Buddhaās Truths apply to all Earthās creatures, although only humans need to have truth verbalized. Our need to have truth put into words is symptomatic of something we feel missing. Considering which of these deep truths pertain to all life forms helps them feel more real and inclusive. The First Noble Truth is the existence […]
Continue reading…fear
Who are you? (Part IV)
The social qualities present during our ancestral hunter-gatherer era (1) just happen to parallel the core spiritual qualities that the worldās religions promote. Thatās no coincidence. Indeed, those innate qualities of harmony we now seek are the very ones we lost when we left the old way for the alluring material benefits and security civilization […]
Continue reading…“Right state of peaceful mind”
While living in Thailand in the early 1960ās, I bought a book on Buddha published by the Buddhist Society of Ceylon, as I recall. Recently I wanted to find a copy. I finally found a translation by Paul Carus, The Gospel of Buddha Paperback, that matched my version of Buddhaās four noble truths word-for-word so […]
Continue reading…Fear & Need Born in Nothing
Fear and need are the primal life forces underlying many of my observations. I know this basis often raises more questions than it answers, so clarification is in order. Not that I havenāt tried beforeā¦ see Fear is the Bottom Line, p.139 and What are the roots of thought? p.602. Well, third timeās a charm, […]
Continue reading…Cultivating Character
I find some people in Taoist circles have passionate ideals about cultivating character. Seen from a symptoms point of view, passion arises from fearāthe mother of need. The visceral fear arising from feeling one has little control over life drives a need to do somethingā¦ like cultivate character. Chapter 54 has the only reference relating […]
Continue reading…Of Mountains, Molehills and the Supernatural
Iāve noticed how we humans appear to have a nearly universal sense of the supernatural. Now, I know devotees of science and atheists might dispute that, at least as far as universal applies to them. Theyāll claim they donāt believe in the supernatural. Fair enough, so let me rephrase this… The supernatural sense is essentially […]
Continue reading…Loss Aversion Management
Recent research reveals how we canāt help but shoot ourselves in the foot. When I look around, I see our aversion to loss influencing just about everything we do, albeit often in very subtle ways. The innate emotional aversion to loss, when reinforced by thought, traps us even more. Iām going to explore this issue […]
Continue reading…Flow Triggers
The Flow Genome Project researches Flow, which Steven Kotler describes as when performance sharply increases. Google [How to open up the next level of human performance], [How To Get Into The Flow State], and [The Science of Maximizing Human Potential]. Anyone familiar with the Zen(1) point of view will recognize Flow right off. Steven rephrases […]
Continue reading…BRAIN
President Obamaās BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) seeks to decipher how the brainās circuitry produces thought and behavior. The Science News Brain Shot reports on this initiative. This is an excerpt. Ambitious goals: While the BRAIN Initiativeās objectives are hard to express in concrete terms, the project is full of visionary promise. […]
Continue reading…Instinctive Free Will
We easily acknowledge that animals and young children donāt choose their nature; they are born with it. Consequently, society doesnāt regard them as being responsible. With the onset of adulthood, that suddenly changes, and society then holds us responsible for our actions. As adults, we somehow miraculously acquire the power to choose ārightā from āwrongā […]
Continue reading…Stupidly Intelligent
UPDATE 2023: The instinct of fear is an emergent property of entropy, and the universal driving force that motivates all living things, from virus on up, to survive. Obviously, fear influences our every thought and action. This is also the driving force behind all the harmful actions of humanity. Artificial intelligence is devoid of this […]
Continue reading…I Look, But Do I See?
In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus says, āAsk, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be openedā. While true, I suspect this may often misinterpreted. For example, […]
Continue reading…Just like Us, Just like Them
Have you noticed how much we compare ourselves to other animals to see what extent they are like us? Thatās all quite normal, of course. All animals judge other animals to some extent, although I should say size up, gauge, or perceive, rather than judge. Passing judgment is closely tied to thinking and weāre the […]
Continue reading…Counterbalancing I.Q.
The onion could be a metaphor for oneās lifetime. Each of us peel away layer after layer as daily experiences gradually turn into a lifetime. This maturing process helps to counterbalance any extreme characteristics we were born with. With each decade that passes, we see deeper and become more humble compared to our formative years. […]
Continue reading…Feeding the Worry Gene
Have you noticed how there is always something wrong? No matter how ideal circumstances are, something will go awry shortly. All this may be obvious, I suppose. What is less obvious is how the perception and experience of good fortune and misfortune are complimentary. As chapter 58 puts it, Misfortune, yet of good fortune its […]
Continue reading…Soaking in Inspiration
I began taking a morning hot bath every morning to get my arthritic joints in the mood for morning yoga(1). It works, but I found an unexpected bonus. The bath brings about nearly unavoidable insights. Indeed, sometimes I deliberately Squeeze exchange, shut the gates, as chapter 52 puts it, in the hope of cognitive stillness. […]
Continue reading…Breathe Into It
It helps me to regard language as the smoke that arises out of emotionās fire. You could say words are the cognitive reflections of human emotions. As such, theyāre more fantasy than reality. For example, you can understand a volcano with words metaphorically, symbolically, abstractly, but you cannot truly know it through words. You can […]
Continue reading…Networks of Networks ofā¦.
The Science News report, When Networks Network, is striking in its implications so you may want to read it first. Go to, Networks-of-Network.pdf. This research hints at humanity’s gradual cognitive evolution toward what I would call a small ‘t’ Taoist (p.154) point of view. Research like this, along with quantum theory, nudges secular common sense […]
Continue reading…āFixation on same sameā
Recently my friend Andy teased me about my āfixation on same sameā, as he put it. My habit of noticing similarities between apparent opposites bugs him a little. āFixation on same sameā was his response to my comment, āFolks on the left use folks on the right as scapegoats and vice versaā. The underlying needs […]
Continue reading…Beware: the Blind Spot
I occasionally refer to the blind spot as our main impediment to understanding. What is the blind spot? Put simply, the blind spot = emotion + thought. The loudest emotions are need and fear (1). When those roar, they are all we can hear. In How the Hoodwink Hooks, (p.100) I first explain how desire […]
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