All Posts Tagged ‘wisdom

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Comparison and Imitation dull the Mind…

25 comments

 

Comparing yourself to others is a two-fold process that usually involves measurement and techniques (involving duality) that are superfluous (and that may very well dull the mind).  If many are immersed in dull habits, superficial behaviors, and limited perspectives, comparing yourself with them and then emulating them may, indeed, tend to make the mind act (i.e., react) similarly.  Indifference, seen as normal and ordinary, easily breeds more indifference.  A unique person, beyond all the lemmings, perceives beyond mere comparison and imitation; such a person is more inherently free (than those who merely absorb, internalize, swallow, and imitate the behaviors of others).  Those who lazily internalize all of society’s values and traditions are not free (though they may, as a reaction, insist that they are); they are secondhand shadows of antiquated authority, old habits, and primitive patterns of the past.  It’s easy to be secondhand.  Then you don’t have to think or feel.

Very many compare, imitate, copy, fit in, get comfortable, stagnate, presuppose things that were poured into them, and do not ask deep questions.  Why?  The man or woman who truly goes beyond all of this may not merely be some dishonest, mischievous rogue, but (rather) may be a profoundly insightful, majestic, free, independent, and truly compassionate person.  True compassion, true order, has little to do with following old authority, following stale customs, or following dead rules.  Real order isn’t what merely occurs from comparing oneself to others and imitating others; real order comes from that timeless (i.e., eternal) action that is not mere reaction.  

Away from the crowd. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Away from the crowd. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Away from the crowd. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Away from the crowd. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Poem That May Not Be About a Rose…

13 comments

 

Within life’s is(this immortal love

                    shouldn’t have been)but joyfully was

beyond barbarism’s wretched hoopla

                    between time’s gobbledygook of because

 

Not shoddy(jaded)mentally faded

                    ifs chattering through imaginable maybes

Not ordinarily common in obdurate rigidity

                    witless whens and wishwashy crazies

 

Not apathetically apart from pristine forever’s nows

                    Not merely immersed in cool November’s leafy falling

though blind gravity pulls the weeping rain down

                    pompous and proud in its feigned bawling

 

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head... (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head… (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head... (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head… (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

 

 

 

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It’s not something that can merely be attained…

25 comments

 

If you are truly innocent and perceptive (without motive), the mystery of the universe will come to you (and pursue you)… you won’t have to seek it.  Many others, out of boredom, out of groping for more, come up with methodologies for coming to the sacred.  Unfortunately, their mechanical blueprints, their dead systems, their fallacious fantasies, make an impression on others… and more and more mischief and nonsense ends up getting hammered into others.  

Having a humble, quiet mind is beneficial, as it enables perception to occur without being jaded and tainted by the fabrications of others.  However, unlike what many believe, a quiet mind does not bring about that which is sacred and illimitable.  That illimitability is far too dynamic to merely be brought about by way of silence (or by way of anything else).  A quiet mind is important, but no petty actions, inactions, reactions, methodologies, systems, absurd prayers or incantations, practices, or fabricated schemes can conjure it up.  Yet, it may visit a mind that is orderly, sane, innocent, living, and whole. 

Beware of those who tell you exactly how to find it or who write or talk about their struggle to come upon it.  It may not be a product of any methodology; it may not involve struggle or effort whatsoever.   Order of the mind is not a mere calculated product; it is a living, profound thing.  An orderly, living mind is not the result of some concoction or blueprint.  The result of some dead blueprint or mold is not living.  Any purposeful meditation generated or fashioned intentionally by the mind… is not meditation whatsoever.

Jumping Jack Flash (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Jumping Jack Flash (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Jumping Jack Flash (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Jumping Jack Flash (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Story Time… Koan Time…

16 comments

 

An enlightened man — one of only a few in this

particular solar system —

walked across the street.

He didn’t particularly care much for the pavement;

it was hardened, callous (like many, uncaring people),

and it covered a place where there used to be

lush, living things of great (soft) beauty.

There was awareness of the distant, oncoming traffic, but

unnecessary thoughts were (intelligently) not there;

there was no center, no authority to

merely see with (and “as”) separation.

As the street was being crossed, a wren came flying by.

Awareness was that little wren… not something separate from it,

(not something seeing it as being separate).

After the crossing of the street, a few steps were climbed.

As the steps were climbed, a curious squirrel was seen in a tree.

Curiously, that beautiful squirrel climbed the steps,

though it never left the tree.

What U R 2.  (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

What U R 2. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

What U R 2.  (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

What U R 2. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Go Beyond most people

27 comments

 

Thought and thinking, though very useful at times, is a form of resistance.  Thought originated, in mobile creatures, such as invertebrate and vertebrate animals, in order to acquire and manipulate… and in order to struggle against and contend with (or dominate) other organisms.  Most people, having evolved from (and “as”) the aforementioned developments, would tend to think that it is errant and reprehensible to suggest that one move beyond thoughts and thinking.  When immersed in the framework and network of thought, it — for most, unfortunately — seems ludicrous to deeply consider going beyond that realm (that actually is what they exist as).  In Socrates’ Parable of the Cave, those who believed in shadows and who took shadows to be reality — thereby existing as shadows — scoffed at those few who suggested perceiving beyond the shadows.

Most people are rigidly set in their ways; they will cling to these ways, in comfort, without question.  They exist in (and “as”) fractional, symbolic thoughts and mental constructs.   However, when you fervently accept limited ways, without question, you are what limitation actually is; you are of blockage and restriction… not something separate.  The wise man (or woman) conversely, has perceptual range.  In perceptual range is liberation, real freedom (not the phony, orchestrated appearance of freedom that so many cling to and think that they enjoy).  The wise mind transcends boundaries; in doing so, mental constraints vanish, separation and hate end, confines of thought’s images disappear, and even the limitless may magically happen.  When boundaries are truly transcended, one goes beyond mere robotic reactions (and all reactions are intrinsically robotic).  Our reactions and inherited beliefs — which occur as conditioned responses — are what separates us, what divides us.  In going beyond them, one is no longer of the fractional, conditioned ways that divide people; then one is global; then one is truly universal.  Such a universal individual doesn’t merely belong to little, separative races, regions, or any one country; such a universal person doesn’t belong to one of the many fragmentary religions that separate people.   Most people do not want to go beyond their inherited and accumulated beliefs; they would much rather cling to and fight over the reactions that they have absorbed from others.  We can live in peace and harmony if we (worldwide) go beyond inherited beliefs and fabricated boundaries; however, many do not care about doing that.   Beliefs (and primitive, separative identifications), for many, are more important than actual peace.  In the light of perception, one stops fighting over mere shadows; for that to happen, one must see the shadows as shadows and transcend beyond them; or you can see what was promised in (and by) the shadows by others… and live in (and “as”) the shadows forever… forever clinging to them and forever fighting over them.  However, is that really seeing?

Emergence beyond patterns (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Emergence beyond patterns (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

Emergence beyond patterns (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Emergence beyond patterns (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

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Mental Residence…

25 comments

 

Do you take up residence in the antiquated, fabricated, and absorbed patterns of man?  Or are you sagaciously swifter and more dynamically prudent than that, where they can’t (no matter how hard they look, with their old-fangled ways) ever find you?  Though it’s really not a mere place, are you where they can’t ever know you?  Concrete images of self are much of what they cadaverously exist as.  Concrete images of self are what they taught you to absorb, and such images and devised schemes of inner dominancy are petrified and calcified.  The solidified, isolated center of inner self-ish-ness (which really isn’t a center at all) is endorsed and condoned by ruthless others (who, themselves, absorbed from conditioned others).  To go beyond conditioned ways, significantly, requires that the mind shed its primitive caterpillar/chrysalis ways and, instead,  soar (as a fresh butterfly) free from all the inertness.

The beautiful butterflies and the colorful flowers of this marvelous earth are not separate things.  Please don’t merely yank the flowers out of the soil and shove them in cold vases; please look at them where they grow (and connect with them).  Please don’t net radiant butterflies and coldly stick them in framed wall-display-mounts; please enjoy them as they vibrantly fly (and please soar higher too).  Please don’t try to isolate yourself in a dark, dead little corner (of self, of “me”) and think that you are somehow separate from (and different from) the living whole.  Please blossom and open up your wings beyond mere stagnant (enclosed) ways.

We are each other (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

We are each other (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

We are each other (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

We are each other (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Childhood Time and Beyond…

29 comments

 

Childhood time is a magical time)

      and it’s all about magic (really)

               life is

It’s so beautifully full of magic

               life is 

And youthful joy is that wonderment

      and that feelingcloseto

               sweet immortality

So many adults lose those wonderous moments

      drink to their bitter depression

      and go through the motions without

               ever being alive

?Why do they stop asking questions

?Why do they with starched faces

      cadaverously walk right past joy and beauty

I don’t ever want to grow up

I don’t ever want to grow up

I don’t ever want to grow up

Childhood time is a magical time

      and it’s all about magic

               (really

Silver-Spotted-Skipper (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Silver-Spotted-Skipper (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Silver-Spotted-Skipper (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Silver-Spotted-Skipper (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Mindfulness… True Perception…

18 comments

 

True perception involves seeing the whole in a sensitive way without the contamination of isolated (taught, habitual) images.  Distortion occurs when the supposed (but false) whole is seen fragmentarily through a mental screen of conditioning.  For instance, it is in vogue to say that “I am one with the beauty of nature”… or to identify oneself in a special connection with magnificent, towering trees or a breathtaking mountain range.  One fragmentary image, however, identifying itself with other images… is what it is: a sequence of fractional image making.  (Few, by the way, identify themselves with people who are mentally or physically handicapped or with disappearing coral reefs; maybe if they observed them without a mere fractional center… more good things would get done).  Real wholeness exists beyond the boundaries of thought.  These boundaries include the fallacious center that feels in control of  what are considered “subservient thoughts.” Thought/thinking projects this center as being separate from other thoughts and as being separate from what is perceived (through the screen of thought); this center has (and is) an essence of separation.  Real wholeness does not put a separative, isolated image of a (fallacious) center on a psychological pedestal; real wholeness does not have a supposedly central image that merely identifies itself (at times) with other chosen, select images — like breathtaking mountains — while (at other times) it purports to be domineering over “other” images (whether they be internal or external) from a distance.

Most people don’t care deeply about true or deep perception; they have accepted crude, mundane ways, (and they continue to perceive through — and “as” — these mundane, superficial ways, without going deeply beyond them).  In these banal, mundane ways, most inevitably get bored and feel unfulfilled, which is (obviously) due to clinging to the old and stale.  They continue to cling to the old and stale ways, and they are afraid to let them go.  Untold many, over centuries, have each relied on and believed in a domineering and manipulative center that is (supposedly) in charge of the rest of thinking… and the world remains in crisis; deep harmony rarely emerges out of distortion.  The irony in this, unfortunately, is that most will not care to delve into this and transcend the fractional center; yet it is this very so-called center (because of its unnecessary friction and conflict) that keeps them in psychological isolation that is dull, lonely, distorted, second-hand, deceitful (and that is not dynamic while it creates a space of limitation that directly leads to boredom and inner sorrow).  The serious mind that sees the falsity of such a center is, on the other hand, joyous, harmonious, original, whole, and beyond deep deception.  Falsities are not just in some of the age-old, infantile beliefs of man; they go to the very essence of what consciousness entails.  Transcending them is true liberation and bliss… not all that phony stuff.

Sharing (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Sharing (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Sharing (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Sharing (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Haunted Halloween (spiders aren’t anything compared to this)…

13 comments

 

Let’s give a prize…

to those who were too crass and uncaring 

               to ever open their eyes.

Let’s provide a splendid, gold citation…

to those who radiated endless cruelty,

               increased suffering, and needlessly caused frustration.

Let’s mindlessly vote for an unhinged, sick sociopath with an unstable mind that divides us…

               who snarls that the polluted, unhealthy environment is balanced,

and that all of the dying coral reefs are quite healthy and marvelous.

Let’s cheapen the whole…

be ordinary, separative, comfortable, selfish,

               and take a long, indifferent stroll.

Let’s thoughtlessly add more and more pollutants and superficial experiences to the fire…

               and when this tiny world burns to the ground,

Let’s wait until the very last day to deeply inquire.

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

Note:

[I love spiders.  The real (deadly) thing on this planet (except for a few) walks on two legs, not eight.]

Halloween Surprise. Video by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Halloween Surprise. Video by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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That Nameless, Eternal Immensity…

17 comments

 

That nameless, eternal immensity that is beyond mere labels and symbolic words, rarely presents itself to humans.  Too many of us are of violence, separation, distortion, and fallacies to be open to visitation from that enormity.  Our psychological demarcations, which promote false, separative, supposedly dominant centers (i.e., the many obtrusions of “me” and “I”), tend to nullify any possibility for that boundlessness to be revealed.  Mental superficiality and illusion negate clear perception.  A false center builds a wall around itself and there is nothing much seen beyond the limited confines of that wall.  Too many of us have accepted limited viewpoints, patterns, boundaries, and methodologies… and to those we cling.  Fortunately, it is beautifully possible to emerge through the rigidities of miseducation and stiff falsities.

Fruiting Bodies (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Fruiting Bodies (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Fruiting Bodies (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Fruiting Bodies (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

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The Honest Poem

7 comments

 

The honest poem,beyond all the mumbo jumbo,

          in a purgative way,tersely flushes out the detritus of words

exposing them for what they really are…

          fractional representations that are inherently second-hand

 

The genuine poem,beyond all the gibberish and hogwash,

          in a laxative way,wisely purges out the putrid,stale simulations

suggesting to,instead of dwelling in mere crappy accounts,

          go and holistically perceive as if for the first time

Butterfly Flight (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Butterfly Flight (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Butterfly Flight (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c.2016

Butterfly Flight (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c.2016

 

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If I Had Only a Few Desperate, Precious Moments…

28 comments

 

 My wife and i never had kids (because the world is way overcrowded with humans as it is), but we are concerned about them deeply.  If i had only a few short moments — or a bit longer — to tell a child what to care about, in life, here is what i would likely say:

 

Mistrust everything anyone has ever told you about truth… and find out for yourself.

Go beyond the dead symbols that they provided; be intelligently empty, stay young, and don’t lose your innocence (as so many adults do).

Don’t just look through the screen of what was taught; use thoughts often, but go beyond them.

Love the whole and not merely a few isolated parts.

Let effortless silence be your oasis from internal patterns that were planted in you by others.

Help others (so-called other life forms) to go beyond suffering.

Help (and care for) Mother Earth; she is all we have, and many are making her sick.

Ask serious questions beyond merely comfortable answers.

Don’t be ordinary (even if it is more comfortable and easy to be ordinary).  

Never lose that youthful feeling of eternity (that most adults have lost long ago).

Perceive with (and “as”) dynamic emptiness without a mere center.

Look without mere separation between you and what is perceived.

Perceive with a warm heart, not merely (as so many do) with a cold mind.

 

Note:

[These are fish in a large pond in our area.  There is a small creek that flows into the pond, and the fish love to hang out by the mouth of the creek to get oncoming food and to enjoy the current.  I like how one of the fish — unique, with the purity of white on its head — in the top section of the video is (especially) enjoying a burst of water current, creating surface swirl!  There were many more fish than what is seen in the frame.]

Fish of Gold. Video by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Fish of Gold. Video by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

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Beyond the Sedentary Way

20 comments

 

Wonderfully then

                    came upon now

beyond images of “I”

                    beyond everything anyhow

 

Magically beyond wish

                    floated limitless dying

finishing dead symbols

                    in an alive not just trying

 

Sweetly far from measure

                    burst a timeless moving

not of stale thoughts

                    not of physic’s proving

 

Beyond the Sedentary Way. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Beyond the Sedentary Way. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Beyond the Sedentary Way. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Beyond the Sedentary Way. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

 

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Violence…

16 comments

 

When we are violent and mentally formulate an ideal of nonviolence, we set up an “idealistic image” for the center of self (which is itself an absorbed, learned image) to strive towards.  That “idealistic image,” being a fabricated construct of the brain, is a symbolic pattern that is not — much the same as the image of an isolated (controlling) center — real (other than being a fabrication of the mind).  It may be far more prudent to give attention to the actual violence as it is occurring (without merely looking at the violence with separation and imagery).  Then violence is not merely something that you have; it is what you actually are.  Then you are not separate from the violence.  Giving all of your energy to understand it may require that it be seen without a fallacious center trying to do something about it from a distance.  In this, there would be no distance of space, nor any distance of time; (there, in other words, would be no spatial distance between a fabricated “center or ego” and the violence… and there would be no psychological time for the fallacious “center” to “have” to try to get rid of the violence.)   Superfluous ideals of nonviolence need not (necessarily) be manufactured; if they were, they likely would create space, time, and conflict in the mind, sway attention from the actuality of violence, and would likely tend to support a false (isolated) center that focuses away from the learning, understanding, and true relationship regarding violence; a false center is (in itself) a form of violence; it is a man-made (isolated) image (that projects indifference, separation, and conflict).  

Instead of being aware of violence and deeply learning about it (and therefore fundamentally going beyond its many ways), merely mentally saying (with that old, procrastination trick) that one will be “better” in the future involves (the space of time).  The false center additionally forms (space) between itself and so-called others.  This space and the space of time (psychologically) are intrinsically the same in many respects.   Intentionally hurting so-called “other” life-forms is a form of violence.  Jealousy is a form of violence.  Envy is a form of violence.  Racial prejudice is a form of violence.  Indifference is a form of violence.  Violence exists in many formats.  If one fragment merely tries to get rid of another fragment (that is seen with separation)… then conflict continues (in one form or another) and the mind remains immersed in violence.  Most have no true relationship with others and no true relationship with violence; so the violence continues (in society) as it does.  

 

Eastern Amberwing. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Eastern Amberwing. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Eastern Amberwing. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Eastern Amberwing. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

 

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Holistic Mindfulness and Meditation

42 comments

***********  This writer would just like to say, “thank you!” to those of you who have been liking and/or commenting on my posts, while being open-minded about it.  Of course, to go beyond the superficial, one goes beyond my photos; we are well aware that many are merely satisfied with the photos; it’s not (fortunately) just about the photos.  A lot of what is written here, we know, is way beyond the norm; thank goodness for that!  Many of the best scientists have said that reality is likely way different than what we have been lead to believe up to this point… way different than what we can imagine.  (That is for sure!)  I am very appreciative of those of you who stick with this and continue to read, even though, at times, it must be very difficult to swallow or stomach.  I’ve always deeply cared about the truth, no matter how uncomfortable the answers may be, no matter what was revealed.  Those who do the same, this movement deeply admires.  (Truth is beautiful, and there are real treasures if one is open, independent, passionate, honest, and not afraid to go beyond the primitive, antiquated ways.)  Too many of us are like clay that (over time) hardens after it has been molded by (equally desiccated) others.  *************

Thinking — as a process — is fractional and sequential.  Thinking involves a sequential series of patterns; these patterns are always symbolic, limited, and (unless rare insight occurs, influencing them) merely dependent on banal, past memories and ordinary experiences.  Patterns, in a sequence, constitute time; thinking and time are not two separate things.  Experiencing, in most minds, is dictated — as to how it takes place and manifests — by implanted, past memories.  When, as it does with most people, a learned and supposed static self-image seems to be claiming (from a supposed psychological distance) to have control and be dominant over moving, rearranging, sequential, symbolic thought-patterns that thought/thinking considers such a self-center to have power over via managing and authoritatively manipulating… deception takes place.  If the supposed central image is not — in reality — central at all, and if it is merely another one of the images (which it is), then things are not as they appear and there must be a significant paradigm shift; otherwise, all kinds of misbehavior and distortion occurs.

A dominating center that — in reality — is not truly dominating and not, in any way, central… creates a tremendous amount of havoc for the (unfortunate) mind miseducated to contain (and “be”) such an array.  The havoc involved manifests as needless inner friction, inner conflict, fabricated space, needless dominancy, false glorification, and needless separation.  When one segment claims to be dominant and “in control” of other sections (from a fallacious distance)… inner tyranny, friction, struggle, and pseudo-power-control materialize; these often manifest (outwardly) as conflict, outward dominance, and violence in the external world.   Additionally, such a false center inevitably leads to the cultivation selfishness, jealousy,  and competition; it fosters inner self-aggrandizement, indifference, and isolation.  The supposed center is considered permanent, most important, and lasting, while the other thoughts and feelings are considered subservient, more or less temporary, and as something to be used.  Surgeries on the corpus callosum within the brain, resulting in two fields of consciousness, are indicative of the falsity of a permanent center.  Yet, psychiatrists and psychologists still promote antiquated methodologies which continue to constrain the mind into practices promoting a fallacious center.  

A true and intelligent paradigm shift would transcend these false bonds and conceitful ways.  A genuine, beautiful psychological transformation would occur when the mind acts — not merely reacts — as a whole without false separation and delusive, fallacious space.  Then, when reflection takes place, one is not something separate from the reflection; then, when compassion occurs, one is not something separate from compassion.  Since so many thoughts are fractional, limited symbols… the holistic mind would often intelligently go beyond them; the whole is more than the sum of the parts.  In this, no crude, dominating part would exist to stupefy, tyrannize, manipulate, or intervene.  In this lack of friction and loss of falsity are bliss and integrity.  In such wholeness, wisdom manifests, eternity manifests.   

Looking Downward (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Looking Downward (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Looking Downward (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Looking Downward (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

 

 

 

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When this What If…

15 comments

 

When this WHAT IF

                                                               rumin

8ed on what MIGHT BE,

a

                                            f

ear

interrupted and re

                        main

ed

as some

                                                        thing unpleasant

2 be elimin

                                                                    8ed

by what considered 

                      itself

2 besomewhat sepa

                                                         r8ed from the

f

                       ear

that thought thoughtithad

                                     & also con

sidered it

                                                 self

separatefrom(&controlling)

images projecting the

                                                                 possible future

&                                                                   also

separate from the

                                                                              whole of

                                                   time

toc

tic

Mommy Shortlegs. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Mommy Shortlegs. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Mommy Shortlegs. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Mommy Shortlegs. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

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Resting in the Holographic Universe…

16 comments

 

It is good to be proficient in life; it is good to be adept at getting things done (and then resting afterward).  Merely getting things done for oneself alone (or merely for some small, immediate family) may be rather small-minded and narrow in outlook.  Similarly, getting things done while concomitantly harming the environment may also be rather petty and narrow-minded.  A wise, highly aware, dynamic mind is compassionate, considerate, and does not put itself first.  It gets things done while loving the whole… not loving some silly little self-image or merely those who care for (and reward) that self-image.

Inner proficiency — in (and “as”) the mind — is to exist without needless conflict, without needless friction.  A mind full of limited, separative notions and perspectives (internally) is a jumble of friction, clutter, disorderliness, and disarray.  Such a disorderly mind will consist of many fractional images and ideals, all of which are limited, symbolic, partial, and which reinforce isolation and separation of a so-called “center” as being (supposedly) in charge of the “other” thoughts, (conflicting ideals and desires), and images.  When the mind is jealousy manifesting… jealousy is what you are; it is not something that some fictional center “is having.”  How can a learned — though fictional — and concocted center efficiently and proficiently get rid of the jealousy, when (all along) the center is an accumulated delusion whose very isolated manifestation supports feelings such as jealousy?  Inner separation and segregation extend from an internally disorderly mind into the outer world; indifference, conflict, hatred, jealousy, war, ruthless competition, and exploiting others are often results.

A beautiful mind of the humility of emptiness and of intelligent wholeness, with real inner order and with inner images in a harmonious relationship with each other, beyond delusion, will express itself in the external environment in ways that are cooperative, compassionate, considerate, wise, environmentally sound, empathic, and non-fragmentary.

Resting in the holographic universe. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Resting in the holographic universe. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Resting in the holographic universe. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Resting in the holographic universe. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Post

Meditation and Un

8 comments

 

Upon which this once became a twice

and twice became trillions

because why not and many so between

floating eternally silently divine

 

Happily nothing within when’s nowhere

devoid of stale musts rotten shoulds

placid endlessly wondering alive always

beyond savage ugly and hurtful war

 one little how. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

one little how. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 one little how. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

one little how. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

Post

Nothingness… mindfulness…

14 comments

 

Far too many of us are afraid of being nothing.  We do not like to dwell on the subject of death; we are terrified about death.  Of course, this posting does not appertain to trying to end oneself physically; doing so would be extremely foolish, irrational, and very non-harmonious.  Being nothing psychologically, however, is another thing completely.  Being nothing psychologically, at times, throughout the day and night, is prudent and sane.  Most of us, unfortunately, are in fear about being nothing psychologically (because of miseducation, lack of awareness, and dependency on superficial things and deceptive concepts).  

To be empty internally, devoid of effort and devoid of images and patterns of thought and thinking, frightens many people.  The main function of thoughts/thinking is to solve problems.  However, even when there are no problematic occurrences manifesting, most of us go on perpetually thinking anyway.  We are caught in the habit of thinking; we are the habit of thinking.  All thoughts, however, are mere fractional tokens or symbols for things.  As such, they are inherently rather metaphorical and emblematical and thus are rather stiff and bereft of real life… much like mere numbers or road signs.  Yet, because of the way we were miseducated, we cling to them and worship them.  Ironically, most of us cling to these stale (rather unalive) images, and we are afraid of letting them go.  Of course, thoughts are very necessary.  It is great to often use them sensibly and reasonably.  However, as we’ve said many times, they are merely tools.  Everlastingly clinging to stiff and lifeless symbols is not really “alive,” nor is it awake and dynamic in the profound sense.  Even when there are no problems, we fabricate problems.  Some of us will do anything to avoid emptiness and nothingness.  However, clinging to the limited is deceased in itself and is not real living.  (By the way, in physics, the emptiness or nothingness that exists — as empty space — is never merely just stagnant; it is full of fluctuating quantum fields, dark energy, and all kinds of dynamic activity.  The silent, empty mind, too, is tremendously dynamic in its own way.)

Psychological nothingness is not pettiness, is not smallness.  The truly empty mind is beyond the stale patterns concocted by man; that involves great intelligence.  Far too many are caught in (and “as”) those stale patterns (and forever remain there).  Psychological nothingness often goes beyond ordinary experience, because ordinary experience is merely recognition by the known.  The truly empty mind is not, even during the day, merely caught in perceiving through (and “as”) the old screen of accumulated patterns.  That old screen is largely of separation and conflict.  

Mayfly next to its empty exoskeleton. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Mayfly next to its empty exoskeleton. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Mayfly next to its empty exoskeleton.(2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Mayfly next to its empty exoskeleton.(2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Piggy

38 comments

 

When i first laid eyes on you

          it was love at first sight

Then i got to know you better and realized

          that we have so very much in common

You relish eating delectable meals

          (So do i)

You love to smell the nearby,splendid wildflowers

          (So do i)

You love the songs of the joyful,little birds early in the mornings

          (So do i)

You like to watch beautiful horses sprightly prancing around

          (So do i)

You love to roll around in the sweet,textured mud

          (So do i)      (Well,at least i did when i was your age)

You dislike being bossed,bullied,and pushed around by heartless people

          (Same for me)

As time went by,i became even more enamored with you

          Rumor had it,though,that you might be liquidated by carnivorous others

(That played heavy on my heart)        I was looking forward to seeing you again

          but not (being myself a long-term vegetarian) between

          someone else’s two slices of bread

It is a shame when others dismiss you as

          merely being a swine

We are all hoggish in our lives in

          one form or another

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

This poem is dedicated — with much respect and fondness —  to Jinx.  Jinx was a bus driver at the school for the multiply handicapped where i worked as a teacher.  In warm weather, i would often take my sack lunch to the beautiful river that was right on the school property… and eat my lunch on the banks, watching the river go by.  Jinx would often be there fishing during his lunch break; he would release any fish that he caught.  Jinx, when he found out that i was a vegetarian, told me that he had been the owner of a pig farm for many years.  Then, one day, he decided to give it all up, because it seemed wrong to be raising them for slaughter.  Jinx became a vegetarian.  Quite some time later, after i had switched over to another school, i found out that Jinx died.  Jinx was driving through Chicago.  He had seen a house on fire and heard screams from children inside the house.  Without hesitation, Jinx ran into the house in an attempt to rescue the children.  Jinx died in that fire.  He is a true hero (and he had real love).  

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24628983/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/smartest-animals/#.V6rBr5grKUk

Miss Piggy (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Miss Piggy (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Miss Piggy (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Miss Piggy (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

 

 

Post

Order of the mind…

18 comments

 

Order of the mind is a sane, truly intelligent person’s responsibility.  Real order involves integrity and purity.  How can the mind remain pure if it is merely sullied by the old-fangled values and archaic systems of the past?  One must have a clear, untarnished mind.  For that to occur, it may be that one’s mind must be open, young, and beyond mere influence.  Only profound silence beyond old systems and methods can do that.  That means not merely depending on others.  That means not merely depending on inner thoughts… that were likely implanted in one by (and “as”) others.  That means not merely depending upon time.  (Psychological and so-called spiritual methodologies — dreamed up by man — stem from the past and require time.)  Timelessness involves existing beyond one’s inner conditioning (a conditioning that is the accumulation and extension of the old patterns of others).  Most of us habitually depend upon others; most of us are afraid to stand empty, alone, and open.  “Standing alone” goes beyond psychological security and imitation.  Many go through life imitating and copying; fear has a lot to do with it.   For many, it is far easier to copy others and “go through the motions,” rather than to independently perceive and think for themselves.  (And their so-called leaders are often mentally unsound.)  Too many of us are second-hand human beings.

Real perception, empathy, and compassion, emanates from a superb, selfless mind that is beyond mere imitation and dependence.  Real compassion comes from the heart; it does not emerge from a robotic mind that merely imitates and follows orders.  In real compassion comes real action (not just reaction).  Reaction belongs to imitating, conditioning, and second-hand minds (many of whom are indifferent and puppet-like).

Red-Spotted Purple (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Red-Spotted Purple (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Red-Spotted Purple (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Red-Spotted Purple (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Upon this earth a here transpired…

23 comments

 

Upon this earth a here transpired

between all rabbits and everything inspired

 

Miraculous rambling after the tidings of dawn

beyond bourgeois commercials that boringly yawn

 

You’re not the world around you,you’ve learned assuredly

but seeing yourself apart perverts so luridly

 

To blossom past superficial darkness quite superb and transcendent

not the separative space of a shadowy pretendant

Part of the blossoming. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Part of the blossoming. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Part of the blossoming. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Part of the blossoming. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Post

We can blossom psychologically…

35 comments

 

Please don’t go through life merely sullied with the ideas, beliefs, and opinions of others (including what you may think mine might be).  Wash yourself clean of all the ideological debris and perspectives of others.  Otherwise, you may go through life contaminated, and the contaminated and mentally tarnished cannot see clearly (without distortion).  Most see with (and “as”) distortion, which may not really be seeing at all.

Some will agree with the aforementioned statements; then they will inevitably go on adhering to the patterns and edicts of others.  To perceive without contamination is an arduous thing; it may go way deeper than most of us (incorrectly) assume.  For instance, many of us assume that there is a central regulator or “I” (i.e., “me”) that is in “control” over our “internally possessed thoughts” and “internally acquired feelings.”  Few deeply and effortlessly realize that the “I” itself (along with concomitant feelings of “having” control) are (in themselves) no different than the other accumulated thoughts and feelings.   This “I” is often seen as separate from the so-called “other” psychological images observed; it is habitually viewed as being “in charge”; few (including many psychiatrists/psychologists) consider that the “I” is itself another one of the thoughts in a conditioned series.   Can one conditioned thought (psychologically separated… and projected as being different) truly be in control of the other conditioned thoughts?   Many of us consciously, or unconsciously, accept separation and conflict (as the internal norm)… and we inevitably exude this out into society (which ends up in conflict and disorder).  We can be better than the norm.  We can blossom with (and “as”) real understanding, real intelligence.

Cone Flower in the process of blossoming (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Cone Flower in the process of blossoming (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Cone Flower in the process of blossoming (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Cone Flower in the process of blossoming (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

Post

Butterfly Poesy…

24 comments

 

What is oneself?

          Is one a vibrant, compassionate movement involving wholeness and integrity?

Or is one a fractional collage of mundane symbols,

          stale ideas, and bourgeois reactions?

 

Is one a radiant, superb dynamic that exists as freshness and real change?…

          Or is one a secondhand repeater of stagnant thoughts

and antiquated ideas?

 

Is one free like a splendid, magnificent butterfly?…

          Or is one a jaded prisoner of static miseducation

and barbaric, indoctrinated values?

 

The listless chrysalis always bursts into gliding

           if it leaves the secure confinement

of its own limited space.

Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Post

Beyond being bourgeois…

28 comments

 

Love is not of limitation.  It is endless; as such it goes beyond the rather false boundaries concocted by man.  Too many of us exist — not wholly, not globally —  in fractional modes that inevitably contribute to friction, conflict, war and separation in the world.  Too many of us cling to separative religions, governmental groups, isolated (fictional, man-made) regions, and old, polluting routines and addictions (which we merely accept).  These things are an extension of our inner fractional and disjointed psychology.  Too many of us think that there is a separate center that is internally apart from what is perceived.  (A so-called separate center inevitably projects selfishness; it is folly and it is deception.)  Too many of us were miseducated and we apperceive and function through (and “as”) this separative miseducation.  This can change.  The world can become whole, safe, and clean.  For that to happen, each of us is responsible for getting the mind whole, safe, and clean.  Clean means unpolluted.

 

Damsel in distress (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Damsel in distress (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Damsel in distress (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Damsel in distress (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

Post

So many… dwelling in the past…

21 comments

 

A brain that is constantly and habitually churning along as symbolic thoughts and recalled patterns — as most brains, unfortunately, are — is a brain that may be (within its own superficial and limited framework) satisfied and content.  However, such a brain is always (in one form or another) an extension from (and “as”) the absorbed and learned past; being from the past, it always has (and is constituted of) elements of what is inherently old.  Be that constantly — if you wish — but be aware of the possibility that the past is usually rather stale, second-hand, and musty; it is not the fresh, new, spontaneous, living now.

The patterns of the past can help us, at times, to avoid danger and to get food, clothing, shelter (and health) in ways that are easier and proven to be fruitful.  However, to carry patterns of the past — reacting over and over again — in (and “as”) our minds, unceasingly, may not be prudent or “alive” in the least.  If you are a good (and sane) gardener, you don’t take the hoe into your living room at night and continue hoeing.  Similarly, a mind that uses thoughts (which are symbolic tools) endlessly — as so many foolishly do — is rather absurd.  It is ludicrous to be like a broken record, repeating things over and over (even if it is somewhat rearranged).  Who can profit from merely existing in the past?  No one can, and no one should.  Little wonder why so many get bored and need to go on finding exciting things “out there,” as if true happiness lies outside of oneself.

We can, not merely to get or attain anything, just be quiet — at times throughout the day or night — not needing to robotically (constantly) function as thoughts (all of which are merely symbols).  Then real, joyful, insightful life might actually happen, and not merely some old, stale representations and dead tokens from (and “as”) the past.   There is no legitimate technique or methodology to go beyond these thoughts; any technique or method is an extension of the absorbed patterns and — as such — is essentially fallacious.  

It's OK to be eating our day-lilies! (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

It’s OK to be eating our day-lilies! (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

It's OK to be eating our day-lilies! (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

It’s OK to be eating our day-lilies! (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

Post

Beyond time’s deception…

23 comments

 

When

                                                          magically

the

                          crisp breeze

of pink summer

eclipses all thoughts

                                                                                blossom

                                            beyond the deception of time

to where energy bursts

                                            without measure

and compassion gives

                                                                               a damn

Bursting (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Bursting (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Bursting (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Bursting (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Silence beyond mere thinking…

24 comments

 

When i was very young, in grade school, i — one day, without motive — went into a profound silence beyond thinking and had the insight that doing so was a wholly different, wonderful form of consciousness.  “Form,” in the aforementioned sentence, is rather misleading because going beyond thinking is of no real form or pattern, otherwise it is just standard “thinking.”  Back then i didn’t name this “meditation” or “mindfulness” or anything whatsoever because such words were — at such a young age — foreign to me.  I did have the insight that this is a “very special” way of being; it continued to take place on occasion now and then for a long time.  It was only later, in college, when one began seriously enquiring into the mind and into spirituality, that words for this (as inadequate as they are) began to take place.

Fortunately, when one was in high school, one became interested in hypnosis and self-hypnosis.  I was wise enough to realize the dangers and limitations of self-hypnosis and saw that it tended to constrain and curb the mind, keeping it in a narrow and circumscribed area.  While away at college, when attending yoga meditation events given by people from Asia — who claimed to be gurus offering special mantras — i quickly realized that this (i.e., what they were offering) involved (and was) a subtle form of self-hypnosis, which i did not wish to have anything to do with.   Anything you repeat over and over again to “get spirituality” is not legitimate as far as i am concerned.  Repeating a series of words, no matter how “special” they are claimed to be, is just rather mechanical and is a mesmerizing waste of time.  Even repeating silence, within (and “as”) the mind, to “get spirituality,” is also likely a big waste of time.  Grasping and effort never lead to true spirituality.  It is like trying to catch the wind.

Thoughts are always symbolic, always fractional and piecemeal.  The intelligent mind uses thoughts often, efficiently, and prudently.  Thoughts, all thoughts, however, are merely tools.  They are limited patterns and symbols to solve problems and to help one to function well in life.   Merely remaining as the tools, accepting them as the essence of what one is (as so many do), however, would be foolish.  Going beyond these tools, not merely to “get spiritual,” not to “get or attain anything,” may be a sagacious, brilliant way of functioning.  Then silence is silence (not “for” something); it is beautifully what it is without ulterior motives or aspirations.  Then one does not fabricate mere outer or inner symbols into what one calls “spiritual”; deception is unlikely for a mind of true insight, true silence.  Thoughts, for so many of us, are like habitual repetitions… not, in actuality, so very different from what self-hypnosis entails.   The wise mind goes beyond this circumscribed (hemmed in) state of unbeing.   

Ready to launch (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Ready to launch (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Ready to launch (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Ready to launch (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Post

Beyond the intelligence of ignorance…

19 comments

 

Fragmentation

                        is the scientists’ piecemeal 

way of ripping everything

a

     p

          a

               r

                    t

        to perhaps \mathbf{j} = \frac{-i\hbar}{2m}\left(\Psi^* \nabla \Psi - \Psi \nabla \Psi^*\right) = \frac\hbar m \mathrm{Im}(\Psi^*\nabla\Psi)=\mathrm{Re}(\Psi^* \frac{\hbar}{im} \nabla \Psi)one day understand everything.

The true wise man,however,abandons

                   chopping things up,abandons dissecting things

little by little.

The wise man clearly sees beyond the bits and segments

         because his consciousness is devoid of mere bits and segments.

That is why he timelessly understands the whole better

         than any sequential calculation wearing thick glasses.

In flight (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

In flight (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

In flight (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

In flight (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

Post

Tiny Houses Are Getting Popular!…

18 comments

 

Let us keep things small and simple and be excellent parents, and let’s make our house accessible to easy landings.  

                Let us hire little, though vigilant, Hackberry butterfly guards to alert us to any imminent dangers.

Let us not pontificate over nature with many fossil-fueled vacations and selfish excursions. 

                Let us go green locally as a new way of being (which transcends indifference).

We cannot renounce nature’s fragility;

                we are part of it.

Of Butterflies on Birdhouses. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Of Butterflies on Birdhouses. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Tiny Houses Rock! Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Tiny Houses Rock! Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Being and Becoming…

17 comments

 

In talking or writing about mindfulness and meditation, many will give you techniques and things to practice to get to a certain point.  However, real mindfulness, wisdom, and meditation may not (by any means whatsoever) be what can be attained through practicing or through following methods laid out by others.  Wholeness is not at some point; it is everywhere and nowhere.  Taking a route to it is like following a road to the totally pathless, which is ludicrous.   (It’s like trying to measure the immeasurable, like so many so-called scientists are trying to do!)  Related to this is that being and becoming are essentially the same thing.  “Being,” as does “becoming,” reinforces the self, the center, with its dependence on sensations, pleasure, and time.  The intelligent mind does not try to be in a state of being, try to be what is non-becoming, nor try to be in a state of non-being.  Such trying would be a further extension of becoming and would reinforce the self and its dependence upon time.  In not trying to be or not be… the mind may naturally blossom as what is beyond dependence and measurement.  The measureless is timeless; a point in time is always limited.  A natural mind can intelligently use experience when necessary and may go beyond it without striving to become or be anything.

 

[Firefly on window, checking us out!]

Firefly on window, checking us out! It's that time of year here! Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Firefly on window, checking us out! It’s that time of year here! Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Regarding doubt…

16 comments

 

Many religious organizations do not want you to have doubt.  They want you to be firmly fixed in what they furnish.  What they furnish is fixed and they don’t want you to waver from it.  Propagandists do not want you to waver from rigid frameworks.  Many of us were taught not to doubt.  We were instructed, directly or indirectly, to adhere to set patterns without question.  We were taught that that is what keeps us safe and secure.

Doubt — wonderful, dynamic, alive doubt — is not rigid like a dead rock.  It involves a living, enquiring mind that intelligently perceives without merely clinging to the apron-strings of past patterns.  If you are of a wisdom that intelligently doubts, then you might not be safe and might not be properly valued by others (in their set groups and ways); they might despise you or even hate you.  Depth cannot be discovered by clinging to the superficial.  The dry, rigid rocks and shallows might appear to be safe, but they are not where the electric, profound, alive secrets dwell.  Many look at things through what they accepted, which may not really be looking much at all.  When you look only with (and from) what you’ve been taught, you may not be perceiving much at all; it may then be others’ reactions of the past… that is looking… not you.

To a young person, one would say that it is prudent to question things wisely and intelligently.  Don’t, within reason, accept what anyone says is true; find out for yourself.  In that movement to “find out,” the instrument of the mind must be precise, must not be jaded by others, must not be contaminated by others.  Therefore, understanding the instrument and keeping it pristine and uncontaminated may be of the utmost importance.  Only a dynamic, pure instrument perceives without distortion.  Symbols are second-hand and synthesized; they may have little to do with pure observing in the deepest sense.  Most look through (and “as”) the symbols (e.g., words, patterns, and images) that they accepted and absorbed from others.  The symbol is never the actuality; it is a second-hand post-impression.

Crab Spider with Fly in Rose Flower.  Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Crab Spider with Fly in Rose Flower. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Post

Understanding is not a possession…

16 comments

 

When laziness happens, laziness is not what you have…

          laziness is what you are.

When indifference happens, indifference is not what you have…

          indifference is what you are.

When anger happens, anger is not what you have…

          anger is what you are.

When distortion looks…

          distortion is what is seen.

When fear happens, fear is not what you have…

          fear is what you are.

When compassion happens, compassion is not what you have…

          compassion is what you are.

When understanding happens, understanding is not what you have…

          understanding is what you are.

When recognition happens, recognition is not what you have…

          recognition is what you are.

When wisdom happens, wisdom is not what you have…

          wisdom is what you are.

Bellis Perennial. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Bellis Perennial. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Bellis Perennial... Through the Looking Glass Version.  (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Bellis Perennial… Through the Looking Glass Version. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

 

Post

Poem to a wild bird…

42 comments

 

We all cling to something

      You cling to part of an old white birch tree

Some of us cling to corrupt politicians who promise sunny heaven

      while connivingly making shady deals under the table

 

I’d rather cling to a simple old white birch

      and then soar joyfully through the vast wondrous sky

rather than grasp onto what driveling babbling politicians say

      I’d rather fly free into that wordless timeless immensity

Redpoll Finch. Video by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Redpoll Finch. Video by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Post

Fearlessness

18 comments

 

To be valiant, to be courageous in the deepest sense, may not involve merely following orders as part of some mechanized, calculated structure.  Instead, it involves the deep and profound freedom of standing alone, away from all of the contrived patterns of others, away from all of the concocted and separative systems promising security.   To truly — not feigningly — go beyond the ego (i.e., the central self or “I”) involves vast courage and penetrating insight from a realm of freedom.  A mere follower cannot — and will not — do it.  Too many of us run and cling to our little structures that we have absorbed and learned from others, without ever standing alone while seeing and thinking about things deeply for ourselves.  It is easy to be told what to do; it is easy to be influenced by commercials, by propaganda, by so-called authorities, by words.  

The mind can go beyond them.  The mind can go beyond the ego and the so-called central controller or central self.  The mind can go beyond what merely clings to one experience after another.  The fearful, afraid mind will not care — among its modes of indifference and of being frightened — to have anything to do with this to any significant extent.   When an experience or when fear occurs, the mind is not merely separate from the experience or from the fear.  Freedom is in neither.  Both are inexorably limited.

Ailanthus. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Ailanthus. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Ailanthus. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Ailanthus. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

Post

Pain…

33 comments

 

Most of us avoid and run from pain.  Our habit, as we were taught, is to run from pain and to seek pleasure.  Most of us accept this as the way to react and perform.  Commercials add to this tendency of ours, portraying pain as something horrible to avoid; additionally, they tempt us to go after exotic vacations, possessions, and fancy (though polluting) automobiles.  The relationship that a truly intelligent and wise mind has to pain may be quite different than the relationship that most people have (or do not have) with pain.  As long as it is not too unbearably intense, the intelligent mind may not merely detest it, avoid it, and flee from it.  The intelligent mind doesn’t come to pain with all of the prejudices, judgements, and ingrained reactions that so many face pain with.  Similarly, the intelligent mind doesn’t just approach certain races, ethnic groups, and certain classes of people with (and through) all kinds of preconditioned prejudices and judgements; they are seen simply as they are (without a mere separative viewpoint).  There is much beauty in that; even pain can — and often does — have elements of beauty to it if one looks without mere condemnation.   One can come to terms with pain in an intelligent, harmonious way.

We avoid pain so readily, so quickly, so mechanically.  Avoiding pain goes back eons into our evolutionary past and does have its place.  However, remaining in thought — and the limited (which is what thought is) — as so many of us inevitably do, is (in a big way) a real form of suffering and pain.  It is like a man clinging to shadows and wholeheartedly taking the shadows to be what reality truly is.  It is also like an organism taking a mere tool to be the essence of what it is.  Very many of us cling to concepts, mental images, beliefs, and to our authoritarian leaders (who themselves are as lost as we are).  So many of us have a central authoritarian leader whom we each call “me” or “I.”  Yet this so-called central figure (purporting to be some sort of central authority) is what was conditioned into us (from others with the same syndrome); we continue, day in and day out, to look at the world with separation (yet we think we are healthy).  Distortion isn’t healthy.  Even though it may claim to be fine, it causes suffering and causes havoc in the world (directly or indirectly).  You can’t intelligently come to terms with pain if there is not proper relationship to it and to other aspects of life, both psychologically and physically.  When one is separate from what is experienced or thought, then fear, distortion, and suffering take place.  (Very many think that they are separate from their thoughts, fears, and from others who are suffering.)  When the mind acts without mere dependency upon what others have taught, then physical pain (personally) isn’t always so bad; and then the mind isn’t merely immersed in the pool of psychological suffering that so many accept as normal.  Such a mind transcends (and helps to transcend) suffering.  Such a mind doesn’t mind undergoing a lot of pain and discomfort (and lack of pleasure) in order to help others.  Compassion negates pain (not necessarily in one’s so-called personal self).  If wholeness and integrity aren’t there — they’re not two separate things, by the way — neither is true joy, deep intelligence, and profound bliss.

Feeling Slowly.(1)  Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Feeling Slowly.(1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Feeling Slowly (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Feeling Slowly (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Butterfly Answers

15 comments

 

Wherefore we alight upon these mineraled grounds

                    far from the dainty blossoming stores

with their nectar prizes all too pure and sugary seeded?

 

To extract something tangible and something intangible

                    must occur together as a unified whole

in and out of the recurrent clockwork of time that was needed.

The Cabbage Butterfly Club. Video by Thomas Peace c. 2016

The Cabbage Butterfly Club. Video by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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All the world’s a stage…

16 comments

 

“All the world’s a stage,” wrote William Shakespeare in “As You Like It.”  That stage, too, is the mind and the perceptions of (and “as”) the mind.  Whatever characters — as the thoughts and mental images of the mind — that make an appearance on that stage are inevitably what was absorbed from imitating others or from copying and taking mental snapshots of the external world.  How these snapshots were taken and how they become rearranged, recognized, and recalled in (and “as”) consciousness has always involved learned and inherited processes.  Snapshots and thoughts are of a partial, piecemeal, fragmentary nature; they are never the complete essence of that which they try to capture.  The usage of supposed volition regarding the manipulation of these thoughts and images is itself sketchy and quite questionable, since — if truly intelligent observation is taking place — the “I” or supposed center that is allegedly manipulating is likely itself another specimen of the learned (sequential) images or thoughts.  Mentally, whatever appears upon the stage (of consciousness) is fundamentally old and of the past; this is because it comes from stored memory (which is always of the accumulated past).  Most of us are mentally existing as these images and thoughts (brought out and rearranged) from the past.  Most of us are living in the past.  

That stage — of consciousness — can exist (some of the time, anyway) without the components of the past making their appearance upon it.  Then there is no spurious volition; then there are no obtrusions from (and “as”) the past… neither in the form of thought-oriented symbols nor imagined visual (or auditory) snapshots.  Technique and practice have nothing to do with this, as techniques and practices are all extensions of the old, dead past.  Then the stage is not the same-old stage anymore.  

When the stage is truly empty naturally and intelligently, without having willed anything, or thought anything, or practiced anything, then it may be beyond the concocted, the old past, the symbolic, and the partial.  When that takes place, the stage is not of mere experience, partial images, learned symbols, and jaded characters.  You know, a limited little stage, with superficial dimensions, is what anyone can recognize and fill with the old and ordinary.  However, a living, dynamic, whole, uncorrupt, limitless (immeasurable) stage is another thing altogether.  Such a stage (in life) is beyond measurement by the antiquated patterns of the hoarded past.  

The learned image of self (or “me”) creates an intrinsic radius (from a center) and a circumference around itself… with limited space between what is considered the central “me” and that which is observed.  It is this learned image and absorbed space that helps manufacture a stage of limitation.  Such a stage,  with its concocted (or learned) center and a radius and circumference, is full of absorbed demarcations/boundaries.   Compassion can take place when the falsity of that stage is wisely perceived.   Such compassion involves eternity; it goes beyond the many limitations.  If it is not perceived with (and “as”) wholeness and integrity then there will not be much compassion.  There is no wholeness in a limited, false center (thinking that it is the center of the stage); such a center is partial and learned; neither does the limitless (which is not something that can merely be learned) manifest for such a center.

Two Together. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Two Together. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Regarding boredom…

15 comments

 

Boredom never occurs to the mind that is without a spurious, central regulator that is always dependent upon experience.  If the mind is its own energy it does not always have to depend upon outside patterns of energy to function joyfully.  So many depend on outside influences, outside patterns and forms.  Often they internalize these patterns and forms and merely look with the accumulated remembrances of these.  So many depend on internal influences, internal patterns and forms. However, a mind that often looks without merely accumulating, without merely storing patterns and attributes… may perceive freshly and joyfully without the dead and dusty past.  When the mind is fresh it renews itself from moment to moment, beyond mere accumulation and storing.  Without being dependent upon experiences at all times, it may enjoy experiences, but it often goes beyond them.  Then boredom rarely or never sets in.  If there is no false center to be entertained, then the mind is free of a learned center that was accumulated from others; such a mind may also be free of many other types of accumulated patterns, forms, and images (oftentimes). For instance, when perception of a creature takes place, it need not merely label it and look at it with a sense of separation.  Or if it does label it, there is a “going beyond the label,” and the animal is seen without merely pigeonholing it, categorizing it, and looking at it from a separative stance.   Such a mind is free to be fresh and uncontaminated, without the stale past and stored symbols.  Boredom is not freedom.

Well, I Toad You So! Video by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Well, I Toad You So! Video by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

 

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So many are seeing (and being) the same old things…

21 comments

 

We talk to ourselves internally all of the time; most of us do this most of the time.  Most of us delineate and interpret the phenomena of the world through words and learned images.  Words are the modus operandi by which and through which most of our minds function.  We recognize the world’s phenomena by words, patterns, and images which we have absorbed from others.  We continue to categorize and measure via learned words; we are not separate from what these patterns of words are, though we think (as we were told) that we (from some kind of internal distance) “use” them.   All words are symbolic.

Divinity itself is even promised by others via words.  They tell you to read and believe in a certain book, or system, or series of stories; then, so they say, you will come closer to the divine.  Some will even claim to give you what can reach the divine (by way of repeating certain special words or mantras over and over again).  

It’s all too easy to follow and cling to the words of others (especially when they promise to give you something fantastic, just like so many politicians do).  It is easy because each of us clings to words repetitiously (as a habit) day in and day out.  What isn’t easy — what is arduous and what is rarely done by anyone in this violent, chaotic world of ours — is to understand one’s mind (from moment to moment) throughout the day, without merely being dependent upon symbols, images, separation, judgement, conflict, control, and what was absorbed from others.

Unfurling (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Unfurling (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Unfurling (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Unfurling (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Elusive Peace…

26 comments

 

If we sincerely wish to be truly peaceful and help the world go beyond the conflict that tears people apart, then it would be prudent to exist as that which does not contribute to much of the separation and conflict.  It would be wise to be a global citizen, not a mere adherent to a particular political party, country, or race.   This isn’t anarchy here; it is intelligently working together as one, beyond all of the insane, disconnected nonsense.  It would also be foresighted and very thoughtful to not belong to an organized religious structure, with its own separate set of dogmas, beliefs, and hierarchical systems.  It is separative countries, traditions, organized religions, and beliefs that have largely contributed to wars and friction between people.  This is no small matter; people die over this stuff; young people die.  If we could come together, just as friends, putting away the absorbed patterns that cause so much of the friction, maybe that would be the start of truly being spiritual.  However, so many refuse to let go of the inherited patterns and traditions that they cling to.  If that would change, and if they would perceive and care instead of repeat and belong… we would have a planet with much less bloodshed.  So many of us were brainwashed into thinking that belonging to things gives us security; however, real global security, ironically, comes when man transcends belonging to systems that separate and cause friction.

White-breasted Nuthatch. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

White-breasted Nuthatch. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

 

 

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The red and yellow of it…

23 comments

 

beyond the gobbledygook of politicians
and a mad society’s derelictions
beyond the divisive multiplicity
exists a yellow, whole, and naturally red simplicity

not bamboozled by their hateful despair 
we won’t feed our youth to constant warfare
we’ll cherish love despite the bureaucrats
as we disappear from their gray caveats

Explosion in Spring. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Explosion in Spring. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 Explosion in Spring. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Explosion in Spring. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

 

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Beyond limited space…

13 comments

There is space between what is seen outwardly (i.e., there in the outer environment) and — for most of us — there is space between what is considered the central controller (i.e., the “I”) and the other (controlled) thoughts.  It may be, however, that there is no space between the so-called central controller and the other thoughts whatsoever.  Correct perception would be the thoughts or images of the mind (including the thought of “I”) without the imagined space (of using them at a distance) that most people have (and “are”).  A mind with less self-deception would function more accurately with less friction and conflict than would a mind full of falsities and concocted limited space.  Asserting power and domination (inwardly), when it really isn’t there, may be one of the reasons why people assert power outwardly, trying to dominate over others (or other life forms) while not perceiving their true relationship with them.  True relationship, which often involves real compassion, insight, and holistic seeing, is what negates limited space and superficial domination.  So many of us extend outwardly what we are inwardly.  So many of us take this inward separation, domination, and limited space and (also) utilize it to look outwardly.  Indifference is often what then occurs.   All thought is limited, but thinking that one is something separate from thought (controlling it) from some sort of inward distance… is much more limited.

Instead, we can transcend inner (false) conflict, transcend separation (that really isn’t there if one sees accurately) and go beyond mere domination and isolation.  We can tear down the walls that separate and divide us.  We cannot do that fully, however, unless we go beyond our primitive inner separations and fragmentary ways.  We can do this.  There is something magical and whole beyond limited inner and outer perspectives, beyond mere (absorbed) limited space and conflict.  

Spring flowing. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Spring flowing. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Limited space…

12 comments

 

You need space (don’t you?)  to discover “exciting 
things” out there 
(out there apart from what you are)

There’s only one problem with that
that they didn’t teach you
… which is:
Such space is always limited
and a mind that merely depends
on that limitation
is always limited

A mind that sagaciously goes beyond
such limited space
dies to limitation
and (in such psychological dying)
lives in (and “as”)
a boundless realm
beyond the isolation of
symbolic words, egotistical centers,
habitual cravings, and restricted beliefs

Mostpeople depend on limitation
and are that limitation
And there is nothing perceived
apart from what you are

Limited Space (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Limited Space (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Limited Space (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Limited Space (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

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When we think that the “perceiver” is truly separate from “the perceived”…

22 comments

“And what the dead had no speech for, when living,
They can tell you, being dead: the communication
Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.”
— T.S. Eliot

Excerpt from my book, which includes, just as it does within the book, another one of the many poems, by famous poets (who are deceased), that seem to help corroborate what i write about:

 

   When we think that we are different and separate from our environment, we are wrong.  When we think that we are better than those around us, we are wrong.  When we think that we are special and that the others are not so special, we are wrong.  When we think that we are not so special, as the lucky ones are, we are wrong.  When we think that our skin is of the “better color,” we are wrong.  When we think that our country or religious organization is better, we are wrong.  When we think that fear is separate from what thought/thinking is, we are wrong.  When we think that cruel greed and indifferent selfishness can “get away with it” and exist in deep happiness, we are wrong.  When we think that the left arm that harms the right arm can truly be triumphant, we are wrong.  When we laugh at the dog that chases its own tail, yet (we) endlessly seek pleasure from one amusement after another, we are wrong.  When we think that silence, vast space, and quietness are merely barren voids of lifelessness, we are wrong.  When we think that life, sunlight, gravity, and space are all mere coincidences that will never happen again, we are wrong.  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.

 

from Walt Whitman:

 

     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.

Clearly beautiful. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Clearly beautiful. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Beyond a Broken Mind…

32 comments

“And what the dead had no speech for, when living,
They can tell you, being dead: the communication
Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.”  — T.S. Eliot

Excerpt from my book, which includes, just as it does within the book, another one of the many poems, by famous poets (who are deceased), that seem to help corroborate what i write about:

   The “I” that says it sees the “trees” is a manmade, fabricated symbol that is unnecessary; it can be referred to if it represents the whole; however, if reference to it involves positing that the perceiver is something separate from the perceived, then miscalculation and error have taken place.  The patterns that one perceives are the patterns that one is; such patterns compose and constitute consciousness.  Without such patterns, ordinary consciousness is not possible.  If one is supremely intelligent, one can be a mind that does not merely depend on patterns, at all times, in order to healthily function.  Such a mind can function as an immense, quiet stillness that is beyond the mechanizations of patterns and attributes; but even this goes only so far and, to remain healthy, the mind must often look at trees, rivers, and other wonderful, flowing manifestations of the earth.  It must look at them without separation.

   To go beyond the confines of limited patterns, one must first realize that one’s consciousness is not at all separate from the patterns and images that it perceives and functions as.  In other words, if one observes things merely via conflict and miscalculated separations, one is then observing with great error.  Such error often merely sees itself as separate from the patterns and conflict that compose what it is.  If one’s erroneous observations are a millstone around one’s neck, how can such a one have the energy to transcend into a vast, intelligent, placid stillness that is open to the possibility of visitation from the immeasurable benediction of what is truly sacred?  A broken mind, full of separation, would be incapable of moving beyond its dead borders that separate it from everything else.

 

from Wallace Stevens:

 

                  THEORY

 

I am what is around me.

Women understand this.
One is not duchess
A hundred yards from a carriage.

These, then are portraits:
A black vestibule;
A high bed sheltered by curtains.

These are merely instances.

Beeing us. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Beeing us. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Beeing us. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Beeing us. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

 

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Shorties…

32 comments

 

Foolish people eat unhealthy foods and swallow foolish thoughts.  The wise man is beyond such indelicacies.

True meditation is beyond will and methods.  You can’t, in a mental framework of conditioning, make meditation happen any more than you can make God come to you in enlightenment.

Profound awareness goes beyond the separation between the perceiver and the images perceived.

Except for moments of pristine insight, every thought (including the thought of “I”) is a conditioned response reaction.

Perception merely through the mental screen of learned and absorbed thoughts and images isn’t really much perception at all.

Most think way more than they feel.  It is best the other way around!

The historical Christ was killed because he didn’t follow hierarchical orthodoxy… and now, many hundreds of years later, orthodoxy claims him as their own.

The purpose of life is not merely to feel good but to make a meaningful difference in this world.

How can you be free and perceptive if you are behind the gilded cage bars made of rigid beliefs and fabrications?

Nothing you can accumulate in your lifetime is worth the price of your integrity.

Reaching Still. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Reaching Still. (1) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Reaching Still. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Reaching Still. (2) Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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The Ubiquitous Chord of Everything…

18 comments

 

The ubiquitous ChordofEverything

           u

                 n

                     f

                          o

                       l

                 d

                   Ed to play parts of itself in          s

                                                                    e

                                                       l

                                         a

                            c

              s 

Some facets(of the music relayed)turned out to be dancing and whales

 

Also,the ensemble included 

       yew and eye

gliding butterfly beauties and malodorous turds

and the insightful sagacity of existing beyond merely symbolic words

 yew and eye. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

yew and eye. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

 

 

 

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Joy Natural

39 comments

 

Truly seeing nature’s profound beauty requires a living, dynamic perception.  Some people walk right past nature — or are indifferent to nature — hardly giving her any attention or deep appreciation. Nature’s beauty includes natural competition, cooperation, violence, stalking prey, compassion, fear, love, territorial friction, sharing, and tenderness.  It also includes the simple yet profound action of being.  Most animals have a deep joy, just to be living as they are, just to be existing as they do.  Many animals go through many of the same things we do, although without a lot of the symbolic abstractions and complexities.   Animals truly value their lives as precious… same as we do.

Elemental nature, on its own, survives quite well and does great without human intervention.   If you are truly innocent — like a simple butterfly or bee that functions true to its basic, eternally flowing, elemental nature — the mystery of the universe will come to you (and pursue you); you won’t have to seek it.  If one is wise, one can naturally, without drugs, be of a natural innocence that lives in great joy and beauty each and every day.  There is an eternity in such joy and beauty.  Profound perception in life reflects immortality… otherwise, it is limited vaporousness.

Sulphur. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Sulphur. Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

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Froggie

19 comments

 

When)you croaked I cried for days

                   (four days)

Then eye saw hop

        splash

                                       jump

                                                                   slurp

moths dis

                                   appearing

(a peering here and there)

and then(Suddenly)                  I kicked the bucket

                                                                                                     Some folks wept

(it is useful for hauling

                             things         like

                             leaves and

                             sticks

and wasted t

                            e

                               a

                                   r

                             s

Froggie (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Froggie (1). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Froggie (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016

Froggie (2). Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2016