Robert Wright || Why Buddhism is True

The Psychology Podcast

iHeartPodcasts

Social Sciences, Science

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2017

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we're excited to have Robert Wright on The Psychology Podcast. Robert is the New York Times best-selling author of Nonzero, The Moral Animal, The Evolution of God, and most recently Why Buddhism is True. He has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Time, Slate, and The New Republic, and has taught at The University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University, where he also created the online course Buddhism and Modern Psychology. Robert draws on his wide-ranging knowledge of science, religion, psychology, history and politics to figure out what makes humanity tick. In this episode we cover: How "taking the red pill" from The Matrix can be likened to the practice of mediation, How and why "our brains evolved to delude us", If and how Buddhism gets you more in touch with "reality", including the bottom-up processes of cognition, Whether or not one can take parts of the practice too far, How Buddhism can be beneficial for seeing beauty where you didn't before, Why our default state of consciousness isn’t necessarily good, How this book might infer that evolutionary psychology is not a complete explanation for many human tendencies, Why many feelings are illusions and how we know when they are, Why it's true that "the more we engage a 'module' the more power it has", Robert's interpretation of what the Buddha really meant by the "non-self", and how this does or does not conflict with one's sense of identity. In our conversation, Robert offers Buddhism as a solution for finding and sustaining happiness, exploring the interplay between Buddhist practices and evolutionary psychology in an unprecedented way. You may also find this episode interesting if you're curious about whether it's possible to see the world "accurately" or whether that's even best for one's well being. Enjoy! Note to Psychology Podcast listeners: This happens to be the 100th episode of The Psychology Podcast. Thank you for your support! It's been a fun journey so far, and we're looking forward to the next 100 episodes! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the psychology podcast with Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman where we give you insights into the mind, brain, behavior, and creativity.
0:08.0	Each episode will feature a new guest who will stimulate your mind and give you a greater understanding of yourself, others, and the world we live in.
0:14.4	Hopefully we'll also provide a glimpse into human possibility.
0:17.6	Thanks for listening and enjoy the podcast. guest. Right now I'm excited to introduce my guest for today, Robert Wright.
0:41.6	Robert is the New York Times best-selling author of
0:44.4	the evolution of God, non-zero, the moral animal, three scientists and their
0:49.8	gods, and most recently why Buddhism is true. He's the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the
0:55.8	widely respected bloggingheads. TV and has written for the New Yorker the
1:00.0	Atlantic the New York Times, Time, Slate, and the New Republic.
1:04.4	He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania
1:06.3	and at Princeton University, where he also created the popular online
1:09.7	course, Buddhism and Modern Psychology. Thanks for chatting with me today, Robert.
1:14.0	Well, thank you for taking the time to chat with me, Scott.
1:17.0	No, I'm really delighted to chat with you.
1:19.0	I've read your book now twice in its entirety.
1:22.0	Wow. One when you sent me the your book now twice in its entirety.
1:23.0	Wow.
1:24.0	One when you sent me the galley and again in preparation for the interview and I have to say
1:29.6	and maybe this is you can connect this somehow to the principles of Buddhism or
1:33.7	something or not attachment or distance or whatever. But the second time I read it
1:37.6	I saw things that had a different perspective on it. I still liked it.
1:42.3	My different perspective in that some of the criticisms I had the first time I read it are much quieter now.
	...

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