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In most minds, the thought of “I” or “me” is the most exalted, elevated and high-ranking; but it is just another thought; real wisdom happily exists beyond such projections.
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[Black Turpentine Beetles eat the inner, lower bark of pine trees.]
Tree eater! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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True happiness is not merely an acquisition… it’s a wise, intelligent, aware, and blissful state of being and non-being.
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Go beyond grasping. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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Have gratitude for the simple things in life… for they are usually the most precious.
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[Morrow’s Honeysuckle, which now grows wild, is one of several honeysuckle shrubs that have been introduced from Eurasia. Morrow’s honeysuckle was imported in the 1800’s for use as an ornamental, for wildlife food and cover as well as for soil erosion control. This one is growing along the bank of a river… which helps against possible erosion.]
Red Gems. Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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. The wisdom of profound insight and holistic perception is never the result of fractional thinking; all thought is fractional and “broken up.” Silence is golden.
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Wise Old Owl (in rehab. facility)… by Thomas Peace 2013
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. Don’t just immaturely be stuck with finite details… see the beautiful, infinite whole.
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Perpetually immature… by Thomas Peace 2013
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. The basic essence of “thoughts” is that they are all essentially conditioned, as part of a cause/effect continuum. Wisdom is pure silence. Thoughts are vital for survival but — though this may seem odd to people in our exclusively thought-based society — most people, unfortunately, greatly overuse the process of thinking. (We are not suggesting that one vegetate into some kind of abyss of feeble-mindedness and ineptitude; the mind can often, in deep intelligence, be fully aware without merely thinking via sequential symbols). Thoughts are symbolic, residual responses, and, as such, they inherently are limited, second-hand reactions. Reactions have their place, but a mind that is heavily immersed in merely being essentially a series of reactions… tends to be a rather mechanical, robot-like mind (even though it may seem to be “normal” by society’s low standards). Profound intelligence is warm (whole) action, not mechanistic (fragmentary) reaction. To merely be one conditioned series after another, day in and day out, may be acceptable (and even “normal,” by society’s current standards), but it may not be what “truly living is” whatsoever. If the implicit nature of thought is that it (i.e., all of it) is essentially conditioned and residual, then to truly be intelligently free, one must go beyond the parameters of thought/thinking.
To observe holistically requires more than just thought. Thought/thinking is always fractional… and if one is constantly observing only through the filters constructed from symbolic thinking, then one cannot truly be observing holistically (though one may erroneously maintain that one sees the whole). For too many, the “whole” is just another symbolic concept (or a series of learned concepts). Thought is always partial and crudely sequential; one can only basically think one thing — or just a few things — at a time. A mind of perturbability is often bubbling with reactionary thought; most people are merely spewing with thought upon thought; a set — a continuous series — of mere conditioned reactions is fundamentally constituted of distortion. (The current state of our society is a reflection of that distortion.) If thought is always fractional and limited, it may be — in a way — akin to restless, fragmentary waves on the surface of a lake. Each of the waves may reflect only a part of what is above (in a very distorted way). An analogous, still lake is not as conducive to distortion (concerning the immeasurable, universal beauty of what is above).
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Stillness… by Thomas Peace 2013
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. The whole of the universe is one… until you isolate part of it and tear it to pieces.
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. from Emily Dickinson:
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. Whoever disenchants
. A single Human soul
. By failure of irreverence
. Is guilty of the whole.
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. As guileless as a Bird
. As graphic as a Star
. Till the suggestion sinister
. Things are not what they are.
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United we stand… by Thomas Peace 2013
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. If the instrument of the mind is distorted, then what it perceives will be false, twisted, misinterpreted, and pigeonholed with prejudice.
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. from Blood Sweat, & Tears:
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. What goes up must come down
spinning wheel got to go round
Talking about your troubles it’s a crying sin
Ride a painted pony
Let the spinning wheel spin
You got no money, and you, you got no home
Spinning wheel, spinning all alone
Talking about your troubles and you, you never learn
Ride a painted pony
let the spinning wheel turn
Did you find a directing sign
on the straight and narrow highway?
Would you mind a reflecting sign
Just let it shine within your mind
And show you the colours that are real
Would you mind a reflecting sign?(1)… by Thomas Peace 2013
Would you mind a reflecting sign?(2)… by Thomas Peace 2013
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. If (because of the way they were taught) there is something fundamentally wrong with the way humans perceive and mentally function… that would explain why there is so much disorder, indifference, pollution, and unabashed conflict in the world.
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Early to rise… by Thomas Peace 2013
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. To merely dwell from one image and one symbolic thought to another is to remain limited and conditioned.
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Gold rises in value… by Thomas Peace 2013
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. Deep truth never comes from comfortable, superficial satisfaction, from mindless content with ordinary values, from languid acceptance.
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Supersaturation… by Thomas Peace 2013
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. Don’t merely reflect on the details… see the beautiful whole!
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Quackery by Thomas Peace 2013
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. This post probably will not be very popular. However, that is OK by me; such is the nature of human conditioning. Popular posts might tell you how wonderful everything is, how splendid and noble your efforts are, and how love is everywhere. I say that there is not nearly enough love in the world. There is plenty of beauty in the world, I feel… but there is not nearly enough love. Honestly, so many of us are indifferent; so many put up with wars, nuclear armaments, pollution, overpopulation, suffering of people and animals, etc., without doing much of anything at all about it. We have to do a lot more to make things better here on this planet. If enough of us make a difference and change things for the better, then maybe love will be everywhere; but right now (honestly) it isn’t. I sure hope that one day it (i.e., love) will be everywhere!
Some of the important things that we must be leery about, in our passage through life, are organizations and old-fashioned traditions that steer us into the complacency of being mere followers. Many of us might maintain that we do not merely “follow the crowd”; but so many of us do so, unawares, not really seeing or realizing how we blindly follow the manner, habits, and cold indifference of others. We chronically copy others, yet think that we are independent… not mere followers. Some of us are warmly caring… but not nearly enough of us are.
What I’m about to tell you isn’t going to be what you’ll like to hear (i.e., read). It goes against people’s grain, so to speak. Bear with me on this; but don’t continue to read if you are easily disturbed. It goes, if one examines deeply and objectively, against much of what a lot of us have been told — and what was ingrained into us — about the afterlife (i.e., heaven or reincarnation or some such stuff)… and about free will, conditioning, and awareness. However, don’t — upon reading about it — merely allow yourself to get depressed, melancholy, and disheveled. One’s life can be eternally significant, despite what occurs concerning the human brain. Despite what the following may imply… one can still become imbued by the eternal.
I learned about it many years ago, while in college. I had read extensive articles about it; and it caused me to really delve into different aspects and avenues of spirituality involving understanding the whole of existence. It — what the articles were about — certainly was shocking to me. The articles dealt with how surgeons severed the corpus callosum. The human brain is, in a big way, a lot like the two halves of the inside of a walnut. Connecting the halves is what is known as the corpus callosum. Surgeons have had to sever the corpus callosum in certain individuals — such as those suffering from certain forms of epilepsy — in order to try to keep the severity of the seizures down. In patients who have had their corpus callosum severed, the right half of the brain does not know what the left half of the brain is thinking (and vice versa). In other words, two fields of separate consciousness are created (following the surgery)… when initially there was one. This type of surgery has occurred many times; it is not some kind of theoretical proposition or fluke (one-time) occurrence.
People, following such surgery, exist as two separate minds within one body. Instances have occurred wherein a man (following having his corpus callosum severed) was trying to pull his pants up with his right hand… while his left hand was trying to pull his pants down. (Each field of consciousness had something different in mind!) Another (similar) man was observed trying to strike his wife with one hand, while the other hand tried to stop the opposite hand from hitting her.
Does this have deep implications about life for us? You bet it does! The implications extend far beyond what most care to look into; however, it would be prudent if they did look deeper. Many are afraid to look deeper. I, for one, looked deeper. I am glad that I did (look deeper). The implications are extensive. Does it negate the possibility of eternity for us? No, it does not! However, merely looking at life in our standard, old-fashioned ways — as we have always done in the past — may not be prudent (considering this). We have to change the way we look at things. Otherwise we will become more and more fragmented inwardly and outwardly (not entirely unlike the unfortunate patients of the brain surgery). Many people don’t wish to change; but change we must!
Walnuts black by José Luis Hernández Zurdo
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. We’ve followed leaders for millions of years… and look where it has gotten us! Don’t follow anybody, neither politically nor religiously. So many of us drift through life, needing to be lead. A person who needs to be lead is an insecure person, much like a shadow. (We are not advocating some kind of crazy anarchy!)
A true democracy is one which exists beyond dogmatic leaders. In such a society, people could vote, referendum style, on key issues periodically, through the usage of, for instance, computers. Instead of having stuffy, life-long political barons, we could (jury-duty style) have responsible people work in groups of 12 (or thereabouts) to, on a temporary, rotating basis, regulate and coordinate the voting and election results; that would be a true democracy (and no “politicians,” no feigning baby-kissers nor totalitarians need be involved).
Religiously, so many of us, too, want to be lead. But is true religion what one can be lead in? You can be lead to a dead thing. But you cannot be lead to a dynamic, truly living (non-stagnant) thing. It may very well be that the truly sacred is not what any concocted, fabricated, man-made path can lead to. However, so many of us stay on our separate, fabricated, traditional paths (that were handed down to us like a pair of old pants). In a separate path, one easily looks at others (who are not in it) with an air of superiority and separation. The truly sacred may not be what can be touched by what remains in isolated groups, which separate themselves from other groups (causing more friction and division in the world). So many of us want to be where we can easily be “told.” But if truth is never merely second-hand… it cannot ever merely be told from one to another; being told is receiving something in a second-hand way; real truth is never second- hand. Shadows are second-hand. It may be that one has to discover it (i.e., truth) anew (freshly and directly) for oneself each and every moment.
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from Stephen Crane:
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A learned man came to me once.
He said, “I know the way, — come.”
And I was overjoyed at this.
Together we hastened.
Soon, too soon, were we
Where my eyes were useless,
And I knew not the ways of my feet.
I clung to the hand of my friend;
But at last he cried: “I am lost.”
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Wild Flowers by Thomas Peace 2013
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. To reflect on something — merely with images from the mind — may not be to see it (fully) in actuality. When one looks from (and “as”) images, one is looking from (or through) what one was taught. What one was taught is always “of the past”; therefore, what one sees through (and with) this medium… is always a distorted, partial view of what actually is. If one looks by way of “what one was taught to see”… one sees things as one was taught to see them; in actuality, one sees what one was taught. The “perceiver” and “the perception” are not necessarily two different/separate things. If the perception is a reflection of what one “has learned,” it is part of the absorbed and memorized constitution of the “perceiver.” When such a “perceiver” perceives, he (or she) is looking (at least partially) from (and “as”) what he is (i.e., from what he or she has absorbed via learned processes). Looking at all things by way of “what one was taught” is a form of mental reflection (learned from others). It may be that the truly sacred cannot ever be truly seen by what are mere reflections… not even partially (although perhaps hints of it can be seen in such a way). That is one big reason why the sacred seems so elusive to so many. Most merely reflect on things — and look at things — from mere symbolic representations that they were taught. All symbolic representations, no matter how “intelligent” they may seem — and no matter how helpful they may be — are, intrinsically, distortions. This doesn’t at all mean that one should give up on “thinking, reflecting, and learning”; those are all very useful tools. However, they are only tools; they need not be what the essence of the organism must always be. Over-identifying with the tools may make significant waves in the waters (of the mind) that never allow direct perception.
March is coming. No doubt, the river must soon be (in a reactive) flowing… just like most humans are fixated in a reactive flowing. An overabundance of reactive flowing may not easily allow for a direct perception of truth. Just as each surface wave of a turbulent (spring) river reflects things in a distorted, fragmentary way… so the essence of each thought is constituted of fragmentation and a significant degree of distortion. Time is as a river. Perhaps, in March, one will stand on the bank of the river and remember something about the call of a certain bird. However, it will not really be the call of a certain bird that occurs again; it will only be a virtual thing… as all thoughts are. (Don’t merely be satisfied with the virtual.)
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from Wallace Stevens:
NOT IDEAS ABOUT THE THING
BUT THE THING ITSELF
At the earliest ending of winter,
In March, a scrawny cry from outside
Seemed like a sound in his mind.
He knew that he heard it,
A bird’s cry, at daylight or before,
In the early March wind.
The sun was rising at six,
No longer a battered panache above snow…
It would have been outside.
It was not from the vast ventriloquism
Of sleep’s faded paper-mache…
The sun was coming from the outside.
That scrawny cry–It was
A chorister whose c preceded the choir.
It was part of the colossal sun,
Surrounded by its choral rings,
Still far away. It was like
A new knowledge of reality.
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A photo of the river bank that we live on; as one was taking photos, a goose, across the river, was calling out. (The river and this article may be something to reflect on.) (Left click on image to enlarge; hit left “return arrow” to return.)
Winter River by Thomas Peace 2013
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Life involves much more than having many symbols (i.e., thoughts) about it. Many of us go through life looking at everything through a screen of symbols and images. We recognize things merely via these symbols and images (that we were taught). To look freshly — without all of these blasé, worn-out images — is to really live. Otherwise, one is merely looking through (and with) the old, dead known. Direct, youthful observation only takes place without the contaminated past interfering. Such observation is, in itself, alive and free.
Structured and “learned” observation is never really of freedom; it is never implicitly free. Many merely look via the ways and modes that they were “taught” to look. Little wonder, then, why so many become bored, weary, melancholy, and depressed. They are not looking with what is joyous, fresh, alive, and spontaneous; they are looking with what is old, stored, categorized, and of the past. The beauty of existence and life is in its spontaneity and “nowness”… not in a remembrance of what “was before.” Go beyond what all the pundits have taught you. Go beyond what you stored and accumulated. Leave the dead past and perceive freshly in the “now.”
The next time you see the beauty of an animal, or a face, (or a tree)… please do not merely look at it via labels, classified-learned patterns, formulated systems, and antiquated memories. Please do not merely look with a lot of that “learned space” that exists between the perceiver and what is being perceived. Without all that baggage, maybe (if you’re lucky) you’ll actually be in relationship with what is observed.
“Beyond Labels”… pic by Thomas Peace (Left click on the photo and scroll down to see it enlarged; left click on the “middle” of it again to enlarge it more; hit left return-arrows, twice, to return.)
“Beyond Labels” photo by Thomas Peace
One can take the easy way that others have formulated “for you,” regarding living your life. Most of us travel the safe and easy path that was laid out for us by others. However, it may be that the “prefabricated path,” put there by others for us to travel upon… almost inevitably leads to a life that is not truly full of dynamic immensity and true passion. Any system, any set of rigid methodologies, merely tend to heavily condition the mind. Such a conditioned mind, being second-hand, rarely has the capacity to go beyond what is mediocre and contrived by plotting.
True spontaneity, true insight… is never the result of any second-hand, calculated series of events. Real spontaneity and actual insight is always what manifests from something direct and “non-distorted.” What is merely “learned” is always second-hand and, therefore, not truly direct and straight. Shadows are what is rather second-hand… and a lot of minds are “in the dark” due to having allowed themselves to exist via the formulations and blueprints of others. We need to go beyond what was fabricated for us to function “as.” We need to perceive without all of the contamination that was poured into so many (by calculating profiteers). We are not invited (enough) to do things without motive. We are not invited (enough) to question things freely, sanely. We are not invited to intelligently go beyond what was spoon-fed into us. Most of us may be falling “off course,” because we may be traveling as delimited by (fallen) others. Traveling on the razor’s edge is very difficult; it is easy to fall off and remain very “safe.”
Black Swallowtail on Flower’s Edge…pic by Thomas Peace (Left click on the photo and scroll down to see it enlarged; left click on the “middle” of it again to enlarge it more; hit left return-arrows, twice, to return.)
Memory is always old and of “the past.” It involves symbolic images and words in a recollection of past occurrences, past things, past events, and past experiences. Memory is usually heavily conditioned by the learned patterns that society has shaped within us. The memory bank is an accumulation of these past (learned) things and past experiences. Things are categorized within us, according to how we’ve been taught. We often merely see things through a process that is dictated through the learned screen of memory. Recognition is often largely memory reinforcing itself. Being more than something that is second-hand… involves going beyond all this in a fundamental way.
This arrangement (of memories) can become rearranged (and reshuffled) and, in having done so, relatively new things and ideas can become established. Such a rearrangement can either be very beneficial (to life on earth) or not very beneficial, or somewhere in between. People come up with all kinds of ways to “sell” or “profit from” their ideas. This profitability either is motivated to benefit the self or to benefit humanity and life (or both); oftentimes it lies somewhere in between. A truly wise man, however, deeply perceives that the self is not, in truth, separate from the rest of humanity (and life). Such a person’s motivation may not lie within what was merely learned via past experiences and via various types of stored memory. This is because real insight can spring into existence (in a serious person) regardless of what past memories and experiences existed previously.
Deep and profound insight cannot be purposefully brought about by any method, system, or procedure. Otherwise such insight would merely be the formulations of (or partially formulated by) a plan. Planning takes time, and deep insight exists beyond the realm of what can be concocted in time. True insight is timeless. It is a profound, spontaneous explosion beyond what one had learned or experienced via memory. The profundity of insight can (out of compassion) shape someone’s memory; but one’s memory can never shape, fabricate, or bring about true insight. The mechanism of memory (as the thinking process) must end (for deep insight to take place). This ending, of course, cannot come about via any contrived process, procedure, or devised strategy. An ending resultant from some kind of blueprint is a mechanically formulated effect… which is not, truly, an ending. If the cause involves “plotting” and “calculation”… the end will be also be rather ordinary, near-predictable, and mundane. Most people were taught that “ending,” for them, is something that is “not good.” However, ending “psychologically” may not, at all, be deleterious. Most people endlessly cling to (their) memory. (That is what they were taught… and that is what they have absorbed; that is what they continually function as.)
Insects and flowers have always had a symbiotic relationship with each other. The flower feeds the insects and the insects help pollinate, clean, and protect the flower.
Photo of ant on a lily flower by Thomas Peace c. 2012:
[Left click on the photo to see a larger version… then left click on the “center” of it again (up to 2 times) to expand it further; hit left “arrows” to return.]
Ant on Lily by Thomas Peace c. 2012
Looking from a limited perspective… what does that mean to you? Have you ever thought about it? Many of us probably perceive through a conditioned background… a background that many of us have “operated from,” but which many of us have never intelligently examined objectively. To perceive things in a fragmentary manner may be to look with a great deal of separation and division.
Many of us go through life “recognizing” things. We recognize one thing after another, as we were taught. Then we write essays, or books, or blogs, or letters, or emails about these multitudinous “things” that we have “recognized.” We often recognize things in the manner or way in which we were taught to recognize them. One’s consciousness is constituted of these “recognized things.” These things that we were taught about have very delineated demarcations and boundaries. We were taught that each thing has a finite domain and a limited space… and we were taught that there is a limited space between us and each of these “things.” (We were taught that fear is there, in us to deal with… not that we and our fears are not separate, not something different.) We continue to write about these things and share these things with others. So, indirectly (or directly) we are continuing to teach and to reinforce the learning/teaching process of others (in the manner that we were taught). Some of us are very good at writing and at conveying images to others via printed words. We get congratulated about what we are writing… and, indeed, some of us develop very lucrative professions due to our ability to hone and craft words in an “artful/intelligent” manner. We give each other prizes (for those who we think did the best job at entertaining us with words and symbols… in a crafty manner).
In the Algonquian Native American family of languages, for instance, there is more of a verb-based structure existent. In other words (no pun intended) more verbs exist, rather than separate things “as nouns.” There’s more of a “doing” and “blending,” rather than an “it-ness” and a “separativeness.” The Ojibwa, the Cheyenne, and the Blackfoot sometimes saw things more together, in a kind of blended movement or flow… rather than as mere separate, isolated “things” very apart from each other.
Animals recognize things, often without having been taught to do so. Dogs recognize what to eat and what not to eat (though what some dogs recognize as being “edible” is not often very beneficial to eat). Cats recognize what is a threat and what is not likely to be harmful. Saber tooth cats (no doubt) could often do so without having been taught by their mother. A lot of this recognition is innate and instinctual. It is at a very crude level. Even insects and spiders can recognize what is an enemy and what is beneficial to eat; oftentimes they are one and the same (in the case of what insects/spiders see as an enemy that is concomitantly likely delicious)!
The consequences of continuing to write with a separative mode (quite similar to what crude bugs and diminutive animals can grasp and attain)… might be extremely profitable for the so-called gifted writer or author who is capable regarding relating in such a manner. However, if we merely continue in that crude, crass, and primal mode (as we have been doing for millennia), then we will have merely continued the process of looking from a limited perspective. We need to evolve from this separative perspective (which merely involves separate things). If we don’t change, then people (with their separative little countries, sects, things, and establishments) will never change fundamentally. Will a fragment, a separate, little self that is divorced from everything else be able to do this? One doubts it. What is limited cannot transcend limitation unless it fundamentally changes into something else. A little insect, sitting on a plant, can’t fundamentally change from the crude limitation that it is immersed (and absorbed) in. Can we?
Katy in Flower
by Thomas Peace c. 2012
from Thomas Peace
True meditation is not something that one can know that one is engaged in. Like humility, true meditation occurs to the mind unawares; it is not something that can be recognized. One can not “know” that one is humble. Likewise, one cannot “know” that one is meditating. True meditation and true humility are both beyond the field of “the known.” Therefore, both are beyond the realm of recognition by the self; for recognizing is in the field of “the known,” whereas humility and meditation are of “understanding” and not “knowing.”
To practice meditation is folly. For one cannot practice what is beyond causality. One can practice what is within a cause and effect continuum — such as learning to play a man-made instrument — but true meditation is an all-encompassing, non-conditioned, non-fragmentary thing. Therefore, it is beyond the realm methodology within phenomena involving common causality. Interestingly, a lot of people claim that they practice a form of meditation. However, true meditation, being beyond what can be mechanically “practiced” within causality, does not exist for such erroneous individuals. You can practice something rather dead and mechanical… but you can’t practice “aliveness,” “awareness,” “insightful compassion,” and “holistic understanding”… and that (despite what many so-called experts say) is what meditation may really involve.
A wise, sagacious mind is (in itself) meditation. However, such meditation is not something that it practices as part of some methodology. A wise, sapient mind goes beyond the clutches of practice and methods… because such a mind intelligently goes beyond the field of the “known.” Such a mind goes beyond the realm of mere symbols and representations that words and labels are a part of. Such a mind goes beyond mere symbols… but not by any process of practice or methodology. True insight is instantaneous: no time is involved for it to (finally) come about. All methods and forms of practice take time. A wise mind (of true meditation) exists beyond what takes time in order to manifest. Interestingly, true meditation, being beyond mere practice and being beyond mere methods… is, in a significant way, beyond the causality of time.
Beware of those charlatans who offer a concrete form of meditation to you (for you to practice). What they give you may make you feel happy or comfortable for a limited time. However, what is not true meditation is merely a crutch. It is not the indelible gem of many indescribable facets. So, regarding those that offer you some form of methodology or prayer to attain enlightenment: run from them and do not fall into their clutches. Meditation is only what can occur for the individual of (and by) his (or her) own accord. It is a harmony that others cannot bestow upon you. Read my book (about self-awareness) at http://www.eternalfountainofyouth.com. The book will not provide you with mechanical methods to practice (like some kind of robot); it will not give you methodologies to follow like some kind of lemming. It will, however, encourage you to wake up and realize that what you do in infinitely important. However, if you are merely a “follower” and a lemming, then what you do will always be limited and confined. True meditation never blossoms forth from what is always merely limited and confined. True meditation is an explosion of infinite awareness and understanding… an awareness and understanding that no one can merely regulate out to you.
from Emily Dickinson:
A COUNTERFEIT — a plated Person —
I would not be —
Whatever strata of Iniquity
My Nature underlie —
Truth is Good Health — and Safety, and the Sky,
How meager, what an Exile — is a Lie,
And Vocal — when we die —
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www.eternalfountainofyouth.com
Warm Regards,
Thomas Peace (author)
Photograph of Butterfly by Thomas Peace copyright 2012
Love and be the whole miracle of life… not limited, dead concepts and systems.
Intelligence goes beyond the boundaries of “them” and “us” and dissolves them forever.
It is easy to get lost in the shuffle.
A passionless mind is dead before it ever gets to the grave.
Anything, even a heartless machine, can exist as what it was programmed to exist as.
Separation (from others, for instance) is as a death.
You are responsible for the whole of life, because the whole of life is you.
True beginnings are entwined with (and engaged to) true endings.
The book, which I recently wrote, cannot fail, because even if you do not like it (which is highly unlikely)… it will have succeeded; it can only fail if you think that it is of the “languid orthodox” and that it is cherished by the “numb status quo”… and that cannot ever happen.
Regarding what most of the ungracious masses of separative people have unceasingly clung to: it doesn’t ring true.
Fly like a free Swallowtail… please do not cling to the stagnant flypaper of orthodoxy along with so many others.
Regarding my (i.e.,Thomas Peace’s) book please click on: www.eternalfountainofyouth.com
from Emily Dickinson:
Macro-photography pic taken by Thomas Peace:
I feel that what is important in life… is understanding. For understanding is life, not something divorced from it. If you merely look in a second-hand way — that is, according to accumulations and formulated systems/patterns that were handed down to you — then you likely will be far from being a mind that is truly alive and supple. What is truly alive and supple is not ever the result of rigid, traditional, habitual formulations. If you follow a rigid, fixed path… you might find comfort, but you will not be what directly perceives truth, and you likely will not be what discovers deep mystery. That deep mystery is too alive and unconstrained to be able to be touched by what is second-hand, premeditated, and stale. No dead, fabricated path can lead to (or hold) what is true and what is truly living.
Please read my new book, but please do not cling to it. People who cling to books, to systems, to traditions, to methodologies (in the realm of the psychological and spiritual) are often like flies that get stuck onto stagnant flypaper. They end up being embedded in the conclusions of others, and there they are forever stuck… not ever realizing, for themselves, what true freedom is. So please do not turn my book into something to cling to and to help one become “stuck” (to conclusions about life). Please use my book as a tool for questioning. Question yourself about how others may have indoctrinated you and molded you to become part of what is rigid, second-hand, and obsolete.
Please wisely go beyond my book and beyond me. I, Thomas Peace, am not what is important and I am not what you need to focus on. You are what is important… and you may be so much more than what the supposedly sophisticated intellectuals have told you what you are. Please go beyond what the cultural pundits have shoveled to you. Please share my book with others… not to get them to come to presumptions… not to affix more humdrum ideas into their minds — and, it seems, most all the orthodox ideas are rather “humdrum” — but to invite them to prudently question things for themselves. This questioning may help them to live peacefully and holistically beyond dead conceptualizations, and to fly free (from being secure in the wretched, flat flypaper of stale conclusions). Please learn, for yourself (and not merely from others) about soaring and flying in true freedom. Please do not remain embedded in the old, humdrum patterns that the languid status quo adheres to.
Discover my book at www.eternalfountainofyouth.com
It can also be found by searching for it (via the book’s title) on Amazon.com
In an indirect way, it may be like drinking directly from the Grail cup itself.
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 