FLPs vs BLPs

One of the most provocative ideas in modern thinking: humanity is fundamentally divided into two types based on their relationship with time and change.

Forward-Looking People embrace change as natural and necessary. They adapt readily to new information, create the future rather than preserve the past, and feel comfortable with uncertainty because they see it as opportunity. They're optimistic, believing they can handle whatever comes, and they're open-minded enough to update their beliefs when presented with evidence.

Backward-Looking People resist change as threatening. They cling to established patterns even when they fail, trying to preserve the past and impose old solutions on new problems. They demand certainty because they see uncertainty as danger. They're fearful about unknown futures and closed-minded, unable to easily update their beliefs.

This isn't just psychology—it's biochemistry. People with higher endocannabinoid activity tend to be FLPs, while those with lower activity tend to be BLPs. The endocannabinoid system regulates stress response, fear extinction, neuroplasticity, and literally the capacity for open-mindedness.

This division isn't new. Ancient wisdom traditions identified the same fundamental split—they just used different vocabulary.

The Buddhists called it attachment versus non-attachment. Those who cling to fixed states—who upadana (grasp)—suffer because they fight impermanence. Those who flow with change—who practice vairagya (non-attachment)—thrive because they align with reality. BLPs grasp. FLPs flow.

Hindu philosophy described samskaras—mental impressions from past experiences that create rigid patterns of thought and behavior. The more samskaras you accumulate without processing, the more backward-looking you become. Yoga and meditation were technologies for dissolving these rigid patterns—for becoming more forward-looking.

Karma itself is a feedback loop: past actions creating present constraints. BLPs are trapped in karmic patterns, repeating the same responses to new situations. FLPs break the cycle through conscious awareness and adaptation.

"The Taoists called it wu wei—not passivity, but action aligned with flow rather than resistance. The Gita's Krishna counseled Arjuna to act without attachment to outcomes. Different traditions, same insight: rigidity is suffering; flexibility is liberation."

Modern neuroscience confirms what contemplatives discovered through practice: the capacity to let go of fixed patterns, to update beliefs, to embrace novelty is trainable. Meditation increases cognitive flexibility. So does supporting your endocannabinoid system. The path from BLP to FLP has always been available.

Key evidence comes from the Morris Water Maze experiment. Normal mice with CB1 receptors can learn a platform's location, and when it moves, they relearn the new location and update their mental map.

But CB1 knockout mice, lacking cannabinoid receptors, learn the original location fine but always return to the old position even after finding the new one. They cannot relearn. They're hardwired.

This is the biological basis of BLPs—they literally cannot rewire their thinking as easily.

The evolutionary context goes back 500 million years to the split between protostomes and deuterostomes. Insects developed rigid exoskeletons and highly structured societies but no cannabinoid receptors. Vertebrates developed internal skeletons and, crucially, the endocannabinoid system emerged.

This is why ants never made iPhones. They have perfect execution of ancient patterns but zero capacity for innovation. The endocannabinoid system is the evolutionary innovation that enabled adaptability, creativity, and technological civilization.

The framework makes a controversial political claim: BLPs disproportionately seek and gain power because they crave control to reduce their stress from change. They value hierarchy and clear, unchanging structures. FLPs value freedom and don't seek to control others.

Look at history's "leaders"—Genghis Khan, Hitler, authoritarian rulers throughout time—versus the notably shorter list of beneficial leaders like Gandhi and Mandela.

Research supports this. Studies show that people with lower physiological stress responses to change tend to support foreign aid, immigration, and pacifism, while those with higher stress responses favor defense spending, capital punishment, and war. This isn't about political parties—it's about orientation toward change.

We're at a critical juncture. Humanity's impact on the environment is unprecedented, and old solutions won't work for new problems. BLPs in power risk leading us toward extinction because they cannot adapt.

We need FLPs in leadership positions and increased cannabinoid activity in the population to enable the open-minded, adaptive thinking our survival requires.

The current global chaos—climate instability, financial volatility, political polarization—represents a far-from-equilibrium phase change. The system is reorganizing.

The question is whether we transition to higher organization through FLP-led cooperation or collapse through BLP-led resistance and control.

From this perspective, cannabis prohibition represents BLPs attacking FLPs—cannabinoid-deficient people criminalizing cannabinoid-sufficient people for having the biochemistry that enables adaptation. The term for this: biochemical racism.

The revolutionary implication is that we don't have to wait for evolution. We can consciously increase cannabinoid activity through:

• Phytocannabinoids (cannabis)
• Omega-3 fatty acids
• Exercise

Darwin's key insight was that survival of the fittest means survival of the most adaptable—not strongest or smartest, but most flexible. The endocannabinoid system is the biological mechanism enabling that adaptability, and for the first time in history, we can consciously accelerate our own evolution toward it.