“Darwinian Light”
Wright states, “So this one kind of light science can shed light on an illusion. Call it “Darwinian light.” By looking at things from the point of view of natural selection, we see why the illusion would be built into us, and we have more reason than ever to see that it is an illusion. But-and this is the main point of this little digression-this kind of light is of limited value if your goal is to actually liberate yourself from the illusion…You’re still stuck in the natural human cycle of ultimately futile pleasure-seeking-what psychologist sometimes call “the hedonic treadmill.”
The 'Darwinian Light' depicts the intersection between illusions and natural selection. The tendency to have illusions is innate in humanity; accordingly, human beings cannot do away with illusions because they are components of their nature. The attempts to liberate oneself from the illusory world become a treadmill that would not help in dismantling the illusions. Once an individual gets on the treadmill, he strives to relish pleasure continuously because it is a circular, absurd engagement that cannot be attained.
Happiness
Wright elucidates, “Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, a meditation teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition has said, “Ultimately, happiness comes down to choosing between the discomfort of becoming aware of your mental afflictions and the discomfort of being ruled by them.” What he meant is that if you want to liberate yourself from the parts of the mind that keep you from realizing true happiness, you have to first become aware of them, which can be unpleasant.”
Happiness is mental actuality; people have the option of being happy or not. One can choose to confront the mental afflictions that trigger unhappiness or not. Being conscious of the origins of the mental afflictions would obviously result in discomfort but yield longstanding happiness. Allowing mental afflictions to overwhelm one triggers extreme unhappiness. Self-consciousness, which largely ensues in the mind, is the key to unqualified happiness.
“Laboratory rat”
Wright admits, “My career as a laboratory rat begun in earnest when I went to that retreat in rural Massachusetts in August 2003. I had decided that meditation was worth exploring, but I had learned that casual experimentation wouldn’t get a person like me very far. Boot camp was in order. So I signed up for a seven-day retreat at the Insight Meditation Society, auspiciously located on Pleasant Street in the town of Barre. There, every day, I would do sitting meditation for a total of five and a half hours and walking meditation for about that long.”
The experiment provides Wright with information that Wright uses in writing about Buddhism and meditation. His first-hand experience is more reliable than hearing the experiences of other people. Being at the camp makes his status similar to the rats that are used in laboratories to conduct various experiments that cannot be performed with human beings. Accordingly, he finds answers by himself regarding the worth and implication of meditation.
Retreat
Wright recounts, "But the first couple of days were pretty excruciating. Have you ever tried sitting on a cushion with your legs crossed, focusing on your breath? It's no picnic, especially if you're as bad as focusing your breath as I am. Early in the retreat, I could go a whole forty-five-minute meditation session without ever sustaining focus for ten consecutive breaths. And I know, because I was counting! Time and again, after I counted three or four breaths, my mind would wander, and then eventually I'd realize that I had lost count-or, in some cases, that I was still going through the motions of counting but was in fact thinking about something else and not consciously feeling the breaths."
Initially, Wright finds it challenging to meditate quietly because he has never been involved in it. Beginners would find it challenging to jumps straight into meditation on their first try. The retreat enlightens Wright on the obstacles that people encounter in the quest to be successful at meditating. Evidently, it requires practice for one to make meditation a mundane habit. The outcome of regular meditation would be the ability to contemplate unconsciously to the degree that one would not realize that he or she is not breathing.
