I Wish Life Came With an Instruction Manual

This is my final paper for Buddhism and Modern Psychology ! I got a good grade on it as well. ☺ Does modern science lend support to the Buddhist ideas about the human mind? The specific topic that comes to mind for this would be the Buddhist idea of   anatta , or the not-self. In the video lecture named “the Buddha’s Discourse on the Not-Self,” we learned that the Buddha does not consider the five aggregates – consciousness, form, feeling, perception, mental formations – to be self because they lack the two attributes that he believes the self should have, namely permanence and control. The modular theory of mind and the idea that what we call “self” may be more of a press secretary than the CEO supports the Buddha’s teachings on   anatta . We can recall that in Week 3, we learned that modern psychology professes that there is no single self that decides how you should behave. Instead, mental modules do this. The modules grow stronger the more attention is paid to them and the...

Note: This is the midterm essay I submitted for Buddhism and Modern Psychology . I got a good grade on it and am quite proud of my work, so I am posting it here. This course is available for free on Coursera . It is offered by Princeton with Robert Wright as the lecturer. The Four Noble Truths can be summed up as the following: Life is suffering. The cause of suffering is craving for and clinging to that which is impermanent. For one’s suffering to cease, one has to let go of the craving or clinging. For one to let go of the craving or clinging, one must practice the Noble Eightfold Path. This may sound simplistic to many because evolution has shaped us into creatures that depend on the pursuit of short-lived pleasure for survival of both the individual and the species. Nevertheless, I find this doctrine to be a good guideline on how to stay sane while alive, especially when fulfilling responsibilities and meeting expectations as a fully-grown human being. I personally cannot attest to...