Being Nature

Book excerpt: How to tune in to our own biology in pursuit of spiritual awakening • Provides a practical program, complete with enjoyable, even playful meditations, for realizing greater self-awareness, increased wisdom, and happiness • Shows how recent discoveries in physics, evolutionary biology, and psychology express in scientific terms the same insights the Buddha discovered more than 2,500 years ago • Reveals the origins of attachments, desires, emotions, and thoughts in our own bodies Taking us on an evolutionary journey to find the origins of emotions, desires, and thoughts in our own bodies, Wes “Scoop” Nisker shows not only how cutting-edge science is proving the tenets of the Buddha but also how we can interpret the traditional practices of Buddhism through this scientific lens for more personal freedom and peace of mind. Using the traditional Buddhist meditation series of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness as a framework, Nisker offers a witty narrative along with practical meditations and exercises to train the mind to overcome painful conditioning and gain greater self-awareness, increased wisdom, and happiness. He shows how recent discoveries in physics, evolutionary biology, and psychology express in scientific terms the same insights the Buddha discovered more than 2,500 years ago, such as the impermanence of the body, where thoughts come from, and how the body communicates within itself. Presenting a variety of new ways to harness the power of mindfulness to transform our understanding of both ourselves and the world, Nisker teaches us how to put our understanding of evolution in the service of spiritual awakening.