13 May 2025
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Oct 4, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Bhikkhu Bodhi
- What is the foundation of Buddhist ethics?
- Experiencing not-self
- Buddhism is a synthesis of consequentialism and virtue ethics
- The origins of Buddhism’s concern for animal welfare
- Does the Buddha want you to be vegetarian?
- Why isn’t there more anti-militarist activism among Buddhists?
- Trying to comply with the Buddhist ideal of “right speech”
- Mental defilements and their eradication
- Does Buddhism’s emphasis on equanimity discourage activism?
Sep 18, 2019 —
Nikita Petrov & David Poleski
TAGS ancient philosophy | Buddhism | Christianity | consciousness | meditation | mysticism | spirituality
Sep 11, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Nina Strohminger
- Nina’s research on how we understand the self
- The traits that make your self yourself
- Buddhism and the continuity of self through time
- The link between egocentrism and an equanimous attitude toward death
- Bob: Not-self is hard to experience and very hard to understand
- Asian Buddhists vs. “white boy Buddhists”
- Does a happy life require virtuous behavior?
Jul 15, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Josh Summers
- Common misconceptions about meditation retreats
- Hitting the bliss button
- Scheduled vs. unscheduled retreats
- How austere does it have to be to be effective?
- Process vs. outcomes
- Bob’s mini-epiphany about his dripping sink
- Is meditation “for” something?
- Pitfalls after leaving a retreat
- Tips for first-timers
Jun 21, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Gideon Rosen
- A brief primer on the free will vs. determinism debate
- Are moral responsibility and determinism compatible?
- Is punishment a tragic necessity or a moral good?
- Gideon tries to convince Bob that compatibilism is coherent
- Gideon’s distinctive take on compatibilism
- A thought experiment about the moral culpability of an ancient slaveholder
- Free will and the mind-body problem
- Buddhist ideas about punishment
Apr 19, 2019 —
Robert Wright & John Thatamanil
- Alfred North Whitehead and his “process philosophy”
- “Process theology,” which features a changing, non-omnipotent God
- A God of persuasion, not coercion
- Whitehead’s conception of divinity
- Whitehead’s God and Christian theology
- Waiting, or not waiting, for God
- Beauty and the divine
- How Whitehead’s God solves the problem of evil
Mar 4, 2019 —
Nikita Petrov & John Horgan
TAGS ancient philosophy | Buddhism | Christianity | consciousness | enlightenment | human nature | literature | philosophy | religion | spirituality | technology
Jan 11, 2019 —
Robert Wright & John D. Caputo
- John, a theologian and philosopher, explains postmodern Christianity
- Why postmodernism is not “linguistic idealism”
- Religion’s tendency to literalize
- What Paul Tillich and Jacques Derrida thought about “the unconditional”
- John: The Scriptures present a poetic, topsy-turvy vision of life
- Where do our aspirations come from (if anywhere)?
- Have art, literature, and social activism replaced religion?
- Is there a link between the unconditional and Buddhism’s “unconditioned”?
Nov 13, 2018 —
Nikita Petrov & Tanya Luhrmann
- Tanya’s “local theory of mind”
- Harry Potter, prayer, and other “cultural invitations”
- Psychotherapy in the US and witchcraft in Ghana
- American individualism and Asian interdependence
- The differences between hearing God in Ghana and the US
- The Internet as externalized imagination: Pepe and Kek
- A “hyper-real God”: having coffee with Jesus
- Thoughts, perceptions, the world, and the self
TAGS Buddhism | Christianity | consciousness | human nature | meditation | psychology | religion | science | spirituality
Nov 3, 2018 —
John Horgan & Owen Flanagan
- Owen’s transition from Catholicism to “quiet skepticism”
- The problem of evil
- The hubris of modern philosophers
- Can we live with the scientific image of man?
- The origin of the universe, life, and consciousness
- Owen: Doubt yourself
- Does philosophy lead to practical wisdom?
- Mind-altering chemicals and free will
TAGS atheism | Buddhism | Christianity | consciousness | ethics | evolution | free will | human nature | mind-body problem | philosophy | psychology | religion | science
Oct 5, 2018 —
Robert Wright & Lama Surya Das
- Is Buddhism a philosophy or a religion?
- Surya Das: “I’m enlightened enough for now”
- Attachment, aversion, and “original goodness”
- Is an enlightened person by definition a moral person?
- Not-self and Emerson’s “transparent eyeball”
- The Dzogchen approach to enlightenment
- Surya Das: Trump has the spark of Buddha nature (and so do you)
Aug 24, 2018 —
Robert Wright & Bhikkhu Bodhi
- How Bhikkhu Bodhi first encountered Buddhism…
- …and how he became a Buddhist monk
- Can “secular” Buddhists have spiritual experiences?
- Traditional Buddhism, secular Buddhism, and immanent Buddhism
- Diving into nirvana: “conditioned arising” and “the unconditioned”
- Does Buddhism make you a better person?
Jul 13, 2018 —
Robert Wright & Thomas Metzinger
TAGS Buddhism | cognitive science | democracy | human nature | meditation | philosophy | politics | psychology | science | self
Feb 9, 2018 —
Robert Wright & Jeff Warren
- How Jeff went from science journalist to meditation teacher
- Jeff’s new book, co-authored with Dan Harris: Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics
- How ADD and bipolar tendencies shaped Jeff’s practice
- The life-changing experience of falling out of a tree while on mushrooms
- The interaction between mindfulness, not-self, and suffering
- Jeff takes a stab at defining enlightenment
- The varieties of consciousness
- How meditation can shift your priorities
Jan 29, 2018 —
Robert Wright & Michael Shermer
- The time Michael thought he was being abducted by aliens
- Michael’s new book, Heavens on Earth
- Deepak Chopra’s afterlife
- Why uploading your brain to achieve immortality makes no sense
- Is radical life extension just bunk?
- The Second Coming, presented by Ray Kurzweil
- What consolation can the atheist offer to the dying?
- The spookiest thing that’s ever happened to Michael
TAGS aging | atheism | Buddhism | consciousness | death | Hinduism | mind-body problem | New Atheists | religion | the future | transhumanism
Jan 22, 2018 —
Robert Wright & Stephen Batchelor
- Striking parallels between Buddhism’s Mara and Christianity’s Satan
- How Stephen’s opera Mara came to fruition
- Bob and Stephen argue about the true meaning(s) of “enlightenment”
- How much authority should a secular Buddhist ascribe to the Buddha?
- The perils of clinging to the dharma
- Stephen’s unusual place in the Buddhist world
Dec 29, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Dan Harris
- Dan’s new book, Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics
- The liberation of realizing you’re crazy (and so is everyone else)
- Why Dan gave names to his inner voices
- Dan’s 10% Happier meditation app
- Dan: One minute of mindfulness meditation a day can be enough
- Applying the Buddhist metaphor of the “second arrow” to everyday life
- Meditating without losing your edge
Dec 11, 2017 —
Daniel Kaufman & Bryan Van Norden
- Just how Euro-centric are American philosophy departments, anyway?
- Is racism baked into Western philosophy?
- A brief account of Western dalliances with Eastern thought
- Why new movements in philosophy must kill their ancestors
- Why do philosophy departments stay white? Subtle self-selection, Bryan says
- Is philistinism killing philosophy as a discipline?
Dec 5, 2017 —
Noah Rasheta & Ellen Leanse
- Ellen’s new book The Happiness Hack as an owner’s guide to the human brain
- Distraction as a “dopamine hijack”
- Conditioning the mind for happiness
- The neurology behind self-inflicted emotional wounds
- How to change happiness from “destination” to “journey”
- Ellen’s tips for “hacking into” contentment and purpose
Oct 12, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Ethan Nichtern
- Ethan’s unusual upbringing as a “Dharma brat” in the Shambala Buddhist tradition
- How a cult classic took on spiritual significance for its fans
- What the film’s iconic line “as you wish” says about idealized love
- How Buddhist teachings are reflected in the film’s treatment of family, friendship and romance
- Ethan’s take on his parent’s spiritual teacher, Chögyam Trungpa, the controversial founder of Shambala Buddhism
Sep 7, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Alison Gopnik
- How a personal crisis brought Alison back to David Hume
- Hume’s (likely) chance encounter with Buddhism
- Lessons learned from 23-year-old Hume’s nervous breakdown
- Which ideas might Hume have borrowed from Buddhism?
- How meditation disrupts the ‘autopilot’ of adulthood
- Is introspection as valuable as neuroscience?
Jul 26, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Daniel Ingram
TAGS anger | Buddhism | Donald Trump | enlightenment | ethics | human nature | meditation | mindfulness | spirituality
Jun 28, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Jay Garfield
TAGS Buddhism | enlightenment | ethics | free will | human nature | meditation | philosophy | religion | self
Jun 23, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Massimo Pigliucci
- Massimo’s new book, How to Be a Stoic, and Bob’s forthcoming book, Why Buddhism Is True
- Similarities between Buddhism and Stoicism
- The metaphysics of Stoicism
- Is there a Stoic version of the Buddhist “not-self” doctrine?
- Massimo’s Stoic advice column
- Seneca’s tips for anger management
- Achieving an objective awareness of your emotions
- Using meditation to cope with feelings of failure
TAGS ancient philosophy | Buddhism | human nature | meditation | mental health | mindfulness | philosophy | psychology | self
Jun 22, 2017 —
Josh Summers & Linda Blanchard
TAGS Buddhism | enlightenment | Hinduism | human nature | meditation | mindfulness | philosophy | religion
Apr 25, 2017 —
Josh Summers & David Barash
TAGS biology | Buddhism | free will | fundamentalism | genetics | mind-body problem | mythology | philosophy | religion
Feb 24, 2017 —
Josh Summers & Ellen Langer
TAGS Buddhism | cognitive science | empathy | human nature | meditation | mindfulness | perception | psychology | science
Feb 14, 2017 —
Josh Summers & Jason Siff
TAGS Buddhism | compassion | empathy | enlightenment | human nature | meditation | mind | mindfulness | perception | self | spirituality
Feb 2, 2017 —
Robert Wright, Deepak Chopra, & Michael Shermer
TAGS Buddhism | cognitive science | consciousness | enlightenment | Hinduism | human nature | meditation | mysticism | perception | philosophy | physics | psychology | science | self | spirituality
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