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Insensitivity ignores nature, ignores truth, ignores others. Compassion and wisdom loves nature, perceives the truth, and helps others.
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Rarity. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Rarity. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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The wise mind goes beyond constant symbolic thinking. It does not — therefore — necessarily need to always be recognizing things as it was taught. Constant recognition involves constant thought, mental labeling, categorization, and residual attribute manipulation. Constant recognition is a form of reacting; and reacting is second-hand and is not essentially original.
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Together as one (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Together as one (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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the alcohol brought itself 2 a face
the movement toward the mouth was
slow
and
deliberate at 1st
then unnoticed things(which began
hap
in
ing
contin
you)
‘d
2 be unmanifested
the mouth opened 4 more
4 more
the brain closed
4 less
words mispronounced dayselves
justified 1 more
and sipped
in
2
oblivi
on
a clear
day
you can
see
4ever
the car
brought itself 2 a tree
da alcohol poem
brought itself
2 a close
the end
.
Horsetail growing not far from the tree (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Horsetail growing not far from the tree (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Be very careful: The security of mere belief may be blind detachment from intelligent inquiry and open observation.
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Volkswagen Beetle (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Volkswagen Beetle (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Ideals cause conflict and friction in the mind. Existing without them and without conflict is true intelligence. Instead of having (and “being”) mere ideals… observe what is taking place from moment to moment (without the conflict that occurs between the “ideal” and the “actuality”… or the conflict that occurs between “fantasized images of the watcher” and the “watched”) and let understanding and learning (beyond conflict) flower. Ideals cause friction between “what you actually are” and what “you wish to be.” Profound understanding trumps ideals every time! When you clearly understand that a certain snake is venomous and extremely poisonous, you naturally avoid getting bitten; you don’t need an ideal about not kissing that snake; intelligence and understanding naturally have you act with (and “as”) caution (beyond lame, fabricated ideals).
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Green in green (1). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
Green in green (2). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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in our lush and magical garden
creatures come and go
although they’re here forever
they endlessly busy themselves
with enjoying alive
without learned thoughts
of death
or
never
.
Endlessly Busy (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Endlessly busy (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Though our situation may seem rather unlucky now and then… be appreciative for what you have (or who you are with) and are. We are very lucky to have gotten to this point in (and “as”) time and space, whomever we are.
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“I’m Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover”
(originally by Art Mooney)
I’m looking over a four leaf clover
I overlooked before
One leaf is sunshine, the second is rain
Third is the roses that grow in the lane
No need explaining
The one remaining is somebody I adore
I’m looking over a four leaf clover
I overlooked before
I’m looking over a four leaf clover
I overlooked before
One leaf is sunshine, the second is rain
Third is the roses that grow in the lane
No need explaining
The one remaining is somebody I adore
I’m looking over a four leaf clover
I overlooked before
I’m looking over a four leaf clover
I overlooked before
One leaf is sunshine, the second is rain
Third is the roses that grow in the lane
No need explaining
The one remaining is somebody I adore
I’m looking over a four leaf clover
I overlooked before
I overlooked before
I overlooked before
Be a 4-leaf clover (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Be a 4-leaf clover (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Prelude to
a dream
between the crushed
and convoluted sheets
with their
protruding
feet
Prelude to
a dream
a placid silence
attained by pillows
Things are
not
what they seem
.
Walking on Clouds (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Walking on Clouds (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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To a truly wise mind, many supposedly tantalizing sensations are often — though not always — rather trivial and unnecessary… because a truly wise mind is fully content in itself, not needing extraneous stimuli to (eventually) make it happy. It is only a very empty cup that constantly craves being filled…
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Propeller. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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There was an after
which occurred
following a before
which occurred
as a now
and then
a movement contemplated
itself before
and after
someone else did
not care
two pins
about
the distance
involving
pastandfuture
as well as
the distance
involving
themandus
.
Pinkingly (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Pinkingly (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Deep mysteries can be understood if one goes beyond the superficial and accepted ways of seeing.
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Excerpt from Emily Dickinson’s first poem — Valentine Week 1850:
****Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine,
Unwind the solemn twine, and tie my Valentine! ****
Oh the Earth was made for lovers, for damsel, and hopeless swain,
For sighing, and gentle whispering, and unity made of twain.
All things do go a courting, in earth, or sea, or air,
God hath made nothing single but thee in His world so fair!
The bride, and then the bridegroom, the two, and then the one,
Adam, and Eve, his consort, the moon, and then the sun;
The life doth prove the precept, who obey shall happy be,
Who will not serve the sovereign, be hanged on fatal tree.
The high do seek the lowly, the great do seek the small,
None cannot find who seeketh, on this terrestrial ball;
The bee doth court the flower, the flower his suit receives,
And they make merry wedding, whose guests are hundred leaves;
The wind doth woo the branches, the branches they are won,
And the father fond demandeth the maiden for his son.
The storm doth walk the seashore humming a mournful tune,
The wave with eye so pensive, looketh to see the moon,
Their spirits meet together, they make their solemn vows,
No more he singeth mournful, her sadness she doth lose.
The worm doth woo the mortal, death claims a living bride,
Night unto day is married, morn unto eventide;
Earth is a merry damsel, and heaven a knight so true,
And Earth is quite coquettish, and beseemeth in vain to sue.
Now to the application, to the reading of the roll,
To bringing thee to justice, and marshalling thy soul:
Thou art a human solo, a being cold, and lone,
Wilt have no kind companion, thou reap’st what thou hast sown.
Hast never silent hours, and minutes all too long,
And a deal of sad reflection, and wailing instead of song?
There’s Sarah, and Eliza, and Emeline so fair,
And Harriet, and Susan, and she with curling hair!
Thine eyes are sadly blinded, but yet thou mayest see
Six true, and comely maidens sitting upon the tree;
Approach that tree with caution, then up it boldly climb,
And seize the one thou lovest, nor care for space, or time!
Courting the Flower (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Courting the Flower (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Occasionally dying (without effort or methodology) — psychologically — to thinking… is harmless, bright, and intelligent. Constantly, mechanically, habitually reacting as mere symbolic thoughts is rather cadaverous and is the equivalent to clinging to superficial shadows.
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(In Socrates’ parable of the Cave — within Plato’s Republic — people were born in a cave, and they were fettered with chains… and forced to merely see and learn the details about shadows cast on the cave walls from puppets and a fire that they didn’t see behind them. One of them was taken — at one point, by force — first to see the fire… and then out of the cave into the true light of day… into a truer reality; then he came back down into the cave with the others. When he — the man who returned back — pleaded with them to look beyond the shadows, they called him a fool, and continued giving prizes to those who could best guess which shadows came before or after. Such is life.)
Silhouette of a Sage (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Silhouette of a Sage (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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There are innumerable charlatans out there — claiming all kinds of ludicrous things — so take the following with a grain of salt. Don’t believe anything; find out for yourself.
A being who truly experiences enlightenment is someone who is visited by that immeasurable, holistic energy which, if anyone would be filled and visited by it, would make one feel a trillion times more alive than what occurs as regular consciousness; and one so visited would feel the undeniable, sacred quality of that indescribable, eternal energy. Thoughts (being symbols) are always “about” energy; they are virtual (in a big way), are symbolic representations, and are never the actual energy. (If one continues to crave enlightenment — turning it into a mere desire — it will never happen. Just be open, orderly, and passionate about life, and it may happen.)
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Stepping Stones (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Stepping Stones (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Flowing movements(callingthemselvespeople)
see these actionsmovements(here)unfoldinglymove
and label it as me a nounstuckrocklikewithinagroove
Evolving observings streaming
and there’s a thinking that
themselves are firmandfixed
There’s metamorphosis movingbursting
here within and all around call
but learned chrylalis concentrated separations
continue to divide pigeonhole label and
stiffen cement and densify all
.
Unpinned (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
Unpinned (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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When thinking is absent… the “thinker” is not. Going beyond the thinker and thought — which are both one and the same — is a psychological dying. However, this dying makes way for a new field of living and awareness (that is vast, profound, alive, compassionate, and insightful). When thinking does occur — and it is often very necessary — there is no need to conceive of a “thinker” separate from thought; doing so creates more fragmentation and is a waste of energy. Not wasting energy is intelligent and very prudent. To understand the whole, there cannot be mere fragmentation and a waste of energy. When energy is not wasted there is that possibility that the whole of intelligence and universal order will manifest. Only in complete order is there a possibility for the sacred to visit. It cannot — and never will — merge with what is fragmentary and of conflict (which is what all thought and thinking intrinsically is).
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Beyond cities (2). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
Beyond cities (1). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Breaking News:
Scientists — those fellows who are ever so clever — say that the universe is spiraling and expanding… and we have found concrete evidence of that (as illustrated in the accompanying photographs). The new, solid evidence supports the theory that the universe — at its current degree of expansion — is optimally suited for supporting life.
😉
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New, hard evidence:
New hard evidence! (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
New hard evidence! (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Though experience is often very necessary, a truly wise mind is intrinsically fulfilled — without motive — and doesn’t always need to be experiencing; but a happy infant usually depends on its toys.
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Simply beeing. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2015
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Psychologically speaking (without fictitious, crass separation):
In seeing… the see-er is the scene; in hearing… the hearer is the heard; in learning… the learner is the learned; in driving… the driver is the driven; in thinking… the thinker is the thought; in reading (this)… the reader is the read.
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Jack and the Bean Stalk (1). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
Jack and the Bean Stalk (2). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Many have assumptions that the “I” is the central controller of thinking; but, the “I” is actually another one of the conditioned thoughts. Not fully realizing that causes all kinds of illusion, fragmentation, mischief, and needless conflict. One thought — even though it purports to be central — does not, in reality, truly govern, dominate, or keep “other” thoughts in subservience. Profound wisdom and intelligence goes beyond that needless falsity and is then composed of magnificent order that is far more parallel with that of the true, overall order of the universe.
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Topsy-turvy (1). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
Topsy-turvy (2). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Profound truth and what is sacred and timeless cannot ever be found second-hand, nor by clutching to patterns; that is why it cannot be discovered by clinging to another’s authority — neither religious, political, social, nor a (learned, though essentially illusory) central ego’s authority — but only directly, effortlessly, spontaneously. That is one reason why — for so many — it is so very elusive.
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At the summit (1). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
At the summit (2). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Give a dog to a bone
give a flower to some water
give a child to a hug
give a reader to the blog
give a charity to some dollars
give the question to the answer
give the itch to the scratch
give the darkness to some light
give some spider to a color
give the world to yourself!
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Give some spider to a color (1). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
Give some spider to a color (2). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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What is belief? Is it necessary in terms of understanding the whole, or is it something that is not very intelligent? In terms of religion, there are many who believe in their various Gods, and these beliefs — unquestionably — have a lot to do with what was handed down to them from others. Each one has his or her own inherited beliefs. So many (each) think that their God is best, that their country is best. Beliefs tend to divide people. Many wars have been fought over, and about, firm beliefs. One wonders — when beliefs have caused so much havoc and conflict in the world — why we still desperately cling to them.
In terms of spirituality, as was suggested, there are many who believe in their own particular God. Atheists believe that there is no God; they say that God doesn’t exist. Please don’t go off and get overly upset about this… but if one’s images of one’s God are composed of learned concepts and if one’s ideas that there is no God are constituted of concepts… then — in a fundamental way — there really is no big difference between ardent religious believers and atheists; they are both filled with their own particular, absorbed concepts.
To really (passionately) inquire — beyond all this vast array of disagreeing and conflicting beliefs — is something totally different. Then handed-down concepts or absorbed abstractions and procedures don’t influence and hinder one’s perception. Someone beyond these is truly open (and not contaminated by some process or conclusion). If you are on a quest to really find out the true nature of the whole of everything, will you follow someone’s technique, religious process, or anti-religious process… “map” of how to get there? If you follow their methodology, that means that you strongly suspect or “believe” that they hold the answer… the “special map.” However, if you aren’t truly aware of the answer, how could you possibly accurately know, or believe, that they have the answer?
Simply inquiring and perceiving, without an accumulated procedure (involving time), and learning about one’s self — without belief — without dependence on anyone’s system, or tradition, or “special map”… is not merely another belief. Belief (including following the methodology of others) takes time; it’s the residual result of an accumulated, residual process. Immediate perception (not clouded by learned beliefs or concepts), and insight concerning the self and/or deep truth, may not be (or be part of) an accumulative process whatsoever; time essentially has nothing to do with it. You know, when you actually see the sun, you don’t have to believe in it. There are billions habitually walking around with (and “as”) accumulated symbols, patterns, and images… learned from others over time. People love symbols; they are mesmerized by symbols, and most people are “thinking,” by way of mental symbols (which are what thoughts are), nearly all of the time. But the word “sun” isn’t the sun. Accepting symbolic beliefs, images, and concepts as the primary basis of your existence may not (unfortunately) be deeply intelligent, and it may lead to more conflict in the world; it may be like clinging to dark, cloud-like, second-hand, empty shadows (that never allow one to truly see the light). One can be open and beyond all that; few ever do it.
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BZZZZZZ… Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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We learn to imitate from the earliest age, and (unfortunately) most of us continue to imitate throughout life… never going beyond mere reaction.
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Profile of a nature lover (1). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
Profile of a nature lover (2). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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When many eat, they are very careful not to bite their own fingers, yet willingly hurt others… not realizing that — in a deep sense — they are one’s self also.
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Delicately eating. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Instead of seeing your actions (i.e., reactions, fears, biases, and treatment concerning others) from a distance, observe them without separation (and not from some learned, devised, isolated “central point”)… such that you are them.
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Close to the Edge… Yes. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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If learned, separative concepts and symbols tend to divorce you from others, nature, and the whole of life… change — look without learned separation — and get re-engaged to the beauty of true relationship!
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Together forever. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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In the card game of life, many don’t (unfortunately) have their share of hearts. Play the hand of compassion in spades!
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[This somewhat heart-shaped organism is a Cup Fungus; note the little slug enjoying the damp environment within.]
Someone shot a slug into my heart! Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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If you are into narcissism, please realize that you are not separate from the world or from all life.
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Metamorphosis 3. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
Metamorphosis 4. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Depending on recreational drugs means one left one’s inner integrity and happiness for others’ merchandise; doing so leaves one fragmented, twisted, and distorted (and not in the “good” way). I just read about how Montana’s drug problem is skyrocketing out of control… causing devastating results for the state and acting to ruin the economy in many areas. Needless to say, this is also occurring all across the U.S. Life can be extremely tough for most everyone in this day and age, and drugs are an escape. It takes great courage not to escape; it also takes intelligence. Recreational drugs distort the mind… and a mind that is distorted easily makes excuses, easily allows itself to fall into deeper and deeper distortion. Prescription drugs are being abused more and more; and, of course, it’s even easier to rationalize the over-usage of those. In some states, marijuana is being issued as a prescription drug; no doubt many are using it who have no substantial ailment. In India, there are people who take hashish frequently — which contains THC, just like pot does here — and when they die, autopsies reveal that their brains are shrunken, just like with the brains of alcoholics.
Multitudes are addicted to many things which become their drugs… junk foods, cigarettes, alcohol, video games, etc. It’s so easy to depend on crutches, on habits… and on things that others sell to us, saying that it will alter our minds to be “happier.” However, the mind can only be lastingly happy, joyous, and blissful without habitually depending on drugs and substances that allegedly “make” you happy (temporarily); temporary (and distorted) is always a fragmentary, darkly limited thing. Lasting joy must come from within, wherein one is a light to oneself. Beyond dependency, that light is not of distortion.
Excerpts from the unrightfully rejected ancient Gospel of Thomas, which also occur in my “Eternal Fountain of Youth” book (with permission from the Biblical scholar-translators):
Jesus said: “Show me the stone that the builders rejected: That is the cornerstone.”
Jesus said: … “I found all of them all drunk; I found none of them thirsty. And my soul became afflicted for the sons of men, because they are blind in their hearts and do not have sight; for empty they came into the world, and empty too they seek to leave the world. But for the moment they are intoxicated. When they shake off their wine, then they will repent.”
“If one is (whole), one will be filled with light, but if one is divided, one will be filled with darkness.”
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Distorted and fragmented — but in a good, (whole), artistic way. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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The sacred exists — call it God if you want — but it didn’t create this universe and so remains forever blameless, innocent, and perfect.
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Timelessness is. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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If one can wisely, without method, without taking time, go beyond mere fragmentary words and symbols into a realm of pure silence, beyond separation, then one may be free, joyous, whole, and beyond conditioning.
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Like a tree monkey! Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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A distorted mind mistreats living things, all the while thinking that it is separate from all life. A wise mind is beyond learned boundaries.
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[Don’t mistreat little meyou.]
Family Portrait. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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When sensation occurs, the mind reacts according to memory and usually categorizes or “maps” that particular sensation. It is all well and good to do that… but just don’t do it habitually, as most people, unfortunately, do. One can often just be intensely aware — without merely categorizing and labeling (and looking through and from those labels) — so that the mind is not dependent on a mere process of reacting. Merely reacting sets up the mind to be rather mechanical and robotic… and that tends to create a mental environment wherein it is much easier to get bored, get depressed, seek more, or feel in a rut. Profound insight is a living phenomenon beyond the extension of sensation via categorizing or craving; it is something majestically beyond stale reaction. In profound insight, something new occurs to you; it comes to you, not from you; it’s not merely a re-fabricated reaction… a rehashed exercise of the brain.
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Mr. I.M. Bubble-head, Esquire — Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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There’s an indelible energy — beyond our fragmented world — that is boundless, whole, of a supreme order, and is what can be called sacred (though it’s beyond definition). Can it visit one? Yes… it can visit… but only if one’s mind is rather boundless, whole, and of a supreme order.
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Dragon out of the cave. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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The following, including the poem, is an excerpt from my book, “The Eternal Fountain of Youth.” (The book is extremely strong medicine; no one should read it unless they are very stable. eternalfountainofyouth.com):
When we think that the big can exist without the little, we are wrong. When we think that left can exist without right, we are wrong. When we think that the sailor is not the sails, we are wrong. When we think that the mountain-climber is not the mountain that he conquers, we are wrong. When we think that the figure skater is not very slick, we are wrong. When we think that the magician is not an illusion, we are wrong. When we think that the “perceiver” is truly separate from “the perceived,” we are wrong.
When the script preaches instead of the preacher,
When the pulpit descends and goes instead of the carver that
carved the supporting desk,
When I can touch the body of books by night or by day, and
when they touch my body back again,
When a university course convinces like a slumbering woman and
child convince,
When the minted gold in the vault smiles like the night-watchman’s
daughter,
When warrantee deeds loafe in chairs opposite and are my friendly
companions,
I intend to reach them my hand, and make as much of them as
I do of men and women like you.
Metamorphosis (2). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
Metamorphosis (1). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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In profound wisdom, there’s only perceiving and observing… no separate observer. Then, nature and the earth are not so separate from what you are. When vast silence — beyond the observed that one learned to recognize — is not separate from what one is, then conflict and mental chattering come to an end. Then, real compassion may be. Then, false borders and artificial boundaries dissipate.
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[Preserve Milkweed Plants… they are what rare Monarchs depend upon.]
One of the Milkweed’s best customers. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Truly helping others — as well as nature — is an action that may not be separate from the order and movement of the divine and spiritual. (One can’t know that one is spiritual… just like one can’t know that one is humble. However — and this probably sounds a bit “out there,” but it’s not — there is a sacred immensity that can visit for a time; should that occur, one would be far beyond the ordinary field of “belief” or “not believing.”) Many people — especially atheists — maintain the conceptual belief that there is no God… and point out that no real evidence exists that God manifests or is beneficent and helps those on this planet. Then there are many who worship God; unfortunately, for many of them, God is a series of mental images and absorbed beliefs… which usually are limited symbols and concepts separate from the whole of life. Beyond all this, real perception is action (beyond conclusions)… wherein the perceiving and the action are one.
Of course, when action is done to truly help others (and all life) — which may be a spiritual thing — that doesn’t mean that one becomes the actual sacred immensity. As was suggested, God, or the conceptual belief that there is no God, for many, is largely merely a concept or series of concepts. Go beyond concepts and actually inquire without pre-molded patterns from others. Passionately inquiring, and (additionally) helping others, and life, may not be a mere concept; it may be an alive, majestic order beyond the cold ordinary. Perception that is limited and incomplete does not act fully/flowingly… it reacts; reactions from (and “as”) what is limited often divide people via rigid beliefs or anti-beliefs. Indifference is a lack of perception. Real perception acts. Care, compassion, and responsibility are at its very heart.
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Beyond fragmentation. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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True insight doesn’t take time, but mechanical, rote practices do. Go beyond robotic habits, including thinking the way you were programmed to.
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Climbing down. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Real meditation does not involve going to an exotic mountain-top to meditate. Real meditation does not involve getting the body in some statuesque, special, learned position. Real meditation does not involve repeatedly chanting some so-called special (pre-programmed) saying. Real meditation does not involve staring at or fixating upon some so-called special object or image. Real meditation does involve breathing according to someone’s special technique or system. Real meditation does not involve opening, concentrating upon, and mechanically traveling through fabricated chakras like some kind of zipper. Real meditation does not involve learning some special process or methodology. Real meditation does not involve living one’s life like most people do; yet, there is no “how” involving meditation. To intelligently look without a blueprint, without separative symbols, systems, conflict, fragmentation, and procedures… does not depend upon others’ procedures. No time is involved in it. All methods take time. Using time to get to the timeless is folly.
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Hanging from one’s dinning table. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Lucid, profound perception often sees directly without mere learned and accumulated patterns. In such perception, there is no conception of an “observer” separate from (or independently doing) the “observing”; there is only the observing. If observation occurs exclusively based on past reactions, past memories, past prejudices, and past images involving separation — as it does in so many — then one is looking as an “observer” and primarily with (and “as”) accumulated patterns. Primitive notions that there is an observer that is separate are part of the old, traditional, learned, and accumulated patterns and are a waste of energy… and (directly or indirectly) involve friction, indifference, and conflict.
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Seeing deeply… Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Be suspect of those telling you to be detached or to stay in firm belief/attachment. There’s only pristine, dynamic awareness… and not psychological separation (or subjugating oneself with second-hand ideas/images).
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[Eastern Amberwing Dragonflies, while perched, often flick their abdomen up and down in a wasplike manner. Females lay their eggs in jellylike masses just above the waterline; when exposed to water, these masses burst open and the eggs disperse over a large area.]
Jewel of the pond. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Most are locked in (and “as”) the small details of life without a passionate inquiry into the essence of the whole… (which, unfortunately — for human beings — is partial, fragmentary, limited, and not real life at all).
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[Part of a huge Oak Tree]
Satisfied with merely crumbs. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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No matter how free they may think they are, all thoughts — as Albert Einstein also sagaciously pointed out — are conditioned reactions… and to go beyond conditioning is to intelligently go beyond thoughts/symbols/reactions. However, the thoughts of the brain — including the conditioned thoughts of “I” or “me” — cannot merely decide to do this whenever and however they like. Whatever is conditioned cannot (in any way, shape, method, or form) fabricate or bring about the true state of the unconditioned. Fully understanding this is deep intelligence; and in that intelligence (if one is lucky) there may be, at times, an ending — though not, of course, a permanent ending — of thought/thinking. If that ending comes about naturally, without any compulsion or methodology (which thought fabricates), then a profound silence may occur. (A fabricated silence is something which is completely different and is just another limited concoction of the brain.) In a truly profound silence is immense order and intelligence (beyond mere symbols, ideas, mental fabrications, and representations); in that silence is freedom, integrity, and wholeness; in that silence (if one is very fortunate) a profound, immeasurable, majestic, unnameable immensity may arrive. (However, much more than even unconditioned silence is involved for that immensity to present itself.) Profound silence is not conditioned, nor is it capable of being permanently held, manipulated, or retained by what is conditioned. Such silence is beyond the realm of conditioning and mundane reaction.
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[A Silver-spotted Skipper Butterfly visiting a Red Clover.]
What a dining spot! Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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A truly aware and mindful human being often exists beyond petty details and, concomitantly, doesn’t need to depend on stimulus after stimulus to be attentive and content. Though experience is often necessary, a deeply aware mind can sagaciously exist in (or, rather, “as”) a timeless domain beyond mundane experience (beyond the continuum of mere cause/effect relationships); or, though this may seem rather odd, it sometimes functions where experience is a minimal phenomenon that is sometimes secondary or “in the background.” If one is merely immersed in (and responding “as”) experience, one is merely part of cause and effect events (that are always partial, always conditioned). A fluid mind that is not merely dependent on causal phenomena may be whole (and not merely dependent on what is fragmentary, conditioned, and partial). Then, when such a mind is experiencing (which is often very necessary)… it does so with great sensitivity and care. Its experiencing then involves a wholeness; experiencing involved with that wholeness has sensitivity which loves nature, the rivers, the people, and the land. Then there isn’t a fragmentary, separate set of experiences that are only out for themselves.
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[Walking on clouds.]
Angelic stroll. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Don’t be a second-hand, hodgepodge mix of what others (in your life) programmed you to be; perceive directly, without mere conditioning and pre-programmed reaction.
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[Together for eternity… A pair of 50 million year old spiders fossilized in Baltic Amber. The male is on the left.]
Together forever… Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
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When you look at beautiful roses and sing and smile… most assuredly, the flowers are happily singing and smiling!
(Without the observed, what is the observer?)
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from E. E. Cummings:
somewhere i have never traveled, gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands
Eternal perfection. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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We’re not something isolated from our actions/reactions; we are those actions/reactions.
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In flight and landed. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Psychological blindness educates others to be content in the dark; illuminated minds educate entirely differently.
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Showered by illumination (1). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
Showered by illumination (2). Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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Real wealth is in perception and heartfelt caring, not in dollars and cents.
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[American Bellflower – Campanulastrum americanum]
After the rain. Photo by Thomas Peace 2015
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The purpose of life is not merely to feel good, but to make a meaningful difference in this world that contains indifference.
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[This Royal Catchfly Plant — with red flowers — is a very rare plant and is an endangered species in Illinois. The calyx is light green or purplish, longitudinally ridged, and covered with sticky hairs that trap climbing insects.]
True Royalty! Photo by Thomas Peace 2014
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 