Category: G O O D N E S S

Culture, Morals, Ethics. 2nd person perspective.

Tibetan Tradition of Mind Training | Watch Documentaries Online | Promote Documentary Film

Synopsis: In this introduction to the mind training (lojong) tradition, Geshe Dawa explains the history and practice of mental transformation. Coming from early Indian Buddhist masters, this important, practical tradition became central to all the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. The most sophisticated and rigorous system of positive psychology ever devised, the mind training teachings uphold phenomenological existence while denying any underlying essence, thereby providing a powerful tool for both simple and profound change.

The talk marks the opening of “Bridging Worlds: Buddhist Words and Works,” an exhibition in honor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 2007 visit.

Source: Tibetan Tradition of Mind Training | Watch Documentaries Online | Promote Documentary Film

Plant Intelligence and Human Consciousness Panel

Monica Gagliano has single-handedly pioneered the revolutionary new field of Plant Bioacoustics, which is providing the most powerful evidence to date that plants possess forms of cognition that could constitute “personhood.” Michael Pollan, who has studied the human-plant relationship in such classic bestselling works as The Botany of Desire, has now turned his attention in his new book How To Change Your Mind to what cutting-edge research on psychedelic substances (which are nearly all derived from or modeled on plant molecules) is revealing about human consciousness. These two brilliant visionaries engaged in conversation hosted by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer.

Analytic Idealism Course

 

In this Part I of Essentia Foundation’s Analytic Idealism Course, we investigate whether our ordinary intuitions about the nature of reality and the world at large can be true at all.

Link to PART II: https://youtu.be/BbnfnveWUh0

Plant Communication with Pam Montgomery

Plants and trees give us our very life. Without them, we wouldn’t have our breath, tissue, food, cognitive abilities of “higher mind,” emotional stability, and spiritual guidance.

Because of our close symbiotic relationship, we share a common ground with the plants that surround us. Our life-giving connection with the green beings is inherent in our humanness and our birthright is to be intimately related.

Communicating effectively is one of the foundations in a relationship that builds to a co-creative partnership. We all know how to communicate with plants… this innate knowledge lives within us, but has been forgotten due to the chaotic nature of our day to day lives.

Animal emotions and empathy with Frans de Waal

Do animals show empathy? Are there any signs of morality in animal societies? Can a monkey distinguish right from wrong? And what are the standards of what is right and what is not? Does morality evolve in time both for human societies and animal societies?

It is hard to imagine that empathy—a characteristic so basic to the human species that it emerges early in life, and is accompanied by strong physiological reactions—came into existence only when our lineage split off from that of the apes. It must be far older than that. Examples of empathy in other animals would suggest a long evolutionary history to this capacity in humans. Over the last several decades, we’ve seen increasing evidence of empathy in other species. Emotions suffuse much of the language employed by students of animal behavior — from “social bonding” to “alarm calls” — yet are often avoided as explicit topic in scientific discourse. Given the increasing interest of human psychology in the emotions, and the neuroscience on animal emotions such as fear and attachment, the taboo that has hampered animal research in this area is outdated. The main point is to separate emotions from feelings, which are subjective experiences that accompany the emotions. Whereas science has no access to animal feelings, animal emotions are as observable and measurable as human emotions. They are mental and bodily states that potentiate behavior appropriate to both social and nonsocial situations. The expression of emotions in face and body language is well known, the study of which began with Darwin. Frans de Waal will discuss early ideas about animal emotions and draw upon research on empathy and the perception of emotions in primates to make the point that the study of animal emotions is a necessary complement to the study of behavior. Emotions are best viewed as the organizers of adaptive responses to environmental stimuli. If you like this kind of stuff you should read: Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?

Kenny Ausubel – The Sting: The Role of Fraud in Nature | Bioneers

Nature is sending us extravagant distress signals. Earth is a hot mess. From Covid to climate catastrophe to fascism, the perils of disinformation are a matter of life and death. We’d better get really good really fast at reading Nature’s mind. The stakes are too high to keep drinking the collective Kool-Aid.

Kenny Ausubel, CEO and founder (in 1990) of Bioneers, is an award-winning social entrepreneur, journalist, author and filmmaker. Co-founder and first CEO of the organic seed company, Seeds of Change, his film (and companion book) “Hoxsey: When Healing Becomes a Crime” helped influence national alternative medicine policy. He has edited several books and written four, including, most recently, “Dreaming the Future: Reimagining Civilization in the Age of Nature.”

https://a.co/d/66VTPRS

Mark Plotkin: Maps, Magic and Medicine in the Rainforest | Bioneers 2016

Mark Plotkin, groundbreaking ethnobotanist and author of seminal books including “Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice”, works closely with Indigenous peoples and uncontacted tribes in the northwest Amazon. As co-founder of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) in 1995, he depicts ACT’s work partnering with over 30 South American tribes, including the Kogi, to map, manage and protect over 70 million acres of ancestral forests. He describes collaboration with elder healers to develop and implement successful “Shamans and Apprentices” programs to transmit sacred healing information down through generations within the tribes themselves.