In this video interview recorded in June 2020, Paul discusses his latest book Darwin Meets the Buddha with Ted Meissner. The conversation includes a discussion of mindfulness and awareness, and how they allow us to experience our own thoughts and emotions arising in real time. This allows us to observe how our mind frequently distorts our perceptions, and thereby distorts our interactions with our fellow humans, not to mention our entire life situation. The mind is not a video recorder. Rather, it usually offers us a drama (or ‘story line’) that presents quite an inaccurate interpretation of our own lives. We may be able to escape some of this confusion by using mind-training practices that were taught by the Buddha several thousand years ago. This kind of mind training need not be called a religious activity at all — or, if it is ‘spiritual’, it is certainly different from how most people understand the meaning of that word. Paul and Ted discuss how this secular approach to life is rooted in human evolution. They also discuss how modern people might employ the Buddha’s teachings without adopting a medieval world view or an exotic foreign culture.
The Secular Buddhist Association presented the audio as a podcast in July 2020, Episode 336 in the series.
Paul Keddy, Ph.D. 