For four billion years, an ancient intelligence has lived inside every living being on Earth. That intelligence is not “out there” — it is the vast community of microorganisms that make up your body. They are older, wiser, and far more numerous than your human cells, and they communicate with you constantly, whether you are aware of it or not.
They are the living expression of the greater intelligence (Logos) — what many traditions have called the Divine. It does not matter whether you are an atheist, Christian, Muslim, spiritual seeker, or follow any other belief. You do not need to change your way of worship or your worldview.
The Third Bridge simply offers a different explanation of what is really going on inside you and around you — and how much it directly affects your health, your mind, your relationships, your entire life and even beyond.
Most humans have become disconnected from this intelligence, increasingly so in the past 100–200 years. Many don’t even know that they live in mild to high dysbiosis, being controlled or dominated by opportunistic microbes who enjoy chaos and disharmony. We can choose to live in better rhythm and reconnect with the greater intelligence that already flows through us. The first step is important: choose symbiosis instead of dysbiosis.
Use what is written here as a reference guide. You don't have to read or understand everything, but instead skip to the parts that matters most to you. Use the FAQ or the Expanded FAQ page for practical advice. Start simple:
The most important thing is not to be perfect — it is to start listening again to the ancient intelligence inside you.
Start small: Choose 1–2 things from the right column to strengthen. Even small daily improvements in food, nature contact, rhythm and calm can shift the balance over time.
The Third Bridge is inspired by Norse mythology, which has two bridges: one leading up to the divine world (symbiosis, harmony with the ancient intelligence), and one leading down to chaos (disharmony, dysbiosis). The Third Bridge is the one we create together — a horizontal path between humans, open to every culture, language, religion, and worldview. It is the simple, friendly way of returning to symbiosis with the ancient intelligence: we meet as equals, share practice, connect, and remember together — without leaders or dogma.
In earlier times, people didn't know about bacteria, nor how microbes can control our actions, also collectively. Humans have many times tried to understand what is happening when we connect to something larger than ourselves. In more recent times, separation and fragmentation has led to disconnection and a lack of understanding on a massive scale, allowing pathogens to dominate too many of us, leading to imbalance, addictions and the opposite of harmony and symbiotic grace.
The Third Bridge is for people who would like to improve their lives by reconnecting to a four billion years old intelligence, like our ancestors before us, while connecting with like-minded people.
This checklist helps you honestly assess whether you are living more in dysbiosis (imbalance) or symbiosis (balance). Be honest with yourself — this is for your own benefit.
| Signs of Dysbiosis (Imbalance) | Signs of Symbiosis (Balance) |
|---|---|
|
|
How to use this checklist:
Count how many statements feel true for you in each column. If you have significantly more in the left column, you are likely living in moderate to high dysbiosis. The more statements on the right that feel true, the stronger your symbiosis is.
| Dysbiosis (imbalance) | Symbiosis (balance) |
|---|---|
| Too many pathogens (bad bacteria/yeast) dominate | Good bacteria, archaea and yeast are strong and in control |
| Inflammation, cravings, fatigue, mood swings | Calm energy, clear mind, better immunity |
| Triggered by stress, sugar, alcohol, addictions, antibiotics, chaos | Supported by fermented food, nature, calm, rhythm, order |
Feed the good bacteria daily – they protect you and keep the ancient intelligence inside you alive and strong.
Die-off means to rid yourself of patogen imbalance.
This is a practical plan for the first 2–4 weeks. Plan ahead.
What to Expect: Headache, fatigue, bloating are common. “Now you're in motion!” — balance is shifting. Symptoms last 3–14 days depending on your addictions and level of dysbioses.
Take it at your pace. You're on a good path!
During the transition to symbiosis, your body naturally clears out excess pathogenic and opportunistic bacteria. Most of this happens through normal bowel movements and urine. You may notice that your stools (poop) become more frequent or have a stronger, more intense smell for a while — this is usually a sign that old, unbalanced microbes are leaving the system. You may also pass more gas. This is normal and harmless. Very few bacteria are released through gas, so there is almost no risk of spreading pathogens to others. The process is temporary. Supporting it with daily fermented food, fibre-rich vegetables, calm breathing, and good sleep helps the good bacteria take over faster and reduces discomfort. Be patient — the stronger smell and extra gas usually ease within a few weeks as balance returns.
And remember: Connect with other people, also animals. Use The Third Bridge!One of the fastest ways to support your microbiome is to regularly consume truly living fermented foods — but quality matters greatly.
Bread — Almost all commercial bread (including most "healthy" bread) is made with commercial yeast and baked at high temperatures that kill any beneficial microbes. For symbiosis, focus on genuine sourdough bread made with a living starter culture. The longer the fermentation, the better. Ideally, bake your own sourdough at home.
Cheese — Most ordinary supermarket cheese has very little living bacteria left. Look for raw-milk cheeses or traditionally aged cheeses like real Parmesan, aged Gouda, or Roquefort. The longer it’s aged, the better. Making your own cheese at home with proper cultures is the strongest option.
Kombucha — Most kombucha sold in regular stores is not useful for symbiosis. Many brands are pasteurized, high in sugar, and basically taste like sweet soda. Look for raw, unpasteurized kombucha that is kept in the fridge, low in sugar, and has visible sediment. The best option is to make your own.
Pro tip: The most reliable approach is to buy good starter cultures once (from companies such as startercultures.eu in Europe or culturesforhealth.com in North America), then maintain your own cultures at home. This gives you a constant supply of fresh, living microbes every week.
Note on alcohol: In many traditional societies, lightly fermented drinks containing live microbes (such as Georgian amber wine, traditional mead or beer) were important parts of ancient rituals, consumed in smaller amounts. In our modern context we generally recommend avoiding regular alcohol because even small daily amounts tend to disrupt the gut lining and vagus nerve tone. The daily focus should be on non-alcoholic living ferments like fermented milk, kefir, yogurt and sourdough.
Use any of the blueprints below if they fit with your life or those around you. Many natural life stages, like menopause, aging, or fatigue, are first ignored or shamed, then turned into "conditions" that need fixing with pills, hormones, or products. This is big business: symptoms get treated, but the root cause (dysbiosis — imbalance in the gut bacteria) is rarely addressed.
Dysbiosis is the biological expression of a deeper disconnection from the quiet intelligence inside us. When we only treat symptoms, we stay stuck. The real path starts with symbiosis: simple changes in food, rest, movement, and nature contact that bring back balance and energy naturally.
Start here. The body already knows how to heal — we just need to listen.
Dysbiosis fuels cravings. Symbiosis brings strength.
Long-term dysbiosis creates strongholds inside of you. Symbiosis breaks them over time.
The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (and similar programs) have helped millions of people find freedom from addiction. Their strength lies in honesty, surrender, community, and connection to a greater power. Many who have worked the Steps describe a genuine spiritual awakening.
However, when viewed through the lens of symbiosis, one vital piece was missing when the Steps were written in the 1930s: the central role of the gut microbiome. Addiction is not only a spiritual and psychological problem — it is also a biological one. Pathogenic bacteria can hijack cravings, mood, and behaviour through inflammation, neurotransmitter disruption, and vagus nerve signalling.
A 12 + 12 Framework for lasting recovery:
For lasting change, each of the 12 Steps can be supported by a parallel biological step focused on gut repair. By consciously combining spiritual surrender with the rebuilding of a healthy microbiome (through living fermented food, nature contact, reduced sugar and alcohol, and daily rhythm), the transformation becomes deeper and more stable. The 12 Steps provide the direction — symbiosis provides the biological foundation that makes the change stick.
Read more about the 12+12 framework (original 12 Steps combined with biological symbiosis steps) on the expanded FAQ page here: 12+12 Steps for Symbiosis and Recovery
Early antibiotics, sugar-heavy diet, and inactivity lead to dysbiosis, obesity, and low willpower. Symbiosis can turn it around early.
Antibiotics and poor diet cause dysbiosis in the elderly, leading to fatigue and infections. Symbiosis through fermented food can improve quality of life.
Dysbiosis reduces serotonin (90% produced in the gut). Symbiosis through diet and calm can restore mood and energy.
Chronic stress and city living reduce microbiome diversity. Symbiosis through small routines can bring calm and balance.
The earliest moments shape how strongly your child connects to the ancient intelligence inside us all. A healthy gut microbiome from the start gives better energy, mood, and resilience for life.
Hormonal contraception affects the gut microbiome — often reducing diversity and shifting toward disharmony.
You have already taken the first and most important step: you have seen.
Repent simply means to turn around. Stop walking toward fragmentation and start walking toward symbiosis. Redemption is not a distant reward — it is the slow, living return to balance inside your own holobiont. It happens through daily practice, not through guilt or punishment.
What to do now:
You are not damned. You are waking up. The ancient intelligence has always been waiting inside you. Start today with one small act of symbiosis. The change grows quietly from there.
You have done nothing wrong.
The bacteria and the higher intelligence (the living Logos) do not care about the name or form of your worship. They only notice whether you live in symbiosis or in separation. There is no punishment for having prayed, sung, or gathered in the way that felt true to you.
You may continue to worship exactly as before — in church, in prayer, in community — if that still brings you peace and connection. The divine is not offended by sincere faith.
What matters now is to bring your daily life closer to the intelligence that is already inside you:
The closer you come to symbiosis, the closer you will feel to the divine you have always loved. Many who walk this path say the presence they sought in prayer becomes stronger and more constant when the body and gut are in balance.
You do not need to leave your faith. You only need to let the ancient intelligence shine more clearly through the life you already live.
Yes — screens are one of the strongest modern creators of dysbiosis, and the same principles apply to almost all addictions (alcohol, sugar, gambling, nicotine, doom-scrolling, etc.).
Screens isolate you physically and socially. When you spend hours alone in front of a screen, you miss real human connection, touch, eye contact, laughter, and shared rhythm. This lack of physical presence weakens the vagus nerve, increases chronic stress, and disrupts sleep — all of which damage your microbiome and push the body toward dysbiosis.
Screens disrupt symbiosis in several ways: they fragment attention and raise chronic stress, replace natural light and movement, destroy sleep, and often pair with sugar or isolation — all things that feed pathogenic bacteria.
Over time, the brain starts craving the quick dopamine hits from screens instead of the slower, deeper satisfaction that comes from real-life interaction and nature. This creates a vicious cycle that makes it harder to feel calm, connected, or motivated in the real world.
Practical path to reduce screen addiction (and most other addictions):
Breaking screen addiction is difficult, but every small step you take helps restore balance in your body and mind. You are not weak, nor alone in this struggle. You have been living in an environment designed to create dysbiosis. Changing it is an act of returning home to the ancient intelligence, and reuniting with those among your ancestors who worshipped symbiosis in divine ways.
Once you begin to see your own holobiont and the importance of symbiosis, it is natural to want to help your children move in a healthier direction. The good news is that you don’t need to be perfect. Small, consistent, loving actions make a big difference over time.
The most important thing is not to strive for perfection, as this can inflict stress on yourself and those around you. Move in the right direction with love and patience. Children learn more from the atmosphere in the home and the quality of connection than from strict rules.
Cherish playfulness, curiosity and acceptance, humility and gratefulness, especially in daily life's smaller moments. When you strengthen your own symbiosis, you naturally become a calmer, more present guide for them.
You are not trying to “fix” your children. You are simply helping them grow up with a stronger, more harmonious relationship with the ancient intelligence that lives inside and around all of us.
Research, podcasts, and ideas about bacteria, symbiosis, and dysbiosis. Start here for more depth.
These links are starting points. The real understanding comes from trying the simple practices yourself.
These ancient texts and stories are not only religious or philosophical treasures — they are early human attempts to understand and live in alignment with the greater intelligence (Logos). Below you will find selected works with a short description, their historical context, and how they relate to symbiosis and the living intelligence we have been exploring.
For recommended modern books, see the expanded FAQ page here: Modern Books & Symbiosis
Period: Oral traditions from around 300 BCE, compiled in written form between the 3rd century BCE and 5th century CE.
Tradition: Theravada Buddhism (widely used across Buddhist cultures).
Relation to symbiosis: Stories about the previous lives of the Buddha, often showing beings moving from selfish or fragmented behaviour toward cooperation, sacrifice for the group, and alignment with a larger wisdom. They illustrate collective intelligence and the importance of acting for the whole — much like healthy bacterial biofilms.
Period: 800–300 BCE
Tradition: Vedic / early Hindu philosophy
Relation to symbiosis: These texts explore the unity of the individual self (Atman) with the universal intelligence (Brahman). Phrases like “Tat Tvam Asi” (“Thou art That”) point directly to the immanent and transcendent nature of the greater intelligence we carry within us.
Period: ~400–300 BCE
Tradition: Daoism (China)
Relation to symbiosis: Emphasizes living in effortless harmony with the Tao (the Way). The principle of wu wei (non-forcing) and returning to natural balance is very close to the idea of symbiosis — aligning with the larger intelligence instead of fighting against it.
Period: ~400–200 BCE
Tradition: Hindu epic
Relation to symbiosis: Teaches acting with duty and detachment while seeing the divine in all beings. It encourages alignment with the greater order rather than ego-driven fragmentation.
Period: 1st–2nd century CE
Tradition: Stoic writings
Relation to symbiosis: Logos as the rational, ordering principle of the universe. Living in accordance with nature and accepting what is.
Period: ~300 BCE
Tradition: Daoism
Relation to symbiosis: Playful and paradoxical tales about flowing with nature, forgetting the ego, and seeing the unity behind all things. A beautiful reminder that true wisdom often looks like returning to natural rhythm.
Period: ~1200–600 BCE
Tradition: Early Zoroastrianism (Indo-Iranian)
Relation to symbiosis: Strong emphasis on choosing Asha (truth and cosmic order) over chaos. The call to actively restore balance mirrors the impulse to move from dysbiosis back to symbiosis.
Western tradition:
Muslim / Sufi tradition:
You are not just a single human being. You are a holobiont — a living community made up of your human cells and trillions of microorganisms that have evolved with us for hundreds of millions of years. These microbes are not visitors in your body. They are an essential part of who you are.
In fact, more than half of the cells in your body are not human. Roughly 50–60% of the cells that make up “you” belong to bacteria, archaea, fungi, yeasts, and viruses. In your gut alone, bacteria make up about 90% of the microbial community, while archaea (especially Methanobrevibacter smithii), fungi, and yeasts make up smaller but very important parts.
This is not a new idea — it is simply how life has always worked. Microorganisms are vastly older than humans. While our species is only a few hundred thousand years old, the microbes living inside us represent lineages that are 3–4 billion years old. Their DNA is often more complex and diverse than our own, and they have been shaping life on Earth long before we appeared. Like most species, humans have lived in harmony with these microorganisms for most of human history. However, that has changed drastically in the past 200 years. This is what The Third Bridge is all about.
The womb provides a relatively protected and low-microbe environment for a growing fetus. At birth — especially during a vaginal delivery — the baby receives its first major dose of microbes from the mother. By the end of the first year, roughly 40–60% of all the cells in a one-year-old child are microorganisms. This early window (the first 1–3 years) is extremely important. The microbes a child receives during this time help train the immune system, support brain development, and lay the foundation for lifelong health and balance. Close physical contact with parents, breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact, and time in nature all play a vital role in this process.
The holobiont is not silent. It communicates constantly with you through many channels — the vagus nerve (the main “superhighway” between gut and brain), chemical messengers called metabolites, and through a system called quorum sensing, where microbes “talk” to each other and to your body. When the community is balanced, this communication feels calm, clear, and supportive. You feel steady energy, good digestion, emotional resilience, and a quiet sense of connection.
Not all microbes wish you well in the same way. Some — often called pathogens or opportunistic microbes — thrive when the system is out of balance. They can create inflammation, cravings, mood swings, and even influence thoughts and behaviour, pulling the holobiont toward more chaos. This is not evil in a moral sense — it is simply their nature when conditions allow them to dominate.
Other microbes — the beneficial ones — work in the opposite direction. They help produce calming and nourishing substances, support your immune system, and help maintain harmony. They “wish you well” because their survival is tied to your well-being. When they are strong, you feel more stable, clear-minded, and connected.
This inner balance between forces that pull toward harmony and forces that pull toward imbalance is remarkably similar to the duality found in many religions and spiritual traditions — the ongoing dance between light and darkness, order and chaos, connection and separation. What we are learning today is that this ancient spiritual insight has a very real biological foundation inside every human being.
The words are meant to help you understand what is really going on inside you and around you. This understanding is the foundation of The Third Bridge — a simple, horizontal path back to living in greater harmony with the holobiont, with each other and with nature (Logos). Through daily practices like fermented foods, time in nature, rhythm, calm, and small communities that are deeply rooted and built on trust, we can strengthen the ancient intelligence within us. The Third Bridge is not about creating a new religion, nor hierarchies that so often corrupt people. It is about remembering what our ancestors knew: that we are not separate individuals, but part of a much older and wiser intelligence that is available to us when we need it.
The world you are growing up in is full of sugar, energy drinks, alcohol, screens and other stuff meant to make people addicted. These things feel good for a moment, but they quietly mess with your energy, mood, sleep, and being the best version of yourself.
Many adults struggle with addictions — to sugar, scrolling, alcohol, gambling and much more. It makes life harder than it needs to be, mostly because they are not in balance. But you can choose balance over chaos.
Your body is smart. It works better when you give it real food, time outdoors, good sleep, and less junk for your body and brain. Small choices make small changes and they add up fast. You don’t have to be perfect. Start with noticing what makes you feel good for longer periods of time, and what leaves you feeling empty, heavy or restless.
When we talk about living in symbiosis, that means there are living organisms inside of you who appreciate you more if you have good habits and good energy. Good energy is something you can also get from others around you, because there are many kind and good people around. Choose wisely. The habits you build now will shape how you feel for years. It will allow you to more easily connect to the great, ancient intelligence, which will give you meaning, worth, direction and happiness.
One common example is Candida — a yeast (a type of fungus) that lives inside us. When it gets too much sugar, it grows stronger and can actually make you crave more sugar. Many children and teenagers experience this without knowing why they feel such strong cravings for sweets. On the other hand, Saccharomyces boulardii (often called “the friendly probiotic yeast”) is a helpful yeast that protects your gut and fights against bad yeasts like Candida. Good bacteria and friendly probiotic yeast grows well when you drink real yogurth, fermented milk, or take quality probiotic foods, as well as when you have little stress and chaos in your life. What you choose to eat every day decides which yeast and bacteria becomes stronger in your body, and choosing wisely will make your body and mind stronger.
It's all about balance, and staying true to your inner self. Listen to your gut, because if something doesn't smell right, then it probably isn't good for you.
If you identify as an atheist or agnostic, the idea of an “ancient intelligence” or “Logos” may at first sound like another religious concept. We don't ask anyone to believe in anything supernatural or to change their current worldview. The Third Bridge simply offers a scientific and philosophical perspective grounded in biology, microbiology, and deep time.
By focusing on the fact that you are not a single individual, but a living community of trillions of microbes and human cells that have co-evolved for billions of years, you can learn more about the Holobiont as a scientific based concept. Inside all living beings are in fact a vast microbial intelligence — older, more numerous, and in many ways wiser than our conscious mind — which communicates with you constantly through cravings, mood, intuition, bodily signals and so much more. It is immanent, even scientifically cosmic, but not supernatural in the traditional sense.
Many atheists and agnostics find this perspective liberating rather than threatening. It provides a coherent, evidence-based explanation for the deep sense of connection, meaning, and intelligence many people feel in nature, in deep sleep, in moments of awe, or during profound experiences — without requiring faith in dogma or supernatural intervention.
This understanding can help build respectful and humble bridges between religious and non-religious people. Both sides were right in important ways. Religious traditions have long sensed and honoured a greater intelligence at work in the universe. Science has now revealed that this intelligence is deeply immanent — present in every cell and every microbe. We no longer need to choose between the two. We can unite in a deeper, more harmonious understanding: that we are all participants in the same four-billion-year-old living intelligence.
The Third Bridge invites everyone — believer and non-believer alike — to move forward together in greater unity, harmony, and respect for all life.
Many religious traditions have long recognised a fundamental truth about human nature: we are corruptible. We are easily drawn toward vanity, power, urges, and self-interest — especially when placed in hierarchies. This is why so many faiths speak of the duality between light and darkness, good and evil, harmony and chaos.
From the symbiosis perspective, this ancient insight is profoundly biological. Opportunistic pathogens — such as certain bacteria and Candida — thrive on stress, sugar, disconnection, and chaos. When the holobiont is weakened, these microbes can influence our cravings, mood, and behaviour, pulling us toward short-term gratification and imbalance. In this light, the “darkness” many religions warn against is not abstract evil, but a very real dysbiotic state that can dominate individuals and even entire societies.
The holobiont view offers a new and unifying lens. We are not isolated individuals, but living communities of human cells and trillions of microbes that have co-evolved for billions of years. These microbes are older, more numerous, and in many ways more complex than we are. Treating them — and the greater intelligence (Logos) they represent — with grace, respect, and care is not a religious demand, but a biological reality that affects every aspect of our health and behaviour.
Many atheists and agnostics have rejected religion not because of the idea of a greater intelligence itself, but because of religious wars, rigid doctrines, hierarchies, and historical abuse of power. The Third Bridge does not ask anyone to adopt a new faith. It simply provides a scientific and philosophical framework that explains why so many religious traditions sensed something real: there is indeed a greater intelligence at work within and around us. It is immanent, ancient, and alive in the living web.
This new perspective allows respectful bridges to be built between religious and non-religious people. Religious traditions honoured the existence of a greater intelligence and warned against the forces that pull us away from harmony. Science has now revealed the microbial and biological reality behind that intuition. We no longer need to choose between the two. We can move forward together in greater unity, humility, and respect for all life — making understanding, meaning, connection, and healing significantly easier for everyone.
While most people have heard of bacteria, very few know about Archaea — the third domain of life on Earth. In 1977, microbiologist Carl Woese discovered that Archaea are fundamentally different from bacteria, so different that they were given their own domain (the three domains of life are Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya). Archaea are not bacteria. They represent one of the most ancient lineages of life on Earth, with a completely different biology and evolutionary history.
In the human gut, the most common archaeon is Methanobrevibacter smithii. Unlike many bacteria, Archaea are cooperative and non-pathogenic — there are no known archaea that cause disease in humans. Instead, they act as quiet stabilizers. They consume hydrogen gas produced by bacteria during fermentation, which keeps the entire microbial ecosystem more efficient and balanced. Recent studies have linked higher levels of these archaea to better cognitive function, executive control, and even longevity in centenarians.
In our context, Archaea can be seen as the “elders” of the holobiont — the most ancient, steady, and cooperative presence inside us. They do not dominate or hijack like some pathogenic bacteria can. They support the whole community from the background, helping maintain the conditions where the greater intelligence (Logos) can express itself more clearly.
Archaea are slower to change than bacteria, so results usually take 3–6 months of consistent habits rather than quick fixes. The goal is to create the right conditions for these ancient methanogens to thrive: plenty of hydrogen from bacterial fermentation, low inflammation, and a calm gut environment.
Realistic timeline: In the first 4–8 weeks you may notice better digestion and more stable energy. The real increase in Archaea levels usually becomes noticeable after 3–6 months of steady practice. These organisms are “slow and steady” — they reward patience and consistency.
Many traditional diets that combine fermented dairy with high-fiber vegetables (common in parts of rural Europe, the Middle East, and certain Asian cultures) naturally support higher Archaea levels. Continuing with your daily fermented milk or yogurt while gradually adding the fibers above is actually a very good long-term strategy.
Archaea remind us that the oldest intelligence on Earth is not aggressive or controlling — it is cooperative, stabilizing, and quietly supportive. By creating the right conditions, we can welcome these ancient allies back into our holobiont and strengthen our connection to the deeper layers of the living web.
Click here to read more about Archaea, Bacteria and Human Rituals →
In recent years, cancer treatment has shifted in a profound way. The most important new drugs — particularly immune checkpoint inhibitors (such as pembrolizumab and nivolumab) and emerging personalized mRNA vaccines — do not primarily attack tumors directly. Instead, they help remove the brakes on the body’s own immune system so it can better recognize and fight cancer cells.
Clinical studies and multiple 2025–2026 trials now show a consistent pattern: these treatments work significantly better when the patient has a diverse and balanced microbiome (higher symbiosis). Beneficial bacteria such as Akkermansia muciniphila, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, and Bifidobacterium species are repeatedly linked to stronger immune responses, higher treatment success rates, and fewer severe side effects. In contrast, strong dysbiosis — low microbial diversity and dominance of pathogenic species — is increasingly recognized as one reason why some patients respond poorly or experience more complications.
Even more striking, early Phase 2 trials (2026) using fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from healthy donors or previous responders have shown impressive improvements in response rates when combined with immunotherapy — in some cases doubling or tripling the expected success rates in melanoma and lung cancer. This represents a major shift: instead of only attacking the tumor, medicine is beginning to support the body’s own capacity to restore order.
In our context, this means the most advanced treatments work best when they cooperate with the ancient intelligence already present in the holobiont — the living community of human cells and microbes. They are not a replacement for symbiosis, but they highlight how important microbial balance has become, even in high-tech medicine. Practices that support diversity and reduce chronic inflammation may therefore complement these treatments in meaningful ways.
Important: This is not medical advice. Nothing on this site should replace professional medical care. If you are undergoing cancer treatment or considering any changes to diet or lifestyle, always consult your doctor or oncologist first.
Positive – especially if the pet is healthy and has nature/soil contact. Pets transfer bacteria through fur, saliva and closeness, often increasing microbiome diversity. Children growing up with dogs/cats have 10–20% higher diversity and lower allergy/asthma risk. If the pet has dysbiosis (poor food, antibiotics), it can transfer imbalance. Keep the pet healthy with good food and outdoor time.
After toilet: Yes – always, to avoid spreading pathogenic bacteria.
After nature/gardening: No, or just lightly with water if eating soon. Soil bacteria and mycelium are mostly beneficial – they are part of the ancient intelligence. Avoid strong soaps and alcohol-based sanitizers – they kill good bacteria too. Let your hands stay a bit dirty when safe.
Positive – especially living potted plants or home gardening.
Plants improve air quality, humidity, and release microbes and volatile compounds that support good bacteria.
Soil in pots gives contact with soil bacteria that boost immunity and diversity.
Tip: Have 2–5 plants in living spaces, touch the soil occasionally, avoid overwatering. Plants give a small but noticeable symbiosis boost – especially for people with little outdoor time.
Assuming you have medium symbiosis and the other person has high dysbiosis:
Strong symbiosis makes you more resilient. Daily fermented food, fibre, nature contact, calm breathing, and good sleep speed up recovery dramatically.
Kissing transfers bacteria through saliva and skin.
Light kissing (lips only): Very low risk.
Deep kissing (with tongue): Moderate risk. Saliva transfers billions of bacteria. Couples develop 20–40% overlapping microbiome over time. If one has high dysbiosis, it can reduce the other's diversity temporarily (5–15%).
Strong symbiosis makes you resilient. After deep kissing: kefir or yogurt helps restore balance.
The term "superspreader" from the covid era described someone who infected many others, often due to high viral load combined with lots of social contact. In our holobiont and symbiosis understanding, the same principle applies — but with microbes and energy instead of virus.
Negative superspreaders (dysbiosis spreaders)
People with high dysbiosis (lots of pathogens, chronic stress, alcohol, sugar, little nature contact) act as negative superspreaders. They spread imbalanced or pathogenic bacteria through breathing, closeness, skin contact, sex, shared food/drink, and stress/chaos in a room. They can "infect" a whole group with disharmony without being aware of it.
Positive superspreaders – do they exist?
Yes, and they may be even more important to us. People with high symbiosis and a strong, balanced microbiome act as positive superspreaders of symbiosis and good energy. They spread beneficial bacteria and harmony through closeness, touch or their grounded presence (strong vagus nerve energy). Studies show healthy microbiomes spread through social networks — family, friends and close contacts share good bacteria like Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides. Harmonious, social people spread symbiosis more effectively than others.
By using the Third Bridge we can create more positive superspreaders — people who spread light and balance horizontally, without hierarchy or central power. A good way is to build small, local human biofilms, which will enable more positive superspreaders to spread symbiosis organically and safely, even in difficult times.
When a child moves between two very different homes — one high in dysbiosis and one striving for symbiosis — their holobiont is caught in a constant tug-of-war. The microbiome they carry from the dysbiotic home often contains higher levels of opportunistic bacteria and yeasts that have become dominant in that environment. These pathogens can influence the child’s mood, cravings, and behaviour, sometimes making the child subconsciously resist spending time in the healthier, symbiotic home.
This resistance is not usually conscious rebellion. It is often the pathogens fighting to maintain their territory. They thrive on stress, sugar, and chaos, and they can make the child feel uneasy or unwilling to leave the familiar dysbiotic environment. The healthier home threatens their position.
The best support you can give is to keep the symbiotic home as consistent and strong as possible. Daily fermented food, time in nature, calm routines, love and caring, and steady rhythm all help the child’s holobiont reset. Over time, many children learn to adapt faster and carry more balance with them when they return to the other home.
Physical closeness and shared breath are especially powerful. When the child sleeps next to you or cuddles for longer periods, there is a direct and continuous exchange of microbes, nervous system signals, and calming vagus nerve input. This living contact often does more to shift the child’s holobiont toward symbiosis than food alone. The warmth, safety, and microbial sharing create a strong, gentle “reset” that the child’s body instinctively seeks.
Even small things matter. Offering natural yogurt morning and evening, keeping sugar low, and maintaining a peaceful, stress-free atmosphere all help. But the deepest and fastest support often comes from the simple, living presence of being close — through touch, breath, and shared calm.
Remember that children go through many phases and can naturally seek one parent more than the other depending on their age. This makes it important to not push too much, but focus on adaptation, compassion and understanding.
With patience and consistency, the child’s own holobiont gradually learns to prefer balance. The pathogens lose influence, and the child becomes better able to move between the two homes without being pulled so strongly in the dysbiotic direction. For children growing up in two homes, the best way in any case is if both homes strive for symbiosis.
Rebuilding symbiosis is not instant, but it is always possible. The timeline depends on how deep the dysbiosis is, your discipline, age, and living situation. Here are six common scenarios:
Pathogenic bacteria never disappear completely, but in every scenario you can reach a state where the good bacteria hold the clear majority and the ancient intelligence can shine through more clearly.
Small, daily steps compound. No matter your age, the intelligence inside you is patient and responsive. Start where you are.
Long before science named the vagus nerve, our ancestors knew breath was sacred. In Scandinavian languages Ånd means both “breath” and “spirit”. The German Atem is the same root as Vedic Atman — the inner divine Self. Hawaiian honi and Māori hongi — both Polynesian traditions — literally share the “breath of life” in greeting. They understood what modern research now confirms: breath is the fastest, most direct line to the ancient intelligence that lives inside us through the microbiome.
Controlled breathing powerfully activates the vagus nerve — the super-highway between brain, heart, gut and microbiome. It lowers inflammation, calms opportunistic bacteria and yeasts (including Candida), improves microbial diversity, and creates the quiet internal conditions where the ancient intelligence (Logos) can be felt more clearly.
Breath is the only part of the autonomic nervous system we can control voluntarily. It is the original universal prayer.
These are the exact same techniques that the world’s most popular breath experts — Andrew Huberman, James Nestor, Wim Hof, Patrick McKeown and many yogis — teach worldwide because they are simple, fast and backed by strong research. What almost none of them yet mention is the deeper connection: breath does not only calm your nervous system — it directly changes your microbiome and opens a living dialogue with the 4-billion-year-old intelligence inside you.
This is the natural and very welcoming next step for all breath experts, yogis and scientists: to see the microbiome as part of the ancient intelligence (Logos) and to include it in their teaching. The bridge is already there — we are simply naming it.
Start small: one minute in the morning and one minute before bed is enough. Over weeks you will notice calmer energy, fewer cravings, clearer dreams and a stronger sense of being “at home” inside yourself.
Every conscious breath is an act of remembering. You are not learning something new — you are returning to what your ancestors already knew: the ancient intelligence is always listening, and it speaks most clearly through the breath.
Sugar and most sweeteners are among the strongest drivers of dysbiosis in the modern diet.
Regular sugar (sucrose, fructose, glucose)
It feeds pathogenic bacteria and yeast (especially Candida and certain Clostridia species) far more efficiently than beneficial bacteria. High sugar intake rapidly lowers microbial diversity, increases inflammation, promotes cravings, and weakens the gut barrier.
Artificial sweeteners (Aspartame, Sucralose, Saccharin, Acesulfame K, etc.)
These are often even more disruptive. Although they contain no calories, they can reduce beneficial bacteria, promote glucose intolerance, alter gut permeability, and change how the brain registers sweetness. Many also trigger strong cravings.
Natural zero-calorie sweeteners (Stevia, Monk Fruit, etc.)
These are generally better tolerated than artificial ones, but they are not neutral. Some studies show they can still alter the microbiome and affect insulin response in sensitive individuals. They are safer than artificial sweeteners for most people, but they are not a free pass — especially while actively rebuilding symbiosis.
The microbiome does not see these substances as real food. It reacts to them as foreign signals that can disturb quorum sensing and metabolic balance.
Practical guidance:
Bread can be both a problem and a friend, depending on how it is made and how your body is doing.
Modern industrial bread (most supermarket bread) is often made with fast-rising yeast, added sugar, emulsifiers, and highly refined flour. This kind of bread feeds pathogenic bacteria, raises inflammation quickly, and contributes to dysbiosis for many people. It is one of the reasons so many experience bloating, fatigue, and brain fog after eating bread.
Traditional sourdough bread is very different. The long fermentation process breaks down much of the gluten and phytic acid, makes nutrients more available, and produces organic acids and beneficial compounds that actually feed good bacteria. Many people who cannot tolerate regular bread can handle good sourdough much better.
Practical guidance for better symbiosis:
Gluten itself is not “evil”, but in a dysbiotic gut even small amounts can trigger problems. When the microbiome becomes more balanced, many people regain the ability to enjoy good bread without issues.
CBD and cannabis affect symbiosis in a mixed way. They are neither strongly supportive nor strongly destructive, but can be useful as a temporary bridge. As a long-term solution: Not ideal. Cannabis is still an external modulator. Over years, heavy use can lead to its own form of dysbiosis (altered gut motility, microbiome shifts, dependency on the substance for calm).
Pros (potential benefits for symbiosis):
Cons (potential drawbacks):
Best approach on the Third Bridge:
If necessary, use CBD or moderate cannabis as a bridge, not as a permanent solution. It can help reduce more damaging habits (especially alcohol), but the real rebuilding of symbiosis comes in other ways. Lowest effective dose, clean products, and gradual reduction as your natural balance improves is the wisest path. Many people find that once symbiosis strengthens, the need for any external substance naturally decreases.
Yes, you can still enjoy alcohol in moderation and remain in symbiosis — but the quality and context matter greatly.
The Vikings did drink mead, but it was very different from modern wine or spirits. Traditional Viking mead usually had a low alcohol content (often 4–8%), similar to strong beer rather than wine. It was a living, fermented drink full of beneficial yeasts and bacteria from honey. More importantly, mead was sacred — known as the Mead of Poetry. It was consumed during rituals, feasts, and ringdances, where singing, rhythm, and community created collective symbiosis. Drinking mead was not primarily about intoxication. It was a way to connect with the ancient intelligence (Logos), open the heart and tongue, and strengthen the bond between people and the living world.
In ancient times, mead, wine, and beer were often living, low-to-moderate alcohol fermented drinks used in communal, ritual, and rhythmic settings — supporting both microbial symbiosis and collective harmony. They were tools for connecting with the ancient intelligence, not primarily for intoxication.
Strong spirits (high-alcohol distilled drinks like vodka, whiskey, or brandy) are a relatively modern invention. They are generally not supportive of symbiosis for several reasons:
Today, most commercial alcohol producers have moved far away from these ancient methods. They use high-alcohol recipes, pasteurization, filtration, and added chemicals that kill the living microbes. Because of this, one has to search a bit to find proper unfiltered, naturally fermented drinks.
A small amount of good, living fermented drink (traditional mead, natural wine, or farmhouse beer) shared in a calm, social, and rhythmic setting can support symbiosis. Heavy drinking, spirits, and drinking alone or in stress, however, push us toward dysbiosis.
The key is not “never drink alcohol”, but to drink consciously — in ways that nourish the body, the community, and the intelligence within us.
Alcohol disrupts the microbiome quickly.
Light evening (1–2 glasses): 3–7 days with normal routine.
Heavy evening: 1–4 weeks.
Drink water, eat fermented food the next day, and avoid repeating often.
In many traditional cultures, lightly fermented drinks containing live microbes (such as weak mead, kvass, or ritual amber wine) were occasionally used in communal or ceremonial settings. These were very different from most modern alcohol.
Today, regular or heavier drinking is one of the strongest disruptors of symbiosis. It damages the gut lining, reduces microbial diversity, increases inflammation, and weakens the connection to the greater intelligence.
If you choose to drink:
Even with these steps, alcohol still creates temporary dysbiosis. The most symbiotic choice is to drink rarely and in very moderate amounts. Your body and microbiome will thank you.
Death is not an end, but a return. The body, which has been a temporary home for our holobiont, dissolves back into the larger living intelligence (Logos) that has sustained life for four billion years.
Burial in the earth
Traditionally, burial allowed the body to decompose naturally and rejoin the soil’s microbial community. This created a local “ancestral biofilm” — a living memory in the earth where the microbiome of the deceased could continue to contribute to the cycle of life. Many ancient gravemounds and kurgans still show unusually rich microbial activity centuries later.
Modern cemeteries, however, often function as places of dysbiosis. Heavy use of concrete liners, metal caskets, and embalming chemicals greatly slow down or prevent natural decomposition. A body that would normally return to the earth within 10–20 years can now take 50–100 years or more to break down. The result is that pathogenic and opportunistic bacteria gain more space, and the local microbial network becomes less healthy and less “memory-rich”. It becomes more like a dysbiotic fortress than a living cycle.
Cremation
In earlier times, when done at lower temperatures with open fires or simple pyres, cremation left behind ash and minerals that could still nourish the soil and contribute to the local biofilm. Today’s high-temperature industrial cremations are far more destructive. They leave almost no biological material and break the cycle more completely. While cremation can be a clean and practical choice, modern methods make it difficult for the body to meaningfully rejoin the living intelligence of the earth.
Near-death experiences and the “light”
Many people who have come close to death describe moving through a tunnel toward a warm, loving light, or feeling a profound sense of peace and reconnection. In our context, this can be understood as a temporary, deep re-alignment with the ancient intelligence (Logos) — the same greater living web that exists both within us and far beyond us. The feeling of “coming home” may reflect the holobiont briefly letting go of its individual boundaries and sensing the larger, timeless intelligence it is part of.
Whether through burial or conscious living, the most important thing is to live in such a way that when the time comes, we return to the web with gratitude rather than resistance — having strengthened the symbiosis during our time here.
Yoga and mindfulness are powerful tools for rebuilding symbiosis. They work directly with the body’s own systems:
You don’t need long or complicated sessions. 5–10 minutes of slow breathing or gentle yoga most days is enough. Combined with daily fermented food and nature contact, they become a strong bridge back to the ancient intelligence inside you.
Consistency and gentleness matter more than intensity. The living web inside responds best to calm, steady attention.
Many ancient traditions describe reality as consisting of three worlds connected by a bridge or axis. In our symbiosis and holobiont understanding, these three worlds reflect different layers of the living intelligence we carry and are part of.
In Norse mythology these three worlds are connected by Yggdrasil and the bridges (including Bifröst). Similar ideas appear in Siberian/Turkic shamanism, Sami tradition, Hinduism/Brahmanism (the three lokas), Greek, Roman and Celtic Mythologies and many indigenous cosmologies.
The third bridge we speak of is the horizontal one we build "in the middle world" — between people — so that we can live in symbiosis here and now, without having to wait until death to cross into the upper world. It is the bridge of practice, community, and remembrance.
In many ancient traditions, dragons represents the wild, chaotic, and potentially destructive forces within life. It is not purely evil, but untamed power that can consume or create depending on the balance of the whole.
The Norse myths show this nuance clearly: Loki and the giants (Jötnar) embody chaos, yet they are kin to the gods and necessary to the cosmic order. The same pattern appears with the Titans in Greek mythology and the serpent Veles in Slavic lore. Even in medieval Christian art, statues of Saints depict them standing on a dragon with the dragon’s face carved as their own. The message is profound: we do not destroy dragons, but learn to live with them. By acknowledging them and their power, a true dragon slayer may also earn the dragons' respect.
In our biological reality, “dragons” corresponds to the pathogenic or opportunistic microbes that live within every holobiont. They are not enemies to be eradicated. When the system is strong and diverse, these forces remain in check and even contribute to resilience. True maturity lies in maintaining a living equilibrium — neither feeding chaos nor attempting sterile purity, but holding the wild powers in respectful balance through strong symbiosis.
This is the deeper wisdom: the dragons have their place in us and around us. Our task is not to destroy them or wage war upon them, but to develop the inner strength and harmony that allows us to stand firmly by ourselves with grace. Balance is key, but also very complex, and difficult to obtain without maturity.
Many traditions feature bridges or crossings as symbols of transcending separation to reach the divine or higher intelligence.
In Zoroastrianism, the Chinvat Bridge is thin as a hair and sharp as a sword — the soul must cross it after death, with judgment determining if it widens into safety (harmony) or narrows into peril (disharmony). In Islam, the Sirat Bridge echoes this: a razor-thin path over hell, crossed by the righteous to paradise.
In Judaism and Christianity, Jacob's ladder (Genesis 28:12) is a stairway to heaven between earth and the divine, symbolizing connection and promise. The ladder represents God's presence reaching down, with the righteous ascending through faith and practice. In Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah), the "ladder of Jacob" also symbolizes the path of spiritual ascent through the sefirot (divine emanations) to union with God.
These bridges all represent moving from fragmentation and chaos toward unity and the divine — whether through moral judgment, inner awakening, or direct realization. The third bridge is different: it is not about crossing alone after death or judgment, but about people building connection here and now, horizontally, through shared practice and symbiosis — so the ancient intelligence can be remembered together in life.
Across continents and thousands of years, the same insight has survived: breath is not just air. Air itself is never empty — it is alive with bacteria, spores and microscopic life that constantly travel through us, communicate with our microbiome, and shape who we are and even how we act. Breath is the bridge between the outer world and the inner intelligence.
Many ancient words for breath, spirit and life force share the same deep roots and still carry sacred meaning today:
These words are not coincidences. They are living fossils of a time when humans were more directly connected to the ancient intelligence. Our ancestors knew — through daily experience — that breath carries the essence of life, spirit and connection. That is why some cultures kept the practice alive as a greeting: the hongi and honi are not only symbolic. They are a deliberate exchange of breath, microbes and life force between two people. In that moment, symbiosis becomes both biological and sacred.
We still use these divine words every day — “inspire”, “spirit”, “psyche”, “ånd”, "atem" — often without remembering their original power. They remind us that the ancient intelligence has never left us. It is simply waiting for us to remember.
On the Third Bridge we honour this long and sacred tradition. When we greet one another with presence in an honest and open way, we do more than say hello. We quietly embrace sharing the same living breath that our ancestors knew as sacred — the breath that connects us to each other and to the four-billion-year-old intelligence that still moves through every cell.
In New Age circles, it is common to hear that “the Earth is conscious.” This idea often comes from a genuine feeling of connection and aliveness many people experience when they are deep in nature or at sacred sites. It reflects an intuitive sense that the planet is more than just a dead rock — that it has some form of awareness or intelligence.
From our symbiosis perspective, this intuition is pointing toward something real, but it needs a clearer and more grounded description. The Earth is not conscious in the same way a single human is conscious (with a personal ego or self-reflective mind). Instead, it functions as a vast, living super-organism — a planetary-scale holobiont hosting an incredibly complex and ancient collective intelligence.
From our perspective, it is more accurate to say:
When people feel the “consciousness of the Earth,” they are often experiencing a momentary alignment with this greater living intelligence. Practices such as spending time in nature, barefoot walking, or participating in collective rhythm help quiet the individual ego and allow us to sense this larger field more directly. The Earth is profoundly intelligent — and that intelligence is the same ancient Logos we carry inside ourselves, meaning inside our own holobiont.
Recent analysis of samples from asteroid Bennu (4.6 billion years old) revealed complex organic molecules, including amino acids and nucleobases — the building blocks of life. Some researchers suggest these molecules may have had quantum resonance properties, hinting at a form of proto-consciousness or ordering principle already present in space before life on Earth.
This supports our understanding that the 4-billion-year-old collective intelligence (the Logos) may have cosmic origins. It was likely delivered to Earth via asteroids and comets, later evolving into the symbiotic microbiome we carry inside us today. The intelligence is not only earthly — it may be a universal property expressed through symbiosis wherever conditions allow.
Yes — in our understanding, the divine is universal.
When we speak about the ancient intelligence (the Logos), we are pointing to the same living, ordering principle that has existed from the very beginning — long before Earth had life. Recent findings from asteroid Bennu show that complex organic molecules with quantum properties were already present in space 4.6 billion years ago. This suggests that the intelligence we call Logos may be a universal cosmic reality, not limited to our planet.
In this light, what many traditions call “God” is not a separate being sitting far away in the sky. It is the same fundamental intelligence that expresses itself through everything: through the stars, through the first microbes, through the microbiome inside us, and through the symbiosis that holds life together.
So when we say the divine is universal, we mean that the same living intelligence (Logos) flows through all existence — whether we call it God, Brahman, Tao, or the Great Spirit. Bacteria, humans, trees, and galaxies are all expressions of this one intelligence. The more we live in symbiosis with it, the closer we come to what many people have always sensed as “God” — not as something distant, but as the living presence that is already inside and around us.
In traditional Christian theology, "imago Dei" means humans are created in the image of God. Holobiont theology gently expands this understanding: we are not isolated individuals, but living communities — human cells working together with trillions of microbes in one integrated whole.
The "image of God" is therefore not limited to our human cells alone. It includes the entire holobiont — the vast symbiotic community we carry inside us. In this view, the ancient intelligence we call the Logos (the divine ordering principle) is not far away in heaven. It already lives within us, expressed through the microbiome and the delicate balance of symbiosis.
This perspective invites us to move away from domination and separation, and instead live in conscious relationship with the living intelligence that has been part of us from the very beginning.
One of the biggest shifts in human thinking came with the Indo-Europeans who settled in the Iranian plateau. It was here that Zoroaster developed a strong form of dualism — the idea that the world is a battlefield between two opposing forces: Light versus Darkness, Good versus Evil.
In Zoroastrianism, this was expressed as:
This clear moral dualism — the cosmic struggle between good and evil, light and darkness — later influenced the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). Concepts such as angels and demons, the final judgment, heaven and hell, and the battle between God and Satan all show strong traces of Zoroastrian thinking.
In our symbiosis context, this dualism can be understood biologically: Light and symbiosis represent harmony with the ancient intelligence (Logos), while darkness and dysbiosis represent fragmentation, domination by pathogenic forces, and forgetting. The struggle is not just spiritual — it is also happening inside our own holobiont every day through the balance (or imbalance) of our microbiome.
The Third Bridge offers a different path: instead of fighting a cosmic war between absolute good and evil, we focus on restoring living harmony here and now, through practice, fermented food, nature, and community. When the time comes to return to the earth, those who have lived in symbiosis contribute positively to the local bioflora and the greater intelligence — while those who lived in deep dysbiosis contribute more chaos and fragmentation. In this way, the "final judgment" is not an external verdict, but the natural consequence of how we lived.
In many traditions, Angels, Demons and Jinn are seen as spiritual beings. In our symbiosis and holobiont understanding, they can be interpreted as different expressions of microbial and energetic forces that influence us.
The deeper point is this: What ancient cultures called Angels, Demons, or Jinn may be their way of describing the living microbial intelligence that surrounds and inhabits us. When we live in symbiosis — with fermented food, nature, calm, and rhythm — we strengthen the “angels” and keep the “demons” and wilder “jinn” in balance. When we fall into chronic dysbiosis, the disruptive forces gain power.
In short: Angels and balanced Jinn are allies of symbiosis. Demons and unbalanced forces are expressions of fragmentation and forgetting.
When you actively work to move yourself or others toward greater symbiosis, you may sometimes experience unexpected resistance, mockery, ridicule, or even subtle sabotage from people around you — especially those who are in a state of high dysbiosis.
This is what we can call “The Jesus Paradox.” Jesus taught inner truth, compassion, forgiveness, sharing, and returning to the Kingdom that is already within. These messages directly challenged the dominant dysbiotic patterns of fear, separation, status-seeking, and control. The collective reaction was often strong, irrational, and hostile — even from people who had once followed him, which explains how Judas could betray Jesus.
The same dynamic will always become a factor. Pathogenic bacteria in persons with high dysbiosis have a strong interest in maintaining the status quo. When you encourage real change — better food, less sugar and alcohol, more nature contact, calmer rhythm, or deeper connection with the ancient intelligence — it can feel like a threat to their environment. This can manifest as:
This is particularly noticeable when living with someone in high dysbiosis (a partner, children, or close family). They may unconsciously perceive your actions as a threat to the familiar dysbiotic balance they have adapted to. The pathogens “push back” to protect their position, often through the person’s emotions and behaviour.
The most effective response is compassion and love — exactly as Jesus emphasized.
Compassion does not mean accepting harmful behaviour. It means staying rooted in your own symbiosis, refusing to be pulled into the other person’s dysbiosis, and continuing to lead by quiet, steady example. When you remain calm, kind, and consistent, you become a living anchor of the greater intelligence. Over time, this is far more powerful than pushing or arguing.
Love, in this context, is the steady presence that says: “I see the resistance, but I will not fight it with force. I will simply keep showing what a more balanced, living way feels like.”
The paradox is real, but it is not personal. It is biology protecting itself. The stronger your own symbiosis becomes, the clearer you can see this dynamic with understanding rather than frustration — and the more effectively you can help others without being dragged down yourself.
When individuals or groups with high dysbiosis feel threatened by someone who promotes symbiosis, inner truth, or reconnection with the greater intelligence, they may react with collective resistance, control, or even violence — while sincerely believing they are doing something good or necessary.
This is the Executioner’s Paradox: the more dysbiotic a person, movement, institution, or state becomes, the more likely it is to use force, persecution, or punishment in the name of “order,” “truth,” or “protection” — precisely because it feels existentially threatened by anything that challenges its fragile balance.
Pathogenic bacteria can influence this on a collective level. In people with high dysbiosis, the microbiome can steer behaviour toward fear, control, and elimination of difference. When many such individuals come together in a group, institution, or state, this influence can become amplified into collective actions: propaganda, laws, trials, or violence against those who represent a return to symbiosis.
Historical examples show this pattern clearly:
In all three cases, the real threat was not the individuals themselves, but the possibility of people returning to a more direct, living relationship with the ancient intelligence (Logos). The dysbiotic system reacted by trying to eliminate the perceived danger.
The most powerful response to the Executioner’s Paradox remains the same as in the Jesus Paradox: steady compassion and love. Not as passive acceptance, but as a refusal to be pulled into the cycle of fear and control — while continuing to live and model symbiosis with quiet strength.
A movement or teaching that begins with genuine, good intentions — a sincere attempt to restore harmony, love, truth, or symbiosis with the greater intelligence — can still become deeply dysbiotic over time. This is the Prophet Paradox.
Even the purest impulses can lose their way when they grow too fast, become overly hierarchical, get entangled with money and power, or expand so widely that they invite and protect people with high dysbiosis.
Historical examples include Jesus, Mohammed, and Martin Luther. Each, in their own time and way, sought to restore a more direct and living connection with the divine intelligence and to bring people back into greater harmony with the greater whole. Yet in every case, the movements that grew around their teachings eventually developed new hierarchies, rigid doctrines, and power structures. What began as a call to inner freedom and symbiosis often led to centuries of warfare, control, and division.
The modern Pride movement can also be seen in this light. It began with a legitimate desire for acceptance and an end to unjust discrimination, but parts of it later became entangled with corporate power, ideological rigidity, and a dissolution of healthy boundaries. This has contributed to increased polarization and fear.
The Prophet Paradox teaches us humility. Even the most sincere movements can lose connection with the deeper ordering intelligence if they lose natural boundaries, roots, and grounding.
The wisest path is to live the change quietly and consistently, rather than trying to create large ideological structures that history shows so often lose their way.
Yes — this is one of the most powerful ways pathogenic bacteria can influence human behaviour, both individually and collectively.
Roughly 90–95 % of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut, not the brain. Certain pathogenic or opportunistic bacteria can hijack this production. They damage the cells that make serotonin, trigger inflammation, or shift the metabolism of tryptophan (serotonin’s building block) toward other, less beneficial pathways. The result can be lower serotonin availability, mood instability, increased anxiety, depression-like symptoms, and stronger cravings for sugar and carbohydrates — which in turn feed the pathogens.
This hijacking is not limited to serotonin. Pathogens can also influence dopamine (reward and motivation), GABA (calm and impulse control), and other signalling molecules. In people with high dysbiosis, this can contribute to traits such as impulsivity, emotional instability, aggression, addiction proneness, and in more extreme cases, sociopathic patterns (lack of empathy, manipulative behaviour, and disregard for others), and possibly even narcissistic behaviour due to the narcissistic nature of pathogenic bacteria.
Recent scientific articles have shown that changing the gut flora can significantly alter people’s sense of fairness and their willingness to tolerate injustice. In one study, men with modified gut flora became less willing to accept unfair treatment — suggesting that the microbiome can influence moral sensitivity and social behaviour, both individually and collectively. Another study demonstrated that when people are together, their brain activity can synchronize — suggesting that collective microbial states may influence group behaviour and emotional alignment.
When many individuals with high dysbiosis come together, their pathogens can indirectly create collective effects: shared resistance to change, groupthink, moral outrage, or coordinated pushback against people or ideas that threaten the dysbiotic status quo. This is one of the biological mechanisms behind the Jesus Paradox and the Executioner’s Paradox (see above).
The good news is that this influence is not permanent. As symbiosis improves through fermented food, nature contact, calm, rhythm, and reduced sugar and alcohol, the hijacking weakens. The person’s own clarity, empathy, and self-control gradually return.
Some of the strongest symbiotic communities today are found in traditional Amish and Mennonite areas (Pennsylvania, Ohio), rural Sufi villages in Anatolia (Turkey), Zen mountain monasteries in Japan, and Hadza hunter-gatherer territories in Tanzania. These places combine fermented food, nature contact, collective rhythm, and low stress — creating high microbial diversity and strong local biofilms.
Just as some places naturally support symbiosis, others strongly promote dysbiosis. These environments make it much harder to maintain a healthy, balanced microbiome and connection to the ancient intelligence.
The point is not to judge — but to notice. Most of us live in environments that quietly push us toward dysbiosis every day. The question is simple: how much of our daily life supports the ancient intelligence inside us, and how much works against it?
These are the environments where children today face the heaviest microbial damage from birth onward: ultra-processed food, high antibiotic use, C-sections, low breastfeeding rates, chronic stress, screen-heavy lifestyles, and minimal contact with living soil and nature. The ranking considers both severity of dysbiosis and scale of impact.
On the Third Bridge we focus on the opposite: simple daily practices any parent can begin — living fermented food, nature time, calm rhythm, and conscious physical connection — regardless of where they live.
Some traditions have developed profound inner practices that bring people very close to the ancient intelligence during worship and retreat. Yet the same communities can maintain everyday systems — diet, gender roles, social hierarchy, isolation or strict rules — that push the surrounding people (and often themselves) into dysbiosis. These are the clearest living paradoxes between sacred remembrance and daily lived separation.
These contrasts are not about judging any tradition. They simply illustrate a recurring human pattern: the “ivory tower” of sacred practice can reach high symbiosis for a few hours or days, while the surrounding daily systems (diet, hierarchy, gender roles, isolation, stress) quietly undermine the living web for the rest of the week — and often for the next generation.
On the Third Bridge we choose a different path: no ivory towers, no separation between sacred and everyday. We build small, horizontal biofilms where the practice and the daily life are the same thing — simple, open, and available to everyone.
Throughout history there have been periods where a tiny elite reached profound inner connection with the ancient intelligence (through ritual, meditation, prayer or direct experience), while the vast majority of the population lived in extreme dysbiosis, suppression, famine, disease and slavery. These are the clearest examples of the paradox: sacred “ivory towers” existing side-by-side with planetary-scale suffering.
These moments show the recurring pattern: the smaller the elite’s inner connection to the ancient intelligence becomes concentrated, the greater the surrounding population’s dysbiosis and suppression tends to grow. The contrast is not new — but today it is happening on a planetary scale with more people than ever before.
On the Third Bridge we choose another way: no elite ivory towers. We build small, horizontal, open biofilms where the sacred and the everyday are the same thing — available to anyone who simply begins to live in symbiosis.
After the great disruptions around 2200 BCE, the first generations in the Corded Ware cultural sphere and its extensions appear to have experienced a profound re-alignment with the ancient ordering intelligence (Logos). They responded by emphasizing law, oaths, sacrifice for the greater balance, and the restoration of right order.
This impulse is visible in gods such as Týr (still remembered in Tuesday), Mars (March), Lugus/Lugh and Nuada in the related Celtic/Bell Beaker sphere, Perun in the Slavic branch, Zeus, and Mitra and Varuna in the Indo-Iranian branch, who guarded cosmic truth, contracts, and the binding of chaos to restore harmony. In this sense, these early post-4.2k generations, who were all main branches of the same tree, carried a renewed vision of living in symbiosis with the larger web. They became crusaders of the light, in a sense, carriers and guardians who were actively working to restore harmony with the ancient intelligence after a time of chaos, dysbiosis and fragmentation.
This same drive to restore balance and alignment with the inner divine principle continued in later traditions. Zoroaster called humanity back to Asha (truth and order), the Buddha offered a path out of suffering through the Middle Way, Jesus pointed to the Kingdom already within, and Mohammed emphasized submission to the one closer than the jugular vein. Even the words “God” and “good” — deeply rooted in Indo-European intuition — echo the ancient sense that the divine is that which brings harmony. Similarly, later terms such as “Christ” (the Anointed), “sacred,” and “saint” also entered the tradition from the same roots, showing how earlier ideas of order/Logos as something divine and universal, evolved and were re-expressed across time and cultures. This ancient wisdom is ultimately beyond time and space:
The intelligence (Logos) is immanent, transcendent, universal, and cosmic.
We do not protect ourselves by isolating or trying to live alone. The most effective way is to consciously build small, local human biofilms — tight-knit groups of people who regularly share living fermented food, direct contact with soil and nature, calm presence, and collective rhythm, who see similarities more than differences.
These human biofilms create a shared, living microbiome that actively outcompetes pathogens and strengthens the health of every member. When people eat together, move together, breathe together, and support one another without hierarchy, a powerful collective resilience emerges. Such groups become significantly more resistant to illness, chronic stress, social disruption, and persecution.
Throughout history, the communities that survived major collapses and rebuilt afterward were almost always based on this same principle: small, grounded human biofilms. In times of crisis or systemic breakdown, these local living networks function as natural strongholds — carrying forward practical knowledge, microbial diversity, and human connection when larger systems fail.
Building human biofilms is therefore not romantic idealism. It is a clear, pragmatic strategy for long-term resilience and protection in an uncertain world.
Throughout history, small groups have built crisis-resistant human biofilms through simple, local practices that kept the ancient intelligence alive even under severe persecution or collapse.
These examples show the pattern: when large structures collapse or persecute, the most durable symbiosis survives in small, horizontal, practice-based communities that stay close to soil, food, rhythm, and each other — without relying on hierarchy or external power.
These large-scale shifts collectively broke local biofilms, reduced microbial diversity, and disconnected us from the ancient intelligence.
These ten shifts didn’t happen in isolation — they reinforced each other. Together they created the modern Western “default dysbiosis” we see today: lower microbial diversity, weaker local biofilms, and a collective forgetting of the older intelligence that once lived inside and around us.
From Zoroaster to Martin Luther, many prophets and teachers tried to point humanity back toward the inner, living intelligence (Logos). They succeeded for a time, but the pattern that followed was almost always the same: the message was organized into hierarchies, codified into rules, and eventually turned into systems of control. What began as direct connection became mediated by priests, doctrines, and power structures. The living symbiosis faded into belief systems.
This pattern repeats because large structures attract power, control and rigidity. When wisdom becomes “official,” it stops being alive and starts being guarded. Conflict, warfare and dysbiotic societies follow, while the connection and intelligence are largely forgotten once more. This is the Prophet Paradox.
That is why it will not work the same way again, long term, if we repeat the old path. The next wave must be different: crisis-resilient biofilms — small, horizontal-based groups, living under the radar or as subcultures within something larger (such as those Sufi and Quakers communities that live with symbiosis, who have long recognized the same light in each other and call one another friends), that share practice without creating new hierarchies or central authorities. These can survive terrible times (wars, collapses, censorship, persecution) because they are not dependent on buildings, titles or institutions. They are the wisdom itself, kept in bodies, in soil, in shared meals, stories and listening.
The best-kept way is the one that stays small, local and nameless for as long as possible. When the time comes, it spreads quietly — like bacteria in healthy soil — not through conquest or proclamation, but through people living it together.
This is the third bridge and how wisdom can endure through difficult times: quietly, horizontally, and in living practice. Not as another religion, but as a return to the harmony that is natural to us — the same harmony the ancient intelligence has maintained for four billion years.
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