thoughts | Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog

All Posts Tagged ‘thoughts’

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Some Plants in Illinois have Eyes! (Two-Photos… for Your Eyes Only)

September 15, 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

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Oh, Lower Case “i”!…

September 14, 2018

25 comments

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

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Dragonfly

September 12, 2018

33 comments

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

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Insights or Non- (Part 3)

September 9, 2018

28 comments

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

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One Little Tentacle at a Time

September 8, 2018

9 comments

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

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LifeDeath

September 5, 2018

20 comments

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

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Rollie Pollie from the Ancient Past…

September 1, 2018

37 comments

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.

***************************************************************************************************************************

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

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I Cried When i Took This Picture… (2nd pic)

August 29, 2018

68 comments

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

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Dreams

August 26, 2018

18 comments

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

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No charge at the Tattoo Shop…

August 25, 2018

21 comments

At the tattoo shop
they just quickly sent me home.
Nature is perfection already!

Hibiscus Bug… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Lo Zu regarding the Best Clouds… (Another short Lo Zu tale)…

August 24, 2018

27 comments

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

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Flaming Passion Flows… Haiku

August 22, 2018

42 comments

Flaming passion flows
past inconceivable now
spilling into we

Flaming Calocera cornea fungus found deep in the woods… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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The Trashcan of the Mind

August 19, 2018

10 comments

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

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Before After Came

August 18, 2018

18 comments

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

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Beauty Needs No Reason

August 17, 2018

40 comments

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

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Habits

August 12, 2018

36 comments

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

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Current News Regarding the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S.A. (and overcoming real corruption)…

August 11, 2018

29 comments

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

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No Flag

August 8, 2018

16 comments

My antenna raised
but no separative flag!
We are one, whole globe.

Katydid on Thistle Leaf… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Comparison

August 5, 2018

17 comments

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

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How many legs do you really have?… another short Lo Zu Tale…

August 3, 2018

11 comments

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

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Human Overpopulation

August 1, 2018

34 comments

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

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Shadow of the Dragon

July 28, 2018

17 comments

The shadow of my wing
unfolds as a very curious thing
reading this to the very end

The Shadow of the Dragon’s Wing… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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New Model SuperDroid 4-JPG

July 25, 2018

28 comments

We must find C-3PO
make our way to Obi-Wan Kenobi
and erase the forces of darkness

New Model SuperDroid 4-JPG… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Curling

July 24, 2018

28 comments

In Canada and around the world,
Curling is a sport that is growing.
We love to watch Curling as it continues to grow!

Curling … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Assumptions

July 22, 2018

25 comments

Many of us hold assumptions/presumptions, either consciously or unconsciously, that dictate how we observe and react. These assumptions are what we have absorbed from others and may not be separate from what we are. Many people assume that they are separate from others. Many assume that they are separate from their so-called “own thoughts” and rule them from some kind of internal distance. Many assume that the perceiver is (psychologically) separate from the perceived. Many assume that their family consists of a few human beings. Many assume that endlessly imitating others is safe, sane, and wonderful. Many assume that they are fully autonomous and have absolute free will. Many assume that they are dominant, both internally and externally. Many assume that animals were put here for man. Many assume that they have a right to destroy nature. Many assume that someone who sees things very differently than they do is strange or wrong and should be avoided. Many assume that degrees from universities are a sign of deep intelligence. Many assume that thoughts are what they control by a central “I” or “me” that is not another thought. Many assume that fragmentary, limited science has all of the answers. Many take for granted that money and “showing off” are more important than caring.

It may be that the very intelligent mind goes beyond absorbed presumptions. Such a mind transcends fear, separation, prejudice, conflict, indifference, dead habit, delusion, and mediocrity. It is likely that only such a mind may be visited by the ineffable and sacred eternal.

[Note: According to the environment-oriented Sierra Club which we belong to and donate monthly to: Monarch butterfly populations have been rapidly declining in North America since 1997. In fact, the Midwestern United States have seen an 88 percent decline in the number of Monarchs, and a 64 percent decrease in the available Milkweed, which serves as the Monarch’s only egg-laying habitat and food source for Monarch caterpillars. We need to stop denying man-made global warming and do much more. I, myself, over the past years, have seen a dramatic decline in many butterfly and bee species.]

A Monarch Among Us… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Become a Flower…

July 21, 2018

28 comments

If people were sweet like flowers
this world wouldn’t be going to hell
and so much would beautifully smell

Become a Flower… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Talk regarding a spy within The United Society of Ants

July 18, 2018

42 comments

If there is a spy among us,
he shouldn’t be too hard to spot;
he’ll be at the top and have glaring eyes of red.

[Note: These insects are on a wild Celery plant. Wild Celery is very common in our area.]

Spy Among the Ants… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Limited Minds of Fragmentation

July 15, 2018

19 comments

Thought, being sequential and fragmentary, depends upon — and is — time. A fragmentary, sequential process, as part of time, will never fully understand the whole of time. Yet, the scientists continue to operate through sequential and fragmentary equations and analysis. Space and time are an integral part of one another; they are not two entirely different things. The space between the perceiver and that which is perceived involves limitation and fragmentation and necessitates time. Scientists do not generally transcend that limitation; they keep projecting fragmentary equations, theories, and use analysis based on what they have learned before. Many scientists claim that they are close to having a theory of everything, yet scientists do not understand what dark energy is (consisting of 68% of the known universe); they also do not know what dark matter is (consisting of 27% of the known universe); they do not understand a lot regarding the basic essence of the cosmos. There is evidence, for example, that the so-called constant speed of light may be changing. New tests are exploring this. The whole of physics is predicated on the constancy of the speed of light. (Scientists may, however, understand some rather remarkable things at this point. Leonard Susskind’s Holographic Principle of the Universe comes to mind; however, even principles such as this are, of course, limited and fragmentary. I used to hang out with Loren Billings, who ran the Museum of Holography in Chicago and, decades ago, way before these expert scientists came up with this holographic theory stuff, we used to have wonderful discussions about the likely holographic nature of the universe… about how a large amount of the entire universe functions much like a hologram.)

The structure of the perceiver (psychologically) being separate from the perceived… is what is formulated by limited thought. This thought also sees the past as separate from the future. Fragmentation will understand things only in very limited ways. That very limitation, however, can (and often does) contribute to conflict, indifference, hatred, competition, and suffering. To step out of all that may not require time, struggle, theories, religions, authorities, practices, or any other piecemeal processes. There is a fundamental psychological revolution that is beyond the framework of fragmentation and conflict. Currently, science is replacing religion as a major contributor of the worldview. If science tends to stress fragmentation, which it (for the most part, but not entirely) has been doing, then people will, unfortunately, likely remain stuck in fragmentary frameworks.

Eye of the Toad… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Photography Tip # 7 — Haiku

July 14, 2018

55 comments

PHOTOGRAPHY TIP #7:

When you see what you like,
there is a button on the top of your camera.
Press that button.

Photography Tip with Wildflowers… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Snakes Alive! Haiku

July 11, 2018

56 comments

(thou)
gh
man
y hate
you
Some
see you
r true
full
beauty.
That’s
all
th
at
mat
ter
s

Bull Snake Admiration… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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The Inner and the Outer

July 8, 2018

9 comments

The separation of the inner from the outer involves standard perception which largely involves misperception and barbaric acceptances. Such misperception involves conflict, separation, isolation, and distinct borders. A prudent entity who intelligently transcends mere inner-outer frameworks of perception is not a dull mind that walks into walls or that steps into busy traffic. Rather, such a person exists beyond old and cadaverous viewpoints and worn-out, primitive perspectives. Only such a person can be of real order; only such a person can be fully genuine, deeply compassionate, and of vast integrity and virtue. (By the way, idealistically saying that one is “one with nature,” which is all the fashion these days, is not it! A limited, fragmented mind can easily identify itself with anything, but it still remains a fragmented mind.)

Thought and stored memory feed the separation of the inner from the outer. Too many of us worship a false inner and are indifferent about the vast outer. A separate perceiver cannot be the complete understanding of the whole as long as the fragmentary self-projected images and thoughts of an isolated, independent observer are maintained via learned effort. Any state of opposition, such as what a concocted, separate “0bserver” brings about, further nourishes indifference and isolation. Thoughts and “image making” form the perceiver, and without thoughts and mental images, without repeated effort and psychological struggle, the perceiver would not be. The psychological ending of the so-called separate perceiver is not something to be frighted of; the true ending of limited images, symbolic patterns, and accepted barriers is not frightening; rather, it is liberation and involves profound insight. Holistic insight does not occur often for conflict and misperception.

Katydid Nymph and Ladybug… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Those Poor Children

July 7, 2018

35 comments

Only sick immorality can yank children
from their parents and cage them up,
shitting on universal-global love

You know, i am not interested in politics whatsoever. Politicians are not my cup of tea. However, what is happening in the U.S. is getting to be extremely sick and immoral, and people (deeply stuck in their ruts) are accepting it! Children are children of the world; they don’t belong to any damn country, to any damn politics. It’s only crass, divisive adults who put them in such fragmented domains. A regime that, against international human rights laws, pulls children from their parents, is an immoral, diabolical regime. That same deranged, fascist-loving regime has been turning its back on the environment (kissing the behind of the fossil fuel industry). The unnatural, hellish, hot and violent weather is going to get exponentially worse and is no coincidence; mass extinctions will continue. When will people wake up?… when it is too late?

Shitting on Children… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Nightmare Incident on Highway 47…

July 6, 2018

8 comments

Speedy Gonzales: Why was I pulled over, officer?

1st Officer: You were speeding. And you were thinking about passing in a “no-passing zone.”

Speedy Gonzales: I was?

1st Officer: Yes, you were! Let me see your driver’s license.

Speedy: What’s a driver’s license?

1st Officer: Oh boy, you hit the jackpot!

Speedy (smiling): No, I did not run into any jackpot! Here is my driver’s license.

1st Officer (yanking Speedy roughly): Put your hands behind your back, wise guy; I have to handcuff you. You got a green-card?

2nd Officer (nervously): Be careful, don’t get too rough with him. Maybe we are being filmed. I, from this highway, already see huge aerial cameras hovering above us.

1st Officer (in a cruel tone): It’s off to incarceration in the old Delux Ant-farm for you, Speedy! You will get nothing but bread and water!

Speedy: Bread and water? I love bread and water!

*************************************************************

Final Note:

Speedy got sentenced to three years but he got out in two for good behavior; unfortunately, against international human rights, all of his children were separated from him by an immoral, fascist-loving regime. Though extremely poor, he is content with living on meager crumbs somewhere upon your shiny kitchen floor. Walk gingerly!
There is an alternative name for Highway 47. The alternative name is Tom’s Garden Hose.

Incident on Highway 47… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Dandy Lion Crimes Haiku (Ain’t Freedom Grand)

July 4, 2018

18 comments

They hate yellow deeply
with their Scotts toxic bags
set to make dull lawnminds all exactly the same

Dandelion Dreams… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Lens of Awareness

July 1, 2018

11 comments

Many of us bloggers, who take pictures often, are scrupulously concerned about keeping our camera lenses clean and spotless. Many of our minds (and concomitant actions), however, are not taken care of so very diligently. We look at things through tainted, jaded, contaminated lenses, according to the way we were programmed to look. We see what we were programmed to see. We think what we were programmed to think. Most merely react, very predictably, according to the ways in which they were molded to react by. If one desires to clean the mind, to polish the lens of the mind, it is usually merely according to someone else’s system, methodology, or beliefs. That may merely be an extension of the crass conditioning.

Before considering cleaning the lens of the mind, please consider who (or what) is doing the cleaning. If the “perceiver” is not something separate from the perceived, then the cleaning itself may be part of the programming, part of the conditioning. Yet, most will just want to go out and take some mighty fine pictures.

I am quite aware that my blog only helps some people. Most will not see the seriousness of it. That lack of seeing the seriousness is what i have seen all my life, ever since childhood. Our world is going under because of it and, in the long run, our superficial images of things won’t matter one damn bit.

Leopard Frog Time… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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This and That

June 29, 2018

6 comments

an impressive this and that
a revealing why and how
won’t make the superficial mind much deeper
we might see that by now

a reading left to right
some judgment up and down
will not make the world much saner
or dissolve the patterns to which we’re bound

Young Leafhopper (around 4 mm long)…. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Our Internet is Down and Broken… & my Apologies…

June 28, 2018

20 comments

Our internet has been down a few days. That is why i have not been responding to you guys, interacting, liking your blogs, or responding to your comments (which i apologize for). They finally got it going again but our rural-area computer wouldn’t work with the new system and so they got it going for us with a very antiquated, dial-up-cretaceous system. It is so slow that i have to wait a very long time just for one picture to download! The internet service provider promised me that they would come back with a fast system for us again (but that they would have to order it and didn’t know how long that would take.)

So, in the meantime, i will not even try to visit other blogs or do much online (unless it temporarily starts working faster, which one doubts will happen). I schedule my blog postings about a month in advance, so my blog posts will continue to appear. I will probably not — while this is super-slow internet is happening — continue to try to schedule many posts in advance, though i may continue with the mindfulness-philosophical prose stuff on Sundays, as i feel a responsibility to keep the significance of that going. (If i do, i will probably use images already used and existing in my WordPress media file, since it would be near impossible to upload at this point.) Hopefully, things will get back to technologically normal soon, and all of this will be just a bad memory! 🙂 Thanks much, all of you! 🙂

Mushrooming Love (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Same-sex Marriage Legislation Haiku

June 27, 2018

17 comments

Same-sex marriage laws.
Nothing like old, moldy raisins deciding
how the young grapes should grow.

Moldy, Old Politicians… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Bridge to a Better Future

June 24, 2018

8 comments

Physically, there may be a bridge to a better future. One can eat more healthfully, exercise more, and do things to improve the environment, including building wonderful bridges. Internally (i.e., psychologically), is there really a bridge, and who is going to cross that bridge? Is the bridge different from what one is?

Is the “experiencer” really something separate from the experience? If there were no experiences, what would the “experiencer” be? So many of us, like infantile children, want more and more pleasurable experiences. Can there be moments when a sagacious mind exists without merely depending upon experience after experience?

If anger takes place, can it be looked non-fragmentarily — without manufacturing separate ideals — so as to be fully aware of it (without separative space and time)? Can there be moments when the mind (without excuses) fully sees what it is directly and with full awareness, without concocting notions of something different (that requires space and time to achieve)? If cruelty exists, and ideals manifest of “someday not being cruel,” is the non-cruelty an actuality or is it a mere abstraction (or escape) that depends upon fabricated psychological time?… and may it be that fabricated time (with its space) fails to see cruelty instantly and fully for what it really is? Is the thinker really something separate from thought, or are they one and the same? Is psychological time often an escape depending upon fragmentation, fabricated space, a mentally fabricated separate “I”… and, also, a postponement?

These questions are here for you to ask yourself; they do not exist for you to reply here with any answers.

from Emily Dickinson:

There are two Mays
And then a Must
And after that a Shall.
How infinite the compromise
That indicates I will!

Ebony Jewelwing… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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SubWay Diploma Haiku

June 23, 2018

14 comments

[While at the local Subway, getting a vegetarian sub the other day, i noticed a framed “Subway Diploma” hanging on the wall where the employees were working; the following Haiku was inspired by that Diploma certificate.]

I worked so very hard
to get a diploma from Subway
but I just couldn’t cut the mustard

Insects on Wild Celery… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Turning it’s back on Mother Earth… Haiku

June 20, 2018

23 comments

[from Albert Einstein (1879-1955; physicist and Nobel Laureate): “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”] Write to your congressmen, vote wisely (instead of what you inherited), and demand change.

This Haiku doesn’t need a canto
because it’s just too damn small.
The U.S. is destroying the Environmental Protection Agency.

Tiny Things… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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That Original Source

June 17, 2018

13 comments

That original source, if it is to be discovered at all, must be seen firsthand (and directly). Seeing it through the second-hand scraps of another — including me — is never seeing it at all. The mind must be free of the contamination of others — the second-hand rubbish of others — for that seeing to take place. That seeing — of that wholeness — may have nothing to do with visual perception whatsoever. (Don’t be foolish enough and greedy enough to think that closing your eyes and sitting with crossed, pretzel-like legs will get you there!) Regarding this, the mind must be free of all the hand-me-down knowledge and systems of others and be of a sweet, pristine, innocent purity. However, even that is not enough, for the human mind cannot ever be totally spotless and original, and if that miraculous immeasurability ever occurs, it is not ever because one made it occur. It is much too immense, intrinsically intelligent, and freely mysterious, to merely be a shoddy effect from some paltry human cause. It is (though words are never the actual thing) an ineffable, sacred whole beyond mere causality. So many charlatans write in books and blogs and talk in temples about what they “think” it is. Additionally, many claim that it does not exist. Beware of all others and find out for yourself. Inquire with profound passion and never allow that passion to be quenched by mediocrity.

Fungus on Forest Floor… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Further Beyond Spider Prejudice — Haiku

June 16, 2018

36 comments

Eye see you still there
focusing on your sweet friend
with “I”s to no end

[Note: Look at all the eyes along her cephalothorax!]

Fishing Spider… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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The Beauty of Timeless Psychological Negation

June 15, 2018

13 comments

[Note: Most people are afraid to die psychologically, so they are never really living.]

no method
no practice
no effort
no goal
no system
no beliefs
no process
no analysis
no past
no future
no present
no nation
no religion
no ideology
no “shoulds”
no wants
no opinion
no fear
no escapes
no thoughts
no me
no authority
no time
no tomorrow
no yesterday
no separation
no excuses
no them
no being
no becoming
no controller
no labeling
no indifference

Skipper Investigating… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Haiku of Death

June 14, 2018

22 comments

at my “final ending”
don’t waste a lot of tears
at what is just another beginning

Red Admiral Butterfly Metamorphosed… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Our Nest Haiku

June 11, 2018

31 comments

a different kind of bird
a different kind of nest
too many hate you but i don’t

Wasp with Nest Eggs… Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2018

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Sensibility

June 10, 2018

28 comments

Sensibility implies the capacity to feel. Most of us can react according to the ways in which we were miseducated to react; not as many of us, unfortunately, really (fully, independently) feel. Deep feeling usually does not take place when the mind is imprisoned in limited labels, categorizations, systems, and robotic practices. The aforementioned patterns tend to dull the mind, rendering it more programmed and less likely to feel. Psychological borders, such as those that take place between the observer and the observed, also tend to render dullness in the mind, making it far less likely for things like profound empathy to take place.

A truly intelligent mind that is beyond superficial borders, childish beliefs, and “learned patterns of separation,” may be capable of profound feeling (which is far beyond crass indifference).