The Importance of Living in the Moment

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Buddhism's goal is to allow you to sustain well-being, even in adverse circumstances. Is there not a danger that you'll become content with any circumstances whatsoever and not judge certain things as bad things you want to change? My feeling about that is it's a very good, in principle, question and not a very urgent, in practice question. And I think for almost everyone, that question just doesn't arise.

Robert Wright, author of Why Buddhism Is True, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the psychotherapeutic insights of Buddhism and the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. Wright argues our evolutionary past has endowed us with a mind that can be ill-suited to the stress of the present. He argues that meditation and the non-religious aspects of Buddhism can reduce suffering and are consistent with recent psychological research.