I thought this was good interview with Sam Harris about his new book, as someone has described is like Eckart Tolle’s book the Power of Now except for smart people 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxzAQRYYqlk
As always some great one liners, while acknowledging this mostly comes out of Buddhist tradition he says it’s “embedded in classical explosions of religious bullshit”.
a few days ago I checked ‘Waking Up’ out of the library and I’m still in the throngs of it so I will not make a statement/review regarding the book, however, it is a break from the strident atheist stance he usually takes.
The books stems from his taking MDMA (Ecstasy) and sequestering himself away on long meditation retreats - both as a young lad - and having profound ‘spiritual’ experiences. So he’s granting that consciousness is not a static quantity, thus the Waking Up . . . . and he recommends a non-religious approach . . . thus the spirituality without religion subtitle.
So he still maintains that religions are bankrupt - except perhaps the non-secular branches of Buddhism.
And he grants spiritual experiences as valid methods to learn about consciousness - - but he warns of the dangers of attributing any meaning to those experiences . . . ie connecting these experiences with Reality . . .as “I experienced great and unconditional LOVE and that was the LOVE of God so there must be a God”.
Like I said, I’m still reading the book . . . Chapter one is available online: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/chapter-one
So drugs are/aren’t the answer to life?
So drugs are/aren’t the answer to life?
Certain drugs can basically let you “cheat” and have an experience that otherwise would likely require years of meditation to achieve or some special circumstances, if it ever occurred. While the drugs pretty much guarantee it’s going to occur. I don’t know if that says something about life, but it does say something about the nature of mind and one’s subjective experience. I think one of the best points Harris makes is that people commonly make the mistake of then inferring that it says something objectively about our Universe because they’ve had this experience.
I find myself in a similar boat to Harris. I think I’m a better person in any number of ways because of my experiences with certain mind-altering drugs. In some sense I think people, including my kids, would really be missing out on what can be a very positive life altering experience if they never did them. OTOH, it can be scary and not everybody is up for it.
a few days ago I checked ‘Waking Up’ out of the library and I’m still in the throngs of it so I will not make a statement/review regarding the book, however, it is a break from the strident atheist stance he usually takes.
The books stems from his taking MDMA (Ecstasy) and sequestering himself away on long meditation retreats - both as a young lad - and having profound ‘spiritual’ experiences. So he’s granting that consciousness is not a static quantity, thus the Waking Up . . . . and he recommends a non-religious approach . . . thus the spirituality without religion subtitle.
So he still maintains that religions are bankrupt - except perhaps the non-secular branches of Buddhism.
And he grants spiritual experiences as valid methods to learn about consciousness - - but he warns of the dangers of attributing any meaning to those experiences . . . ie connecting these experiences with Reality . . .as “I experienced great and unconditional LOVE and that was the LOVE of God so there must be a God”.
Like I said, I’m still reading the book . . . Chapter one is available online: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/chapter-one
I plan on reading it, can’t get it from local libraries yet. I think I have a pretty good sense of what he’s going to say since I’ve read a bit of westernized Buddhism. I assume he’ll just put his unique spin on it, including a healthy dose of reason. I’ll check out chapter one on line when I get a chance.