What would you say the four noble truths are, and what are your sources? How would your statement of them differ from mine?

What you say about morality flowing naturally "from one's own being" doesn't sound Buddhist to me since it contradicts the Anatta doctrine.

I'm aware there are different kinds of Buddhism. I focus on the original, elementary, Theravada kind. I'm also aware that Buddhist retreats generate those positive responses in practice. I knew someone in graduate school who took one and reported the same thing. He said everyone there had the same overwhelmingly positive response.

But the effect of the practice isn't the same as a theoretical understanding of the teachings or of their philosophical implications. Original Buddhism is an especially pragmatic, anti-metaphysical and anti-theological religion. Nevertheless, there is an original Buddhist philosophy, and that's what I'm critiquing here and in my other writings on Buddhism.

The question is whether the practice makes sense in light of the teachings. Perhaps the teachings are meant to be thrown away once the peace of nirvana is attained. In that case, if the method of achieving inner peace doesn't matter at all, a lobotomy would work just as well, as would a constant supply of morphine or opioids.