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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. An intertemporal utility function represents how willing a person is to delay what?

2. What kind of teacher is Rodney, the man described by the author within one particular anecdote?

3. Which of the following examples is used by the author to demonstrate that human brains are not foolproof?

4. The author states that the idea of enlightenment is to take what action in regard to one's delusions?

5. Which of the three schools of meditation supports the idea that a critical distance of separation between the self and individual thoughts will give the conscious self more control?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is the significance of the author's discussion of the Capgras delusion?

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

4. What is the author's message about the intertemporal utility function and its relationship to the permanence of the self?

5. How does the author use self-deprecation and discussion of his own flaws to further his purpose?

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

7. Explain the emptiness doctrine presented by the author within the chapter entitled Encounters with the Formless.

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

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

10. What connection does the author make between awareness and control and how is paradox used within the author's discussion of this connection?

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

Examine how Robert Wright's book Buddhism is True invites the readers to learn particular lessons from Buddhist traditions and to apply those lessons to their own lives. How does he accomplish this goal and how does this goal relate to the overarching themes of the text?

Essay Topic 3

What is the author's message regarding the actions people must take in order to combat programmed, evolution-based behaviors?

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