “having” would reflect even more separation and division; it would reflect even more components of limitation. The wise mind is not entrapped in such realms of conditioning and limitation. The wise mind is free from profound limitations and is not stuck in (and “as”) stale, dull, learned, dead, conditioned conclusions, and circumscribed perspectives.
Most of us have (and are) an obsession with patterns. Our brains are almost constantly churning with thought after thought, which consists of pattern after pattern. These patterns of thoughts are symbolic, fragmentary, sequential, and limited, and they require time to exist; indeed, they are time. Each one thinks that he or she formulates and creates these patterns of thought/thinking. In actuality, each one consists of these patterns… and they are not spontaneously created; they occur habitually, via conditioning. They occur as one series of reactions after another. (Additionally, they produce the image of a separate “thinker,” not vice versa.)
It is prudent to often go beyond existing as a series of habitual reactions. Then, the mind may be in a more holistic, blissful domain of profound living (and not mere bourgeois, robotic reacting). Patterns are sequences in (and as) time. It is wise, truly spiritual, and refreshing to often go beyond what is ordinary, mechanical, and dull.
Jack and the Beanstalk … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025
For many years, i have encouraged people to be sensitive and aware… whole and deeply perceptive. And now we are living in a world that — because of man — is rapidly becoming more degenerated, immoral, dishevelled, and contaminated. There is more ineptitude, mental stagnation, and environmental waste and indifference. Some of my aware readers — who have been very close to nature, being more at-one with nature than most — have become heartbroken over the abuse and extinction of animals in the environment. For instance, some areas of Michigan are exterminating (with gas) Canada Geese rather than relocating them. Also, a myriad of animals (worldwide) are going extinct due to insane manmade environmental changes.
Regarding such instances, one feels that it would be prudent to act (and do what we can to help regarding these situations). Additionally, one must not allow these occurrences to cause one to be overly depressed or sullen. One must — despite the outer moral chaos — maintain one’s integrity, inner joy, and light. The light of wisdom is not easily extinguished by manmade, fragmentary darkness. We must live in this craziness but not be of it. We must investigate deeply into the root cause of the disorder. Please do not let the light of goodness be extinguished by the jaded and crooked.
When many of us think, it involves an internal verbal monologue wherein thoughts tend to mimic (or copy) what one’s voice sounds like (when actual speaking to others occurs). (During such “thinking,” the internal voice is a simulation.) When verbal monologue thinking occurs in terms of one’s own voice, it’s not really what involves your vocal cords moving; as was said, it’s a simulation of the voice. Additionally, some of us also think visually… depending on mental patterns of images. These mental visual patterns also consist of visual simulations. When a forest is mentally visualized, it’s not an actual forest; it’s a simulation of a forest. Then too, there is “pattern thinking” wherein held patterns are mentally analyzed for how they fit together in relationship, perhaps even somewhat holistically. Thinking is largely second-hand, imitative, a response of memory, simulation-oriented, and is essentially fragmentary and limited. Most of us cling to the patterns of thinking — we are the patterns of thinking — and we remain there (habitually). Often being beyond all that may be prudent and extremely wise (and need not involve more of this habitual simulation, monkey business to do so).
You may wish to watch the following short PBS Digital Studios video:
A Gem of a Rear-end … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025
People are so terribly afraid of being nothing. They want to be something… something that is central, dominant, and “in control.” However, trying to be central, dominant, and supposedly “in control” is the way of sorrow. Thinking fabricates the thinker. What is concocted by thinking is never truly ecstatic; it is secondhand. Psychological nothingness is not terrible. It contains everything. We were miseducated. All the answers, the best of joy, and boundless ecstasy exist in (and “as”) a living mind of nothingness and innocence. When thinking ends psychologically, something of a different, vast (and immeasurable) dimension may occur.
Many of us chase after goals in life, running to achieve things. Many like to chase after new adventures by traveling to “new” and interesting places. One’s consciousness, however, despite all of this chasing and traveling, remains as it always was… never fundamentally ever going anywhere other than where it always was. In essence, the scenery changes but consciousness remains exactly the same… unmovable. (It’s much like a hamster in a hamster-exercise-wheel… passionately running but not really going anywhere.) And we think we are highly evolved and sophisticated! We need to reassess our situation and truly change fundamentally, not theoretically… and not according to what we see others doing. So what will you do?… chase after some “special techniques” that promise to help get you out of this? (Would doing so really just be a continuation of the mindless running in an “exercise-wheel”?)
It is our preoccupation with forms, mental images, and patterns that keeps most of us in a very limited and run-of-the-mill domain. Most of us stick like glue to such parameters because — let’s face it — that is what we were educated and programmed to do. And there are plenty of self-appointed priests, gurus, instructors, and so-called spiritual expert bloggers who are all too willing to offer you more and more techniques, mental images, and patterns that — according to them — will benefit you if you stick to them.
To end all that, psychologically, is to frequently perish psychologically from the known. However, most people are terrified of the unknown and are too afraid and conditioned to actually fundamentally change. So most — including the so-called “experts” — continue clinging to the patterns and techniques (involving patterns) on how to get there… without ever really fundamentally getting anywhere (other than the way they’ve always been). And to look with (and “as”) separation and fragmentation from a thought-concocted psychological center is a delusional continuation of the primitive and known patterns.
(Note: I will continue to politely “like” certain fellow spiritual and philosophical blogs, even though one sees that what is written in them is usually rather erroneous and off-beam.)
Recognition is an inherent extension of thought/thinking. One sees through (and “as”) the screen of the known. Recognizing things involves limited, symbolic patterns of fragmentation. This fragmentation is never whole (though it may claim to be whole). Most people see according to how they were taught to see. This “seeing” is an extension of the old ways and patterns. It is limited and fragmentary.
To perceive without merely relying on these old patterns of limitation involves holistic seeing. It exists beyond all the practiced patterns, techniques, religious methods, and political and societal structures. Few see this way. Most cling to the known and are frightened of the unknown. It is like loving the shadows and fearing the light.
There is physical suffering and there is psychological suffering. When physical suffering takes place, if it is not too intense, one may be able to live with it happily, despite it being somewhat annoying. I am 73, with both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis… so i know how stiffness and pain can manifest. Too many of us, however, are conditioned to run from pain at all costs. We overemphasize escaping from pain and we rely too heavily on drugs and such. The Universe has a set volume/amount of pain (tied to the requisite nature of reality). All pain is not just personal; it is shared by all… it is part of all. So being in pain is noble in a big way (since one is paying a price for us all), but many separative people don’t see it that way. Then too, physical pain can be a warning signal, indicating that something needs to be done to help the body function better.
There is also psychological pain and suffering. There’s the pain of loneliness, the pain of fear, the pain of depression, the pain of boredom. Interestingly, a mindful entity of holistic, orderly wisdom usually does not have much in the way of psychological suffering. Such a wise being perceives that, if fear is taking place, such fear is not something separate from what one is. One is the actual fear. If loneliness occurs, one is not something separate from that loneliness; the perceiver is the perceived. Looking with (and “as”) a fabricated distance and separation at loneliness or fear just makes the mind accept a division and conflict that isn’t genuine. That conflict doesn’t help with regard to inner stability and wholeness. True integrity does not fall for illusory separations and needless conflict.
In understanding disorder and suffering, we — in a big way — metamorphize beyond it.
Intelligence naturally goes beyond mediocrity. It does not remain in the stagnation that many others remain in (and “as”). Unfortunately, too many of us presuppose things. We, with (and “as”) conditioned minds, continue to cling to patterns that we assume are true and noble. This clinging, however, may be largely erroneous. One of the presumptions, that most of us cling to, has to do with an inner belief (or acceptance) in the power and dominance of an ego or central controller. People, all too frequently, talk about altering their behavior or actions for the better. However, the presupposition of a separate ego (that can dominate things and alter things psychologically) may be a significant delusional factor that just contributes to more problems. Such a presupposition may contribute to more false separation, conflict, and further erroneous reactions. It may be that too many of us have accepted the same, old, erroneous game (while all the while thinking that we are correct, somehow better, and intelligent). We are suggesting something about observing beyond accepted norms.
Songs from the Wood … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
Most people tend to remain reacting in (and “as”) the habit of thinking. They habitually react as one series of thought-patterns after another. These patterns consist of such things as personal issues, political issues, so-called religious issues, and a multitude of other issues. Most people have propensities to remain in (and “as”) reacting patterns of thought/thinking. Instead of being true action, what they are engulfed in is habitual reaction. Mechanistic, symbolic reaction is not living. Please look beyond the realm of secondhand, repetitive processes.
Multicolored Lichen … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
Merely seeing via distance and conflicting space (as when the perceiver is separate from the perceived), involves a primitive, fragmentary perception that is not deeply holistic and intelligent. That limited psychological distance, in such a case, involves psychological time and primitive fragmentation. Intelligent, holistic wisdom and compassion exist beyond psychological time and primitive fragmentation. The limited psychological space, between a supposedly centralized ego and what it sees, reflects the primitive ignorance that was erroneously learned and absorbed (in the past).
Many people, these days, admire and worship the superficial forms of so-called intelligence; however, there exists a much deeper and profound intelligence (that exists beyond what they are aware of). Please inquire — on your own — about what looking with profound wisdom and intelligence might entail.
Sometimes, especially regarding things in the outside world, judgment is necessary. When crossing the street (on foot) one must prudently judge when the appropriate time to cross exists (to avoid oncoming traffic). However, many of us “overuse” judgment, especially inwardly, within (and “as”) consciousness. One may judge inwardly, condemning oneself for what one did years ago. One, however, is not what one was years ago, and it may be wiser to be more attentive to “the present” than to dwell on what happened in (and “as”) the distant past. One may project or imagine (via inward judgment) that one is inferior to others, and (thus), while in public, feel “looked down on” or “inferior.” Such a projection (via self-judgment) may be a waste of energy. Or one may project (to oneself inwardly) that one is superior or far more elite than most people; in such a case one may radiate an air of bigotry (against others) and pompousness (about oneself).
Holistic intelligence only uses judgment sparingly and prudently (when it is actually needed). It transcends the limited self (that gets tangled in, and by, judgment). It does not become a victim of inner conflicts and crude situations reflected by habitual, conditioned protrusions of judgment. Such intelligence perceives clearly and directly without a lot of conflict-inducing judgment clouding and interfering with direct perception and understanding. (Such intelligence is likely not just personal intelligence, by the way… it’s an intelligence that transcends the self.) Judgment often leads to conclusions… and conclusions frequently cloud the mind and box it in (into rigid, crass, limited, conditioned ways). The light of intelligence can nullify the darkness (i.e., the distortion) that crude judgment can manifest as.
Thought/thinking is very limited. Thought is very cubicle-like. A cubicle is a small, partitioned space. The ego is a small, partitioned space. When intelligence sees the limitation of thought/thinking, then (without time and technique) thought/thinking dissipates when it is not needed. Deep perception is what exists beyond the confines of thought/thinking. Deep perception is beyond futile techniques, concocted forms, images, and symbols. Such perception is light. It is not a separate “you” seeing the light. It is light.
Time depends on (and is) limited sequences of space. Transcending limited space involves the timeless. Interestingly, deep compassion crashes through the ego’s barriers involving its limited space. Compassion transcends limited space and (thus) involves the timeless. Profound intelligence is (and involves) compassion.
Red-Banded Leaf Hopper … Photo c.2024 Thomas Peace
Existing beyond mediocrity occurs when perception sees deeply, beyond the run-of-the-mill indifference and superficiality. To merely dwell in (and “as”) words — which are sequential, fragmentary symbols — as if they are the real thing… is accepting shadows as substantial, legitimate realities.
To mostly live as sequential, fragmentary symbols (occurring mentally) is not, perhaps, living at all. Accepting what is dead and cadaverous as “reality” may be foolish and may be clinging to the superficial and “unalive.” If unending experiences consist only of recognition, pigeonholing, categorizing, and symbolic orchestration, then such reactions may be limited, robotic, and conditioned. Going beyond this does not take time (psychologically), for psychological time is extension after extension of the conditioning and mediocrity. Fragmentary, sequential, representational words may often be needed. However, to exclusively depend on them (and exist as them) may be foolish, rather unalive, and nonsensical.
To perceive with (and “as”) an inner silence — beyond symbolic words and their limited distinctions — may manifest as a wholeness and immense awareness beyond superficiality. Then words (as symbols) have their place but do not dominate consciousness (as endless conditioning). Then, as we’ve said before, deep intelligence and compassion are manifest, alive, and act rather than merely react.
Michael Keaton perchance … Photo by Thomas Peace perchance c.2024Alien on the Spider … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
The elderly sage, Lo Zu, was walking with his meandering-cane along a path going through a meadow near town. Youthful twins were walking toward Lo Zu, from the opposite direction. As they approached Lo Zu — and knowing about his reputation for being wise and insightful — they asked him to stop and listen to their remarks about their recent attempts at meditating in stillness. They told Lo Zu about how they both sat, unmoving, for hours, in their recent attempts to (according to them) meditate properly.
As they talked on and on about the stillness that they tried to engage in, Lo Zu did not appear to be very impressed. Lo Zu looked at the flowers and creatures in the meadow and remarked that true stillness is not the result of “trying” and “effort.” He suggested that one of the twins should walk some distance down the path (then return), while the other twin should remain standing with him. One of the twins then walked along the path and returned after a short while. Then Lo Zu asked the twin who had remained with him, “While your brother was walking away, did the field of consciousness (that you were) ever actually move away from what it was all along?” “No, of course not,” the lad replied. Then Lo Zu asked the twin, who had been walking away, whether his field of consciousness had actually moved — from what it was all along — during his walk. “Of course not,” the lad replied. Then Lo Zu said to the twin that had been walking, “Your consciousness did not move from what (and where) it always was, and neither did your brother’s. So even though you were walking, the mind was not going anywhere other than where it was all along.” Lo Zu was implying that movement is often delusory and not factual.
Lo Zu suggested to them, “Please don’t try, with effort, to be still (through various techniques, for instance). Such techniques likely take you on a delusional journey (that is secondhand). Let true stillness occur naturally, without effort. Also, stillness can exist even while walking, even while working. True stillness is not what one makes happen through effort and striving, or through traveling through (and “as”) linear thought/thinking. Additionally, a physical body that is not physically moving is not any special kind of stillness. Rather, natural (true) stillness of mind may occur not by calculated effort but during effortless awareness.”
Spooky Time is Here … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
One can get a limited amount of happiness by accumulating things — or by doing things — that one had wanted to get or do. However, acquiring things by way of motive(s) is always circumscribed by a degree of calculated, linear planning, and the result (as an effect) is usually very mundane, secondary, and rather stale. So constantly chasing after happiness is often reflective of a rather immature mind, a mind that falls for the ordinary (being itself, unfortunately, rather ordinary). Does an extraordinary mind habitually chase after the ordinary? … probably not!
Additionally, true joy seldom comes invited (by way of calculated motives). Calculated motives — like clockwork –manifest to bring up what a mind desires… and desire is usually small, self-centered, generic, plastic, and commonplace. Desires are limited reactions (often being robotic, calculated, and dull). True joy and bliss are not what the mind can calculatingly concoct mentally.
So what is an intelligent mind to do? This may (at first) seem nonsensical, but a very wise thing to do — regarding happiness and bliss — is nothing. In doing nothing, the mind is automatically out of the quagmire of calculated, mechanical plotting. Such plottings, with their limitations and mediocrity, are reflections of motives. Going beyond them opens the mind to possibilities that are not limited and are not just fragmentary reactions in the cause-and-effect continuum. Real joy and bliss are beyond the fragmentary known.
That space, that limited, cadaverous space, that separates most people from what they see (and are)… it may nourish a callous indifference (though they may insist otherwise). When limited mental space exists between the perceiver and that which is perceived, then a fabricated center manifests a false radius. This is what allows hatred and indifference to take hold. This is what manifests as secondhand mediocrity and unfeeling psychological cadaverousness.
That learned, absorbed, embedded psychological space must end (without clinging to the apron-strings of tradition, customs, and learned habits). True compassion does not flower with restricted, fragmentary, small, isolated perception. It radiates beyond the ice-cold limited. Stagnant perception is the result of its own illusory psychological cage. In that dead cage, it remains (and claims to be free)… while it decorates and reinforces that cage with superficialities. That stagnation depends on (and is) the cage. (There never was a true center in control of thoughts and emotions. It — i.e., the supposed controller — is a learned protrusion of thought/thinking.) Real joy and love of life can exist beyond limitation based on falsities. Please transcend beyond psychological separation and existing as a consciousness with a limited radius based on a phony center.
Thoughts are, as one has said many times, symbolic representations. The word “butterfly” is not the butterfly. The word “frog” is not the frog. Words are often necessary, but most of us are almost constantly churning with thought after thought, even though these thoughts are just fragmentary symbols. Symbols are tokens for the real thing; they are not the real thing, (be they words or pictorial images in the brain). In our past — in school — we were spoon-fed with words and the symbols within books (as if they were the real thing). We were instructed (for years) to believe in that symbolic/artificial methodology, accepting it as real and true.
A life that habitually clings to one series of symbols after another is, unfortunately, clinging to representations that are (in a big way) superficial. Endlessly clinging to symbols may take away a lot of the true joy, compassion, and true relationship in one’s life. Unfortunately, remaining mostly as symbols and as mental patterns consisting of symbols can tend to make the mind operate in (and “as”) stagnation. Such stagnation consists of sorrow. It is sorrow.
Instead of foolishly trying to escape from this sorrow by means of alcohol, recreational drugs, or expensive vacations, one can likely do much better by not running to outside (purchased) modalities. We can look joyfully just by looking without merely seeing through a mental screen of habitual symbols, labels, and distinctions. “Looking simply” does not require a lot of mental effort, energy, and technique. Since no effort is needed, no time is needed. But we tend to habitually and endlessly employ effort and time. We need not always take time pigeonholing everything with symbolic labels, categorizations, and separate differentiations. Going beyond constant, fragmentary symbolism, and psychological distance is joyous and liberating. In doing so, love is involved… so love then flowers. Words, as rather dead symbols, are protrusions from the past (i.e., from past learned memory). The living present is not of this learned, old past; it is fresh and beyond the old adulteration. Real meditation, without all of the silly techniques and time-oriented methodologies, is the freshness and joy of perception beyond the stale and secondhand.
The word is not the thing. … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
We, as human beings, primarily function due to (and from) causes. The process of thinking (per se) involves cause and effect; we usually do things mentally (with a cause or effect in mind or with a series of causes or effects in mind). Animals also act via cause-and-effect parameters. So, in a big way, we are not much different than other animals. Cause is time. When we function with (and “as”) cause, we function in (and “as”) time. Most of us, just as we were taught for many years, remain very time-bound and time-oriented.
Cause and effect often involve — and consist of — a motive or motives. We want to achieve things and get things, just like many animals. Most of us remain in such domains, without ever deeply inquiring what may be beyond. We usually, without question, remain in cause-and-effect parameters without ever mutating beyond such reactions. Can the mind transcend cause/effect parameters, intelligently existing beyond endless motives? This writer says, “Yes!” Then one doesn’t just react in (and “as”) time. Time has its place. It is often necessary. However, merely clinging to it may be rather childish and crass. Thinking, though often very necessary, is imbued with cause and effect attributes; therefore thinking is time (and takes time). Only if we stay limited do we have to exclusively remain in such a domain.
Many are so conditioned to exist as perpetual “achieving” and “getting,” that they would not even consider the possibility of existing beyond such patterns. Most are stuck in grooves, where they habitually remain. Please consider metamorphosing beyond the norm. Wisely ending conditioning may not depend on any concocted (or habitual) series of endless motives.
In the vastness of nature, when walking among the myriad of beautiful plants and animals that are away from human interference and human destruction, is it possible to blend in as a mind that is also away from human interference and human destruction? Can such a mind be empty of the abstractions, ideas, beliefs, labels, and symbols that were poured into it over many years? Such a pure (uncontaminated) mind, empty of its content, empty of all of the second-hand garbage that was poured into it, can then look beyond adulteration and contamination. Such emptiness, then, is all of the living organisms (without merely labeling them, classifying them, pigeonholing them, or recognizing them through learned and preconceived images and patterns). Then, perhaps, there is only the unadulterated perceived… and not the separation between the perceiver and the perceived. Perhaps, in that situation, there is no time and division. Without time and division, real love and joy may flower.
To look superficially through walls involving separation and boundaries… may not be deep perception. The very nature of the isolated center, ego, or so-called controller, automatically creates walls of separation, distance, and boundaries. It’s not “being in the now,” as so many (these days) mechanically parrot and claim they are doing; it is beyond all that bilge. Please look simply and effortlessly… without all of the rubbish, the abstractions, and the learned separations.
This may seem ludicrous at first, but it isn’t. Most of us are heavily conditioned to run from one entertaining experience to another. We will do anything to escape from what we see as our own inner emptiness (i.e., our own inner void and sorrow). We run from one experience to another, like that proverbial donkey that perpetually pursues the carrot dangling from a stick (that is — interestingly enough– attached to the donkey). We were conditioned to do this… and in this conditioning, we remain. We are this conditioning, not something separate from it.
We were not encouraged to refrain from running from inner emptiness. To not run from inner emptiness does not take time. However, most of us, in time and “as time,” continue to run from it. It may be that such effort is a waste of time… which we repeatedly do until we die. It may be largely a waste of time and energy.
When one doesn’t run from emptiness (in and “as” time), a miraculous transformation may happen. Time (then) does not exist in the normal sense and a timeless (non-sequential) bliss and intelligence may flower without a motive or system of effort. The “known” is a sequential, symbolic, robotic series involving experience, recognition, remembrance, and further accumulative experience and repetitive recognition. This stems from the known (i.e., the habitual, reacting, symbolic, past remembrance) and its sequential movement. This “sequential movement” is often necessary, but clinging to it makes the mind mechanical, repetitive, and dull.
We look with (and “as”) the parameters of time and space that we were taught to look at. This might sound strange, but is that all that we must be limited to? Can we look with a depth that goes beyond what was spoon-fed to us? Can we perceive more than what they taught us to perceive? This movement says, “Yes.” But don’t just take my word for it. Explore and find out (with passion). Go beyond their measurements, rules, separations, so-called religions, opinions, organizations, limited teachings, acceptances, beliefs, and stale parameters. But most of you won’t do that. Most will shake their head affirmatively and agree; however, they will not fundamentally change. Unfortunately, most are stuck in orthodoxy, stagnation, and sameness. Most are psychologically afraid to leave the limited and the “known.”
A poem by Stephen Crane:
“Think as I think,” said a man, “Or you are abominably wicked, You are a toad.”
And after I had thought of it, I said: “I will, then, be a toad.”
The Perceiver is the Perceived … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
Not all feelings are the same. Some are ordinary, run-of-the-mill feelings (consisting of mechanical reactions, just as mundane thoughts are). For the most part, such feelings are rather superficial, limited, and self-aggrandizing.
Certain other feelings are entirely different, being insightful, holistic, and deeply non-egotistically heartfelt. The former run-of-the-mill feelings are rather robot-like, artificial, and much like how conditioned thoughts function; being of superficial reactions, they seldom, if ever, are of all-encompassing freedom. The latter type of feelings, being insightful, holistic, and selflessly heartfelt, are deeply of compassion and intelligent, comprehensive freedom. Holistic compassion is not run-of-the-mill. Holistic compassion involves love for all, not just for the few.
Before the Helicopter … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
From E.E. Cummings: “It is with roses and locomotives (not to mention acrobats Spring electricity Coney Island the 4th of July the eyes of mice and Niagara Falls) that my poems are competing.”
For most people, the “whole,” is conceptual (as a component of thought/thinking). However, what is merely conceptual (i.e., a product of the brain-thought process) is not the whole. It is just a fragment, or series of fragments, constructed of intellectual images/symbols. The whole is imperceptible to a person who is immersed in (and “as”) fragmentation. Yet, a lot of people think that they understand the whole. Words are fragmentary symbols/representations, not the actuality.
Education, in the past, for almost all of us, focused exclusively on intellectual and conceptual things and parameters. We were not encouraged to look beyond mental symbols, fragmentary parameters, and run-of-the-mill mental constructs. We were — early on — molded to perceive conceptually, fragmentarily, with (and “as”) words and ideas. So most of us look with (and “as”) a screen of mental fabrication. Such looking is limited, largely symbolic, and quite robotic.
Encouraging others, later in their lives, to go beyond such mental structures is very difficult. They function almost exclusively in a world of fragmentation and symbolism. However, there is always the chance of real metamorphosis. Surprisingly, perceiving beyond limited concepts and fragmented symbols does not take a lot of effort. It is the robotic attachment to habitual mental effort that prevents people from radically changing. The blind, habitual effort and dependence involving constantly looking with limitation (as mental fragments and symbols) must psychologically end.
Recognizing the “present” from the past (i.e., from stored, accumulated memory) is not living in the present whatsoever; it is an extension of the past (involving recognition). We can also recognize — and “be” — concepts about the future. However, such concepts or mental formulations are not the future… but are merely projections — from (and “as”) past memory — about what possibly could be.
To intelligently go beyond such limited mental patterns requires a very sharp, dynamic mind. Most minds are not interested in this. Most minds are not capable of what is needed. They tend to stagnate in (and “as”) limited parameters (all the while thinking that they are free, in the present, and accurate in their perceptions). Erroneous thoughts can believe that they are living in the present, while (all the while) they are not. To truly be of the timeless goes beyond self-deception and limited stagnation. Please intelligently inquire into this.
Since the Cretaceous … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
Most of us look with (and “as”) separation. Within almost each of us, there psychologically exists what we assume to be a “central I” that assumes that it is in control of its thoughts (from a separative distance). This so-called “central I” additionally fundamentally sees things (as if from a point) with a radius between it and the external world.
Love does not readily occur in a mind that is fundamentally based on separation. Psychologically, the perceiver is not separate from the perceived. Separation is often reinforced by fragmentation, conflict, and non-holistic perceiving. A wise mind of profound intelligence may transcend such fragmentary, separative, and divisive psychological behaviors. Such a mind is not fundamentally stuck in conditioned disconnection and illusory partition.
In previous posts, i’ve mentioned existing in effortlessness. Effortlessness is not some lazy psychological state that causes one to be lackadaisical throughout the day. It is not a state of mind that causes one to lay around listlessly throughout the day.
Most of us habitually engage in (and “as”) the effort of “thinking” throughout the day. We are so ingrained in the effort of “thinking” that we hardly or rarely exist without it. We mechanically engage in (and “as”) thinking with constant effort. This “thinking” involves so-called effort by a supposed central, controlling ego. Habitual “thinking” creates the habitual “thinker.” There is a deep perception, however, that does not depend on the habitual effort of thinking. Such perception is not stagnant laziness; on the contrary, it is tremendous energy. This energy acts without dependence on any habitual effort that a limited ego reacts as. In fact, the limited ego is devoid of this energy… and such an ego is often trapped in (and “as”) a series of reactions resulting from habitual effort. This habitual effort was hammered into one (by others in the past) and on this one depends. It is the result of an imitative, secondhand process; it is — itself — an imitative, secondhand process. Imitative, secondhand processes consist of absorbed psychological time and are not true liberation/freedom.
Deep perception is beyond the secondhand. It involves a wholeness that acts outside of the fragmentary effort of an isolated ego. An isolated ego is, itself, secondhand and is the result of stale, fragmentary, effort. The effort of a secondhand ego involves repetitive, habitual psychological time. Wisely existing beyond such effort does not require more time.
Long Legged Attraction … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
Deep perception is the extraordinary order many would radiantly flower in if they were only of it. Such profound perception is beyond the superficial… (the superficial, with its many limitations, forms of fragmentation, and boundaries).
Believing that one has great “will” does little to instill great order in the mind because “will” is a crude mental supposition that presupposes immense freedom (and true freedom is not what manifests by thinking or by believing that one possesses it). One can be in a prison as most people are — psychologically — yet still believe that one has freedom. However, such freedom may be limited and very illusory.
Perceiving everything deeply and profoundly supersedes stale beliefs and conclusions of thought/thinking. In seeing beyond limited conclusions, beliefs, fragments, and suppositions, the mind is of immense clarity and wisdom. Such clarity and wisdom — not being two separate things — is great order and goodness. Many violent and uncaring people think that they have free will; such thinking may not mean a thing. Thoughts (always being fragmented) nullify deep perception if one exclusively exists in (and “as”) thoughts habitually most of the time.
Deep perception acts in (and “as”) a great order (beyond fragmentary thinking and conflict).
Male Indigo Bunting … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
Most people look at inner psychological fears with separation (from a distance). However, this distance is illusory; such distance involves time and perpetuates fear. All fears, to exist, depend upon thoughts and time. They are often about what will happen or what — according to the mind — could happen. This projecting about the future involves (and is) psychological time. Of course, there are some natural and necessary fears, like when a big shark is seen in the water where one is swimming. That is when fear is prudent and natural. However, most of us have many fears that are not so prudent.
With many psychological fears — as what often happens — what purports to be separate from fears, supposedly “having them,” then looks for ways to go beyond the fears. This wanting to go beyond the fears involves distance and time. As we said, the fears themselves are the result of time. This may be a mindless circle — that many are caught in — that prevents clear understanding and wise change. A wise mind may perceive that fears are not separate from what it (partially) is. Such a wise mind may also see that there is nothing truly separate from the fears that, in a possessing kind of way, has them. Inventing or imagining something separate from them (to get rid of them) creates unnecessary conflict and friction. Conflict and friction depend upon time (and waste energy).
A mind that is largely beyond psychological fears (and needless internal separation and friction)… is a marvelous thing.
I wrote about this to someone who commented regarding one of my posts a short while ago. Much of my reply is being reiterated here.
We all go through myriads of experiences throughout life. However, most of us do not ponder about the intrinsic essence of “experience” nor about what the implications may entail. Most of us cling to one experience after another. Experience is often recognizing things (i.e., re-cognizing things based on past memory and past accumulation); and the experiencer is not separate from the experience. Experiences, same as with thoughts, are always limited. Experiencing is often very necessary and even beautiful (at times); however endlessly psychologically depending on experiences may be rather limited and childish. Can intelligence sometimes go beyond experience and not always cling to the apron-strings of it? I say, “Yes.” However, there has to be a balance. ”Avoiding experience habitually” can turn out to be neurotic and childish. We often take direct experience to be different than thought/thinking… while, for most of us, thoughts — and the recognitions stemming from stored thoughts — are there (involved) as things are experienced. We often perceive through the screen of thinking (while thinking that we are not thinking).
Bumble Bee and Blossoms … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
I was replying to someone who commented on one of my posts recently, that control (by a psychological center) is largely an illusion. However, we are such egoists that most of us can’t fathom what existing without control entails. Not long ago, i watched a TED Talk video on how one’s gut bacteria may possibly determine a lot of what constitutes one’s personality and outlook about others. There is a complex nerve network (i.e., the gut-microbiota-brain axis) between the gut and the brain. It’s a two-way street, but 80% of the messages go from the gut to the brain (and not vice versa). More information passes between your brain and your gut than any other body system. In fact, there are more nerve cells in your gut than anywhere else in the body outside of the brain. Gut microbes produce or help produce many of the chemical neurotransmitters that convey messages between your gut and brain. They also produce other chemicals that can affect your brain through your bloodstream. Bacteria produce thousands of bioactive compounds that affect brain function and neurotransmission; these can determine mood and, for instance, whether depression occurs significantly or not. Eating lousy food really turns us into people with psychological problems. Intelligence eats correctly and (hopefully) perceives and thinks correctly.
Eating many whole, prebiotic foods (like beans, wild blueberries, greens, onions, garlic, soy products, nuts, and foods high in fiber) is recommended; avoid eating fragmented, sugar-oriented foods. Probiotic foods like yogurt (with active cultures) are full of good bacteria already. Eat intelligently and (hopefully) perceive and think intelligently.
Fungal (Mushroom) Mycelium, the underground part of mushrooms. These connect to plants and trees and exchange nutrients and information with them. … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
Can real, psychological quietness be “made” to happen by a learned psychological image of a central controller (that is neither central nor a true controller)? Is such a “made” quietness actually phony, because it was concocted by a conditioned psychological process that is — in itself — erroneous (and not a legitimate controller)? A fallacious process is not likely to produce a very orderly (profound) psychological result. To psychologically die to what is false is easy if a real, living passion for truth is there, and if real courage, joy, and intelligence are also factors. True quietness may occur — naturally and without effort — in a mind that is orderly, perceiving without much conditioning and contamination by a manipulating society.
In the eye of the stone… Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
When we sleep — to help create psychological order — the mind often dreams about things that went on during recent days. Some of these dreams may not seem relevant to what actually went on… but, nevertheless, oftentimes they (indirectly) are. (Analyzing them doesn’t do much good, since the analyzer is the analyzed.) If one is very aware and holistically mindful during the day, then dreams are unnecessary. Then, the mind does not need to try to establish order during the night; order was already established. Without incessant dreaming, the mind can exist in (and “as”) a profound, mindful, meditative silence. Such silence is beautifully beyond repetitive, fabricated patterns and concocted symbols.
Be very holistically aware during waking hours, without constantly looking at things, and labeling things, symbolically (i.e., without merely seeing via words and stored mental images). Then, as was mentioned, you will see that having many dreams is unnecessary. (Of course, eating certain spicy or unusual foods — like pepper or piperine — may inadvertently cause dreams following the time they were consumed.) Please be sure to get enough sleep.
Dentition of a Fallen Log … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
When you are genuine and whole, you are largely unaffected by the accepted beliefs and psychological frameworks that society embraces. Then you stand alone. Such a person is blessed. Then one sees beyond the fragmentary and fallacious acceptances, beliefs, and assumptions. Then one actually thinks (and questions) beyond blind dependence.
Society tells you that you are in charge of your own thoughts. Society does not suggest that thoughts make the thinker and that the thinker is a product of thought. (By the way, what one implies here does not negate eternity.) Society predominantly endorses fragmentation and friction, not wholeness and deep compassion. Society endorses (and teaches) dominance by the self. Society sees — and encourages you to similarly see — life and death as two separate things, not as what is together as one, as a larger, beautiful whole. Society encourages you to see with distance, and it encourages you to see with distinct borders and separation. You know that society of course; it’s what is continually falling into widespread disorder and chaos.
Please look beyond the fragmentation that was poured into you. Ironically, nourishing the isolated self — as so many narcissists do — negates real security and the understanding of sweet eternity.
Please consider perceiving beyond influence. Influence rooted in the past may distort perception, causing it to be jaded. We were all heavily conditioned in childhood. We were conditioned to hold certain beliefs and opinions. We were conditioned to perceive through separation, psychological distance, and mental screens involving labeling and pigeonholing. We were taught that fragmentary, manmade borders are legitimate and absolute. We were primarily taught that we are separate from the world, separate from all of life’s creatures, and separate from those other countries.
Additionally, beyond outside social structures trying to condition one, one also can further condition oneself. One can, for example, mislead oneself into thinking that one is superior to others, that one is meditating spectacularly (while all the while one is actually hypnotizing oneself), that a central “controller” is separate from “other” thoughts, or that one is somehow special (such that it is OK for one to take advantage of others).
It is arduous to go beyond outside authority. It is much easier to follow instructions and to do (and think) as you were told. Going beyond “inside” authority is likewise very difficult. When one goes beyond inward authority, perception exists without relying on past conditioning that is mistakingly taken to be original, isolated, or self-created. (One thinks that one needs to control oneself to be good. However, the very control may create a false inward authority, dominance, and friction. Legitimate order may involve much more than that old game.)
To go beyond outside and inside influence may involve great wisdom, freedom, and integrity.
Many people — unfortunately, as adults — primarily look at things in life with (and “as”) the known. They recognize things as what they have seen before. This recognition occurs when the mind habitually sees through a screen (and background) of memory. When memory looks, it looks from the old, stale past. Memory is rooted in the old; it is oldfangled. The past, being old and secondhand, tends to make the mind stale, bored, and lacking in passion (from recognizing the same old things repeatedly).
It may be that a wise mind, however, often looks at life freshly, without merely perceiving through stored, musty images (of what was). When we were young, we glowed with the passion of seeing life without stale (learned) recognitions. Then we were blissful; then we were flowing while not merely recognizing. (When i was biologically young, i told people that i would never grow up.)
Look at life happily, joyfully, blissfully, soaringly, and fresh… without always carrying the oppressive burden of the past.
I am positing here that by seeking enlightenment, enlightenment never happens. Seeking it instantly nullifies it happening. Seeking takes time, and one cannot obtain the timeless by practicing or doing things (to get it) within (and “as”) time. Thinking manifests in (and “as”) time. Thinking, per se, usually occurs for motives. When thinking is not necessary (for a period) then perhaps the element of timelessness can occur. But if one craves it or grasps for it… it will not happen. One must be indifferent about timeless enlightenment occurring. Then one is not merely seeking an end via some calculated means.
Understand the mind from moment to moment (without a final goal in mind). Someone commented to me recently that they found a method to practice meditation (and said that it was good for beginners). I replied by suggesting that any deliberate practice turns one into a secondhand human being. Additionally, it is very easy to fall into self-hypnosis and subsequently wholeheartedly consider it to be great meditation. Also, there are no “beginners” with this. ”Beginners” implies time; getting to the timeless via time may be a fallacy. Trying to attain enlightenment may merely reinforce a selfish ego (wanting to get something). Reinforcing a selfish ego does not lead to what is beyond deception and selfishness.
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