Born Of The Green
The green, earth as it may be remembered, mother to every creature born, without exception. So why do we think we are the exception, that we can ruin the nature for a profit?
We separate ourselves from nature and call it progress. But what is it progress from or to? From the simplicity of being content in nature, to a future imaginary world that only makes the present unreachable.
I’ve lived long enough to have involved myself in the delicious addiction to minding, as thinking and emotion sustaining a ‘way of life’, to have come to know it as nothing more than the pain of separation from the simplicity of being content now.
And now there is only one concern, one purpose, to live long enough to love enough to not have to do it again – live this life of progression from one self generated delusion to the next, one insane mental construct that only serves to divide, until it serves, as it does. To know love enough.
Look around, the world is going to hell, the world is hell and madmen are in charge. Seeing it is hell reveals the beginning of heaven, separating from the madness, and it is not up or over ‘there’.
Enough experience will do that, especially if you live long enough to get old and ill while retaining a sense of equilibrium throughout, regardless …
There’s got to be less, or other, than this …
© Mark Berkery ……. Click the pix for a closer look
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Nature's Place 
“Unless we live with non-violence and reverence for all living beings in our hearts, all our humaneness and acts of goodness, all our vows, virtues, and knowledge, all our practices to give up greed and acquisitiveness are meaningless and useless.” “He who harms animals has not understood or renounced deeds of sin… Those whose minds are at peace and who are free from passions do not desire to live at the expense of others.” – Mahavira
“To meditate for world peace, to pray for a better world, and to work for social justice and environmental protection while continuing to purchase the flesh, milk, and eggs of horribly abused animals exposes a disconnect that is so fundamental that it renders our efforts absurd, hypocritical, and doomed to certain failure.” – Will Tuttle
“All beings tremble before violence. All fear death. All love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?”-Buddha
There can be wisdom in words, and they serve in their time and place, no doubt – to aim the attention and pare distractions. But you won’t find truth in quotes, only in your own experience. And, regardless, you’ve got to do what you do. Without self judgement, or you’ll never get through.
thanks Mark-i think all 3 quotes are in essence saying the same thing. it is one thing to talk about peace, love, compassion and non-violence but quite another to actually live them. as Gandhi said, “The most violent weapon on earth is the table fork.”
The most violent weapon on earth is man’s mind.
Mark,
i believe Gandhi was speaking of the physical aspect in regards to weapons and also alluding to the fact that FAR more violence and suffering are caused by our taste preferences than all the other forms of violence and exploitation combined. the root cause, is of course the illusion of duality and this is seen most severely when it comes to the false separation between human animals and non-human animals.
Is there a physical aspect without the mental, and the psychic? Which comes first is the point, because if you don’t deal with cause you won’t change effect. And is every body not subject to the same pressures, to varying degrees, until freed of them, by grace? There is terrible cruelty in our world but I don’t think eating is at its root, though it can be an expression of it.
Emotion is at its root. That almost irresistible psychic seduction or possession that everyone thinks of as natural. It’s surely normal but whether it’s the ‘nice’ or the ‘nasty’ it leads to identification that is partial and so conflicted – with other partial id-entities. There is only other people, or more really self divided into right and wrong, good and bad, to be in conflict with.
People speak honeyed words describing the problem they see, but is anyone offering a solution? I don’t see it, except you have to start with the fact of things as they are. You have to do as you do, until you do something different. And at some point you have to make the effort to dis-identify with any psychological position if you are not to cause more conflict, whether it is a ‘good’ position or a ‘bad’ one.
The new is born on the ashes of the old. It’s always been that way and I don’t see it changing. Do you think violence can be stopped where it begins, inside?
Wonderful photos. You really got some good depth of field in the first one considering the angle.
Thanks David. If you look close you can see the ‘acceptable’ focus begins on the nearest point of the beetles body/face (they are in line and parallel to the plane of the sensor) and progresses back over it until it becomes out of (or ‘unacceptable’) focus. That’s making use of the full available dof. Way to go … :-)
Like the deep time that allowed all these marvels to evolve, I think most minds simply can’t grasp how many of the marvels are being snuffed out every day. It’s hard not to despair.
Don’t despair. The earth doesn’t want that, and it can eventually shrug off anything we can throw at it – it’s still ‘bigger’ than us. See the fact, do what you are moved to, or not, and live your life enjoying the sensible earth, as much as possible without stress. Relaxed is the natural state. That’s my truth anyway … :-)
Wonderful photographs.
Thanks Victor …
I wonder, do you have to grow old to appreciate these truths? If this is true, I see no remedy. Amelia
Hi Amelia. In my experience truth/s can be appreciated, or known, from a very early age but to realise truth is another matter, requiring the living of the known truth – what you know as your truth. The known truth must be lived to be realised, made more real. Thing is, it’s not possible, or easy, to give up what is not the truth, not the good, until that ignorance turns to pain or one is otherwise graced with that freedom of will. This ignorance is the original seduction from the garden of peace (Eden), the knowing of good and bad, right and wrong which we must pass through until it is seen to be just a matter of position that forever changes, and is never ending except by this realisation. Have you ever noticed, when you have really had enough of something that’s not good in your life it changes? Change goes on like this until I see I am not what changes. And what never changes? That’s the question … and it, the sometimes imperceptible, can be realised once it is known and lived enough.
I had never thought about the changes until now but you are right.
Great words and photos. It’s ‘funny’, wether you do macro’s or the universe, the result is the same, we live on a ‘pale blue dot’ (Earth from Voyager 1, more than 30 years ago, quote by Carl Sagan).
Thanks AP …
Yes, everything can be macro’d for perspective. Actually, the only ‘universe’ we know is our immediate sensible environment. Reasonably, because of global communications, we can extend that planet-wide. And along with the expansion of our personal world goes the expansion of everything else that is promoted or acknowledged. So it comes back to the individual, what I put out there, what I am grows.
I think we are both on the same wave length, I’ve come to believe “the meek shall inherit the earth” and that has absolutely no religious connotation for me. Your photos are great, of course!
The unmad shall … :-)
Because the earth is more than the appearance of it and the mad may not enter here, to the beauty.
Thanks Mac.
Terrific close-up.
Thanks Jane …
I Just Love These Eye popping images.
Shine On
Thanks Julie …
Shine on …