Currently visiting professor of science and religion at Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York, Robert writes work in journalism, psychology and philosophy has been deeply influential.

Robert is the author of many best-selling books, including The Moral Animal, Why We Are the Way We Are, Non Zero, The Logic of Human Destiny, The Evolution of God, and, most recently, and our topic of discussion today, why Buddhism is true, the science and philosophy of meditation and

enlightenment.

Our focus for this episode is Robert Wright's latest book, Why Buddhism is true.

In a word, Wright defends the Buddhist view that the reason we suffer is because we don't see the world clearly.

The reason we don't see the world clearly,

says Buddhism, is because our perception of our own minds and the outside world is impaired

by illusions. Viewing Buddhism through the lens of evolutionary psychology, Wright argues that

we have good reason to think that this Buddhist claim that suffering is caused by illusion

is true

and that Buddhism also holds the answer to how we can alleviate ourselves from illusion.

So this week in part one, we're going to be discussing why Robert Wright thinks Buddhism is true

and next week in part two will be engaging in some further analysis and discussion.

Apologies to any listeners who were expecting me to read further analysis and discussion

in a French accent there.

From this point, we'll be reading the phrase further analysis and discussion in an English

section following feedback on Twitter.

In particular from Gary Brooks, who writes, I will definitely listen if you'll

manage to record the entire podcast without doing a mock French pronunciation of the word discussion for no reason.

Like in how you're going in on the listeners there, Jack.

To celebrate the release of this episode, we're giving away three copies of Robert Wright's Why Buddhism Are True.

Head over to our Twitter or Facebook to be an end of chance for winning one of them. Elivate yourself from illusion and suffering. Head over to the panpsychast.com forward slash sweatshirts to pick up yourself a beautiful, snug and stylish panseychas sweatshirt, perfect for donut munching or staying warm on your first silent meditation retreat. We only have a handful left, so head over to our website

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