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        There are many features in Richard Collier’s formulation of Pleneurethics which are unique. The powerful role of ethics in health is certainly unique. Others in the health field have pointed out the value of a peaceful mind without ethical weight, but Collier moved ethics to a central role.
        Collier spent many years in the Far East. In addition, he was fascinated with the spiritual writings of the Orient, including Buddhism. What distinguishes the medical system in the United States from that of the Far East is the emphasis on complex medications for the treatment of disease. Collier has opposed dependence on chemical treatment. Conjecture that Collier was influenced by Oriental thought is plausible. For example, Buddhist belief that spiritual toxins (anger, pride, ignorance, fear, and frustration—the “torments of the heart,” in Buddhist terms) cause physical disease and that being of “right mind” (living with integrity and good intention) is a crucial step to recovery and staying well. The basis for this belief is a text called the Four Tantras or Four Treatises, rediscovered around the 11th century and thought to be the result of an intense meditation of The Buddha. As He meditated, four stages emanated from His body, instructing His followers that there is no physical health without spiritual wellness. More teachings made up the Four Treatises.
        In Volume VI Collier has a chapter (Chapter VI in the 2nd Edition) on ethics. It is here that he makes his case for ethics as an integral component of Pleneurethics.
        Every rational person seeks a “philosophy of life,” or a “way of life.” In short, the rational person is seeking some standard to use in determining good thought from bad thought, good conduct from bad conduct. To be of value, any standard must be measurable and firm. It must be reliable. It must mean the same thing to all people.
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        In Volume VIII, Collier includes a chapter (Chapter V)—“The Rule of Ethics.” There he contends, “The rule of ethics is the most cherished shibboleth of Pleneurethics.” Consistent with this rule, all people are equal.
        The most commendable of all competencies is that life which reflects ethical wisdom. In the life devoted to achieving ethical wisdom, all things of universal virtue are unselfishly fostered.
        The intelligent person does not misuse personal neural resources. Likewise, the ethical person does not abuse the neural resources of others. Therefore, the wise person, through understanding, is both intelligent and ethical. Such a person knows the fertility of endeavoring to break the law of the Absolute. Such a breach is absolutely impossible. The only thing being broken is the person who assays it and those permissive persons who encourage it through inaction.
        The conclusion in Pleneurethics is that each person has a finite quantity of ethical energy. This central neural energy is nature’s most precious resource. It is a unique form of energy. Upon this plastic carrier may be impressed sensory inputs, variations of mentation, and controlled outputs. The ethical mind provokes less cerebellar turbulence than the unethical mind because it is more economical in the utilization of brain nerve cell energies than does the unethical mind.
        The ethical mind is also valuable because it fosters the effective utilization of brain energy of other minds associated with it, preferring to promote the well being of others rather than taking advantage of them. Getting along with other people creates minimal brain exhaustion; however, by contrast, conflict, contention, and continued refractory conduct will drain valuable energy. It is, therefore, unethical to tangle deliberately the mental structure of another person with falsehood, depress it by demanding unnecessary occupation, destroy its symmetry and strength by damaging its organic abode, or obliterate it with a deadly device. The extent to which another person’s life is altered and the person’s brain energy is unproductively or unnecessarily encumbered by any or all of these unethical acts will determine the degree of the seriousness of the act.
        One may reasonably ask what is unethical about lying to people. Why is it wrong to deliberately deceive or mislead them? Certainly the government, business, and even friends practice the so-called art of deception every day with little apparent harm. The answer is that lies,
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falsehoods, and half-truths pollute the mind and thereby present an abusive drag on finite cerebellar resources that might otherwise be better spent. Any falsehood or piece of misinformation that is believed to be true may create a malstructure of the mentality. Such malstructures may deform the mind, with varying degrees of permanency and may lead to an unending number of ancillary malstructures and harmful actions that may survive even though the original malstructure may have been eradicated by the analysis of self-evaluation. The ensuing waste of neural energy may be enormous.
        Brought to basic terms, ethical character brings better economy of neural energies than unethical character because the ethical mind provokes less neurological turbulence than the unethical mind. This is especially true in the long run, although the contrary may seem evident in the short run. The ethical mind is also especially valuable because it fosters the appropriate utilization of neural energy of other minds in association with it.
        Pleneurethics includes both a thrust for quality of life through its advocacy of ethics and a bulwark for quantity of life by virtue of its method of restoring total brain capability. Then, Pleneurethics achieves the full life for those who believe in it and abide by its precepts.
        The sole reason for creating Pleneurethics is to help all people of this world. As Richard Collier concluded: “The most commendable of all competencies is that life which reflects ethical wisdom. In the life devoted to achieving ethical wisdom, all things of universal virtue are unselfishly fostered.” Health and long life are tantamount to optimum neural sufficiency. Anything that destroys neural sufficiency is bad while anything that creates optimum neural sufficiency is good. Thus, an ethic that leads to bad behavior and unproductive or unconstructive loss of neural sufficiency is a bad ethic. Good ethics are that group of moral beliefs which contributes to the greatest order of neural sufficiency over the greatest length of time for the most people. Pleneurethics does not attempt to lay down a detailed system of ethics. This is the proper role of each individual. Consequently, each individual is responsible, in the final analysis, for his own table of ethics; however, he may be helped by others—parents, schools, churches, and community.