This book was a jumping off point for me into an area of experience that has now become very close to my heart.
Robert Wright offers a fantastic overview of naturalistic, secular Buddhism. Setting aside the mystical aspects of Buddhism as a religion, Wright focuses solely on Buddhism as a philosophy and it’s implications on psychology. The philosophy is interesting in and of it self, but that’s not the only think Wright is interested in. He takes it further and puts the philosophy through the rigorous tests of scientific analysis and evolutionary psychology in order to answer the question of whether Buddhism is “true” - true being defined as free from the biases and perceptual distortions that evolution and natural selection has endowed us with.
Truly a fascinating and (for me) life changing read.
Publisher’s Description
At the heart of Buddhism is a simple claim: The reason we suffer—and the reason we make other people suffer—is that we don’t see the world clearly. At the heart of Buddhist meditative practice is a radical promise: We can learn to see the world, including ourselves, more clearly and so gain a deep and morally valid happiness.
In this “sublime” (The New Yorker), pathbreaking book, Robert Wright shows how taking this promise seriously can change your life—how it can loosen the grip of anxiety, regret, and hatred, and how it can deepen your appreciation of beauty and of other people. He also shows why this transformation works, drawing on the latest in neuroscience and psychology, and armed with an acute understanding of human evolution.
This book is the culmination of a personal journey that began with Wright’s landmark book on evolutionary psychology, The Moral Animal, and deepened as he immersed himself in meditative practice and conversed with some of the world’s most skilled meditators. The result is a story that is “provocative, informative and...deeply rewarding” (The New York Times Book Review), and as entertaining as it is illuminating. Written with the wit, clarity, and grace for which Wright is famous, Why Buddhism Is True lays the foundation for a spiritual life in a secular age and shows how, in a time of technological distraction and social division, we can save ourselves from ourselves, both as individuals and as a species.
