thinking

Buddha’s Truths Pertain To All Life

Buddha’s Truths apply to all Earth’s creatures, although only humans need to have truth stipulated. For me, this suggests that our desire for truth is a symptom of something we feel missing. For that reason, considering the widest possible scope of these truths gives helpful context for their application – profound sameness, as chapter 56 […]

We All Know We Don’t Know

I enjoy doing yoga on the beach because I can easily pause to look seaward and skyward to soak in eternity, or glance closer in to bond’ with my friends, the sand flies and the seagulls around me. Today I got to thinking how small and insignificant we are — they and me. Then I […]

Who are you? (Part III)

Recent posts, Who are you? and Who are you? (Part II), examine the losses of emotional security and comfort caused when our civilized way of life replaced our ancestral one. Common sense, personal experience, and timely mid 20th century ethnographic research reveals this. (See The Harmless People p.426) This post and the next cover some […]

Who are you? (Part II)

I tried to point out in my initial Who are you? post (p.504) how civilization plays a major role in educating its citizens who they are and who they should be. This contrasts sharply with the natural intuitive way that our ancestors acquired a secure sense of self. Religious stories have been central to every […]

Stressors of Comfort and Security

Google [Chronic stress can wreak havoc on the body] for research that ties right into my last post, Right state of peaceful mind. Notice how the lightening bolt in the graphic (right) points to the brain, and from there down through the rest of the body. The article puts it this way: “The effect of […]

“Right state of peaceful mind”

While living in Thailand in the early 1960’s, I bought a book on Buddha put out 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 Buddha’s four noble truths word-for-word […]

Fear & Need Born in Nothing

Fear and need are the underlying principles for most of my observations. I know this rationale often raises more questions than it answers, so more clarification is in order. Not that I haven’t tried before… see Even a little progress is freedom from fear, p.30; Fear is the Bottom Line, p.139; Reward, Fear & Need, […]

Amazon mother

Google [CBS News From Amazon to Garden State] for a story that perfectly exemplifies observations I’ve made on civilization over the last few decades. To be clear, I’m not pro or anti civilization; I simply wish to comprehend its full impact on humanity. Despite the obvious downsides of civilization, we’re never going to turn back […]

Cultivating Ego

Google [Rats Experience Feelings of Regret] for research discovering that when a rat realizes it made a mistake, its body and brain show signs of regret (1). Research like this challenges the beliefs of human exceptionalism we’ve been cultivating to support our “illusion of self”— humanity’s collective ego, so to speak. Sure, we are different […]

Necessity is the Mother

If you’re unfamiliar with the neuroscience behind the illusion of free will, YouTube [Sam Harris on Free Will]. He does a good job of addressing the idea of free will, and points out enough compelling evidence that proves that free will is an illusion. Next, please YouTube [Sam Harris on His Debate with Daniel Dennett […]

Skip links

thinking