Fits well with Iain McGilchrist's critique of (today's life) science:
"Life sciences have got left behind in a ... time warp that they’re still thinking the latest thing is a sort of scientific materialism that was sort of fashionable in the ... 1850s to 1860s.... It won’t reveal the whole picture."
"When it dampens your curiosity, when it requires you to be less artistic than you might otherwise be. I could see the limitations of science. In this period of rapid climate change we need to be innovative, we need to be creative, ... and sometimes we need to break out of the scientific mould."
The first 6 days of Trump's illegal war on Iran cost $11.3 BILLION.
Trump wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on a completely avoidable war.
This is bullshit.
When will we stop throwing money at the war machine & start putting it toward human needs?
Not one more dime for an illegal war of choice that is making us less safe.
The best way to protect our troops, end the killing of school children and civilians, reduce skyrocketing oil and gas prices, and stop wasting billions of taxpayer dollars is to cut off the funding.
A man can endure the entire weight of the universe for eighty years. It is unreality that he cannot bear.
Liberation is attained through the destruction of actions and defilements; actions and defilements arise because of falsifying conceptualizations; those arise from mental proliferation, which is extinguished in emptiness.
― Nāgārjuna (in Mūlamadhyamakakārikā)
Sometimes we're more awake when we dream, sometimes (oftentimes?) we're more asleep when we're awake.
🙏
IIRC, Stephen Laberge has described dreams as a case of perception without (external) sensory input and wakefulness as a case of dreams with sensory input. And lucid dreams (and psychedelic experiences) show how these two types of experiences can blend.
Experience will teach you that in this life there is no absolute security or lasting peace. But never give up and do not become overly anxious about failing.
― Anonymous (in The Cloud of Unknowing)
The smallest thing can be enjoyed, but the danger lies in wanting it. This wanting—the craving—brings the unsatisfactoriness because the wanting can never be fully satisfied.
― Ayya Khema (in Being Nobody, Going Nowhere)
We’re delighted to share that Toh 158, Brahmā’s Question, is now available to read on our website.
Read it 👉🏻 reader.84000.co/toh158
The stealthy change of science from a fundamentally human and democratic activity to one of technological domination (puffed up by celebrity and wealthy immoral donors) has been a disaster at many levels.
www.npr.org/2026/03/09/n...
"The main purpose of such taxes is *not* to raise revenue. The point is to stop the few dominating the many. It's an essential democratic measure."
Yes, when collective governing gives way to might-is-right governance, great calamity inevitably ensues (see, e.g., Goliath's Curse, by Luke Kemp).
The most important thing is not that you try to convince anybody of the truth that you see. What is really important is that you are truthful with yourself. If you can be truthful with yourself, you can be truthful with anybody.
— Adyashanti (in The End of Your World)
When Trump said this strike was "done by Iran," he was lying, just as he lied about keeping America out of wars.
He & Sec. Hegseth are responsible for the killing of these 175 people, most of them children. They must be held accountable.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/w...
"I ask those who have the ability, especially foreign media, to reflect on this situation. What are people supposed to do under these conditions? This is truly a crime against humanity.”
A government that commits such unspeakable crimes is no longer a government
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
In less than 1 week, Trump has wasted more than $5 BILLION of your taxpayer dollars on his war of choice on Iran.
That money could have covered the cost of SNAP for more than 2 million Americans for a year.
There's always money for war and never money for human needs.
— The Dhāraṇī Entering into Nonconceptuality (Avikalpapraveśadhāraṇī, trans. 84000)
"[Those]...who are established in the nonconceptual realm see, with their nonconceptual wisdom that is indistinguishable from what is known, that all phenomena are like the expanse of space..., illusions, mirages, dreams, echoes, reflections, the image of the moon in water, and magical creations."
www.archchicago.org/statement/-/...
A real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it’s a video game — it’s sickening. Hundreds of people are dead, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, including scores of children who made the fatal mistake of going to school that day.
Last year, at least 32 people died in ICE custody — the most in 2 decades. Reports show at least 9 have died already this year. How many more before Republicans act?
Trump & Republicans cut Medicaid & SNAP to give this lawless agency an extra $75 BILLION.
Not one more dime.
Recognize the thought's nature and simply make that the essence of your meditation training. No matter how it is, do not regard the thought as a fault.... Simply suspend it, in a way that is naked and clear, relaxed, spacious and free.
― Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (in Clarifying the Natural State)
Staying with the knowing awareness of the weirdness is a good place to be.
Book cover of Bewusstseinskultur: Towards a culture of consciousness: Spirituality, intellectual honesty, and the planetary crisis—how to protect your self-respect and fail gracefully, by Thomas Metzinger
A lot of what Michael Pollan says echoes an earlier (more philosophical) book by Thomas Metzinger. A "consciousness culture" is one of greater awareness and deliberate attention, encompassing both the personal and transpersonal domains of life (I've not yet read Pollan's book).
"Turn moments of everyday life into a deliberate practice, rather than have it be passive and turn over your mind to TikTok or Meta, just because you don’t know what to do with it."
Being deliberate about what to attend to is a key step to end dis-ease.
www.theguardian.com/wellness/202...
Even the citizens of Norway, the US, or Australia still live in a Goliath*. Indeed, humankind now lives in a single Global Goliath.
— Luke Kemp (in Goliath's Curse)
*Goliath = a form of government characterized by hierarchy, dominance, and (threat of) violence
"Most of us work 9-to-5 in mini-dictatorships (where one individual or a small group can hire, fire, and direct most others), pray in top-down churches, and invest in markets controlled overwhelmingly by big firms."
All our perfection and all our bliss depend on our traversing and transcending all creatureliness, all being and getting into the ground that is groundless.
— Meister Eckhart
Clinging to views can prevent us from arriving at a deeper, more profound understanding of reality. Buddhism urges us to transcend even our own knowledge if we wish to advance on the path of awakening.
— Thích Nhất Hạnh
It's now a worryingly familiar theme that conjoins religious fundamentalists in some evangelical churches with those in Silicon Valley:
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
