Hey Akarsh! Thanks for your kind words and directing me toward your article. I really enjoyed it, and now have three of Haidt's books on my Audible wish list :)

Knowing how our minds work is a critical piece to overcoming the divides between us. But, I think understanding how the mind works takes more than facts, it also takes direct experience. What I'm learning through meditation is that the mind is not what it seems. I like the metaphor of the rider and the elephant--of how the elephant does something and the rider simply justifies it. We often identify with one or the other, or perhaps even both. However, what's more interesting to me is how meditation can help us see that the elephant and rider stand apart from something even more fundamental, let's call it "me."

Why does this matter? Our problem is that when our identities are bound up in certain thoughts, beliefs, intuitions, etc., our minds become impervious to change. Changing what we identify with is akin to self-annihilation, or at least, like cutting off a limb. This, obviously, is a high barrier to entry.

When we experience through meditation that our minds are constantly changing, in time, we stop associating the chaos with our identities. We have in some sense taken a step back from the elephant and rider, and have the space to see them with a little more clarity. When our identifies aren't so wrapped up in what the elephant and rider do, I think this opens up the space for curiosity, compassion, love, and change.

What are your thoughts on this?