The laws of the physical universe—the ones we know—do not say much about the evolution of life. And they have even less to say about the evolution of human societies and human consciousness.
Good moral behavior is essential for the scientific method to work. If many scientists lie or cheat, we won’t get good science.
On the interpersonal level, FIML practice both requires and encourages moral behavior. At first, partners may only notice that they are required to tell the truth, but as they continue practicing, they will come to want to tell the truth.
This happens for very concrete, even objective, reasons. I know that if I don’t tell my partner the truth, we will both lose. And if I do tell her the truth, we will both gain.
Morality in FIML practice—i.e. telling the truth—is not difficult because the units of a FIML discussion are typically very small, usually entailing just a few seconds of conversation/communication. The payoff for telling the truth in FIML practice, however, is huge. Partners will notice profound and beneficial changes in all aspects of their psychologies. This happens because partners’ senses of who they are will shift from a core with a secretive ego to a core with an interactive truth-telling process. Clean, clear language and a clear conscience transform human being.
FIML may prove that morality is fundamental to human consciousness. This statement is not based on feeling or wishful thinking because you have to behave morally to do FIML at all. For individual psychology, the payoff from FIML can be greater than from science in many important areas.
I hope readers of this site will watch these Promethean videos. Even if you disagree, it’s good to know this POV, among others. Trump is definitely increasing investments in USA, increasing new factories and jobs, while also using tariffs to boost USA and influence trade partners. As a major power, it is appropriate for USA to secure its interests in this hemisphere. Trump’s consistent attempts to form good relations with Russia is also a good move. ABN
Both Baltic and Finnic symbols have what looks like a Dharma Wheel, the eight points of which signify the Noble Eightfold Path. Both regions have ancient Scythian roots. Scythian power was based on the war chariot, which in ancient times was sophisticated technology requiring many trained humans and horses. There is strong evidence the Buddha was Scythian1. His moniker Shakyamuni means ‘sage of the Scythians’. There is also evidence that Laozi2, the founder of Daoism in China, was either a disciple of Shakyamuni/ Gautama (Lao Dan) Buddha or a member of a group of Scythian philosophers who had great impact on the ancient world. ABN
Historian Christopher Beckwith argues in The Scythian Empire that Laozi (Lao Tzu) was a Scythian philosopher, identified as Gautama or Lao-Tan, who taught in early China. Beckwith posits that Laozi was an immigrant outsider who, like Zoroaster and the Buddha, founded Daoism by introducing Scythian philosophy to Chinese society. Beckwith’s interpretation includes several key claims: Scythian Origin: Laozi bore a Scythian name and was part of a group of Scythian-linked thinkers who spread across Eurasia between 600 and 400 BCE. Philosophical Content: Laozi’s teachings on logic, epistemology, and ethics were inspired by Early Buddhism and focused on resolving conflicting antilogies rather than mystical or political theory. Rejection of Tradition: Like other Axial Age figures, Laozi criticized and rejected the traditional beliefs of his adoptive culture, establishing a new philosophical framework centered on equanimity and the relativity of absolute assertions. Cultural Impact: Beckwith suggests that the Scythian influence, embodied by figures like Laozi, was instrumental in creating the first powerful states and philosophical traditions in China, Persia, and India. ↩︎
The Chinese characters for the names associated with the philosopher are: Laozi: 老子 Literally translates to “Old Master” or “Old Child.” 老 (Lǎo) means “old.” 子 (Zǐ) means “master,” “child,” or “philosopher.” Lao Tan (also spelled Lao Dan): 老聃 This is the personal name often attributed to Laozi in early texts like the Zhuangzi. 老 (Lǎo) means “old.” 聃 (Dān/Tán) refers to having long ears or a drooping earlobe, a feature traditionally associated with wisdom and longevity in Chinese physiognomy. Historical records, such as Sima Qian’s Shiji, also mention his surname as Li (李) and his given name as Er (耳, meaning “ear”) or Dan (聃). Thus, he is sometimes referred to as Li Er (李耳) or Li Dan (李聃). ↩︎
Is the ‘British hand’ she refers to actually the covert ‘Jewish Supremacist hand’, which has infiltrated and now controls Britain? I am not entirely sure about that, but it feels like ‘British’ is a euphemism for Jewish infiltration and their covert designs. Starmer is Jewish. Johnson, who subverted the Minsk peace agreement early in the Ukraine War, is Jewish. Zelensky is Jewish. Without question, USA is occupied and controlled by Jewish Supremacists. Thomas Massie was defeated by gobs of Jewish money because he was a very rare member of Congress who did not accept AIPAC bribes (and that’s what they are). It appears the EU is also controlled by JS. It is probable Kokinda is using ‘British’ as a code word to evade censorship and worse. As for Russia, recall that the JS-led Bolsheviks mass murdered some 60 million Russian Christians. What is happening today is a continuation of power conflicts that date back centuries. ABN
Britain’s minister for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, delivers a warning to those who complain on social media about their stabbing or beheading. Minister Benn notes the danger created by people online sharing information from Belfast after two days of civic unrest in the city following a migrant stabbing and slicing a local resident.
The need for control is always a reaction to fear. Apparently, the government of Great Britain is very fearful.
“Social media companies have a very heavy responsibility. It’s why we’re going to bring forward new powers next week to make it clear that social media companies need to take down illegal content, particularly when we are facing circumstances such as the ones we’ve seen in Northern Ireland over the last two days”
The entire Western world is ruled by a self-centered elite numbering but a few thousand. No one who is not either onboard with them or accepts being a servile toady to them (most politicians) ever gets anywhere near real political power, or honest social influence. What’s changed today is social media, especially X, does allow the honest voices of ordinary people to be heard. Historically, elites have always manufactured social and political ‘reality’. In today’s world many of their traditional tricks are not working as well as they did only ten years ago. Moreover, it is obvious to anyone paying attention that more voices and more information about anything actually results in better and truer information. Crowds crowd-sourcing themselves have proved to be much more savvy that a few thousand elites, who all bow to a small handful of super-elites. It is simply a fact that more information seen by more people who add yet more information yields better information. Bad info is quickly sifted out. Elites fear open-ended information more than anything because it quickly reveals how wrong, venal, selfish, dim-witted and crazy they are. If you want to lead ‘your’ people, listen to them and lead them with the truth. It’s that simple. It is the rigid elite of the West who will cause inevitable social upheaval and violence, not the people who dare to speak and act on the gruesome absurdity of mass migration-invasion of military-age men who hate White people and Western civilization. ABN
…French Gates, 61, became visibly emotional when discussing Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose ties to some of the world’s richest and most powerful men continues to cast a shadow years after his death.
Asked what it was about Epstein that disturbed her so deeply when she met him, French Gates struggled to contain her emotions.
‘My heart is racing,’ she said, according to The Guardian, before asking a striking question of her own.
‘Have you ever in your life been around somebody that you just know is evil?’
‘There you go. You just have your answer. We need to listen to our feelings about people.’
The reaction was so intense that French Gates briefly attempted to end the conversation before eventually continuing.
Have you ever in your life been in a country where only two people have faced serious consequences for their depraved associations with Jeffrey Epstein? Though the Epstein spy/ blackmail/ torture/ sexploitation and human trafficking enterprise was rife with a majority of Jews and Jewish supremacists, there have only been two people—Bill Gates and ex-Prince Andrew, both non-Jews—who have suffered any consequence for their contacts with Epstein, which were probably milder than most. Ofc, the top perps have seen consequences — Ghislaine Maxwell is in jail and Epstein has either absconded (my view) or been killed. But none of the other many depraved co-perpetrators have suffered any consequence except mild and temporary notoriety for a few of them. Incidentally, I do sort of agree with Melinda that ‘we should listen to our feelings about people’ but also am well-aware that our feelings about people are frequently deeply mistaken. Anyone who does FIML for just a few months will see how deeply deluded our feelings can be. My guess, however, is Epstein probably radiated evil. If you have ever knowingly been in the company of a Jewish Supremist, they do give off an evil vibe but are also extremely good at concealing it. Deceit is their foremost social weapon. I myself have been fooled by them many times. ABN
A single dose of psilocybin, a psychedelic that acutely causes distortions of space–time perception and ego dissolution, produces rapid and persistent therapeutic effects in human clinical trials1,2,3,4. In animal models, psilocybin induces neuroplasticity in cortex and hippocampus5,6,7,8. It remains unclear how human brain network changes relate to subjective and lasting effects of psychedelics. Here we tracked individual-specific brain changes with longitudinal precision functional mapping (roughly 18 magnetic resonance imaging visits per participant). Healthy adults were tracked before, during and for 3 weeks after high-dose psilocybin (25 mg) and methylphenidate (40 mg), and brought back for an additional psilocybin dose 6–12 months later. Psilocybin massively disrupted functional connectivity (FC) in cortex and subcortex, acutely causing more than threefold greater change than methylphenidate. These FC changes were driven by brain desynchronization across spatial scales (areal, global), which dissolved network distinctions by reducing correlations within and anticorrelations between networks. Psilocybin-driven FC changes were strongest in the default mode network, which is connected to the anterior hippocampus and is thought to create our sense of space, time and self. Individual differences in FC changes were strongly linked to the subjective psychedelic experience. Performing a perceptual task reduced psilocybin-driven FC changes. Psilocybin caused persistent decrease in FC between the anterior hippocampus and default mode network, lasting for weeks. Persistent reduction of hippocampal-default mode network connectivity may represent a neuroanatomical and mechanistic correlate of the proplasticity and therapeutic effects of psychedelics.
It is my understanding that the Buddha and/or the Buddhist tradition was and always has been well aware of psilocybin and probably other psychedelics and herbal drugs, like opium and cannabis.
In light of this, it is significant that the Fifth Precept for lay Buddhists proscribes only alcohol, and it does this very specifically by mentioning two types of alcoholic beverages (fermented and distilled) and nothing else. The Fifth Precept does not mention any other drugs.
As modern Buddhists, we can see that this conforms with what many of us have experienced with psychedelics and cannabis, among other ‘recreational’ drugs. Of course those drugs can be harmful but they can also do people a lot of good. Alcohol use, on the other hand, too often leads to very dangerous and spiritually stultifying mental conditions that do no one any good.
I have no problem with Buddhist teachers extrapolating the meaning of the Fifth Precept to include other drugs and sensory indulgences, but also believe that paying attention to the original meaning and its socio-environmental context (when people knew lots about plants) is important to keep in mind.
I asked Grok to fix this image up. The AI tried several times but always came back saying it cannot improve it due to ‘safety’ limitations. Please download the image and save it for posterity. ABN
American Buddhist Net 