So Bob.

So Brooke.

Let me stop and say, Bob Wright is the author of Why Buddhism is True, the Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment.

Tell me what you did last week.

Last week I was walking across a portion of Missouri.

How many miles?

I did 120. There were seven walking days that total 120 miles. Do you think this enhances mindfulness? Well, I do. I mean,

mindfulness is, you know, it's often described as kind of living in the moment, stopping and

smelling the roses.

If you really look at its historical use in Buddhism, the term mindfulness, it's more about seeing the world with a kind of a clarity and alertness and a kind of objectivity.

And I would say that, yes, going and exploring a part of the world and trying to put aside preconceptions is mindful in the true sense of the word.

Do you suggest that mindfulness can combat the tribalism that now plagues the nation?

And you were a little surprised by your own tribalism, weren't you?

I've long been aware that I am subject to all the kinds of cognitive biases and impulses that

constitute what I'd call the psychology of tribalism, and which I think is behind much of the

trouble afflicting America and the larger world. If you look at, you know, sectarian conflict, national conflict. And I had long ago written about evolutionary psychology, which has an explanation of why we are subject to the psychology of tribalism. Was that non-zero? That was the moral animal in 1994. But the thing about evolutionary psychology is it diagnoses the problem.

It says that, yes, we are not designed to see the world clearly.

We're designed to have these in-group biases and various other kinds of biases, but it

doesn't tell you what to do about it.

Whereas Buddhism has both a diagnosis and a prescription.

It says the trouble is we don't see the world clearly, and then it gives you something to do about it to clarify your vision.

Basically, mindfulness, meditation helps you track your emotions.

...