Activity

something feels off about it

Your instinct is correct on this. There are people who study religion and psychology and make useful conclusions about how we evolved and how ancient writers had some insight but didn’t have the data to back it up like we do. Then there’s guys like the one in the HuffPo who just connect some random facts like how we are made of water but we call ourselves solid. They are riding on the coattails of those who are doing actual scientific work. They see a scientific paper that adds legitimacy to Buddhist thought, and they say, “hey, I do Buddhist thought, I can say, blah, blah, blah, Buddhism.” People eat it up like the junk food that it is.

You have to do the work of critical thinking for every article. One article might have some actual science about meditation or mindfulness, but that does not add any value to all the spiritual garbage out there. Even though both might claim to be based on Buddhist teachings, they aren’t equal.