On the second point, Robert Wright’s book “Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment” does a pretty good job.
Thanks. I read the first ~100 pages of “Why Buddhism is True”, but felt like its discussion was… “on the wrong level” feels like the best term I can think of. Something like, in its discussion of no-self (for instance), it did vaguely say things about what the Buddha might have meant, and then about how evolutionary psychology views the mind, but I was hoping for a discussion that would attempt to dissolve the algorithms behind our experience of the self (or at least some of them).
I read the first ~100 pages of “Why Buddhism is True”, but . . .
That’s hardly 1⁄3 of the way in; not very “deep.” ;)
Robert Wright is quite well-regarded for his writing on science, history, politics, and religion. His skeptical, non-mystical stance toward meditation sounds like just the thing you’d be keenly interested in. He argues the modern psychological idea of the modularity of mind resonates with the Buddhist teaching of no-self (anatman). One would think that’s precisely the kind of thing you are trying to get at!
I admit the book is a bit clumsy, tedious and dull in places (aren’t most books?), and Wright certainly isn’t the last word on meditation, but if you want to understand this stuff more deeply like you say, perhaps try and be a little less hyper-focused on your mission to “dissolve the algorithm” see what else he has to say in the final two-thirds of his book. Maybe you’re depriving yourself of the opportunity to discover some additional nuance, aspects, and features of meditation you may be overlooking.
Thanks. I read the first ~100 pages of “Why Buddhism is True”, but felt like its discussion was… “on the wrong level” feels like the best term I can think of. Something like, in its discussion of no-self (for instance), it did vaguely say things about what the Buddha might have meant, and then about how evolutionary psychology views the mind, but I was hoping for a discussion that would attempt to dissolve the algorithms behind our experience of the self (or at least some of them).
That’s hardly 1⁄3 of the way in; not very “deep.” ;)
Robert Wright is quite well-regarded for his writing on science, history, politics, and religion. His skeptical, non-mystical stance toward meditation sounds like just the thing you’d be keenly interested in. He argues the modern psychological idea of the modularity of mind resonates with the Buddhist teaching of no-self (anatman). One would think that’s precisely the kind of thing you are trying to get at!
I admit the book is a bit clumsy, tedious and dull in places (aren’t most books?), and Wright certainly isn’t the last word on meditation, but if you want to understand this stuff more deeply like you say, perhaps try and be a little less hyper-focused on your mission to “dissolve the algorithm” see what else he has to say in the final two-thirds of his book. Maybe you’re depriving yourself of the opportunity to discover some additional nuance, aspects, and features of meditation you may be overlooking.