Ommm Ex Machina

How does the game change if we get a computer to meditate? Cognitive scientist Marieke van Vugt wants to find out.

Model Behavior

A new study asks: Does meditation make us more compassionate?

Longing After Loss

Out Of a great need We are all holding hands And climbing. Not loving is a letting go. Listen, The terrain around here Is Far too Dangerous For That. —Hafiz Falling in love can enliven us. Feeling seen and held can ground us; it can put us at ease. Love can also grant us a …

The Anxiety of Happiness

His life is a pursuit of a pursuit forever.It is the future that creates his present. All is an interminable chain of longing.—Robert Frost I’ve long thought that in this section of his poem, “Escapist–Never,” Robert Frost captures a lot of what contemplative traditions describe as craving, a source of great suffering. Craving is distinguished …

Grey Matters: The BRAIN Initiative & Mapping the Mind

The mysteries of the human brain are hidden in an almost unfathomable array of synaptic connections, cellular activity, neurotransmitters, gene expression patterns, and electrical oscillations. Even deeper than these lay the questions of how such an extraordinarily complex electrochemical system connects to our moment-to-moment experience as human beings: our perceptions, our thoughts, our emotions—what cognitive …

Meditation: It’s Not What You Think

Think you can’t meditate? Mind & Life’s resident neuroscientist explores some popular misconceptions surrounding meditation, and reasons to keep trying.