Becoming Buddha On The Web - And Other Ted Talks

A new series of Ted Talks is currently underway in the US.

I don’t know if you’re familiar, but they’re a mind-blowing series of lectures by some of the world’s greatest thinkers, on a whole range of topics, from the environment to space. As they happen during the $6000 a day conference they’re posted online, so people like us can watch them for free.

I just wanted to draw your attention to a few I thought you might like.

Bob Thurman: Becoming Buddha — on the Web
In our hyperlinked world, we can know anything, anytime. And this mass enlightenment, says Buddhist scholar Bob Thurman, is our first step toward becoming Buddha. When we can know everything, we can see how everything is interconnected — and we can begin to feel compassion for every living being.

Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness
What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Buddhist monk, photographer and author Matthieu Ricard has devoted his life to these questions, and his answer is influenced by his faith as well as by his scientific turn of mind: We can train our minds in habits of happiness. Interwoven with his talk are stunning photographs of the Himalayas and of his spiritual community.

Dan Gilbert: Why are we happy? Why aren’t we happy?
Psychologist Dan Gilbert challenges the idea that we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want. Our “psychological immune system” lets us feel real, enduring happiness, he says, even when things don’t go as planned. He calls this kind of happiness “synthetic happiness,” and he says it’s “every bit as real and enduring as the kind of happiness you stumble upon when you get exactly what you were aiming for.”

Rick Warren: Living a life of purpose
Pastor, philanthropist and author Rick Warren reflects on how the success of his book The Purpose-Driven Life triggered his own crisis of purpose. What should he do with this unanticipated wealth and attention? Warren uses his own story to explain the central tenet of his teaching: that the antidote to spiritual emptiness is recognizing what we have been given — wealth, creativity, talent — and using those gifts to make the world a better place.

Dan Dennett: A secular, scientific rebuttal to Rick Warren
Philosopher Dan Dennett thinks of religion as a natural phenomenon, a human feature that has evolved over millennia to meet each society’s changing needs. From this, he makes a brilliant case for studying religion — all religion — as rigorously as we do science. Dennett, who followed Rick Warren on stage at TED2006, then takes a few minutes to analyze Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life and dispute several of its claims — among them a belief that in order to be moral, one must deny evolution.

Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice
Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central belief of western societies: that freedom of choice leads to personal happiness. In Schwartz’s estimation, all that choice is making us miserable. We set unreasonably high expectations, question our choices before we even make them, and blame our failures entirely on ourselves. His relatable examples, from consumer products (jeans, TVs, salad dressings) to lifestyle choices (where to live, what job to take, whom and when to marry), underscore this central point: Too many choices undermine happiness.

Daniel Goleman: Why aren’t we all Good Samaritans?
Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, asks why we aren’t more compassionate more of the time. Sharing the results of psychological experiments (and the story of the Santa Cruz Strangler), he explains how we are all born with the capacity for empathy — but we sometimes choose to ignore it.

You can watch them online if your broadband is broad enough, or download them to your computer to watch later. If you have any comments on any of them, please do post them here. It would be great to hear what you think.

Happy viewing.