Article Title: Can Meditation Make Us Nicer?
Article Summary
This article deals with the topic of meditation and questions that does meditation have any moral and social benefits.
The author shares the views of his author friend (Robert Wright ) about how Buddhism is correct as it delves on the topic of how we are victims of our incessant desires, perpetually dissatisfied and the treatment for this problem is meditation, which can give us distance from and hence reduce our cravings and other negative emotions . He believes that can help us overcome the aggression and tribalism that cause war and other harmful behaviors.
The author further delves into a scientific study on meditation and talks about the same. The aim of this is to find out whether meditation per se makes the world a better a less aggressive and more compassionate place. He further explains the process of this experiment.
He concludes through this experiment that no Transcendental Meditation studies met the researchers’ standards, and most of the included studies, they assert, are methodologically weak. Even the mediators were a source of bias. Their review shows that meditation has little influence on aggression, prejudice and connectedness. It although causes a modest increase in compassion and empathy, but these effects decline when controls are active rather than passive and when the teacher is not an author.
Article Link: Click here to read the full article
Words to Learn from this article:
Incessant: of something regarded as unpleasant) continuing without pause or interruption.
Cravings: a powerful desire for something.
Salvation: preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss.
Sanctimonious: making a show of being morally superior to other people.
Transcendent: be or go beyond the range or limits of (a field of activity or conceptual sphere).
Bias: inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered to be unfair.
Connotation: an idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
Persuasive: good at persuading someone to do or believe something through reasoning or the use of temptation.
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