Contentment heals stress, anxiety, depression?

Plutchik dyads: emotions

(Mind Frequency) Tibetan Zen sounds to destroy unconscious blockages: heal stress, anxiety, and depression [by the practice of progressive relaxation, letting go, giving, surrendering, turning inward with dispassion and radical allowing rather than resistance and strain].

The practice of "contentment" or santosha in Sanskrit and santutthi in Pali, is counterintuitive as it defuses the situation, the looming threat, the internal monologue of neediness and paucity, replacing it with everything being good right here right now just as it is.

• How to summon contentment on the yoga mat

Plutchik Wheel shows contentment

BUDDHIST CONTENTMENT (Pāli santutthi) is freedom from anxiety, wanting, craving, clinging.

It is a wondrous virtue mentioned in many prominent Buddhist sutras like the Metta Sutta ("Discourse on Loving-Kindness"), Mangala Sutta ("Discourse on Blessings"), and so on. In the Dhammapada (Verse 204), contentment is said to be the greatest wealth:

• "Health is the most precious gain and contentment the greatest wealth. A trustworthy person is the best kin and nirvana the highest bliss" (based on Bhikkhu Bodhi translation).

I'm good. Can you tell?

In the "Discourse on the Traditions of the Noble Ones" (Ariya Vamsa Sutta, AN 4:28), the Buddha mentions that the noble ones (beings along any of the seven stages* of enlightenment are content with any old robes, any old almsfood, and any old lodgings.

• *Yes, seven stages, not four, as detailed in the Vimutti Magga or Path of Freedom, which the Buddha frequently condensed into four main stages, distinguishing various types of stream enterers, popularized by the wider reach of the Vissudhi Magga or Path of Purification).

"Having cast away all deeds (karma),

Who could obstruct one?

Like an ornament wrought of finest gold,

Who is fit to find fault with such a one?" [43] Source

SUTRA: Contentment in the tradition of the noble ones

Dhr. Seven based on a translation by Ven. Thanissaro (accesstoinsight.org), Ariya Vamsa Sutta, "Discourse on the Traditions of the Noble Ones" (AN 4:28)

"There are four traditions of the noble ones, longstanding, ancient, unadulterated from their inception, free of suspicion, held faultless by wandering ascetics (shramans) and temple priests (Brahmins) who know and see. What are the four?

 

1. "A [Buddhist] monastic is content with any old robe cloth and speaks in praise of such contentment.*

• [*bhikkhu/bhikkhuni (samana) being rooted in the idea of "rag-picker" from the practice of selecting discarded and donated cloth for the stitching of saffron-dyed, patchwork robes and "alms-gatherer" for collecting donated food sufficient for survival in a dana economy such as existed in the ancient world even before "India" or "Great Bharat" came into being, and "wandering ascetic" (wild shaman, pilgrim, shramana) content with any resting place].

"One abstains from doing anything unseemly or inappropriate for the sake of acquiring such robe cloth. Not getting cloth, one remains without agitation. Getting cloth, one uses it without being tied to it, without infatuation, free of guilt, perceiving danger [seeing the drawbacks of attachment or clinging] and discerning an escape from such dangers.

 

"One avoids exalting oneself or disparaging others on account of such contentment with robe cloth. In this one is skillful, energetic, vigilant, [conscientious and] mindful.

 

"This, meditators, is said to be a monastic who stands firm in the ancient and original traditions of the noble ones.

 

2. "Furthermore, a monastic is content with any old almsfood and speaks in praise of such contentment. One avoids doing anything unseemly or inappropriate for the sake of acquiring almsfood. Not getting almsfood, one remains without agitation. Getting almsfood, one uses it without being tied to it, without infatuation, free of guilt, perceiving danger [the drawbacks of being attached or clinging] and discerning an escape from such dangers.

 

"One avoids exalting oneself or disparaging others on account of one's contentment with any old almsfood. In this one is skillful, energetic, vigilant, and mindful.

"This, meditators, is said to be a monastic who stands firm in the ancient and original traditions of the noble ones.

Tibetan Buddhist nuns make history with doctorates in Buddhist philosophy) | Justin Whitaker

.

3. "Furthermore, a monastic is content with any old lodgings and one speaks in praise of such contentment. One avoids doing anything unseemly or inappropriate for the sake of acquiring lodgings.

 

"Not getting lodgings, one remains without agitation. Getting lodgings, one uses them without being tied to them, without infatuation, free of guilt, perceiving danger [the drawbacks of attachment and clinging] and discerning an escape from such dangers.

"One avoids exalting oneself or disparaging others on account of such contentment with lodgings. In this one is skillful, energetic, vigilant, and mindful.

 

"This, meditators, is said to be a monastic standing firm in the ancient and original traditions of the noble ones.

4. "Furthermore, a monastic finds pleasure and delight in developing [skillful qualities], finds pleasure and delight in abandoning [unskillful qualities]. One avoids exalting oneself or disparaging others on account of such pleasure and delight in developing and abandoning.

"In this one is skillful, energetic, vigilant, and mindful. This, meditators, is said to be a monastic who stands firm in the ancient and original traditions of the noble ones.

"These are the four traditions of the noble ones, long-standing, ancient, unadulterated from their inception, free of suspicion, understood as faultless by wandering ascetics and Brahmins who know and see.

Be content and bliss you'll find.

"Furthermore, a monastic upholding these four traditions of the noble ones, if living in the east, conquers displeasure [discontent] rather than being conquered by displeasure.

"If one lives in the west...north...south, one conquers displeasure rather than being conquered by displeasure. Why? It is because the wise one endures [remains content through] both pleasure and displeasure."

This is what the Blessed One (the Buddha) said. Having said it, he concluded by reinforcing it more tersely:

Displeasure [discontentment] does not conquer the Noble One.

Displeasure does not suppress. Rather, the Noble One

conquers displeasure by enduring it.

Having cast away all deeds (karma), who could obstruct?

Like an ornament wrought of finest gold, who is fit to find fault?

Even the devas praise such a one, even by Brahma [the Supreme] is one praised.

• See also: "To Anuruddha" (AN 8.30); "Wishes" (AN 10.71)
• The [Unending] Round of Rebirth: Samsara
• Mind Frequency (music video); Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

What about being human? (The Blind Turtle)

SUTRA: The hole in the ring

Who would ever become a Buddhist monastic?

"Meditators, suppose that this great earth were completely covered with water and a person were to toss a ring with a single hole onto the surface.

 

"A wind from the east would send it west, a wind from the west would send it east, a wind from the north would send it south, and a wind from the south would send it north.

 

"Moreover, suppose there were a blind turtle that surfaced only once every 100 years.

"Now, what do you think? How likely is it that that blind turtle, coming to the surface only once every 100 years, would ever stick its head through that ring?"

 

"It would be very improbable, venerable sir! It would only be by chance that a blind turtle, coming to the surface only once every 100 years, would stick its head through that ring [being tossed around by wind]."

"Likewise, meditators, it is very improbable, mere chance that [at any given time] one obtains a human rebirth.

"Likewise, it is very improbable, mere chance that a Tathagata [a fully enlightened teaching buddha], worthy and rightly self-awakened, ever arises in the world.

"Likewise, it is very improbable, mere chance that a Doctrine and Discipline [Dhamma-Vinaya] expounded by a Tathagata appears in the world.

"But now this human rebirth has been obtained. A Tathagata, worthy and rightly self-awakened, has arisen in the world. A Doctrine and Discipline expounded by a Tathagata has appeared in the world.

 

"Therefore, take as [an extraordinarily rare and] sacred duty to contemplating [these four enlightening/liberating truths]:

1. 'This is [the meaning of] suffering...
2. This is the origin of suffering...
3. This is the end of suffering.'
4. Undertake the duty of contemplating: 'This is the path-of-practice that leads to the end of suffering.'"

In retrospect, the historical Buddha might have said:

1. This is pleasure (sukha)...
2. This the origin of pleasure...
3. This is the end of pleasure (dukkha)...
4. This is the path-of-practice that leads to more and more pleasure [until one reaches the ultimate and unsurpassable bliss of nirvana.]

• Why didn't he? It must have occurred to him. One very likely reason is that this is not the path of hedonism (pleasure-seeking as the ultimate good). Making an end of 

1. What is "suffering" and could we talk about pleasure instead?

Don't cry for me, Goddess of Compassion. (Tears of Mary of Clopas/wiki)

.

What is dukkha (disappointment, distress, unsatisfactoriness)? There is no need for confusion about dukkha or displeasure with translating it as "suffering." It is the nature of Pali and Sanskrit that a term has a RANGE of meaning, from agitation to agony.

All of these are dukkha, which could be rendered "off-kilter," like the wheel of an ox-cart that is off center and making for a bumpy and unpleasant ride. The Buddha defines exactly what he means by the word: "Not getting what one wants, getting what one doesn't want, being separated from or losing what one loves, being joined with what one detests." In short, the Five Aggregates clung to as self (the khandha or skandha) are disappointing, painful, unable to ever fulfill, and are thus unsatisfactory and suffering.

(Wiki) According to Monier Monier-Williams, the actual roots of the Pali term dukkha appear to be Sanskrit दुस्- (dus-, "bad") + स्था (sthā, "to stand") [9, Note 2]. Irregular changes in the development of Sanskrit into the various Prakrits [ancient hybrid languages] led to a shift from dus-sthā to duḥkha to dukkha.

Western Theravada Buddhist monk Analayo

Western scholar-monk Ven. Analayo concurs, stating that dukkha as derived from duḥ-sthā, "standing badly," conveys nuances of "uneasiness" or of being "uncomfortable" [16].

Silk Road philologist Christopher I. Beckwith elaborates on this derivation [17]. According to him: "...although the sense of duḥkha in Normative Buddhism is traditionally given as 'suffering,' that and similar interpretations are highly unlikely for Early Buddhism.

"Significantly, Monier-Williams himself doubts the usual explanation of duḥkha and presents an alternative one immediately after it, namely: duḥ-stha "'standing badly,' unsteady, disquieted (literally and figuratively); uneasy," and so on.

"This form is also attested, and makes much better sense as the opposite of the Rig Veda sense of sukha, which Monier-Williams gives in full [11, Note 3].

Translation

The literal meaning of duḥkha, as used in a general sense, is "suffering" or "painful" [Note 4]. Its exact translation depends on the context [Note 5].

Contemporary translators of Buddhist texts use a variety of English words to convey the [many] aspects of dukh.

Early Western translators of Buddhist texts (before the 1970s) typically translated the Pali term dukkha as "suffering." Later translators have emphasized that "suffering" is a too [harsh and too] limited translation for the term duḥkha and have preferred to either leave the term untranslated [15] or to clarify that translation with terms such as

• anxiety,
• distress,
• frustration,
• unease,
• unsatisfactoriness,
• not [getting] having what one wants,
• having what one does not want, and so on [19, 20, 21, Note 6].

In the sequence "[re]birth is dukkha," it may be translated as "painful" [22].

The opposite of pleasure

But I want what I want when I want it!!!

When related to vedana ("sensation" or "feeling") dukkha ("unpleasant," "painful") is the opposite of sukha ("pleasure," "pleasant"), yet all feelings are dukkha [unsatisfactory, disappointing] in that they are impermanent, conditioned [impersonal] phenomena, which are unsatisfactory, incapable of providing lasting satisfaction or actual enduring fulfillment.

The term "unsatisfactoriness" then is often used to emphasize the unsatisfactoriness of "life under the influence of afflictions and polluted karma" [23, 24, 25, 26, 27, a], but it would equally well -- though much less obviously -- apply to sukha.

All pleasure ultimately fails to fulfill, satisfy, make us happy exactly because the nature of ALL conditioned (dependently originated or co-arisen) phenomena is beset by what the Buddha described as three universal characteristics or the Three Marks of All Conditioned Existence (ti-lakkhana) and transient states.

Early Buddhism

Dukkha is one of the three marks of existence -- namely anicca ("impermanent"), dukkha ("unsatisfactory"), anatta ("impersonal," "not-self," "empty," devoid of an enduring essence) [Note 7].

Various Pali canon sutras (discourses) sum up how cognitive processes result in an aversion to unpleasant things and experiences (dukkha), forming a corrupted process together with the complementary process of craving and clinging to pleasure (sukha).

What does dukkha mean?

This is expressed as saṃsāra, an ongoing process of [re-]death and rebirth [Note 8], but also more pointedly and non-metaphysically in the process-formula of the Five Aggregates clung to as self (skandhas):

1. [Re-] birth is dukkha (disappointing),
2. aging is dukkha,
3. deteriorating is dukkha,
4. illness is dukkha,
5. death is dukkha;
6. sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are dukkha;
7. association with what we don't like is dukkha;
8. separation from the liked is duḥkha;
9. not getting what is wanted is dukkha.
10. In summary, the Five Aggregates clung to as self (khandhas) are dukkha. More

• Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Chiggala Sutta: "The Hole" (SN 56:48) based on a translation by American Thai Theravada monk Ven. Thanissaro (Geoffrey DeGraff, abbot, Wat Metta, California), Wikipedia edit dukkha

Did Machiavelli understand sexual desire?

The Polyamorous Professors Geoffrey Miller
and Diana Fleischman on Rebel Wisdom

(Wisdom Unleashed) After studying 500 prostitutes, modern evolutionary psychologist Dr. Geoffrey Miller] discovered this truth about women -- confirming what Niccolò "The Prince" Machiavelli had tried to teach centuries earlier in his book The Prince:

The Prince and what prostitutes can teach us about evolutionary biology

California dreaming: early San Francisco prostitutes cycle through money (wiki)

.

Portrait of Machiavelli (by Santi di Tito)

The Prince (Italian Il Principe, Latin De Principatibus) is a 16th-century political treatise written by Machiavelli, an Italian diplomat, philosopher, and political theorist.

He wrote it in the form of a realistic instruction guide for new princes. Many commentators have viewed that one of the main themes of The Prince is that immoral acts are sometimes necessary to achieve political glory [1, 2].

Melania Trump is/was a whore escort

(Keith Edwards) Leaked audio confirms Melania was an escort [who "dated" and may have had a baby with pimp, Israeli spy, and professional child molester Jeffrey Trump before marrying Donny Trump]

From Machiavelli's correspondence, a version was apparently being written in 1513, using the Latin title De Principatibus ("Of Principalities") [3].

However, the printed version was not published until 1532, five years after the death of Machiavelli. This was carried out with the permission of the Medici Pope Clement VII.

But "long before then, in fact since the first appearance of The Prince in manuscript, controversy had swirled about his writings" [4].

Japanese women rent middle aged men? Rental Family

Although The Prince was written as if it were a traditional work in the mirrors for princes style, it was generally agreed as being especially innovative.

This is partly because it was written in the vernacular Italian rather than formal Latin. More

American Evolutionary Psychologist Miller's sex research

The Mating Mind: Sexual Choice

Dr. Miller's 2003 book The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature proposes that human mate choices, courtship behavior, behavior genetics, psychometrics, and life cycle patterns support the survival value of traits related to sexual selection, such as art, morality, language, and creativity.

According to Dr. Miller, the adaptive design features of these traits suggest that they evolved through mutual mate choice by both sexes to advertise [in]heritable fitness [13].

• WHO IS DR. MILLER? Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Dr. Miller graduated from Columbia University in 1987 [5], where he earned a BA in biology and psychology. He received his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Stanford University in 1993, with Roger N. Shepard as his principal adviser [1].

Behavior

Dr. Miller's clinical interests are the application of fitness indicator theory to understand the symptoms, demographics, and behavior genetics of schizophrenia and mood disorders.

His other interests include the origins of human preferences, aesthetics, utility functions, human strategic behavior, game theory, experiment-based economics, the ovulatory effects on female mate preferences, and the intellectual legacies of Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Thorstein Veblen.

 

In 2007, Dr. Miller (with Joshua Tybur and Brent Jordan) published an article in Evolution and Human Behavior, concluding, based on a sample size of 18 strippers at a club in Albuquerque, New Mexico, over a two-month period, that lap dancers make more money during ovulation [14, 15].

Spent: Sex, Evolution [and Shopping]

For this paper, Dr. Miller won the 2008 Ig Nobel Award in Economics [16].

 

In his 2009 book Spent: Sex, Evolution and the Secrets of Consumerism, Dr. Miller attempts to apply Darwinism to consumerism, arguing that marketing has exploited our inherited instincts to display social status for reproductive advantage [17].

He makes the claim that marketing persuades people—particularly the young—that the most effective way to display social status is through consumption choices over than conveying traits such as intelligence and personality through direct communication [18]. More

• Wisdom Unleashed; Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Cause of PEDOS...possessed, distressed

 

The Real Causes of Pedophilia (grooming and rape)

(RuthInstitute) Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (Ruth Institute)

• The Ruth Institute – Our values are under attack

Disney's disturbance ties to Epstein Island

(Spill) Jeff Epstein gained his money and power by starting as Les Wexner's homosexual boy toy

Evil companies train evil people?

(Dantavius) The most evil companies in the world

1. Moments on live TV that scientists can’t explain
2. Remember shapeshifter Avril "VRIL" Lavigne?
3. David Wilcock's family confirms depression and debt — and responds to cover-up theories

Reality comes before thought (podcast)

(Buddhism Podcast) Reality before thought: Buddhism on seeing things as they really are

We believe we are experiencing reality. But by the time we notice anything — a sound, a face, a feeling — the mind has already named it, judged it, labelled it, and wrapped it in a story.

The Buddha traced this [nearly automatic] process with extraordinary precision, showing how a single moment of sensory contact explodes into an entire world of speculations, fears, and suffering.

He also showed where the stifling chain can be broken — and what remains when we stop adding to, embellishing, and distorting what is already here.

This teaching changed Bāhiya of the Barkcloth's life in a single breath, as he achieved enlightenment more quickly than anyone in the recorded history of Buddhism, having heard a single stanza from the Buddha.

It might change the way we see our own "reality."

• 00:00 - The question that stops the mind
• 03:47 - The trap: searching for a pure reality behind thought
• 07:27 - So what is actually happening?
• 13:29 - Seeing clearly: the space where freedom lives
• 19:08 - The teaching to Bāhiya: the ultimate answer
• 25:52 - The lesson that changes everything
• Reality Before Thought: Buddhism on Seeing Things as They Are

How Trump LOST his war on Iran (TJDS)

(The Jimmy Dore Show) See jimmydore.com for more

Israeli Jews now get confronted everywhere they go

BeachLife Festival 2026 (May 1-3)

(Alan Watts) The danger of outgrowing everyone around us

The Chainsmokers "#SELFIE" (official music video)

BeachLife 2026 | The Weekend Playlist

WATCH: BeachLife 2026 | The Weekend Playlist

Artist Lineup | BeachLife Festival

(BeachLife Festival) Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 1-3, 2026, is time for the annual BeachLife Festival. This is BeachLife 2026 (tickets at BeachLife Festival | Live Music Festival | Redondo Beach, CA, USA). Here's a weekend playlist built the old way—listening together, dropping the needle, and letting the music choose itself. It's three days by the ocean in sunny Southern California. Here is music meant to be shared with the people we come with and meet on site. In memory of Greg Browning, whose spirit is always part of the room. 📍 Redondo Beach, Cali 📅 May 1–3, 2026 🎟️. Suzanne Hoffs blew it up last year. Will The Chainsmokers or Sheryl Crow do the same this year?

How to summon santosha ("contentment") on a yoga mat

Slightly Stoopid "2am" SoCal white reggae from the LBC

Grouplove "Tongue Tied" [official video]

FEATURING: The Chainsmokers, Duran Duran, Grouplove, Flipturn, Fitz and the Tantrums, The Offspring, Slightly Stoopid, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Sugar Ray, SwitchFoot, Bad Suns... James Taylor and his All-Star Band, My Morning Jacket, Sheryl Crow, Peach Pit, Poolside, Mike Watt...

• Artist Lineup | BeachLife Festival

Why does our fat U.S. king keep lying?

 

(The Narrative Brief) Pres. D. John Trump lied when he said he graduated first at Wharton Business School, but his roommate kept the records to PROVE he has been lying all along.

(Jimmy Kimmel) King Charles ROASTS Donald Trump

Trump serves Bibi to build Third Temple

(The Jimmy Dore Show)

Israel invades Lebanon for new Nakba

(The CJ Werleman Show) New Hezbollah weapons [with aid from

Iran?] destroy genocidal Israeli forces (IDF) in Southern Lebanon

• MAGA members say Trump is the ANTICHRIST — Even his own base is turning
• Joe Rogan reacts to faltering Jewish Zionist kingpin Ben Shapiro attacking Theo Von on criminal Israel
• Putin said the Elites are eating WHAT?
• This Yasser Arafat statement still fuels debate today
• Jim Carrey tried to tell us something, but most missed it
• "The king has no clothes!" The Emperor's New Clothes

Anniversary of Los Angeles Uprisings ('Riots')

The 1992 Los Angeles uprisings, a reaction to LA Police Department abuses and racist criminal behavior under color of law that had gone on with impunity for as long as anyone could remember. That was 34 years ago, as of 2026.

Sublime, what happened?

(Sublime) – "April 29, 1992" (Miami) lyrics | Genius lyrics

• Is the song "April 29, 1992 (Miami)" legal?

(Wiki) Los Angeles, California, experienced a series of riots and civil disturbances during April and May of 1992 [5]. "Civil unrest" began after a distant jury acquitted four abusive police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) charged with using excessive force in the wanton beating and arrest of Mr. Rodney King. The center of the trouble was in "South Central" Los Angeles (Watts) on April 29th, 1992. The shockingly racist police incident had been videotaped by Mr. George Holiday, who was a bystander witnessing the incident who had the presence of mind to begin filming, and was heavily reported on by news and media outlets. More

• 1992 Los Angeles Uprisings in popular culture

Strange discovery about Chinese DNA

(Asian Ancestry) What did British musician and artist Brian Eno know about China? "China My China," he sang.

Brian Eno "China My China" (2004 digital remaster)

Monkey men taught by celestial god being?

(Ancient Bloodline) [AI slop to fuel speculation:] Life 1.9 million years ago: ancient aliens teach prehistoric humans how to survive? It was not by violence but by farming, cooperation, and controlling base instincts.

Final war in Tartaria against non-humans

(Tartaria History) The final war of Tartaria was fought against something inhuman

Advanced Tartarian architecture appropriated

Were strong Blacks from Africa and elsewhere, particularly the indigenous of the Americas, exploited and used to replace other "giant" humans, perhaps advanced Tartarians? Nations gave a final order for their removal, their containment, removal, liquidation, and utter erasure from the historical record? The Great Wall of China was not built by China but, apparently, to keep the [barbaric] Chinese out [or keep giant "Tartarians" contained] because the turrets are facing the wrong direction in some places. More crucial to the discussion than the existence of giants, extraterrestrials, antediluvian Atlanteans or others (cannibals who eat meat with original formula tartar sauce), or anything else is the systematic erasure of the historical record. That cannot be denied. Why history was erased, even as legend and rumor linger, is a separate question to speculate about. That this part of it was erased is now undeniable. The evidence is in the remnant architecture and fragments in records that can still be pieced together by dogged determination.

Peace Class: Self-Love is World Service

LIVE for the first time a month ago. Mandy Kahn (mandykahn.com) Earth Day, April 22

 

Peace Class, Wednesdays, 6:00 pm on Zoom

Friends, Peace Class meets Wednesday nights. Join in via Zoom at 6:00 pm (Pacific). 

• Feel free to share link with friends
• ALL are welcome
• Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/j/82150472713
• ID: 821 5047 2713

This is the text of the talk delivered at last week's class:

 

Self-love is world service

By Mandy Kahn at PRS, Earth Day 2026, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Holy Doors: Poems of Mandy Kahn

When we are kind to ourselves, when we have compassion for ourselves, when we love ourselves without reserve, we create the conditions in which to most easily evolve.

All of this evolution is towards a more peaceful and loving version of the [conventional] self.

 

Self-love creates a state in which one can hear the voice of our higher self and also feel that voice in the heart.

 

That higher voice points to the path ahead. The path ahead is always evolving [becoming] towards a more loving version of self. Self-love creates a kind of quiet in the mind/heart.

Lower mind

 

Not sex but symbolism of union

The lower mind is the place of judgment. That which is not love, that which is harsh, is loud in the lower mind. Self-love is the antidote to this loud voice. It balances and heals the harshness, restoring a kind of homeostasis, a calm, equitable ground [dzogchen]. Self-love creates neutrality in the self. It creates openness, and openness is peace. Into the true openness of peace, the presence of universal love, universal kindness, universal knowing arrives.

Tibetan Dharmacakra - Ground (Dzogchen)

All those who walk with universal love walk in service to all beings.

So self-love creates the conditions for one to more easily become peace, and into that peace of the self, the great wisdom of universal loving-kindness arrives. And the individual into which it arrives now carries it as a remarkable offering for all.

Higher mind

It is as if self-love builds the room. The empty room is peace. And universal love always arrives to fill it. Put simply:

• Unconditional self-love creates neutrality.
• And into [out of] this neutrality, peace is born.
• And this neutrality is peace.
• And into this peace, love-without-end [absorption or samādhi through metta] is born.

This peace flows from the individual consciousness into the collective consciousness, where it heals that which has not been loved which has remained there as residue.

• ["One-pointedness of mind/heart (cittass'ekaggatā), Ven. Visakha, is called concentration (samādhi, stillness, coherence)" (MN 44).]

Flower power made in the USA

When peace has flowed into the collective consciousness and has healed that which is not-love that is there, new possibilities emerge for humankind.

• Old wounds are healed.
• Old grievances are healed.
• And more people, no longer held in bondage by old grievances, are able to hear their higher selves' voice, which is a loving voice.
• And more people, hearing their highest voice, choose to act in love.
• And things begin to change.
• Old patterns suddenly end.
• There is more harmony between people.
• There is more peace.
• And that peace, felt by any one person, enters the collective consciousness and heals another layer of what is there
• calling to be loved,
• calling to be witnessed,
• calling to be healed,
• calling to be honored for all that it is, exactly as it is.
• Peace does that.
• [EDITORIAL NOTE: When Goenka talks about observing sensations (feelings) in the body, he says to observe each one “AS IT IS.” The Pali phrase he uses is “yathā-bhūta.” Buddhist Sanskrit (tathātā) akin to the Chinese term rú zhēn (如眞) “suchness.”]

It's as if our hearts were burning as one at BM.

So all is honored, all is healed, and another wave of people feel called to lean into that voice at the center of their chests, their own heart's voice, the voice of a higher self, a voice that speaks of their purpose. That voice is loving, the font of love at the center of each being, what we can call the heart's voice. So it is better perceived, easier to hear and learn from.

An act of service to the world

Earth and every living being on it is so much more beautiful and unbelievable close up.

 
Our self-love is an ACT [karma] of service (sevā) to the world. Is builds our peace first, and our peace builds all peace.

Yes, it builds our neutrality (equanimity, unbiased looking on, upekṣā), which allows us to hear our higher voice. The peace it builds in our own heart/mind travels into the collective consciousness, where it heals and creates new opportunities for future peace, our own and the peace of others.

The "peacening" process

Buddhist Goddess Prajnaparamita (personification of Perfection of Wisdom), Java

.

Goddess Sophia (Wisdom)

Our self-love powers this whole peacening [pacifying, cooling, slaking, quenching towards the highest peace of all, which is Nirvana or the "nirvanering"] process.

• Our self-love is local -- planetary service to others.
• Our self-love is holy.
• Our self-love is a holy offering that changes things.
• It changes us and everything else at once.
• It loves us and everything into wholeness.
• It loves you, it loves me, it loves everyone and everything at once (immediately, instantly, timelessly, akāliko). [The Gnostics knew it.]
• Boho chic; Girl in Yellow; text by Mandy Kahn, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly, Earth Day 2026