I am a kid
trapped in an old man’s body
i fly kites
i perpetually chase insects and frogs
i still often gaze in wonder through a magnifying glass
i still think that grown-ups are yucky
i love watching toads in the woods
i keep fish and shrimp as pets and stare at them for hours
i hunt fossils and love everything about dinosaurs and prehistoric life
i unendingly question
and i still learn best away from
boring school
Mr. Toadster … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
To be one series of conditioned responses after another, each and every day — and please excuse me for saying so — is a rather lackadaisical way to be. It merely entails letting what was poured into you (over time, by society) internally flutter around to emerge out again (externally) slightly modified, slightly altered (but essentially being the same-old-thing). It is the way most people are, and it is the way the bureaucrats want you to remain. They want you to emit what was injected into you. The powers-that-be don’t want any Walt Whitmans, John Lennons, or Rosa Parks questioning things. No way! The powers-that-be want to everyone to robotically conform and nicely fit into their prearranged patterns. Period. They want everyone to remain being the cogs in the nice prearranged machine. The powers-that-be are themselves part of that humongous machine and they will use domination, force, and will blindly do anything to preserve it. Reacting, day in and day out, only like you were programmed (or miseducated) to react… is a very mechanistic/machine-like way of being. Most people do not question enough. Most people do not perceive enough.
Real freedom exists beyond mere conditioned responses. To dwell in (and “as”) real freedom may be an arduous task that may not (at all) be possible for the halfhearted. Real freedom may involve getting laughed at, ridiculed, hated, spit on, and ostracized. Real freedom may involve going beyond a fallacious essence that was given to you to exist as. Real freedom is a precious jewel that no money can buy, that no amount of bartering can acquire.
Spider Web Sugar Candy … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
Many people suffer from depression and sorrow. Many take pharmaceutical antidepressants and regularly go to clinics to receive therapy. Of course, for some, it may involve issues based on heredity and diet. For many, it entails accumulated psychological problems. Most, when they were much younger, did not have such issues; in youth, they were filled with wondrous curiosity and inner vitality. Many, as they age, become jaded and unhappy, bored with the same-old-things and with the monotony of it all.
A large part of the problem lies in wrong education. Most, throughout their education, were not encouraged to be keenly aware of their own minds… to be aware of the essence of thought and thinking and to explore beyond the realm that thought and thinking manifest as. Most, from society as it currently is structured, were taught to cherish and exclusively dwell in the process of thinking… in mostly math and reading and such, and not so much with wholeness and integrity. Few were encouraged, in their youth, to question everything and to be free from mere standard ways/procedures. These days, almost all of us are immured within the walls of thought/thinking. Most exclusively dwell in (and “as”) thought/thinking… and very few value going beyond that domain. Most have put all of their eggs into that one basket; in that, they dwell. That basket is like a small, limited prison. Many minds are imprisoned (i.e., deeply embedded) in dogmas, beliefs, presuppositions, antiquated systems, and isolating boundaries.
As one has said so many times before, thinking is always symbolic, always second-hand, limited, and merely representational. Yet so many cling to thinking and unquestionably exist almost exclusively as what it is. Even when most of us look at things, we are looking with (and through) the screen of thinking; such thinking involves labeling, categorizing, classifying, identifying, and pigeonholing. When most look at things, they are primarily looking with the memory bank (i.e., through retained knowledge). Such a memory bank is from the past and is always old, always of stored data. They look with (and from) the stored (old) past… and they inevitably get bored while they feel stale and full of the mundane. With this situation, antidepressants and clinical so-called experts can only help so much. One of the functions of the human mind is to be of order and to transcend sorrow; transcending sorrow is, in itself, order.
A mind of deep awareness can often look at things without merely using the storehouse of old and stuffy memory. To perceive without relying on the storehouse of dead memory (and stale patterns of remembrance) is a living art. There is no method to this art. It does not involve old patterns that you can absorb or practice to improve yourself over time. Using thought when it is necessary but often going beyond it, the wise mind sagaciously realizes that profound bliss is not a mere remembrance. Profound joy is not labeling everything and then looking at everything through (and “as”) dead labels. To perceive without the burden of the past is real living. Real living is not the past perpetually relabeling things (with endless symbols) into the present and future. The mind that goes beyond “perception through mere symbolism and fragmented mental constructs” is a liberated, whole, free mind full of joy.
All Tied Up In Knots… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
I am not the problems, this morning,
upon waking up,
that i went to bed with.
This waking is a real awakening,
a true awakening.
It is not an awakening to some second-
hand religion or separative flag
that was shoved down my throat.
It is not an awakening to what others
have said that i was in the past.
It is even beyond what i thought i was
in the past.
It is, very possibly, a true renewal,
a true awakening
beyond the past images and labels
about myself and others.
It is not the old and stale past
getting out of bed; it is
newness, pristine perception,
and whole, healthy action
beyond mere reaction.
It is perception beyond the secondhand images
implanted by a largely immoral society.
We’ll not miss that nightmarish,
assembly-line-brain of conditioning!
The old, jaundiced brain upstairs is dis
app
ear (arh-whoooooo)
ing
“So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can’t plant me in your penthouse
I’m going back to my plow!”
Mushrooms deep in the woods… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Why
dew
sew
many
cling
two
the
s
u
p
e
r
f
i
c
i
a
l
?
Rose Chafer… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Many people do things habitually, mechanically, without thinking, without much awareness, in very robotic ways. The mind gets used to functioning in (and “as”) habit; dullness, and incessant routine set in, making the mind more and more repetitive, more and more machine-like. People get so used to repeating the same set of routines day after day, month after month, year after year, such that they hardly know (or try) anything different. (Air-polluting, fossil fuel spewing vacations aren’t a way out of this, by the way.)
Many people mindlessly and habitually cling to what they were taught, religiously, politically, nationally, ethically, socially, culturally, at home and in the office. To them, “THIS IS THE WAY THINGS MUST BE DONE,” and that is that. Then they remain teaching their children to dwell in the same grooves, to function in the same patterns. Anyone who questions the status quo is considered a trouble-maker or some kind of freak and is cast out. It may be, however, that, in such an atmosphere, true creativity and true “aliveness” is squelched. In such an environment, the truly insightful and the truly creative person is considered an oddball.
Be one of the lemmings if you want to (like most want to), but as for that… well, it’s not for me. Like Einstein, i don’t give a rat’s behind about “fitting-in” or about superficial appearances. It’s the deeper things that matter, and you can’t go deeper if you are stuck in superficial paradigms and one-dimensional routines.
Blue Damsel… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Comparison is often such a vulgar and unnecessary thing. Many people, throughout life, continue to habitually compare themselves with others. Those “others” are often very standard, ordinary, bourgeois, and dull. People compare their home, livelihood, lifestyle, and overall life, with others. Comparison invites imitation; imitation reinforces “second-handedness” and conformity to formulated, standardized “set patterns.” Fear often emanates from comparison… “Will I be as successful as them?” “Am I too different?” Comparison often paves the way to jealousy and superficial showing-off and boasting. (Some people, for instance, go ga-ga, trying to have the hugest and “most pretty” home; this is so childish and superficial.) Taunting another may often involve comparison. Comparison thrives in the world of the opposites (where differences are often magnified). Comparison can make the mind dull; it can be what nourishes mental sorrow.
The wise mind can exist where comparison is seen for what it is and where it is put in its appropriate place (where its limited aspects are seen). Such a mind can be of a profound joy where comparison does not often needlessly enter. When the mind compares, the mind is comparison (within the limited corridor of the opposites). Uniqueness and spontaneous insight usually do not ever depend upon comparison. Comparison and contrasting correlations can be very useful at times, but the mind need not depend upon them as deeply as it usually does. Perceiving directly, without employing comparison, is often very significant and profound.
No need to compare! Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
