An indelible, sacred energy
that rarely visits…
Its immensity surpasses all
things within the world of the
opposites.
Though ineffable, it is the real flame beyond
all of the smoke,
the true light beyond all shadows.
Do not take my word for it.
Find out!
Looper Moth on Clover Flower … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
It’s a wonderful day
to look beyond the crime of politics
and, instead, perceive things without measure,
while realizing that simple, pure things are
(the only real treasure).
Common Blue … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
When there is the negation of what order and love are not, perhaps love will be there. There is no “you” that wills that negation, for the very self itself (i.e., the “I” or the “me”) must be part of that negation… not merely controlling it from (or “as”) a distance. Of course, we are not suggesting harm to the body in any way; such harm would not entail love. Love is not merely measurable (i.e., not merely of measure), so one cannot merely “know” that one has it. Thinking and time are of measure and a mind that is merely caught up in thinking and measurement (in and “as” time) cannot love deeply (though it can easily think that it can). Clinging to an isolated concept of “me” (apart from all of life) requires distance and a measurement of opposites. Psychological distance and measurement create the “I” and the “I” would not exist without such psychological distance and measurement.
A lot of people say “I love you” very easily (as if one knows that one “has” it… as if it entails an absolute separate subject and object). Is there really an “I” that is separate from what the whole world is? Is there really an isolated “you” — that is looking from a (learned) distance, an accumulated psychological space — that is separate from what the whole world is? Psychological separation, isolation, and conflict depend upon limited thought/thinking, and without limited thought/thinking, such separation wouldn’t exist.
Our minds are often so very distorted and not whole. The grocery stores, these days, are chock-full of fragmented, over-processed, pseudo-foods. And, in the United States, for example, there is more obesity and more cancer (and strange, deleterious syndromes popping up) than ever before. Too few of us eat real, whole foods like our grandparents did; we assimilate garbage both mentally and gustatorily, and we don’t mind being normal (and swallowing it all) one bit.
Yellow Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
While it occurs
one feels
a trillion times
more alive than
one has ever felt
before
Afterward
one doesn’t forget
the answer to the question
of whether the
immeasurably sacred
exists
or not
Lichen on Tree Branch … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Pinocchio
you’ve told so many duplicitous lies
in your disingenuous politician style
it makes me wonder
if your incredible nose
could possibly grow
even longer
Boll Weavil (but at least it’s not voting to destroy the environment) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Don’t be a second-hand, hodgepodge mix of what others (in your life) programmed you to be; perceive directly, without mere conditioning/reaction.
Quixotic, extremely idealistic behavior is often based on dead, old patterns; look at life afresh, without dead blueprints.
Don’t merely pigeonhole others with an old, categorizing-oriented brain; perceive with fresh and lucid eyes.
Many of us take immaculate care of our overly fancy cars while we guzzle sugar, starch, alcohol, and processed foods like there’s no tomorrow.
To habitually take refuge in old-fashioned beliefs may be like finding protection in a rainstorm by depending on an old, torn, metal umbrella.
Roses are red and violets are blue… wake up and realize that what you perceive is you.
Female Monarch Butterfly … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
I’m a bit scary
but I’m not nearly as scary
as American politics
Another Halloween Spider … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Spiders weave strings of time
between then and there
Tonight, dangle as dream
Zip up and down
crocheting the fabric of seem
Tonight, enter scream
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In reality, Elongate Long-Jawed Orb Weavers are not at all dangerous. People who turn their backs on the environment (and who vote for those that do) are what is extremely dangerous.
Elongate Long-jawed Orb Weaver … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
The elderly Lo Zu was sitting on a huge fallen log next to a beautiful pond that was not far from the village. A much younger man, who was an atheist, came by and said to him, “Many people in the area say that you are a great wise man, a holy man, but if there is no God, then you are not a holy man, you are nothing.”
Lo Zu invited the man to sit next to him on the large, fallen log, which he did. Then Lo Zu, said (while smiling), “We two can agree on one thing; I am nothing.”
“Then there is no God,” the man pronounced with confidence.
Lo Zu then said, “‘God’, for most everyone, is an image (or series of images) that they have learned. (They will insist that it is something much more than absorbed images.) To these images, they associate power, dominance, kindly (special) protection, fatherliness, and unlimited knowledge. However, these images (and their associative emotions) are self-protrusions of thought/thinking.”
“And so not anything real?” asked the man.
Lo Zu then said, “The sign on the road, just outside of town, that has the name of the town upon it, is not the town. If someone steals the sign, they are not stealing the town. If someone wants to visit the town, they do not crawl up the sign. Additionally, to really be sure that the town is there, one must visit the town.”
“I see what you are getting at,” said the man. “So, you are suggesting that one, such as you, can visit God.”
“Not really,” said Lo Zu. “If one, through supposed will and choice, decides to visit ‘God,’ one is visiting one’s own learned images, one’s own learned thoughts and strong emotions associated with such thoughts. Such a ‘visiting’ is usually a self-deluding form of acquisition that involves greed.”
“So there is no real God,” the man insisted.
“Jumping to conclusions,” Lo Zu suggested, “may be as foolish as worshipping mere self-fabricated symbols, mere signs. A strong belief that there is no God may be as superficial and primitive as a strong belief that there is a God. Holistic perception inquires (without accumulated patterns) into what might be sacred; it inquires with a passion that surpasses beliefs of any kind (and actually finds out).”
“So what are you saying?” the visitor queried.
Lo Zu replied, “I am saying that I will not encourage you to worship or to cling to any symbols of power, any symbols of divinity. Worshiping self-created or learned images, that one projects (from what one absorbed from others), is similar to worshipping parts of oneself. It may be that the true answer has to come to you. (It cannot merely be visited, like an ordinary town.) The true answer is probably rather unapproachable, but that may be a real key; conclusions, accumulated images, and greed cannot expose it. It is beyond foolish grasping. The internal images of self are nothing when foolishness ceases. When all of the windows are open and the room is not filled with garbage… only then can the breeze, perhaps, flow through.”
With that, Lo Zu stood up and began walking with his meandering cane and said, “We must go; we see someone carrying a heavy burden and we will help them with it, to a certain point. You can come along also… unless you prefer to remain stuck where you are.”
Bumblebee covered with Golden Pollen … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
When this poem was being written
we asked for help
from the Gods of Creativity
but they were all on vacation
The only one at home
was the God of Waste and Rubbish
and so this poem reeks like garbage
By the way
the God of Waste and Rubbish
is also the God of environmentally negligent
American politics
Tomenose Burying Beetle in Halloween Colors (These beetles eat rubbish and carrion) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
At the very bottom of my gorgeous face
you may see what looks like a dreadful mouth
and a little above that
a large nose
and a little above that
two glaring eyes
And if you happen to be
one of the lucky ones
who is able to see these things
then I will crawl into
your midnight dream
and come again
around Halloween
to get a taste
of your warm bloodstream
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These Tiger Spiders, Argiope trifasciata, are very large and are common web-weavers in our Illinois area. They are so common in our Illinois area (in the fall) that i have — during nature photography outings — gotten used to inadvertently walking into their webs and having them crawling on me. They, in reality, are perfectly harmless and get off of me (on their own) before i need to bother to remove them myself. However, they are not harmless to grasshoppers and — nevertheless, during this U.S. holiday season — they may be visiting you tonight! Lots of them!
Tiger Spider (Argiope trifasciata) … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
The dichotomy between the “perceiver” and “that which is perceived,” is essentially (psychologically) illusory and nonexistent.
To overlook and ignore others is to be partially dead psychologically — as so many are — while one merely concentrates on a small point, called “me.”
Forget what everyone taught you about life and death; go out, sit with nature, and look at everything as if for the first time.
Peace will never come as long as each of us belongs to some separative group.
If to be typically human is to abide by commercialism and to pollute the planet… then we need to become superhuman (and green).
To function all of one’s life in predictable, knee-jerk reactions of self-projected selfishness is safe, easy, comfortable… but also, unfortunately, dead.
Aphids up close … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Many of my fellow bloggers
have a close and wonderful
relationship with the animals
in their lives
(whom they often photograph)…
such as Scifi, Francis, Curious Introvert,
67steffen, and others, with their dogs;
others with their cats,
Linda with her pet-like squirrels,
and others with their cuddly pets.
So i tried to get close to one
of my sweet photography subjects,
a wonderful wasp.
It stung the hell out of me!
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I was just kidding about the sting… but i was so close to it that i could have kissed it! 🙂
I did get stung by a wasp (while just walking along by the riverside) a number of days after taking this photo, but i am so impervious to bee and wasp stings — i don’t even swell up whatsoever — that it meant nothing to me.
Not so friendly wasp … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Lo Zu, after one of his frequent walks into the fields and wooded areas of nature, came walking into the village. He stopped to rest for a while and leaned on his sinuous pole, his meandering cane; nearby, a small group of men, all of them sitting together, continued to repeatedly laugh hysterically.
Lo Zu realized that they were laughing at the fact that a nearby dog was repeatedly chasing its own tail. Lo Zu continued to walk again and came closer to the men who were laughing. He heard one of them say, “That dog is really ignorant!” All of them, except Lo Zu, continued to laugh at the dog as it continued to chase its own tail.
Lo Zu turned to face the sitting men and said, “It is so easy to come to conclusions; conclusions that are wrong.” Lo Zu further went on, “That dog could chase that cat that is a little way down the road, but cats can quickly scratch and the dog could easily get a gravely injured eye. Likewise, the dog could chase after that man walking across the street. However, the man could kick the dog or throw something at it, injuring it. Instead, the dog takes the prudent approach and, for great exercise, chases its own tail. A most intelligent animal! I, myself, walk daily to the meadows and woods to enjoy the sweet butterflies and creatures; therefore I get quite a bit of exercise. I see that dog exercising ‘most every day also. Sometimes I see it chasing butterflies, which is also a very wise and safe form of exercising. Exercising often is great intelligence. I see you men sitting around here a lot each and every day. Do any of you exercise?”
“Not really,” said one of the men. (The men were no longer laughing.)
“I didn’t think so,” replied Lo Zu. He further added, “The beginning of this doglike life always chases its own end; let the dog be your teacher.”
Black Swallowtail on Thistle Plant … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
A Halloween colored dream
came swimming beyond scream
and then a cruel green witch flew by
if you know what i mean
*****************************************************************************************************
One of our pet Koi Angelfish:
Fire Red Koi Angelfish … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Here’s a cozy little poem for you in this Halloweenish time of year:
Sleep well tonight my little darlings
Here’s a little factoid to dream about tonight…
Scientists say that people
during sleep
each swallow an average of
around 8 spiders yearly
A nice warm dark moist place to visit
Bon Appetit!
It’s not little spiders that will really harm you and your children, it’s miseducated, traditional, ordinary people who let the environment go to hell.
Spider on Wildflower … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Life is not a game. Too many of us go through life as if the mission is to be totally entertained. Most people are afraid of death, yet they may not have ever truly lived. Very many people assume that they are alive. To go through existence merely imitating others and spewing out what was poured into one by society… may not be “living” whatsoever. It is so easy to conform. It is so easy to just fit in the machine and be another cog in the wheel. Only a very few have been visited by that timeless energy that enraptures and transcends consciousness.
To inquire — to really inquire — into whether or not the sacred exists, takes great passion, great profundity. A stagnant, indifferent mind could not do it; stagnation and indifference make the actual answer all the more elusive, for the answer lies beyond limitation. To find the true answer necessitates that the mind be of considerable order and completeness. An incomplete mind is never fully alive, never fully whole.
The world has far too many seeds (of consciousness) that have never sprouted, that have never really begun growing. The answer is immeasurable and cannot be communicated about via mere fragments/words/symbols/patterns. The minds of most people consist largely of mere fragments/words/symbols/patterns.
We can change.
Green Grasshopper on his favorite leaf … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
When we two
met
it was the most
enchanting, beautiful thing
and it still is
We were destined to be
togetheryou
see
Torenia Summer Wave Violet … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
This isn’t one of those fake
flowers
all artificial
It is a growing (yard-flower)
of life
It doesn’t have artificial
bottle-sprayed
drops
They are genuine drops
from the
crying skies
What is important
is not in
the pictures you take
or the money you make
What is important
is to be
someone who is
not artificial
and not someone
stuck there to be yanked
from strings by
mediocrity
Bellis Pompomette … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Many whom i know eat meat.
Some of them have two legs,
some of them have eight.
*********************************************************************************************
NOTE: Now and then, since October is the month of Halloween here in the U.S., i will likely post a few more spider photos than usual; not that spiders are really all that “scary” but that people associate them with Halloween (which is kind of fun and silly at the same time). 🙂
Spider with Prey … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
True wisdom has great wholeness, expanse, and vastness; indifference is of limitation and is confined.
Often dying psychologically to “thinking” is alive, harmless, and highly intelligent. Constantly reacting as mere symbolic thoughts is cadaverous.
Ignorance often does not recognize its own ignorance. Wisdom often goes unnoticed and unappreciated by those who have little wisdom.
Nonsensical behavior often makes excuses. Behavior that is prudent is honest and compassionate.
Many need to make-believe about some heaven or magical domain in the future (that was fabricated by make-believers); escaping what “actually is” is ignorance. (The aforementioned words are not at all meant to deny true eternity or sacredness.)
Wisdom naturally goes beyond superficial values and superficial behaviors.
Silver-Spotted Skipper Butterfly Up Close … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
This is the poem
that came out of the grave
to tell you what death is.
Everyone has avoided the answer
but here is the answer:
Death is indifference;
Death is mental fragmentation;
Death is accepting immorality;
Death is accepting mortality;
Death is belonging to separatist organizations that
one thinks are “right,”
and death is the limited space surrounded by boundaries.
It is very rare to see two Ambush Bugs together with a victim like this.
Two Ambush Bugs with their Bumble Bee victim on Thistle Plant … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
One finger said
to the other finger,
“I want to be close to you!”
The other finger said,
“I feel that we two are
very close.”
Then they passionately wrapped around
each other intertwining.
A somewhat distant finger (away from
the other two) pointedly said,
“You two seem as if you were made for each other!”
Then, after a considerable time, fingers
of a supposedly separate
hand jealously came attacking,
and total war broke out.
A real fact is that,
in war,
the winners are the losers.
Illinois Meadow Wildflower … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
You were the best dog ever
and you are with us always
Most people don’t have a clue
about what eternity really entails
but we don’t have that problem
****************************************************************************************************
Our wonderful, little dog, Gabby (who was over 16 years old), passed away on Monday. Marla and i really miss her! Since we don’t have human children, this hits us especially hard. That little sweetie was perfect in every way.
We still have a number of other pets, including a Miniature Dachshund, Lola, (who is also quite a sweetie).
Gabby … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Silence is not an achievement that is the result of your reaction; true silence is when conflict ends.
Lucid, insightful wisdom doesn’t take time… but sequential, symbolic thought does.
Compassion isn’t the left arm hating the right arm and thinking it is separate.
John Lennon was right: “Living is easy with eyes closed… misunderstanding all you see.”
Each of us is responsible for getting oneself and the world right. Oneself includes — and is — the world.
Don’t think with a prefabricated mind, with a handmedown, archaic mentality; look at things beyond the ways you were taught.
Wood Boring Crane Fly … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Our diminutive world
is far different from your “big” world
but we are doing pretty darn good
4mm Aphids living upon a Wild Burr Cucumber Plant.
Small Aphids on a Wild Burr Cucumber Plant … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
They provided us with delectable ideas
which our minds assimilated like gluttons.
We, of course, became hungry for more.
Our ravenous appetites drove us
to the next serving… and to the next.
One palatable idea after another
is what we craved; anything other
than facing the starvation of the
emptiness within.
True intelligence can only, for a
limited time, feast on the illusions they
provide. After
that limitation is reached, real
sustenance breaks free beyond
their insipid inedibilities.
Will habit continue to feast on delicacies
of disorder? Even the supermarkets are
full of the artificial.
It’s good to eat healthy, whole,
nourishing food.
It’s not so good to allow oneself
to be conditioned to merely
swallow a lot of mindless crap.
[Note: These are not the kind of eggs that you can purchase at the supermarket. These are 1 millimeter insect eggs on a leaf. Note the orderly patterns in which they were laid.]
Tiny insect eggs on a leaf… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
As if he crawled
out from M.C.Escher’s Dream Woodcut
he watches the camera
and the camera manipulator
waiting for
the aloneness
that he cherishes and lives by
beyond mere supplication
Praying Mantis Hanging Around… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Many people suffer from depression and sorrow. Many take pharmaceutical antidepressants and regularly go to clinics to receive therapy. Of course, for some, it may involve issues based on heredity and diet. For many, it entails accumulated psychological problems. Most, when they were much younger, did not have such issues; in youth, they were filled with wondrous curiosity and inner vitality. Many, as they age, become jaded and unhappy, bored with the same-old-things and with the monotony of it all.
A large part of the problem lies in wrong education. Most, throughout their education, were not encouraged to be keenly aware of their own minds… to be aware of the essence of thought and thinking and to explore beyond the realm that thought and thinking manifest as. Most, from society as it currently is structured, were taught to cherish and exclusively dwell in the process of thinking… in mostly math and reading and such, and not so much with wholeness and integrity. Few were encouraged, in their youth, to question everything and to be free from mere standard ways/procedures. These days, almost all of us are immured within the walls of thought/thinking. Most exclusively dwell in (and “as”) thought/thinking… and very few value going beyond that domain. Most have put all of their eggs into that one basket; in that, they dwell. That basket is like a small, limited prison. Many minds are imprisoned (i.e., deeply embedded) in dogmas, beliefs, presuppositions, antiquated systems, and isolating boundaries.
As one has said so many times before, thinking is always symbolic, always second-hand, limited, and merely representational. Yet so many cling to thinking and unquestionably exist almost exclusively as what it is. Even when most of us look at things, we are looking with (and through) the screen of thinking; such thinking involves labeling, categorizing, classifying, identifying, and pigeonholing. When most look at things, they are primarily looking with the memory bank (i.e., through retained knowledge). Such a memory bank is from the past and is always old, always of stored data. They look with (and from) the stored (old) past… and they inevitably get bored while they feel stale and full of the mundane. With this situation, antidepressants and clinical so-called experts can only help so much. One of the functions of the human mind is to be of order and to transcend sorrow; transcending sorrow is, in itself, order.
A mind of deep awareness can often look at things without merely using the storehouse of old and stuffy memory. To perceive without relying on the storehouse of dead memory (and stale patterns of remembrance) is a living art. There is no method to this art. It does not involve old patterns that you can absorb or practice to improve yourself over time. Using thought when it is necessary but often going beyond it, the wise mind sagaciously realizes that profound bliss is not a mere remembrance. Profound joy is not labeling everything and then looking at everything through (and “as”) dead labels. To perceive without the burden of the past is real living. Real living is not the past perpetually relabeling things (with endless symbols) into the present and future. The mind that goes beyond “perception through mere symbolism and fragmented mental constructs” is a liberated, whole, free mind full of joy.
All Tied Up In Knots… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
If you don’t like to be stared at,
don’t come to rural Illinois!
There are some rare plants here in rural Illinois
that are sensitive to the touch and that are quickly evolving.
At first, besides their sensitivity to touch,
they began being sensitive to the sunlight.
Then, gradually over time, they developed
photoreceptors that could better detect sun-
light and let them know when to fold their leaves for the evening.
Now these photoreceptors are further evolving
into legitimate eyes.
Some plants that i know have
better response and better perception than
a lot of the humans out there!
I am a vegetarian,
and i certainly am not going to eat these plants
while they stare back at me!
Chamaecrista fasciculata, a wild plant of Illinois with an eye on each branch section and with leaves closed for the evening… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Chamaecrista fasciculata, a wild plant of Illinois with leaves open in daylight for photosynthesis…. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
As Grover on Sesame Street
— not that i ever watch it
with our pet parrots —
says: “Oh, lower case “i,”
you are so cute with your
little dot!”
Grover is right! It is a
marvelous letter and helps
to represent what i am
(even though it really isn’t
what i am whatsoever)!
Two Pearl Crescent Butterflies… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Valient blue conqueror
of the skies
Aware mosquito slayer
and bug buster
An aerodynamic agility
turning on a dime
Posed limber and free
and thus we salute thee
Swift Long-winged Skimmer Dragonfly… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Deep passion — to find out about the whole of existence — goes far beyond details and fragmentary parts.
There can be a holistic awareness, not merely of the five “separate” senses that one “has,” but rather “as” the holistic senses working together harmoniously, as one, without thought/thinking constantly interfering, separating.
When one was young, one mustered up all of the energy that one had to perceive the truth and the whole. That’s the only way to be!
Order comes through understanding and perception… not via rigid, limited ideals which bring about conflict.
Many animals value life just as we do… maybe even more so.
Look beyond the learned patterns; see beyond the limited, learned symbols.
True wisdom goes beyond perceived borders and is therefore truly compassionate and caring.
Scarlet-and-Blue Leafhopper …Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
One little tentacle at a time
One little seed among many
One small leaf rising to shine
One tiny bristle around plenty
One curious mind turning into this rhyme
After this line won’t be any
One Little Tentacle at a Time… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Life is so much more
than books and words
and iPhones and money
Death is so much more
than finality and crying
and funerals and caskets
If one is of deep understanding
Life and Death are
not two different things
Augochlora Green Metalic Bee… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Similar to miniature armored tanks
from the prehistoric past,
you scurry along like ancient,
deep sea Silurian Period trilobites
(with shielding exteriors)
to be envied by soft, fragile, vulnerable we.
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Much like M.C.Escher’s famous Curl-up Prints — these crustaceans probably inspired him — Rollie Pollies (or Pill Bugs) are capable of rolling up into protective balls, just like trilobites did many millions of years ago in the deep oceans. This particular species looks to be more like a Sow Bug so is likely not able to fully roll up like an almost similar looking Pill Bug can. Most Rollie Pollies live up to two years. They are the only crustaceans that can spend their entire life on land. They mostly eat dead vegetation. They breathe by means of gills, which necessitates needing to be in a humid air environment (such as under logs).
Sow Bug from the Past… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
There is no way that someone would “like” this heartbreaking blog posting, but please “like it” if you see the seriousness of it, the environmental implications of it.
I, not long ago, posted some information from the Sierra Club, that i belong to, about Monarch Butterfly populations declining in North America since 1997. The Midwestern United States has seen an 88% decline. I also recently sent in a check to a Sierra Club supported drive to get Monarch Butterfly plate decals (which would help fund the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources to support Monarch habitats). However, nothing prepared me for the dismal discovery that i made while photographing insects in a wildflower field that was across a rural road from a farm cornfield. I knew about how important Milkweed plants are for Monarch caterpillars, and when i’ve been out photographing lately, i’ve been curious about the Milkweed plants. I’ve been seeing Milkweed plants that were eaten and chewed up… but no caterpillars. Then, one day, while in the wildflower field across from a cornfield, i saw some Milkweed plants. One Milkweed Plant was chewed up, and when i lifted a few leaves to get a closer look… a very — and unnaturally — dead caterpillar is what was seen (i.e., the second photograph). When i was young, corn often had a few grubs or insects around the silk end, and that little part was simply chopped off. These days, there are never such “intruders”; heaven forbid! People would vehemently complain! However, the pesticides — these over-kill overly potent pesticides — you can be sure, are residually still there and are far more precarious and unhealthy than the little pests. Little wonder why Europe doesn’t even want to get U.S. pesticide riddled corn/soy. Additionally, another factor: A recent study by Bret Elderd and Matthew Faldyn from Louisiana State University suggest climate change can alter the chemical composition of Milkweed making it poisonous to Monarchs. The increase in temperatures — due to global warming — causes Milkweed plants to be stressed and produce more toxins, toxins which then become deadly to the very Monarch caterpillars that they had protected. There are tons of people out there, unfortunately, who ignorantly deny man’s role in climate change and who do little or nothing to help change things for the better. Sad and immoral!
All the factors involved with this are far too vast for me to go into. For one thing, we need to reduce our human population; in other words, keep it at more reasonable levels, live more environmentally conscious, and grow food in more organic and considerate ways. Too few are talking seriously about any of this and it is unlikely that things will change any time soon. The bees, too, are dwindling, and many realize that when they go, we go.
The poor Monarchs are yet another unfortunate, beautiful species harmed by man.
Monarch Butterfly in a Wildflower Field… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Monarch Caterpillar dead 40 feet from a nearby cornfield… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Dreams are often a means for the mind to cope with everyday life, involving the past and the possible future, and all are projections from (and “as”) the mind. Phantasmagoria, in most minds, are the self-protrusions of thought, stemming from the old past (though often concerned about the future). Dreams, though superficial as they are, are an attempt by the mind at adjusting and dealing with life’s ups and downs. Dreams are often a scenario of what may occur that is challenging; they are often a postulated sequence of future events. Usually, though, they are far more superficial than what the waking brain would actually benefit from. If the mind is full of conflict, problems, fear, frustration, anger, friction, and manipulation during the day, chances are that it will dream with a great deal of these “scenarios” going on. A mind of great harmony, mindfulness, awareness, and wholeness, on the other hand, need not dream with such “scenarios” much at all. Dreams, for such a mind of awareness, would be few and far between. A mind of wholeness and integrity would not often dream; dreams, for such a mind, may occur, however, if certain unusual (rather incompatible) foods have been inadvertently consumed.
With a mind of great mindfulness, wholeness, and awareness, sleep is an extension of the quietness, awareness, and harmony that has gone on during the day. That quietness is natural and is not the result of some secondhand method or stale blueprint. Silence, during sleep, can be a motiveless vastness that is beyond accumulation, greed, fear, struggle, strife, wanting, getting, being, not being, conflict, opposites, time, concocted images, and disorder. Then, occasionally, such a mind may see images or patterns of what will actually happen in the future; however, these insights would not merely be speculative protrusions of the mind; rather, they would entail flashes concerning what actually takes place in the future.
Sleep can be when regeneration and rejuvenation take place, washing the mind free of habitual garbage from the past. Silence can be of clarity and great order. A mind without the beauty of real silence and harmony is an impoverished mind.
Giant Robberflies rival dragonflies in their effectiveness as predators. They easily catch other flying insects in flight and are voracious hunters.
Robber Fly … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
At the tattoo shop
they just quickly sent me home.
Nature is perfection already!
Hibiscus Bug… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
One young student of life asked Lo Zu, “Of all the various types of clouds in the sky,
which is the one that you deem best?”
The great sage’s penetrating eyes sagaciously looked up and he said,
“Not the huge, mountainous, white towering clouds that have accumulated much. Neither the
saturated, heavy clouds, for each is darkly full of itself; nor the clouds that stretch, sheet-like,
blanketing the whole sky; they think that they know everything.
However, there is real beauty in the little, truly humble, faint cloud of no-mind that one can barely see,
that no one notices; it lets the sun through and helps illuminate the darkness. Fireflies can illuminate
darkness too; very few people love them like I love them.”
Firefly Illumination Happening!… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Flaming passion flows
past inconceivable now
spilling into we
Flaming Calocera cornea fungus found deep in the woods… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
A trashcan that is full of leftovers and rubbish cannot receive something precious, such as a priceless treasure. We hold so much information, filling us, satiating us to the brim, and we think we are doing just wonderfully; however, the world is not, for the most part, better off because of it. It is important to think a lot and to think in ways that are significant and that have profound meaning; too many of us, however, habitually think all kinds of needless things over and over, repetitiously. There can be an intelligence of silence that exists beyond mere repetitious words/symbols. This silence involves an emptiness that penetrates and that is full of life. To be empty — truly empty — is the action of true humility. That true humility brings about real order and the purity of “harmonious action.” It is no longer filled with secondhand beliefs, opinions, primitive perspectives, and dead traditions; it is whole, unsullied, and pristine beyond the rubbish of propaganda and learned distortion.
If procedures and systems involving time are needed to (supposedly) empty the mind, that is questionable; because the “cleaner/eraser (i.e., the one supposedly doing the emptying)” and the contents to be emptied are (psychologically) one and the same. When one is engaged in such attempts at emptying, a false conflict often ensues. One cannot, via some concocted will, make the mind empty. With intelligent, uncalculated perception, however, there is a possibility that a timeless emptiness can exist without illusory effort. That timeless emptiness, if it really is timeless emptiness, is what perceives beyond distortion and secondhand rubbish. Such perception is beyond tainting, beyond corruption, beyond habitual (sequential) repetition, beyond ugly, robotic manipulation. Such perception is a danger to all that is false.
Monarch Butterfly on Coneflower… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Before after came
it took some time to remember
which, of course, came before
now was ever formulated
Supposedly, depending on circumstances,
once upon a time
was reading this
before the story’s ending was
conceived
like a grin without a face
or a tear without an “I”
as what was up
reads
d
o
w
n
Note: Buffalo Treehopper… The eye is not a double-exposure; that is how the eye and eye edge actually look.
Buffalo Treehopper… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Beauty needs no reason
like bourgeois businessmen do
who strut with the deepest frowns
competitively struggling for what
beauty is not
The faceofthewings(lookclose
ly)has eyes
a dimple and a smile
That smile transcends
sorrow
[Note: Do you see the “Smiling Face” in the Swallowtail’s wings?]
The Face on the Wings of a Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Many people do things habitually, mechanically, without thinking, without much awareness, in very robotic ways. The mind gets used to functioning in (and “as”) habit; dullness, and incessant routine set in, making the mind more and more repetitive, more and more machine-like. People get so used to repeating the same set of routines day after day, month after month, year after year, such that they hardly know (or try) anything different. (Air-polluting, fossil fuel spewing vacations aren’t a way out of this, by the way.)
Many people mindlessly and habitually cling to what they were taught, religiously, politically, nationally, ethically, socially, culturally, at home and in the office. To them, “THIS IS THE WAY THINGS MUST BE DONE,” and that is that. Then they remain teaching their children to dwell in the same grooves, to function in the same patterns. Anyone who questions the status quo is considered a trouble-maker or some kind of freak and is cast out. It may be, however, that, in such an atmosphere, true creativity and true “aliveness” is squelched. In such an environment, the truly insightful and the truly creative person is considered an oddball.
Be one of the lemmings if you want to (like most want to), but as for that… well, it’s not for me. Like Einstein, i don’t give a rat’s behind about “fitting-in” or about superficial appearances. It’s the deeper things that matter, and you can’t go deeper if you are stuck in superficial paradigms and one-dimensional routines.
Blue Damsel… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
The EPA will roll back the Obama-era auto-fuel-efficiency standards. The agency threatens to revoke California’s waiver under the Clean Air Act, which allows it to require cleaner cars.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke denies that his department censors science. A National Park Service report on how it will deal with climate change omits all references to human causation.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn’t want to give threatened species as much protection as endangered ones.
The Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program wins multiple court rulings: Now the BLM must disclose the climate impacts of fossil fuel development in the Powder River Basin; the Trump administration can’t overturn the ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling in the Arctic without judicial review; and the administration can’t delay increased penalties for automakers to violate fuel-economy standards.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry calls moving away from fossil fuels “immoral.”
The Bureau of Land Management blames a “breakdown of technology” for its failure to note 42,000 public comments in support of protections for the greater sage-grouse.
“I really don’t know” if humans cause climate change, says the head of the EPA’s scientific advisory board.
(The above information is from the Sierra Club that i belong to.)
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“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” — Albert Einstein
Overcoming Real Corruption… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
My antenna raised
but no separative flag!
We are one, whole globe.
Katydid on Thistle Leaf… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Comparison is often such a vulgar and unnecessary thing. Many people, throughout life, continue to habitually compare themselves with others. Those “others” are often very standard, ordinary, bourgeois, and dull. People compare their home, livelihood, lifestyle, and overall life, with others. Comparison invites imitation; imitation reinforces “second-handedness” and conformity to formulated, standardized “set patterns.” Fear often emanates from comparison… “Will I be as successful as them?” “Am I too different?” Comparison often paves the way to jealousy and superficial showing-off and boasting. (Some people, for instance, go ga-ga, trying to have the hugest and “most pretty” home; this is so childish and superficial.) Taunting another may often involve comparison. Comparison thrives in the world of the opposites (where differences are often magnified). Comparison can make the mind dull; it can be what nourishes mental sorrow.
The wise mind can exist where comparison is seen for what it is and where it is put in its appropriate place (where its limited aspects are seen). Such a mind can be of a profound joy where comparison does not often needlessly enter. When the mind compares, the mind is comparison (within the limited corridor of the opposites). Uniqueness and spontaneous insight usually do not ever depend upon comparison. Comparison and contrasting correlations can be very useful at times, but the mind need not depend upon them as deeply as it usually does. Perceiving directly, without employing comparison, is often very significant and profound.
No need to compare! Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
As a young student was walking by, Lo Zu asked, “How many legs do you have?”
The young student replied, “Two!”
Then Lo Zu remarked, “That is a shame.”
Many weeks later, the same young student observed Lo Zu and asked,
“Why is it that you often bend down and focus upon the insects and spiders?”
After some silence, the great sage answered, “What you think you are, you are not… and what appears to be what you are not, you are. For instance, when an ant is looked at, a deep perception consists of six legs. When a spider is examined, a great perception consists of eight legs. When butterflies are seen, a deep perception embodies wings, and when bees are observed, there is diligence and responsibility.
There is no “I” or “me” regarding this, since both are merely empty, delusive, learned abstractions.
Therefore, this does not involve mere identification; it is much deeper than that!
Most people merely see things with lazy eyes of delusion and separation.”
“I don’t quite understand,” said the student.
With a tender smile, Lo Zu warmly replied, “That is OK; maybe someday you will understand and no
longer be
just another one of the two-leggers.”
Eastern Tailed Blue Butterfly … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
It’s supposed to be
pockets of human beings,
not pockets of the whole of nature!
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I speak from the heart on this. My wife and i do not have any children. I love kids and had worked for my career as a teacher for the multiply handicapped, but this planet has way more than its share of humans. In the past, i have lost a number of girlfriends because of my stance on this. It is very interesting (and tragic) that this most vital subject — that directly impacts the whole earth and all of its creatures including man — is mostly neglected (and not seriously considered) worldwide.
In too limited of a space… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 