Hey @teamsteem great to hear from you! First I'd just like to say I'm a big fan of yours, and I'm glad we have someone who is willing to tackle difficult subjects like geoeningineering, vaccines and 9/11 as a witness here on Steemit. I just voted for you myself today! 👍

I really hope you get a chance to read some of these books. I spent 3 years studying Buddhism as part of my bachelor's degree in religious studies, as well as other religions, but Buddhism has something special that no others have. That is its universalism. In a sense it's the first decentralised religion.

The Buddha is lot like Satoshi Nakamoto. He set down a series of immutable rules, the Four Noble Truths, Dependent Origination, the law of karma, that explained the fundamental mechanics of the universe, but constructed a religion that did not require him in it, and did not require anybody to believe in any doctrine as an article of faith.

There is a story in the Buddhist scriptures of how the Buddha compared his teachings to a raft that helps you cross a river, but once you're on the other shore, you don't keep carrying the raft around with you, you let it go.

The real treasure at the end of the Buddhist path is fully decentralised, in a sense, because it is never given to you as something you can grasp on to. It is emptiness, and the peace and stillness that comes from seeing things as they are, which opens the door to transcendental vision.

If the Buddhist teaching were presented as a doctrine you had to <i>believe</i> in, if nirvana was taught to be heaven, and the Buddha some kind of God, then that would lead people to attachment, in the same way as whenever someone gets hold of power over the supply of money, that power eventually corrupts.

Buddhism is a philosophical and religious system set up to save us from ourselves. No other religion is structured in this way.

That's so great that you're open to the raw diet. I did know you were a vegan, I read that on some of your posts, but it's great that you're going raw too. I'm not 100% raw myself, but very, very close, definitely close enough to legitimately call myself a fruitarian, and I've been eating this way for 2 1/2 years! Today I've been 100% raw, I just ate a couple of watermelons, some nectarines and a couple of banana smoothies. I do eat a very small amount of cooked vegan food sometimes, just out of stress, and because I'm hustling so hard I get cravings, but that is basically what every day is like for me. Raw, mono fruit meals of tropical fruit.

If you're interested in learning more please check out Loren Lockman on YouTube. He's been a fully raw fruitarian for over 20 years, and runs one of the only water fasting centres in the world, in Costa Rica. Discovering his videos is what started me on this journey and I've been following his diet ever since.

https://www.youtube.com/user/LorenLockman/videos