Between 2020–2024, Shultz had a paranoid "mental health crisis" for the making of Neon Pill (2024).
He experienced a severe adverse reaction to prescribed ADHD medication, which led to paranoid delusions and a break from reality. His condition culminated in a high-profile arrest in January 2023 in NY, where he was found with two loaded firearms.
Shultz later avoided jail time through a plea deal and underwent extensive treatment, which he has credited with saving his life [12]. This turbulent period deeply influenced Cage the Elephant's sixth studio album, Neon Pill.
The album features lyrics reflecting Shultz's psychological descent and recovery, blending confessional songwriting with the band's evolving, genre-fluid sound. Songs like "Neon Pill" and "Rainbow" trace his personal trauma, including a temporary divorce from his wife Kentucky-based actress, dancer, and musician Eva Ross [13].
In interviews, Shultz has spoken candidly about the dangers of blurring performance personas with personal identity and has since adopted a more grounded public presence.
The band's return to touring in 2024 was met with critical acclaim, and Shultz has described the experience as a profound reset, offering new perspective on fame and artistic identity [12].
On Oct. 10, 2024, CBS Mornings aired a segment featuring Shultz and his brother Brad. In it Matt opened up about his psychosis[14]. More
Long, long ago, there was this cool Swedish band that used to do covers, as most new bands are wont to do. Like nearly everyone else, they covered Black Sabbath standards. They are so catchy, easy, and powerful, that it's a good way to get a rock 'n roll career going. But the band was The Cardigans with an ice princess for a singer, one with a saccharine voice and looks. Some member, possibly the drummer, said, "I know! Let's cover the most iconic and evil Black Sabbath song, a song so evil they named themselves after it!"
"But how can we make it MORE evil?" someone asked. "I know, someone else must've said, 'Well turn it into a love song, maybe throw in some domestic abuse.'" "Yeah!" or "Whatever," the others must've said. (What's worse, the Devil or being trapped in an abusive romantic relationship with a jerk partner?)
And so "Heartbreaker" was born. Now, no Cardigans fan knows it's "Black Sabbath," and no Sabbath fans know who the F The Cardigans are, but evil is evil, and a rock 'n roll classic is a classic for a reason (or it may have something to do with the Devil's note, the tritone).
Now, in Christianity, "Satan" is the source of all evil, all harm, all bad things. He's like the counterpart to a jerk allegedly all-powerful God who is all "good." But satan really means the "adversary," any adversary, as in divorce court.
"Heartbreaker"
LYRICS: "Heartbreaker"
Lovefool Nina Persson, The Cardigans front
[Verse 1] No, not again/ Oh, what a man/ Just who I thought that I wanted to have/ Oh, don't do that/ Don't use that bat/ That's all it takes to make me falling flat/ [Pre-Chorus 1] No, not again/ A loser I am// [CHORUS] I love you tonight/ You are my knight/ Cure and assure and make me feel alright/ Tomorrow you'll find/ I'm not around/ But don't be uptight 'cause I loved you last night// [Verse 2] Vacant and free/ Yeah, that is me/ Just tell me how and I'll please you for free/ Tell me I'm good/ I know I'm bad/ Lies make me feel fine although it is sad/ [Pre-Chorus 2] No, not again/ Not one more man// [CHORUS] I love you tonight/ You are my knight/ Cure and assure and make me feel alright/ Tomorrow you'll find/ I'm not around/ But don't be uptight 'cause I loved you last night/ Right?
LYRICS: "Black Sabbath"
Madman Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath front
[Instrumental Intro] [Verse 1] What is this that stands before me?/ Figure in black which points at me/ Turn 'round quick and start to run/ Find out I'm the chosen one/ Oh, no/ [Verse 2] Big black shape with eyes of fire/ Tellin' people their desire/ Satan's sittin' there, he's smilin'/ Watches those flames get higher and higher/ Oh, no, no, please, God, help me/ [Bridge] Is it the end, my friend?/ Satan's comin' 'round the bend/ People runnin' 'cause they're scared/ The people better go and beware/ No, no, please, no/ [Guitar Solo] [Instrumental Outro]
(The Epic History Vibe) Zarathustra's forgotten religion that secretly invented heaven, hell, and the Devil borrowed by Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
Capitalist salesman Kevin Trudeau says he was initiated into uncle's "The Brotherhood"
Feel the feelings without clinging to them.
There is a saying we should all know. For by knowing it, we can love it and live it. Kevin Trudeau [Hevin' True Dough?] the miracle way to happiness is to take 100% responsibility for everything that happens to us.
"Well, that's impossible!" we may exclaim. "I can't be responsible for what others do to me!" Are we going to wait for them and react accordingly? Wouldn't it be better to act as if everything that happens to us were our fault?
"The buck stops here." If it stops here with me then it starts here with me, too. That is a good and useful way to approach "karma" -- the POWER OF OUR DEEDS TO PRODUCE RESULTS (eventual fruit and immediate mental resultants), now and in the interminable future.
Rather than wasting time wondering if everything is our fault, the advice given to successful Trudeau was to act as if everything were our fault. Love it. Live it. Because when we do, we will see a miracle.
There's no more waiting for the universe or others or anything to do things. It's just us.
Blue Monday is on Jan. 19 this year: Blue Monday is the name given to the third Monday in January by former Cardiff University health psychologist [1] Cliff Arnall in 2005 [2, 3, 4]. Prof Arnall is a current member of The British Psychological Society (BPS) [5]. It is said by UK travel company Sky Travel to be the most depressing day of the year. It takes into account weather conditions and only applies to the Northern Hemisphere temperate zones. More
For example, say a gal were lost on a desert island in the middle of the sea. Should she wait for lunch, or ruminate about who's to blame for her getting there? Is there anything to learn from being there? Are those coconuts just going to climb down?
Get up, dig for fresh water, find a way to scramble up the palm tree, bring a broken rock to cut down a coconut, which provides purified drinking fluid full of electrolytes and protein rich healthy fats in a delicious gel. Keep the shells. They'll come in handy for lots of things. Take a dip in the sea and gather some seaweed. Lay it out in the sun, which will make it very taste. Then the herb, root, fruit, and vegetable hunt begins. There's gathering to be done. Fire and cooking will come soon, and this forsaken wilderness will be converted into a paradise, a Blue Lagoon (based on the novel The Blue Lagoon).
Oh, but doesn't it feel so much better to feel sorry for ourselves?
What is Blue Monday?
Each January, a certain Monday carries a reputation for being the year’s most emotionally difficult day.
Known as "Blue Monday," it’s often linked with low moods, depleted motivation, and a post-holiday slump.
While the idea started as a publicity stunt, it has since become an annual reminder of something real and important: Mental health matters – especially when days are short and emotions feel heavy. In 2026, Blue Monday falls on January 19th.
Ram Dass (Dr. Richard Alpert) in India, meets guru
What is it? Blue Monday 2026 is observed on the third Monday in January and is often described as “the saddest day of the year.”
The label may be more symbolic than scientific, but the feelings it points to are common. After the holidays, many people experience a dip – financially, emotionally, and physically.
Cold weather, shorter daylight hours, and pressure to stick to resolutions can all contribute. More
There's a chemical in dark chocolate (real Theobroma cacao) related to happiness and good sensations. It's also present in mary-jah-wanna, which probably explains why consumers get so clingy and attached to using the herbal substance. This naturally occurring chemical is called anandamide.Ananda, of course, is the name of the Buddha's closest friend and monastic attendant (likely his son with Mriga from before the birth of Rahula with his wife Yasodhara (aka Bimba Devi, according to some Buddhist schools). In Sanskrit and Pali anand means "bliss, joy, rapture." The suffix amide is added: In the usual nomenclature, one adds the term "amide" to the stem of the parent acid's name. For instance, the amide derived from acetic acid is named acetamide (CH3CONH2).
Now, one might be wondering, “What on earth is anandamide, and why should I care?” Well, pull up a chair and grab a square of dark chocolate, because we’re about to embark on a flavor-filled journey into the world of neuroscience and cocoa chemistry. Anandamide, derived from the Sanskrit word ananda, meaning “bliss or joy,” is a naturally occurring compound in our brains. It’s part of the endocannabinoid system, a complex network that helps regulate various bodily functions, including mood, appetite, and pain sensation. In essence, anandamide is the brain’s very own mood-enhancing, stress-busting superhero. But how does this marvelous molecule work its magic? When anandamide binds to specific receptors in our brains, it triggers a cascade of feel-good effects. More
Happiness is literally an inside job, according to scientific materialism, which believes that we are nothing more than material constructs and that the miracle of consciousness is but an epiphenomenon following on the interaction of material objects like cells, chemicals, molecules, and ever smaller atom, electrons, and quarks.
Organized religion errs on the side of spiritualism, believing us to be a "soul," "spirit," or "magical subtlety." These three things are real, but they are not the self any more than consciousness is.
There is nama rupa, "name" (the instructions) and "form" (the carrying out of those instructions in the material sphere). But self (atta) is not that. How else could it be? If it not one, it has to be the other, unless it is both? It is both both and neither.
What we regard as "self" (soul, ego) is mind-and-body, but though mental and physical processes exist and are active, they do not amount to a concrete "self."
The "self" that exists is dependent, temporary, ephemeral subject to Three Characteristics of All Conditioned Things: they are impermanent, incapable of satiating/fulfilling, and are impersonal.
This last characteristic is the one that is impossible to believe, but it is the key to awakening/enlightenment in the Buddha's teaching.
We can see that all things are impermanent, in flux, constantly changing, undependable. We can see that we have never been fulfilled for long; we experience great pleasure but remain hungry, in many cases becoming more hungry for newer and better pleasures.
IF THERE IS NO SELF, WHAT IS THERE THEN? The Buddha answered this question in terms of Dependent Origination (paticca-samuppāda). And it is on account of not seeing this, not grasping, not penetrating this that we have wandered so long in this painful samsara.
Will we fall under the spell of scient-ism, run to religion for shelter, or begin to see what the Buddha was getting at when he encouraged us to strive for calm and liberating-insight?
"Science can prove what it says." Can it? It redefines "happiness" as an endorphin then shows a peptide "walking," and viola, nonmaterialistic Buddhism is wrong? That's how it might seem, but it is not the case. We must look more deeply. Science fails us. And coming and seeing and investigating what the Buddha taught liberates us. Try it.
Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom
Change your brain, change your life with this essential classic from New York Times bestselling author Dr. Rick Hanson—now celebrating 15 years in print with more than 500,000 copies sold.
Great teachers like the historical Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, and Gandhi were all born with brains built essentially like everyone else’s—and then they changed their brains in ways that changed the world.
Neuroscience now reveals how the flow of thoughts actually sculpts the brain. More and more, we are learning that it’s possible to strengthen positive brain states.
By combining breakthroughs in science with insights from thousands of years of mindfulness practice, we too can shape our own “Buddha’s Brain” for greater happiness, love, and wisdom.
Buddha’s Brain draws on evidence-based neuroscience to show readers how to stimulate their brains for
more fulfilling relationships,
a deeper spiritual life, and
a greater sense of inner confidence and self-worth.
Using guided meditations and mindfulness exercises, learn how to activate the brain states of calm, joy, and compassion instead of worry, sorrow, and anger.
Most importantly, anyone who implements these practices will foster positive psychological growth that will literally change the way life is lived day-to-day.
This book provides an essential intersection of psychology, neurology, and contemplative practice. It’s filled with practical tools and skills useful every day to tap into the unused potential of the brain and rewire it over time for greater well-being. More
(Dr. Tracy Townsend MD) Sept. 16, 2025: In this video Dr. Tracy Kim Townsend -- a licensed medical doctor, psilocybin facilitator, and co-founder of Meadow (the world’s first legal psychedelic medicine practice founded by a physician) breaks down:
What psilocybin is,
How it works in the brain, and
Why leading researchers are calling it one of the most promising medicines of our time.
📌 NOTE: This video is for educational purposes only. It is not medical advice.
🔔 Subscribe for more down-to-earth education about psychedelics, psilocybin therapy, and holistic healing: @TracyTownsendMD
💬 Have questions about psilocybin? Drop them in the comments.
Sensationalist influencer Cleo Abram, 2024; Tracy Townsend MD, Sept. 16, 2025; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
(VICE) Twenty times stronger than DMT: The Spirit Molecule, "Bufo" (5-MeO-DMT), is hiding in the venom of the Sonoran toad -- but it is also synthesized and harms no amphibian whatsoever. Mother Earth and Father Tech have provided it.
Ego death is a "complete loss of subjective self-identity" [1]. The term is used in various intertwined contexts, with related meanings. Psychologist William James, a 19th-century philosopher, uses the synonymous term "self-surrender."
[This is the literal meaning of Islam and the Muslim follower's attitude towards the one God Allah, and it is the yogi's merging with "GOD," where or godhead/godhood is the Atman merging or uniting with Brahman, the "ultimate reality" in Hinduism and in different terms in Mahayana Buddhism. And it stands to reason that in Christianity of all kinds, it is the attitude of a soul to what Christians would regard as "God," to be "Christed" or "anointed with Chrism," not figuratively and symbolically in the reenactment of a ritual but in the sense of the pineal gland producing endogenousDMT that floods the system, which is the power of entheogenic substances like amrita, amata,ambrosiaand perhapssoma.]
Is this why lunar cycles and calendars are important?
Peter goes to Meg's school to bust Bufo fad
Jungian psychology uses the synonymous term psychic death, referring to a fundamental transformation of the psyche ("soul") [2].
In death and rebirth mythology, ego death is a phase of self-surrender and transition [3][4][5][6], as described later by Joseph Campbell in his research on the mythology of the Hero's Journey [3].
It is a recurrent theme in world mythology and is also used as a metaphor in some strands of contemporary Western thinking [6]. More
(Soul In Reflection)
Aug. 4, 2025: Edgar Cayce shocked the world when he revealed salt as humanity's hidden spiritual technology. In 1936, he saved a dying child using sacred salt rituals that doctors called impossible.
This video exposes why biblical texts encrypted salt as divine connection, how our tears contain crystallized prayers, and the specific techniques Cayce used to unlock psychic abilities through salt work.
Discover why ancient civilizations guarded salt secrets, how salt bridges physical and spiritual realms, and the documented healing cases that prove salt activates dormant spiritual DNA.
Learn Cayce's salt meditation methods for accessing past lives, receiving divine guidance, and accelerating consciousness evolution.
The kitchen cabinet holds the key to spiritual awakening that mystery schools protected for millennia. Based on 14,000 documented psychic readings and A.R.E. archives.
Best-selling author Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency (Latin sal, which gives us our word "salary," our ration of life-sustaining sodium chloride used as wages), salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Salt is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece. More
All materials on this site are submitted by editors and readers. All images, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain.
In the event that there is still a problem, issue, or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial, and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof.
Contact us by submitting a comment marked "private."
Do not follow this journal if you are under vinaya or parental restrictions. Secure protection by Sucuri.
Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at creativecommons.org/about/licenses.
The album features lyrics reflecting Shultz's psychological descent and recovery, blending confessional songwriting with the band's evolving, genre-fluid sound. Songs like "Neon Pill" and "Rainbow" trace his personal trauma, including a temporary divorce from his wife Kentucky-based actress, dancer, and musician Eva Ross [13].
