Illusion
Wright writes, “So what exactly is the illusory part of pursuing doughnuts or sex or consumer goods or a promotion? There are different illusions associated with different pursuits, but for now we can focus on one illusion that’s common to these things: the overestimation of how much happiness they’ll bring.”
Illusions give the impression that one would attain bliss from the consumption of goods. Accordingly, one seeks to consume the goods or to engage in activities that would bring him or her envisioned happiness. People's perceptions of happiness are divergent and illusory.
Technology
Wright explains, "Technologies of distraction have made attention deficits more common. And there's something about modern environment-something technological or cultural or political or all of the above-that seems conducive to harsh judgment and ready rage. Just look at all the tribalism-the discord and even open conflict along religious, ethnic, national, and ideological lines.”
Technologies have contributed to discord among people, and the disruption triggered by technology is an underside that handers unity among people with conflicting viewpoints. Indeed, technology is highly decentralized; hence, it has the potency to trigger political and social classes. Technologies have contributed to the pervasiveness of oppositions which are founded on different identities.
“Apocalyptic Fears”
Wright remarks, “You don’t have to share my apocalyptic fears to think that it would be good for the world if meditation could help more people overcome the mental tendencies that sustain the more belligerent forms of tribalism. And if it can help me overcome them-help me tamp down rage and contemplate my enemies, real and imagined, more calmly-it can help just about anyone overcome them.”
Tribalism has the potency of plunging the world into an apocalypse. Meditation would help humanity to counter apprehensions ascribed to an apocalypse. Instead of engaging in aggressive encounters, people would often meditate. Through meditation, they would experience calmness and avoid tribal mentalities.
“Dukkha”
Wright affirms, “Indeed, though the Buddha is famous for asserting that life is pervaded by suffering, some scholars say that’s an incomplete rendering of his message and that the word translated as “suffering,” dukkha, could, for some purpose, be translated as “unsatisfactoriness.” The inability to get satisfied contributes to suffering. Meditation is useful in mitigating the feelings of ‘unsatisfactoriness’ which is inherent among humanity. Once people recognize that absolute satisfaction is impracticable in real life, they should strive to attain contentment.
Pleasure
Wright reports, “As the biologist George Romanes put it in 1884, twenty-five years after Darwin’s The Origin of Species appeared, “Pleasures and pains must have been evolved as the subjective accompaniment of processes which are respectively beneficial or injurious to the organism, and so evolved for the purpose or to the end that the organism should seek one and shun the other.”
Wright cites the evolution theory to explain the interrelationships between illusions and feelings. Pleasure is highly subjective; it is dependent on the peculiar feelings which people have about various issues. Accordingly, two people may experience pleasure and pain from the same involvement. Feelings influence the judgments that individuals make, and the feelings could be false.
