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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the acronym RAIN stand for?

2. The author states that what elements are just tools to help the brain sort the importance of various thoughts?

3. The author repeatedly refers to the mental modules as temporarily taking what action against the focus of the mind?

4. What is the term for the tendency to attribute inner essences to things?

5. In the philosophical illustration focused on a charioteer and horses, what does the charioteer represent?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the purpose of mindfulness meditation and how is it performed?

2. Describe Plato's use of the horse and charioteer analogy to comment on the relationship between feelings and the rational self.

3. What is the purpose for observing one's own thoughts within a meditation session?

4. Discuss an instance of the author's use of humor to highlight a particular point being made in the text.

5. What is the RAIN technique discussed by the author and how can it help quell a harmful urge?

6. Discuss the author's perspective of how indulging one's craving once can lead to future indulgences?

7. What emotion is one of the most studied in relation to the phenomenon of modules governing behavior and why?

8. For what purpose does the author discuss his disagreement with a prominent meditation teacher?

9. What does the author mean when he claims that humans are essentialists?

10. What is one method the author suggests for a way to observe one's thoughts objectively?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the author's use of the first and second person point of view serve the author's purposes over the course of the book? Discuss how the author's choice of point of view helps to advance the treatment of at least three particular themes within the text.

Essay Topic 2

What message is Robert Wright's book Buddhism is True sending regarding the source of human flaws and unhappiness?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the motif of sound within Robert Wright's book Buddhism is True.

(see the answer keys)

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