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.
Causation is the action of causing something. However, it is usually not a pure action, but rather is a reaction. Human beings, with their egos, tend to see themselves as the source of power that makes and causes things. We do not (nearly as much) see how past incidents shaped us to react in the ways we react. Causality is the relationship between causes and effects. Most of us have limited views of the effects that our reactions have.
Causation is time and the continuity of time. Our reactions, involving causation, come from innumerable effects, many of which we are unaware of. Causation can stem from desire, motive, fear, conditioning, and a lot of other things. Causation usually involves reacting to (and from) things and events. Can one look and perceive more holistically, without merely reacting in the same old ways? It may be prudent to often just observe without past influences and past conditioning altering (via time) what takes place. To stop and see the whole may often be better than just robotically reacting according to instilled conditioning. We were educated to react (like robots)… not to stop and be something deeper than mere reaction. Society, with its monetary mesmerization and desire to control and mold you, wants you to continue reacting (to their, for instance, commercials, political urgings, desires for power, and suggestions that the enemy is “over there.”)
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.
[Note on my recovery: I was in the hospital, with pancreatitis, for 17 days. Hence, my absence from posting. I had two surgeries. During the first week in the hospital, the pain was so excruciating that i could not sleep for a full week. I am mostly pain-free now and am doing much better. As i am still in recovery, i am not sure if i will post each and every week, but i might.]
We, as humans, are spellbound and obsessed with patterns. We, via thought/thinking, constantly go from one series of patterns to the next, mostly all day long. Even at night, we dream sequentially in (and “as”) patterns. These patterns are sequential and symbolic. Really, they are virtual re-cogitations that are projections from the brain. We even recognize things via patterns… looking through (and “as”) a screen of fragmentations.
We can often go beyond this limited framework by perceiving and existing holistically. Please do not be fooled by organizations or individuals that give you methods and practices for going beyond the fragmented patterns. Such methods and practices, in themselves, take time (are sequential), and do not truly lead to what is beyond the limitation; they are an extension of the limitation. Time does not generally lead to the timeless. However, one can go beyond the quagmire without taking time (and without robotically practicing things to do it). Holistic perception involves seeing beyond separation; it is of compassion and deep awareness.
[Here are some excerpts from a Sesame Street Song that was playing in the parrots’ room (on their tv). I heard it there while feeding the many tropical fish. (My new wife puts up with a lot… critter-wise.) View it (i.e., the video song) in my complete posting. Should i admit that i love Sesame Street? … Grover rocks! And remember, that separation between you and others — between you and all living things — you learned that from a crass and delusive society. Whether you like it or not, you are everybody else.]
My hair is black and red My hair is yellow My eyes are brown and green and blue My name is Jack and Fred My name’s Amanda Sue I’m called Kareem Abdu My name is you.
I live in Southern France I’m from a Texas ranch I come from Mecca and Peru I live across the street In the mountains, on the beach I come from everywhere And my name is you.
We all sing with the same voice The same song The same voice We all sing with the same voice And we sing in harmony.
I like to run and climb I like to sit and read I like to watch my TV too, And when it’s time for bed, I like my stories read, “Sweet dreams” and “love you” said My name is you.
Little Butterfly Friend … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025
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.
Thought/thinking is the cultivation of the known. The known, of course, has its important place. However, thought/thinking is only a tool. But most of us have made thought/thinking be conceived of as the essence of the organism; but that may be another conception fabricated by thought/thinking, and an erroneous one at that.
Most of us cling to thought/thinking and are afraid of going beyond it. Being identified with (and “as”) thought was hammered into us, and we are fearful of being without it. However, this may be much like clinging to shadows… much like what Socrates’ Allegory of the Cave alludes to. Only ignorance clings to falsities, and existing throughout life clinging to falsities may not be real living at all. True intelligence needs to flower.
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.
There’s a big difference between perceiving holistically (beyond conditioning) and thinking (with such thinking being conditioned). As we have often said, thinking is limited, conditioned, fragmentary, and symbolic. With thinking, you can believe all sorts of things (as people robotically tend to do). With thinking, one can believe in all kinds of governments, religions, leaders, gurus, priests, saviors, and the like. These various factions inevitably cause separation and conflict between people in the world.
True holistic perception is not what is merely learned or absorbed from another. It exists beyond secondhand methods and laid-out practices. Such perception goes beyond the falsities and the needless conflicts and separations. Deep perception is timeless, and thoughts are isolated reactions of time (in time, and “as” time). Deep perception exists beyond the circumscribed, secondhand, fallacious reactions.
Getting better spiritually over time… what does that entail? Innumerable religious organizations attempt to help you to get better spiritually over time. And there are plenty of blogs on the internet written by people who act like they can help you to get better spiritually over time. In this regard, many practices, procedures, and methods are given. It’s quite a circus! A lot of gullible people swallow these practices up, in the hopes of achieving enlightenment (for example). Enlightenment is not an achievement anyhow; it is a visitation into you by that eternal, immeasurable, ineffable, timeless, profound sacredness. Greedy, calculated, robotic practices and methods never lead to it. One can try, ad infinitum, to get it, but one can never purposefully cause it to happen. It is not merely an effect in a chain of cause-and-effect manifestations.
In wanting to get better spiritually, time is a factor. Getting better spiritually seems to depend upon time. One can never receive the timeless by grasping for it through practices involving time. (You might as well try to catch and bottle up the wind.) Wanting to get better spiritually, in the future, may be very childish, very crass. What is “now” will never be what the future is… so such wanting may be a waste of time that reinforces an illusory ego. Besides, the space that separates you from others is very much like the space that you are in (apart from what the future will be). Effortlessly existing, with self-less-awareness, in the “now” may be prudent and wise… whereas struggling to achieve spiritual results (for some image one has of the future) likely will cause the mind to mindlessly grope where insight and deep understanding never fully take place.
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.
Deep compassion is not something that is cultivated. It is immediate and it is awareness and intelligence involving perceiving fully, in the present. In deep compassion — as it is occurring — the dichotomy between the “perceiver” and “that which is perceived” does not exist psychologically. That wholeness — that integrity — acts; such action is not a mere reaction. Reactions are all part of time and are part of time’s cause/effect (sequential) nature. An isolated ego, caught in time, often functions in a robotic way, full of indifference, fragmentation, and limited space. Such a distorted mind is incapable of deep compassion. Compassion is of profound order; it involves a wholeness. Such wholeness includes the plants, animals, and everything. The lack of compassion is disorder and contributes to chaos. Wisdom does the right thing.
Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head… Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025
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.
We’ve got all of these politicians and so-called ringleaders supposedly leading us… and many mindlessly march to their divisive tunes. This kind of chaos has been going on for eons. Really, the primary function of these so-called leaders should involve unifying the world as one whole, undivided group. However, none of them are doing that. Instead, they are encouraging us to cling to segments of the world that they pronounce as being “better” and “superior” to all others. They maintain and encourage the separation and division, with their bombs, armies, weapons, tariffs, and words… all the while making the world far more dangerous and less secure. So we have so-called men (who are not of wisdom and love) leading the rest. And so many blindly follow them — obeying these jagged men, these broken men — without question, believing their lies, their fallacies, and their cold rhetoric. The world is full of what i call “smart-stupids” who dance to the ringleaders’ tunes. Instead, may i suggest that one be a global citizen… wisely going beyond their destructive, fragmentary tunes.
From the movie, The Outlaw Josey Wales:
Statement by the Native American Ten-Bears: “It’s sad that governments are chiefed by the double-tongues.”
Deep insight, intelligence, and compassion are not three separate things. They exist together as one. They exist beyond the limited realm of knowledge and thought/thinking. Knowledge and thought/thinking are secondhand reactions. Insight, as deep perception, with its intrinsic intelligence, involves action, not mere reaction. Reaction involves conditioning (being essentially secondhand).
Interestingly, most of us think that we can understand the whole via using a central ego that operates via knowledge. This supposedly central ego seems to offer a superior form of security, permanence, and continuity. We — just as we were taught — cling to it. We are conditioned to be terrified of being without it. However, this very ego is essentially a projection from a conditioned, distorted brain. Interestingly enough, clinging to it prevents understanding and prevents intelligently perceiving the miraculous whole. The human organism can exist sanely and healthfully without clinging to fallacies. Then the mind acts; it is not just immersed in (and “as”) conditioned reactions. Please perceive beyond accumulated knowledge and society’s primitive distortions. Please respond to this beyond mere mundane reaction.
Home Invader #2,467 … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025
To look beyond words… To perceive the eternal beauty of things forever encircling and forming our lives… To jump from the stale, restricted, ordinary labels and concepts… To trash the limited (false) psychological space between here and there… To leap high beyond dullness, boredom, and indifference… To see immortality everywhere in every thing, animal, and person… To go far beyond the books, creeds, so-called superiors, ringleaders, and experts… To put limitation in its place, and go far beyond it… To — despite manmade chaos and all the monkey-business — live joyfully, wisely, ecstatically, and free…
Dragon of the Skies … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2025
“Mine,” upon looking as a distance, fed the content of recognition to an “I” that was another concoction of thought/thinking. Possession was what it was all about. Then, looking out the window… was a perception of a curb and some oncoming cars which were a human who was standing outdoors and getting ready to cross the street… (only the indoor dweller did not really see it in that particular way). After a bit, the brushing of teeth took place, as if something separate from the teeth possessed the teeth (as “its” teeth). Steps were taken towards the door, which was subsequently opened, while the mind remained closed. Outdoors, the “looking at a bird,” of course, consisted of distance and separation, which helped to reinforce the assumption of a separate “I,” a separate “me.” And a label, which existed in (and “as”) the brain, automatically said “a dove,” without really fully perceiving without fragmentation whatsoever. Steps along the sidewalk consisted of “my shoes” and “my stride.” And these steps were steps very much apart from the bird, at a distinct, separative distance. Joyous and carefree was the avian creature, and “flying” beats “walking” any old day.
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.
Nirvana/enlightenment is far beyond the description that limited (symbolic) words can reveal… and all words are fragmentary and symbolic. However, one will say this: While that ineffable sacredness occurs (in full) as a visitation, one feels a trillion times more alive than how one felt previously. Additionally, it apparently alters the brain cells, enabling them to function in an even more orderly and insightful way.
So here is the thing: One finds it very curious that a lot of people attempt to spread their concepts about spirituality to others. Such people include priests, gurus, bloggers, writers, followers of organized religions, independents, and firm believers. Essentially, these people have not had the Nirvana/enlightenment visitation occur to them. Yet these very people deem themselves proficient in guiding others. That, one finds, is curiously strange in a big way. It’s truly like the blind leading the blind, and it’s difficult to see.
from E.E. Cummings:
out of the lie of no rises a truth of yes (only herself and who illimitably is)
making fools understand (like wintery me)that not all matterings of mind equal one violet
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.
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
Understanding the whole is not possible if the mind is distorted. So, obviously, the instrument of the mind must be orderly and uncontaminated for clear, holistic perception and understanding to occur. A mind full of antiquated patterns, opinions, and fragmented systems that include conflict, friction, copying, and learned anxiety, is likely not what is capable of perceiving purely (beyond the distorted). A mind burdened with the conditioning of a violent, primitive society — such as ours is — is likely too stagnant and adulterated to perceive purely.
So the first step is to perceive beyond — and without — the past conditioning. Many of us may agree, but few will actually deeply look into doing it. Most of us are tethered to the “old ways” in ironclad habits and stagnant patterns. To leave those patterns seems frightening and too unconventional. So we keep reacting (rather like lemmings). Most take the easy path (which is, really, an unalive path).
The old, fragmentary ways of looking at things via separation, conflict, psychological distance, pigeonholing, and using symbols (such as words) as if they are realities, can drop away without needing secondhand methodologies, techniques, and calculated systems. Such calculated systems take time, and they are limited and fragmentary in themselves. Looking without contamination and conditioned parameters does not take time. Time may be a postponement and an easy excuse. Organized religions all take time and emphasize “gradually improving.” True inner silence and profound awareness do not take time, nor are they necessarily two separate things.
(Note: Coincidentally, there are five evergreen trees — in a row — in the middle of my front yard.)
Away from the village, at a great distance from the orthodox temples that he never frequented, the great, aged sage Lo Zu — as he often had done — was sitting in silence on a large boulder, with his twisting, meandering walking-cane leaning against him. Among many serious spiritual students in the region, word was spreading that sometimes those passing around the vicinity of Lo Zu could, at times, feel some emanations of what seemed like a divine, radiant energy coming from his being.
Indeed, when some students were passing by Lo Zu sitting upon the boulder that particular day, they say they saw the elderly sage crouched forward with his hands tightly clenched; the meandering-cane had fallen down, having slid to the ground. As they approached him closer, they could feel that radiant energy (that was rumored about by others). After a while, Lo Zu sat up straight, and they could see an amazing, blissful smile on his gleaming face. (Was it the universal blessing, the nirvana, that some said had often visited him?)
The students gathered around Lo Zu and they then asked him to share more of his great insights with them. “Alright,” he said, leaning down to grasp his walking-cane lying (horizontally) in the rocks and stones around the big boulder. There were many stones and colorful rocks in that particular area, situated all around that huge boulder that Lo Zu was sitting upon.
The students sat on the stones on the ground around Lo Zu, carefully listening. Lo Zu said, “What the mind sees is what consciousness consists of. The perceiver is the perceived.” He then said, “If you look at a tree, the image of the tree is what your consciousness is, (not that you merely become sap and the actual, physical tree).” He then went on, “If you look at the stones around this area, your consciousness is what the stones appear as. Please wisely exist beyond accepted separation and conflict. If you are fear of ‘not fitting in with your peers,’ that fear is what you are. You are not something separate from what that fear is.” A bit later, Lo Zu said, “Not too many years ago, a man named Jesus said things very similar to me, but stale orthodoxy (as it so often does) came around and destroyed and twisted the essence of his message. Please learn to stand alone and independently ponder and perceive for yourselves.” **************************************************************** Excerpt from the Gospel of Thomas (which was once a popular ancient text that eventually became banned by government-controlled orthodoxy):
(19) Jesus said: Blessed is he who was before he came into being. If you become disciples to me (and) listen to my words, these stones will minister to you. For you have five trees in Paradise which do not change, either in summer or in winter, and their leaves do not fall. He who knows them shall not taste death.
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.
Peace (world peace) comes about when the inhabitants of the earth perceive and feel true heartfelt oneness. It comes when borders — between countries — are seen as manmade fabrications that often bring about unintelligent separation, conflict, animosity, and turmoil. Countries and religions, when clung to as being special and above and apart from the rest, often bring about conflict. Peace exists when the perceiver sees that the perceived is not so very separate and apart (as we were taught). When separation and division disappear, harmony exists. The fingers of a hand may be different — and in different places — but they are (together) united as one. Even within the mind, the “learned” thought process separates the observer from the fear (but the observer is the fear); the “learned” thought process separates the observer from the desire (but the observer is the desire). We separate inwardly and this is also projected outwardly… with outward separation, friction, and conflict (that is often accepted as normal). Without putting tons of money into armaments, we could get so much more accomplished in the health and medical fields, in environmental health for this small planet, in food production, and regarding forest/wildlife expansion and protection. Peace
One cannot practice or do anything systematically to bring about or conjure insight. True insight, if you are fortunate, is what always comes uninvited. You cannot “make it happen.”
Insight and intuition are entirely different phenomena. Intuition is the unconscious or semi-conscious ability to create links between (or involving) information. Insight involves — without conscious reasoning — understanding holistically (perhaps beyond the parameters of ordinary sequential time and space).
Although one cannot do anything deliberately and directly to bring about insight, some attributes in one may encourage it to perhaps occur (or set the foundation for it to more likely happen). Being a mind that intelligently perceives things holistically, beyond run-of-the-mill fragmentation, robotic labeling, and accepted separation may be beneficial. Additionally, eating and exercising properly — keeping the body excellent physically — may indirectly be very beneficial. However, there is nothing that one can do to cause it to occur; it is beyond the parameters of time and ordinary causation.
If one is holistically entwined with (and “as”) the whole… truly being at one with the animals, plants, and universal order, then that order may be more inclined to protect and reciprocally care for one. Then real magic may happen (beyond the limited domain of time and space).
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
When we were very young, we hadn’t yet learned things about death from society. Then we were full of innocent bliss and we truly felt eternal. Then we were not chock full of knowledge and ideas. We just timelessly looked and marveled.
As adults, most of us have been spoon-fed by a psychologically disturbed society. Most of us no longer feel eternal and timelessly blissful but, rather, feel frightened and insecure. We are afraid of the death that they told us about… about the death we had learned about. We, as adults, exist in a very linear, second-hand, and antiquated fashion. Even with our so-called “correct religious beliefs”, we fear death; beliefs often stem from fear. We fret about a lot of illusory things. It is disturbing to realize this, but it is even more disturbing not to realize it.
To be mentally youthful and untouched by the cadaverous ideas of others is a great order and intelligence.
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
The root of the word “mediocre” means halfway… like going halfway to a treasure or halfway up the mountain. Many people in society, it seems, tend to not care enough about profound, important, and penetrating things. Many prefer to look superficially and prefer to remain satisfied with the superficial. Caring to go deeper is not a one-dimensional thing. Caring to go deeper is multidimensional (and perhaps beyond ordinary dimensions). If you truly care to go deeper, you also naturally care for all human beings. Additionally, you care for the whole of life: the trees, the plants, the animals, and all living things.
A mind stuck in the superficial remains content with superficial things. This superficiality is fragmented, limited, divisive, and circumscribed. I often get complimented for my pictures but not for the written content. I am polite and thank those who compliment me but i wonder about how they perceive in this world. (If Einstein was still around and he gave a superb lecture, would it be prudent for one of the listeners to solely compliment him on the color of his tie?) Society (and its so-called educational systems) have succeeded in turning out a lot of robotic people who go through the motions of being alive, yet (unfortunately) are not fully alive.
We can exist in an easy so-called life and do as we were told, exist as we were instructed, while we believe in what was hammered into us. To question everything intelligently, however, is not easy. To go beyond mediocrity and a lemming existence is not easy. To go very deeply is not easy. To look beyond the stale curtain (and the provided beliefs, isolated boundaries, and words) is not easy. It may be that, unlike what society had taught you, you are not some separate, little entity that needs to succeed apart from all others; it may be that the whole of life (including all living things) is what you are (and not something separate). In true silence and emptiness… the whole is.
We are all aware of the bloodshed and fighting between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Then there’s Russia and Ukraine, as well as other wars and conflicts taking place worldwide. The mass shootings in America and other areas also come to mind. We human beings do not learn from our mistakes, it seems. We keep on contributing to war and violence.
We need to get to the root of the problem. If getting to the root of the problem makes us feel uncomfortable and annoyed, it doesn’t matter. We need to drop our separative stances (that contribute significantly to why these terrible problems exist). More wars have been fought in the name of religion than for any other reason. That is one big reason why i do not belong to any organized religion. Additionally, i prefer to consider myself to be a global citizen, not just someone who belongs to one country. I’ve lived in various countries during my life. Countries are — whether we like it or not — manmade constructs that are an extension of the divisive tribalism of the past. We are all like the fingers of a hand. The index finger may seem separate from the middle or ring finger but it isn’t. We are all of one whole. Kill another and you are killing yourself.
This outward separation and conflict in the world is a protrusion from the inner separation and conflict within the minds of most of us. This internal conflict must end for the vast external conflict and violence to end. Many people cling to what seems to be “easy security,” by belonging to old, manmade structures; however, in actuality, these very structures are the antithesis of real security and are divisive extensions of the primitive past. This is a very serious thing and anyone who doesn’t want to be bothered is turning his or her back on immense order and goodness. Please be responsible.
One may ask: If the sacred truly exists, why doesn’t it help us more?
That sacred energy did not create the universe/cosmos. However, the universe — as it exists and as it has existed — is in a very delicate balance. Disorder is only relative (and is part of the entire overall orderly balance of everything). That sacredness doesn’t often interfere with the cosmos (because it — the cosmos — is not a structure to be interfered with). Besides, there would be no end to “fixing” things; that “fixing” could continue ad infinitum. Things are left (as they should be) to run naturally; if everything were changed to be what we consider “perfect”, we would be in a world that is plastic-plant-like or that functions like a fake Sesame Street cartoon.
As i had stated previously in previous posts, enlightenment is not something that one achieves. It is a visitation into you by that ineffable sacredness. During such a visitation, one can feel over a trillion times more alive than during regular existence. Such a visitation can (fortunately) alter or influence the brain cells, enabling them to perceive even more clearly and deeply. It’s important though, not to crave such a visitation. Craving it likely nullifies its occurrence. One must be rather indifferent about it happening (regarding oneself). Besides, you cannot crave the unknowable (i.e., the timeless); you can only crave the known (in and “as” time). However, having a silent, pure, innocent mind is wise. Only in such silence and innocence does it flower. One must have a pure mind… but not one that voraciously craves that mystery to enter one’s life. Let the cup (or flower) of the mind be pure, open, uncontaminated, clean, and often empty (of mere symbolism and stale beliefs); do not greedily crave for it to be filled.
One may ask: Is it possible for anyone to achieve enlightenment? Are there any practical methods for attaining this state of mind?
First of all, it’s not an achievement. It’s a visitation into you by that ineffable sacredness/eternal energy. If anyone offers you a method to “attain this state of mind,” run away from them. All of these supposedly exotic methods, techniques, and systems just make the mind more robotic, more lemming-like, more mechanical, and more second-hand. Rather, intelligently investigate without methodology. Without methods, simply be aware of thoughts/thinking, and perceptions, without the conditionings of separation and fragmentation that were poured into you. Allow silence of mind to come about naturally (without trying to make it happen). Be aware that — psychologically — the observer is not separate from the observed.
Hover in Blossoming … 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
We often compare ourselves with others. Why? Many people fail to ask deeper questions and many adhere to the same, antiquated ways and beliefs. Why would you measure yourself according to such parameters? Many primarily act from conceptual programming and not with the heart. Most look via separation and psychological distance. Success, in a rather insane world, may not really be success at all. Comparison often invites judgment, fear, competition, and imitation. Please consider being beyond those kinds of shenanigans.
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.
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.
Whatever you do, don’t look at life and the world beyond the systems, patterns, and ways in which you were taught. If you look outside of the systems, patterns, and ways — which were poured into you, forming your consciousness — you may be a danger to all that is false, fragmentary, and distorted. Keep looking at things just as you were programmed to. Don’t question anything. Be sure to accept (and cling to) everything that they poured into you.
Continue to observe things from behind a self-made psychological wall supporting separation and isolation. Continue to mindlessly escape into endless forms of entertainment, travel, drugs, and amusement. Continue to have opinions based on how you were raised and taught. Worship the dollar. Grow out of that youthful, magical wonderment concerning life and turn into a fusty adult who sees little of life’s newness and magical beauty. Get dreadfully bored while seeing and thinking the same old patterns. Think only of yourself and have no feelings for others. Continue to worship the dollar. Never stop endlessly chattering with mental symbols, patterns, and words.Look at everything through a maladjusted psychological screen (or curtain) of separation and division. Be very afraid of sweet and refreshing mental silence. Seldom look at (or visit) nature. Do not fundamentally change on the inside, but make your body look very unusual and different on the outside. Continue to worship the dollar.Go through existence being narrow-minded, selfish, and opinionated. Blindly cling to a lot of manmade patterns that were concocted in the distant past, and never look at reality without old, dusty, iron-clad beliefs. Keep your lawn looking perfect, but remain disorderly and a mess inwardly.
Where the Fairies Live … Photo by Thomas Peace c.2024
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