rational-buddhism

Rational Buddhism: Verify Everything

R — Original Text (Reading)

Try everything, test it yourself, stay skeptical, keep what is useful, discard what is not. ... The rational part means I have to reconcile with science and evolution. I have to reject everything I cannot verify. ... If I cannot verify it, or if I cannot get there through science, then it may be true or it may be false, but it is certainly unfalsifiable, so I cannot treat it as a basic truth.

— Naval Ravikant, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, Chapter 2 · Happiness

I — Methodological Skeleton (Interpretation)

"Rational Buddhism" is a spiritual stance that filters through scientific standards and retains inner techniques: ① Falsifiability baseline— "If it cannot make falsifiable predictions, then it is not science"; claims that cannot be verified/cannot be falsified (karma, chakras, superpowers) cannot enter basic truths; ② Test it yourself— Is meditation good for you? Is clearing your mind a good thing? Verify it yourself before adopting it; ③ Keep what is useful— Time-tested inner work methods such as meditation, observation, and acceptance do not conflict with science; ④ Evolution is a constraint principle— Evolutionary theory explains what a human is (a survival and replication machine), Buddhism explains how to adjust inner states, and the two can be reconciled; ⑤ Stay skeptical but do not close off experience— "I don't subscribe to anything fanciful," but also do not reject something just because it "sounds mystical" without testing it yourself (the example of reading The Power of Now: first closing the book and calling it bullshit, later trying it with a positive mindset and feeling great).

A1 — Application in the Book (Past Application)

Case 1: Rejecting unverifiable teachings

Problem: Should the karma/chakras in Buddhism be believed
Use of the method: "I've looked. I don't remember any past lives. I don't have any related memories. I just can't believe it."
Conclusion: Cannot verify it yourself = cannot treat it as a basic truth
Result: Keep Buddhism's inner work, reject the metaphysical part

Case 2: The transformation from reading The Power of Now

Problem: The first reaction to energy practices is "this is bullshit"
Use of the method: "I'll do it with a positive mindset. I lie down and try to meditate."
Conclusion: "Fine, if I believe in it, maybe it can work"
Result: The experience was great — verification takes priority over bias

A2 — Trigger Scenarios (Future Trigger) ★

In what situations will users need this skill?

Facing metaphysical/spiritual/pseudoscientific claims: "Should I believe this"
Establishing personal verification criteria: "What should I believe"
Wavering between science and spirituality: "Do science and meditation conflict"
Want to try but stay rational: "How to test it yourself without going off the deep end"

Linguistic signals

"Is this thing real / should I believe it"
"How do I verify a claim"
"Science vs spirituality/meditation"
"is this true / falsifiable / rational approach to spirituality"

Distinction from adjacent skills

With judgment-training the difference: judgment is general thinking ability; this skill is the verification standard for "what can be believed"
With monkey-mind-meditation the difference: meditation is a technique, this skill is the philosophical framework for allowing/rejecting techniques

E — Executable steps (Execution)

Run falsifiable tests
- Completion criterion: For a claim, ask "Can it make a falsifiable prediction? If it fails, can I detect it?"; if not → mark as "non-basic truth"
Run personal verification
- Completion criterion: If the claim is experiencable (meditation/fasting/practice), design a 30-day personal test plan, record the before-and-after differences
Choose based on results
- Completion criterion: Keep what is useful (reproducible experience), discard what is useless (no effect/unverifiable), neither superstitiously believing because of the source nor rejecting because of the label
Write into personal principles
- Completion criterion: Form 3 of your own "belief lists", noting the evidence level of each

B — Boundary (Boundary) ★

Do not use this skill in the following situations

End-of-life care and grief scenarios where the user seeks religious/spiritual comfort (respect faith choices, do not indoctrinate with rationalism)
Use the "falsifiable" standard to judge all humanistic domains (literature/love/meaning do not apply to this standard)

Failure modes the author warns about in the book

Treating the unfalsifiable as truth: chakras, karma, and other "fancy naming" cannot enter basic truth
Superstitious authority replacing personal testing: everything must be tested personally

Author's blind spots / era limitations

"Personal verification" itself is also subjective evidence; the author uses the falsifiable standard for the occult and personal standards for his own experience, which is a double standard
The rationalist framework has limited explanatory power for irrational needs

Easily confused neighboring methodologies

judgment-training: Falsifiability is one of the judgment mental model libraries

Related skills (Stage 3 final draft)

depends-on: judgment-training(The falsifiable standard is a product of judgment)
composes-with: monkey-mind-meditation、life-meaning

Audit information

Verification passed: V1 ✓ / V2 ✓ / V3 ✓ (v18)
Test pass rate: see test-results.md
Distillation time: 2026-08-01