Sam Harris – Spirituality Without Religion
Sam Harris On Waking Up – A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion
Sam Harris is a bestselling author, neuroscientist and philosopher. He is co-founder and Chief Executive Office of Project Reason, a non-profit foundation that promotes science and secular values.
In the fall of 2014, Sam Harris gave this talk—to coincide with the publication of his book, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion. Join Sam as he discusses a range of experiences that have traditionally been considered “spiritual”—in particular the phenomenon of self-transcendence.
Although such experiences tell us nothing about the origins of the cosmos, they confirm some well-established truths about the human mind: Our conventional sense of self is an illusion; positive emotions, such as compassion and serenity, are teachable skills; and the way we think can profoundly influence our lives and the lives of others.
This video consists of a one-hour lecture and an hour of Q&A.
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Wow…woke early to ensure I had time to listen…thought provoking…looking foeward to reading Waking Up.
I found this talk a little disrespectful. I chose not to listen to the end. First it was two long and second I could not see the link between mindfulness and awareness and tearing down the belief system of our fellow humans. How is that kind and loving?
I agree totally, he’s arrogant and disrespectful. I’m not religious, by the way.
Mr. Harris is a brilliant man. Unfortunately he leaves EVERYTHING to science and what it can prove. He has no hope for the afterlife. I hope and pray that he will have the insight to realize that there is more to life than we, as humans are able to understand. That there is a NEED for FAITH & HOPE and a belief that eternity exists and we are ALL destined to be part of it.
I will pray for him.
Funny coincidence: Just saw my (unread) book Waking up in my bookshelf and wondered if it was time to read it, not remembering why I bought it a while ago. And now I logged in here fore today’s session and voilà, there he is! I guess this means I should read the book now. 🙂
Interesting, lots to take in. Thank you.
Interesting, thought provoking, lots to take in. Thank you.
Art and Musis are important tools? Not mentioned by anyone, its getting a bit too intellectual for me,
I was very disappointed in this talk. It was my understanding that the summit was all about mindfulness, and yet this speaker spent the first 15 minutes (admittedly that’s when I stopped listening) just trying to convince his audience that religion is a bad thing. I am religious and do disagree with some of the eastern religion comments that have been made during the summit, but I believe that despite my differences of beliefs, I can still learn from other “wisdom traditions” and until today, had felt that my beliefs were at least respected. If the summit is truly about mindfulness and not about any one religious belief system, why the need for a speaker to try to tear down all religion? Why not just keep it focused on mindfulness?
Completely agree with your comments. As a Christian I had to turn this off after 5 minutes. Much prefer format with Meli in it and would prefer the focus to be on mindfulness and not berating religion. Have been so impressed up until now.
I’m with you guys on this one. I”m Buddhist and I don’t care whether he gives any credance to religion/spirituality or not, he can believe what he wants but in communication, a person can be respectful or disrespectful. He’s using his free will choice to be disrespectul and arrogant.
Me as well.
Guys, its a shame you didn’t tune in…the reasons for being opposed to religion are pretty legitimate if you were to contemplate this without a bias. Could have watched it without letting the voice inside your head ruin the talk. Afterall, that is is the point of being mindful. You could take many good things from the talk and still be religious. Possibly reconsider watching the talk, it was pretty great. Cheers
I did watch it. I liked some of his points as I’ve said elsewhere and have read his books.
I too agree, had to turn this off.
I had the same impression as you, Ashley…
I agree wholeheartedly. I skipped around a bit but could not listen to this man who was both blasphemous and very dissapointing. I’ve enjoyed summit so far and told friends about it. Now I am hard pressed to care about listening to anymore and will tell my friends to forget it. I did not sign up to be lectured to on atheism. Really dissapointed.
For Me Mindfulness is about authenticity and having the confidence and awareness to be yourself whilst having the experience of being connected to all things. There are many paths to the Divine. Authenticity means expressing what makes your heart sing and if that is a conventional approach and religion, then that is your free will choice. For me though – you have to be aware as to how and why formal religion was created and have your eyes open as to what you are accepting as ‘truth’ – but then – isn’t that what life and mindfulness is about anyway?For uk courses and one to one sessions in Healing & Mindfulness: http://www.kaiamea.co.uk
Sorry, I could not listne to this. Too long. Instead I am listening to older super inspiring videos:)
Totally agree! Much to watch from the previous days!
Fantastic!
I was not fond of this talk today, and I also had to stop after the first 15 minutes. All the other talks have been about loving and respecting oneself and others, but I just couldn’t take something I have looked forward to every morning telling me that my beliefs are “ridiculous.” I truly appreciate this summit, and all the talks except this one has helped me in my mindfulness practice. I hope tomorrow’s talk is more supportive of all its listeners and the variety of backgrounds we all come from.
I find the idea of spirituality without beliefs quite attractive, because it puts the emphasis on the direct experience of consciousness (or awareness/mindfulness, etc), instead of on the thoughts or interpretations we have about consciousness. The third-person information we get from science about the nature of the brain is interesting, but it will never be a replacement for first-person experience – and our beliefs about first-person experience that come from religion are also not a replacement for direct awareness.
Super interesting – I think i’ll probably watch this one again as there was a huge amount to take in…definitely going to buy the book. Thanks for introducing me to Sam Harris, I was not familiar with his work before now. 🙂
I thought this was brilliant. Can’t wait to buy his books – Waking up as well as the Islam and the Future of Tolerance.
Thank you Sam.
Seeing the snake in the rope precedes the ability to see the rope . The illusion of self is not our illusion it is part of the collective. Sam Harris gives a thought provoking practice to go beyond the search for meaning and self. Moving between illusion and delusion is very freeing. Who is the knower?
Very disappointed with this presenter. I can respect his beliefs, but he is just too demeaning and sarcastic regarding respecting other viewpoints regarding spirituality and consciousness. At times his explanations of his beliefs contradicted what he initially said regarding religion and spirituality. Had a very difficult time listening to him. Found it very profound when he talked about the vibes he got from certain people he that he could not explain why he had that impact. Very bad vibes from him…..did not feel good.
He has always struck me of very full of himself and that is not very mindful at all!! 🙂
this talk didn’t work for me . can’t watch beyond 20 min
I am a practicing religious person as well as considering myself spiritual. I found this lecture tedious and insulting to those who are religious. For someone to come and tell us that revelation books are wrong because they are thousands of years old and written in languages that he can not understand is simply silly and over simplified. Because some people of a particular religion did wrong (based on their on understanding of that religion) does not make that religion wrong. I also found the found the lecture very depressing and I have to stop listening to it in the first 20 minutes….
I enjoyed all previous interviews so far but this was a bad apple…
http://hardcorezen.info/that-dirty-word-buddhism/2667
The above link is an interesting view of some questions posed by Sam Harris. The one thing I have a hard time getting over with Harris is not so much his dissing religion as the sense of self-satisfaction (“I think the best and everyone should think like me” type of attitude). I found it hard to read his books for that reason.
Nope
“Sam Harris and those people who go berserk about the destructiveness of the world religions should really take a better look at materialism and communism, and how many people they have killed, actually, in the modern period. It’s not a small number.”
Robert Thurman in an interview with Tami Simon on Insights at the Edge:
http://www.soundstrue.com/store/weeklywisdom?page=single&category=IATE&episode=10963
Like this link!! Thanks Judy!! I already like “Nirvana And Samsara are the same thing” –Nirvana is not some state out there, out of our reach. It can be found in the smallest moments of awareness/mindfulness. Life is full of moments of Enlightment if we are present enough to be aware when they are right in front of us, right inside of us.
Something else I read this morning:
“In the second half of life we discover that it is no longer sufficient to find meaning in being successful or healthy. We need a deeper source of purpose. According to Jung, “Meaning makes a great many things endurable–perhaps everything. No science will ever replace myth [the communicator of meaning], and a myth cannot be made out of any science. . . . [Myth] is the revelation of a divine life in man. It is not we who invent myth, rather it speaks to us as a Word of God.” [4] Science gives us explanations, and that is a good start, but myth and religion give us meaning which alone satisfies the soul.”
~ Richard Rohr
http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=655d70e0-e190-4ad4-b73a-ebdc292cd904&c=817115b0-eeff-11e3-a030-d4ae52754b78&ch=829f5c80-eeff-11e3-a03f-d4ae52754b78
I don’t think “religion” is the culprit. Rather, fundamentalism, dogmatism, “us vs them,” dualism, exclusionism, etc.
That was the most inspiring talk! The best two hours I have spent in a long time. Thank you Mrs M for introducing him to me and my not-self too! Brilliant. Thank you Sam.
Brilliant! Totally agree with every word! Regarding some of the comments below, he comes across to me, not anti-religious, but anti the problems religions can cause by people having blind faith and defending it thus creating in-out groups. The talk is totally about Mindfulness and very relevant, it being one of the antidotes to human suffering. Well done for choosing this talk! 🙂
I agree with some of the things he says about religion, it has created horrible divisive behaviour ( or rather peoples’ use of it) and tragedies throughout history. In reading his books however, Harris is very anti-religious. I don’t have an issue with that but he can be just as bull-headed as any zeolot.
Thanks Kyla, I laven’t read any of his books and not heard his name before, and, I couldn’t also help notice a big ego, especially in that big chair with a serene smile, which explains his reactions!! 😉
Faehad you took the words right outta my mouth. Me’thinks some protest too much ✳
Yes. I think so too. This talk was very good. But also very intellectual. I had to pause and rewind several times in order to really get it.
I was not impressed with the presenter as he seemed to spute out negativity through his whole presentation. It felt like if one didn’t agree with his beliefs there’s no way to be spiritual and non religious.
Hello,
I haven’t watched the video yet, but this speech is not linked to on the event schedule, which is how I usually get to the daily video.
Thanks.
I am with him however, on the new age stuff. eg.-people promising suffering clients for example that they can heal them, get in touch with dead loved ones etc. and charge them tons of cash cash cash
This lecture made me sad. Mindfulness is important to me because it helps me acknowledge that I am ok, I am where I am supposed to be AND most importantly it allows me to be still and know God. Religion is acknowledging there is something higher than you. Religion causes problems? No its people who use religion to cause problems. I am on my own path and I respect everyone else on their path to our final destination. Mindfulness let’s me enjoy the journey.
Well put!
Fantastic! One of the best talks yet. When I saw this was two hours I thought there was no way I was going to watch it all but I’m so glad I did. Can’t wait to read his books!
I know the inner-conflict of battling with the belief-system that my life-long sojourn into Christianity had created. I needed to confront the cultural genocide inflicted on our Indigenous Peoples, from the inside out having found that my ancestry is of mixed-blood: English and Cree First Nations.
From the dawn of Canadian History, the forming Government of colonialism and the Church, literally conspired to “Kill The Indian In The Indian Child.” This took us to an apartheid style system of Reservations where the First Nations People still live today, excommunicated from mainstream society.
Our last Residential School closed as recently as 1996. These were Christian Church run boarding schools, with the same goal: breaking the spirit of our First Nations Children, in favour of White-Assimilation, and Death of the Culture of Indigenous Peoples. This has not succeeded.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada worked to bring all truth to the light of day, and we are on a new path here in Canada, with new history, real history, now being written into our curriculums in schools as a start towards healing,
I view religion as being based on relativism. For my own healing, I needed to discard the institutions of religion as they stand today, in favour of a new inner-belief construct. I educated myself through the work of Joseph Campbell to reconcile my inner-struggle in regards to all the suffering that I do see Religion can impose, when the institution of religion becomes a construct for control.
Joseph Campbell studied all world faiths, and sought commonality in myth and rite, correlating his findings with the position in psychology of Carl Jung. For me, this has made the most sense, moving forward with my life.
There are layers, upon layers that are the mystery of who we are as human beings, where we’ve come from, and where we are going. There is no argument in this one belief that survived my own inner-house-cleaning where beliefs taken in through religion had confused me about human nature.
Regardless of the positions of anyone who holds any ideas that may force us to think differently about ourselves: “Seek and You Will Find.” “Knock and the Door Shall Be Open.”
Whether by faith in a religion, or through secular application of religious concepts, the truth remains clear to me. We are, so many of us, seeking wellness.
Mindfulness is the core skill we need to embrace mental well-being. Mental well-being translates into physical well-being. Mental and Physical well-being translates into relationship well-being. Relationship well-being puts us back in touch with just how interconnected we all truly are. Being interconnected and realizing this interconnectedness, leads to a collective experience of consciousness, leading us towards healing all the world.
This is the hope. This is the dream.
I, like others, am not a Sam Harris fan. However I do admire his mind, so very much. I disagree with his view, and the view of Richard Dawkins that we need to throw the baby away with the dirty bathwater of religion. What is needed is a ‘personal’ experience of seeking the Divine. The highest level of our being.
“Half the people in the world think that the metaphors of their religious traditions, for example, are facts. And the other half contends that they are not facts at all. As a result we have people who consider themselves believers because they accept metaphors as facts, and we have others who classify themselves as atheists because they think religious metaphors are lies.”
― Joseph Campbell, Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
“Follow your bliss.
If you do follow your bliss,
you put yourself on a kind of track
that has been there all the while waiting for you,
and the life you ought to be living
is the one you are living.
When you can see that,
you begin to meet people
who are in the field of your bliss,
and they open the doors to you.
I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid,
and doors will open
where you didn’t know they were going to be.
If you follow your bliss,
doors will open for you that wouldn’t have opened for anyone else.”
― Joseph Campbell
“We’re not on our journey to save the world but to save ourselves. But in doing that you save the world. The influence of a vital person vitalizes.”
― Joseph Campbell
Mindfulness Practice is proving itself to be a key skill needed for us to transcend our collective suffering.
Thank you for today. Be Well.
Your comment is thoughtful and amazing! I could listen to you talk for 2 hours any day over Sam Harris!! Sincerely.
“We are, so many of us, seeking wellness.”–very profound and compassionate.
Thank you for sharing your journey. Its moving and thoughtfull.
I had had problem with Christianty and ended up having denyed every religion at some stage of my life. Now I made peace and I certaily need to revisit Joseph Cambell.
I like Sam’s talk but i think maybe he could choose words more carefully.
Anyway. Thank you for sharing again.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply.
I am just wathching through minute number ten. Thank you for bringing this conference to this summit. I do prefer your interviews, but this one is delivering good thinking. It is a pity that some of us are not happy with this presenter or what he is saying, but at the same time is a blessing that there is disagreement. My point of view is that we are differents or diverse and I prefer to celebrate this fact. Of course some fear arose in my chest when I read or listen to people who think differently than me. Not in this case as it seems that I do agree with some of the lines delivered by Sam Harris.
The seminar has been great so far, very positive, very helpful for me. This talk is like a wet blanket thrown over the summit. Way too down and judgmental to listen to. Does not fit with the other talks. Looking for back to the good tomorrow.
Yup. Jack Kornfield is going to blow Sam Harris out of the water ( in my opinion anyway) 🙂
An intellectual tour de force but without compassionate kindness and leaving out much of the 8 fold path. Think of a university researcher who has found a great molecule that has some relationship to some disease. Further testing, however, may reveal no curative power. I find myself more in the Rick Hanson camp- spirituality without some morality is meaningless/curative of suffering.
The point is the set of thoughts of compassion/curation of suffering arises naturally with a still mind. If you’re dwelling on your efforts to become a compassionate person, your thoughts are blocking your direct experience with the present moment and as such are preventing these feelings from arising naturally, as they always do when the mind is still and unafflicted.
Even if one concedes “the point” (which was not made by this speaker) one needs to look at is the mind truly still and unafflicted. And how would such a mind evidence itself?. How would such a mind finding itself in oneness with all life act. Right speech is certainly something that comes to mind as a means to avoid suffering, There is a self enforcing loop in loving kindness which can be found in brain scans and perhaps in the comment section of a mindfulness summit. This speaker offered useful insights but in an unskillful way.
I watched the hour presentation but found it very challenging to understand.
Great talk by Sam Harris. I’m a big supporter of the idea that spirituality does and should exist outside sectarian ideologies. I hope there are similar talks in the coming few weeks of the summit.
Actually I make it NOT to think when I focus on it…not for too long, but I make it. So that is my clear proof that it is possible.
I listened to about a half hour of his presentation. He is entitled to his perspective and thoughts but they seemed very different from what I was expecting…and that is on me. I find it difficult to have someone be so disrespectful of others’ belief systems. Yes, many wars and misdeeds have been waged by the good people of religion but also many good deals have been done by groups and individuals on the basis of their belief systems.
I’m ok with cognitive dissonance but had other more uplifting things to do with my time today. Thanks for presenting. I’m looking forward to having Melli back.
Good to hear a different side of the same coin. I consider myself spiritual and tend to believe in a Buddhist philosophy, but I also believe it is important to be open minded. I think that is the essence of what Sam is talking about. I love the science-based talks that are a large part of this summit. We need a lot of different viewpoints to get at the heart of an issue. I hope those that turned this talk off–mentally or physically–can return to his book or other materials and give his ideas a chance. We all deserve a seat at the table. : )
Couldn’t agree more Susan! Thank you for your balanced viewpoint.
Sorry but I had to turn this off!
I have loved everything so far, even though my Faith in God, means I do not agree with everything which has been said in this summit, it has been my choice to hear, decide, and move on. I am accepting of everyones views, free will.
This guy is just arrogant, rude and ignorant of anyone with any Faith, not just mine.
Mindfulness is about Love, Peace, Calm, Acceptance of ourselves and others. This guy just goes against everything I have heard on this summit so far.
Such a great talk! Favorite so far. Thank you so much. Can’t wait to check out his book. Thanks again
I love this! What a variety of presentations! I want to thank everyone involved in this project! I have my pass and look forward to using all of the wonderful resources presented. I look forward to logging on every morning! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Interesting talk. I look forward to reading and hearing more of what SH has to say. Reflecting on his suggestions, I felt sure that my mother (a devout Christian) would have shut down mentally about 15 minutes into the talk as I see others have. I hope that faithful participants are able to reserve judgment and get what good there is to get out of SH, his talk, investigations, and level of introspection. I do agree that a more compassionate approach considering the forum would have resulted in a better reception.
To me he is a brilliant blinkered atheist who comes across as arrogant, I felt angry listening to his talk, he shows no humility or compassion, I gave up after 15 mins, and clips on you tube are even worse. I can’t imagine Meli interviewing him. All the other talks/interviews were great.
Interesting to see things to a different perspective. Thank you
Thank you for including Sam Harris in this Summit!!!!
His negativity was a big disappointment. He tried to prove a point by being critical of others. He sounded like a politician attacking others without presenting his vision. He also was biased attacking all religions except Judaism.
Mindfulness is inclusive, I was going to cut him off after 15 minutes but I kept listening to learn something but he did not made me feel at peace on the contrary, he made me upset for being so negative. I do not want his energy near me.
I didn’t feel the intent here was to be either inspirational or disparaging, nor did it really dis religion or support one particular view. I think this is meant more to point out that a belief of any kind followed blindly or taken to the extreme is totally opposite its own purpose. For instance if our belief is that we are spiritual, and the same beliefs have led us to be intolerant of someone elses belief, than how spiritual are we actually?
I also had a difficult time listening to this. It felt to me a little like all the thoughts running through his head were just spoken out loud. I did finish listening but have to admit that I took very little away from it, except maybe that though Mindfulness is a very attractive concept for me, I’m certain that I don’t ever want to crawl quite as far inside my own head as Mr. Harris seems to have done.
I feel like giving a counterpoint to many of the frustrated by Harris’ talk. I appreciated it quite a bit. As an atheist, I find much of the quasi-spiritual talk of some of the previous talks to be frustrating for me for reasons Harris to some extent points out: there’s no necessary link between believing in claims with poor evidence, using fuzzy thinking, and growing oneself using mindfulness or Buddhist principles, yet that seems to be the default view of many who are attracted to this movement.
Yet I’ve sat through the talks with aspects that frustrate me, and use mindfulness to explore what’s coming up and why. I find it interesting that others who are frustrated by this talk don’t seem to put the skills their learning into practice for this talk as well, but instead feel compelled to flinch away and miss out on Harris’ clear exposition of anatta. It’s unfortunate.
If you wish to get to the meat, it starts at around 25:00 and is quite informative and low on “insults”.
I have never seen Chopra, the Pope, the Dalai Lama… to name a few, to put up pictures of Sam Harris to prove their point.
Sam needs to put down other people to prove what?
I think, but am not absolutely sure that J. Krishnamurti taught many similar things but without the current technological ideas to compare things to. I wonder if Dan Harris has read his work or knows of it. Would be interested in a delineation of the differences in his thought and J. Krishnamurti.
I remember his first Mindfulness session, which surprised him. Is he now making it is business? A lot of memes and suggestions to influence our thinking and beliefs. Laughs at the mayan calendar? He has not even bothered to research the real explanations of that calendar, just takes a ride on the hype of the world ending. The real Mayan calendar never ends but always recommences. In a real researched , plenty on YouTube, humanity is up for an upgrade in human societies. It shows how we travelled phase by phase throughout our known history. Mindfully listening i do not take kindly to all his memes. What humanity does not need is new fashionable beliefs one has to adopt and adapt to to fit in with one’s peers. I have seen enough of the consequences when Ayaan Hirsi Ali poisoned the minds of dutch people against islam and the intellectuals to all side with her point of view, becoming increasingly more intolerant. Once one of the cherished characteristics of dutch national identity. Its tolerance. Alreay existing of 85 % of the worldgene pool some decades ago, we were worldcitizens. Now we have become intolerant bigots, where after Pim Fortuyn and with Geert Wilders everone speaks their minds no matter how insulting to fellow citizens or other worldcitizens of our shared planet. Sam Harris states that all sacred texts are false. And although i agree that much of the bible is frauded, we cannot be sure that none of it is true. For it is said to be based on much older sacred texts. In Buddhism there are those who do not believe in God or Gods. And some branches of Buddhism which do. Who really takes the trouble to research the Dalai Llama on YouTube finds that he is in communion with nonembodied spirits, consulting his oracle and that his branch of buddhism knows of many spirits, where even the evil ones have their place. Buddhism in the west is just another commercialised soup palatable for western minds, without any religious or sacred depth.
Almost stopped listening about 15 minutes in. Glad I stuck around and had an open mind to his remarks. I gleaned invaluable information regarding the way we view ourselves and what the practice of mindfulness ultimately does…which is overcoming our negative and self preservationistic thought processes that we thought were right all along. I didn’t agree with the seemed religion bashing and him laughing about yogis and their postures…etc. Personally religion was part of my journey (isn’t now, but still open minded) and to me yoga is a manifestation of meditation in the flesh…as my mind overcomes barriers so does my body. Interesting to me how they work in concert. My thoughts …have an open mind and glean the bits I do agree with.