Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright

Today we will unlock the book Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment. The author, equipped with a modern perspective and a confident understanding of both evolutionary history and psychology, addresses Buddhist philosophy and argues Buddhist philosophy’s validity is rooted in science.

In a scene from the original Matrix movie, a science fiction action film from 1999, the main character, Neo, finds out that he has been living in a dream world. The life he thought he had is really a detailed hallucination orchestrated by robot overlords. He encounters Morpheus, the leader of a rebellion against the overlords. Morpheus explains to Neo that the dream world is a prison for enslaved people known as the Matrix. He says that he cannot convey the totality of the Matrix. The only means to experience the full picture is “to see it for himself.” Morpheus offers Neo two pills. One is blue, and the other is red. Swallowing the blue pill will return Neo to his dream world, but taking the red pill will allow him to be free of his literal constraints and loosen his mental bonds. Neo takes the red pill, determining to search for the truth and embrace personal freedom.