Hello, you are listening to the secular Buddhism podcast and this is episode number 38.

I am your host Noah Rasheda and today I'm talking about life with and without beliefs.

Have you ever noticed the TV or Billboard ads for wider teeth?

They always show you a comparison.

Here's what teeth look like with this treatment or here's what they look like without this treatment.

And this tactic seems to trigger in us the thought, what would I look like with this treatment?

Or perhaps even worse, oh no, what do I look like without this treatment?

And this attitude of comparing plays a part in all forms of advertising, all forms of marketing or advertising.

That pretty much says here's what life would look like with this new car or this energy drink or this product or service.

And then it's left up to us to imagine what it would be like without and we don't want to miss out.

So that's what compels us to want to get something.

And we're constantly being presented with this dualistic set of realities.

There's what is and then there's what could be.

And all you need is this one product or this one service.

And this is a tactic that plays on our natural curiosity because we have a natural eagerness to want to compare and to contrast things.

So what if we could use this natural curiosity to look more deeply into our own lives, into the nature of our own minds,

our thoughts and our deeply held beliefs?

Before I jump into that though, I do want to remind you that this podcast is made possible by the foundation for mindful living,

a 501c3 nonprofit with a mission to make the world a better place by teaching people to live more mindfully.

The goal of the foundation is to make mindfulness teachings available to anyone, anywhere.

And we can do that with the support of our listeners.

If every podcast listener donated just $2 a month, the foundation could host mindfulness retreats and workshops all over the country,

...