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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This is an important voice to listen to. Non-religous people need spirituality, their hearts long for it. But need a suitable context to work within. Religions make this impossible for many of us. Sam lays down both the conceptual framework as well as the tools for having the corresponding experiences. I think we owe him a debt of gratitude for creating new spaces for spirituality to manifest.
I absolutely agree. Couldn’t have said it any clearer than you did. Those of us who aren’t religious. And abhor dogma do need to express our spirituality in a secular way.
Are religions at fault or is it those who interpret scripture? Dogmatic people may choose a dogmatic belief system. Do we really think there would be no more wars if religion was eliminated? Maybe religion is an excuse to have the war we would have if there was no religion. If one is truly mindful they would look deeper than religion to the root of human behavior and heal that.
Agree… I too saw great value in this lecture and I’m grateful to Mrs. Mindfulness for creating the space for it.
I only knew Sam from his appearances on HBO’s Bill Maher show. Watching Sam today for 2 hours I was impressed by his ideas and points of view, and his ability to say I just don’t know. There are some aspects of consciousness that are a mystery he states. Religion is not for me but is important for some people, that’s fine. I am not a atheist but don’t mind if others are. Its good to laugh; watch Bill Maher (especially if Sam is going to be on) to have a good laugh about religion and politics. Also discussed during Bill’s show: what people do to one another in the name of religion, which of course is not that funny at all. I have been helped by meditation and mindfulness, I like the way Sam presented his ideas about it all.
I am not familiar with Sam Harris but feel he has a right to his opinion. I call myself religious but don’t feel offended. I was raised Catholic, raised my children Jewish and now study Buddhism and love learning about theology and all other religions. I am respectful of all and know we all have similarities just as differences. I want to study the similarities to bring people together and not the differences that divide us. I have learned through meditation and mindfulness that non-judgment is a crucial part and if we shut off the video we may miss some piece of wisdom? I wish to use my free will to try to learn from all experiences and while I don’t think you should think like me, I think you should. (ha,ha) Whether agreeing or disagreeing, using this as an opportunity to practice your mindfulness, being with what is and his remarks whether you agree or not. Skepticism brings some of the best wisdom and I question? How can turning off the video help you learn about the opposite of what you believe? I respect Sam’s opinion of throwing out religion since he cannot wrap his head around the belief and truthfulness of the books. However, I believe that the Bible, Torah, Koran and Dharma teachings, all religions and experiences make up the WHOLE. They all (sorry if I left out many other religious institutions) have a huge place in our history or the universe to teach us how NOT to be against each other.
I understand his aversion to these teachings since they are so old, however, I also have to realize they are history that has helped to shape this world through (thought or experience) giving us more wisdom to hopefully get it right sooner or later. Too bad we are creatures of habit and repeat the same mistakes over and over. Lets look at similarities of our own physical self / or the non-self and see if we can forget about the differences which one must agree, is what really cause the divide. I understand if someone feels they cannot listen to another person’s opinion because they don’t agree, But….Where is their respect and tolerance, or do I dare say compassion? Everyone has a right to their own opinion so why aren’t they speaking? I applaud anyone who has the courage to speak their truth.
I researched all the speakers so far and although the claim is that religion plays no part, it seems that all have jewish backgrounds, if Google is not mistaken that is.
Seems strange and disproportionate to me. And although i love some of the speakers, i do not like this bias, so i mindfully retreat from this summit.
I guess that makes you “anti-summitic”. Yuk Yuk.
Thank you, Brad, for your gentle humor. It actually helped to not rush to judgement.
Mindfulness – even if secular -has its roots in Buddhism, and a lot of the American Buddhist teachers, in the tradition that has Mindfulness as one of its foundation happen to be Jewish.
Just yesterday I read this article , :
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/193989/the-roots-of-mindfulness
Thanks for the link!!
Shamash Alidina is Jewish? Cool!
I loved Sam Harris and this lecture. I recognize how learned he is and how he willingly shares his knowledge with us. I understood his words and his style of speaking suits my brain and how it likes to organize and learn new information. My son is incredibly intelligent, and this talk by Sam Harris is one that he might well listen to.
I agree with you, Paulina!
I was raised in the church and firmly believe that religion and meditation can coexist and are mutually supporting. So I found some of the tone of his talk to be offensive. Nevertheless he did have some interesting points. And what I found to be rather amazing is it at the end he to confessed in the existence of a higher being. That seem to be somewhat contradictory to his entire premise. In my mind different religions grow out of different cultural experiences and that does not make one any better than another. It is sad that sometimes different religions can’t seem to coexist, but they do provide color and perspective to existence.
“I’m an agnostic who respects all crazy things.” In my humble opinion, if you truly respect something, you do not call it “crazy.” Quite arrogant!
Dear Sam Harris, thank you for a great subject for my next mindfulness practise – your talk. I do not appreciate your arrogant way of presenting your point but I try to approach it and my rising opposition to it with curiosity.
Who’s with me?
I totally hear you. I like some of what he says but it is the WAY he says things. His arrogance. It always seems to be the folks with the most privilege in society that seem to feel they have the greatest right to speak and be heard.
I am! I down-loaded his two meditations first and found them incredibly helpful to my practice, but then I sat down to listen to his talk. Sigh! Why the need to bash other people’s faith perspectives? And how is this going to bring us into union Disrespect NEVER brings unity. I am a Christian, and although I don’t necessarily resonate with all the dogma, behavior etc of all of my self-declared ‘clan’, I do not see how distancing myself from that particular aspect of our shared humanity gets me any closer to truth.
I am with you Outi. I turned him off . I have had too many wonderful spiritual experiences where God showed me His love and provision and care to listen to an aethist.
I like this “theory of mind” as Sam Harris proposes. Particularly the way Mr. Harris points out how our individual innate ability to use our daily experiences as a resource to be aware and to focus directly is a useful pragmatic way of observing the self. I also found that his debunking of dogma, group identification to history or shared place, as well as, the spa-like experiences of spirituality are all ways that we superimpose or construct false spiritual meaning to our lives. In this way he releases us from fixed historical notions of spirituality. In our western culture we still have a tendency to grasp at mystification and out-of-mind realms of experiences as a way of feeling we have some valid spiritual experience. So his closing comment about ” a reverence for the ordinary can lead to extraordinary awareness” is most gratifying. Most refreshing.
Yup. Mindfulness is about reverance for the ordinary, and then detachment from all need for reverance. We don’t need hallucinogenics, altered states of consciousness or a wish to attain some form of enlightenment. Enlightenment is possible in every split second, this second, the next, and the next and so on. It’s not some state reserved for a select few.
I hope that everyone notices that virtually all the negative and dismissive comments here are from folks who did not listen to Sam’s talk.
I would recommend that those individuals try and temper their chattering, judgmental and intolerant thoughts, and — well — try and be more mindful.
Keep in mind that Sam is a neuroscientist and a philosopher, and not someone who is presenting himself as a guru or selling some mindful path to human happiness. IMO, he is just the smartest guy in the room, most of the time.
Also, if you didn’t stay for the long Q&A sessions, you really missed some great questions from some very smart people.
I get what your saying. I just don’t get so attached to, or revere someone just for intelligence.
It didn’t feel to me as though the talk had much content when it came down to it. It might have been better off presented in TED format.
As a spiritual Christian I began the mindfulness summit journey, not suspecting it embraced an anti-religion agenda. At least that’s what the start of the talk appeared to be. Rick Warren does not deserve to be ridiculed. Who is this Sam Harris that he feels he has the right to pontificate on what is right and wrong as if he had some sort of superior authority? How is he defining “right” when he asserts not all religions can be “right”? What criteria is he using to assert that on balance religion is bad and, while we are at it, how is he defining religion in the first place? He’s also quite depressing and I can’t really see how his talk links in to mindfulness. Most disappointing summit today.
So you disagree with his opinion and therefor, his view in mindfulness in general and place in this summit are, to you, invalid?
Hi Karen,
Sam means well, but he inevitably ends up upsetting a lot of people. I agree that Rick Warren seems to be made into an enemy, where singling out individuals is unnecessary. I just want to speak a little bit to your well-articulated qualms with Sam’s arguments.
When he says ‘not all religions are right,’ he means that religious scriptures (the Bible, Quran, Talmud, Sutras, etc.) make distinct claims about ‘ the way things are,’ all of which can’t be true. Case in point: the Bible says ‘Jesus is the Son of God,’ and the Quran says, ‘Jesus is just another prophet.’ These are not compatible claims; thus, ‘not all religions can be right.’
When he says that ‘religion is bad,’ he means that we can get the “benefits” of religion without believing in things that are false (from his POV, and often from the perspective of modern science and philosophy as well). For example, he would like to take insights from Buddhism like ‘there is no discrete entity called a self,’ and get rid of the sanctification of Buddhist deities. And, I would add, that in a way this summit is very much about that: mindfulness has its roots in Buddhism, but we’re not talking about Buddhist scriptures, deities and stories. We’ve “secularized” Buddhism.
The best I can answer, “what is religion?”, for Sam, is . . . religion = spiritual practice + scripture-based beliefs
Thus, for him, spirituality = spiritual practice + less beliefs
I can see how he can come off as depressing. However, he does present mindfulness in a way that, from what I have seen, is totally unique. The precision of language, presentation of scientific evidence and analogy that has to do with ‘seeing through the self,’ comes very much from his own practice, experience and philosophical-scientific background. There is something to appreciate in this!
If I had to critique his ideas, I think he is missing a big part of spirituality by omitting the trust and love aspects.
Namaste,
Paul
It’s interesting to read the comments and reactions this particular talk has provoked, and reading some of the comments beforehand actually helped me listen to it with a more curious and non-judgemental mind.
I personally found it interesting and picked up some good bits of information (and if there’s anything i’m not sure about or feel that he may have his own opinion invested, then I can look into it more for myself).
I also feel that despite anyone’s opinions on the speaker and his behaviour, if we are truly cultivating loving kindness, it shouldn’t have bearing on the way we act towards him (or ourselves). Just because one feels that he has no compassion, does not mean that we shouldn’t show him compassion; after all, I cannot say that I know what his journey entails and what struggles he may be going through which cause him to act the way he does.
I have also found that some of the most difficult people I have met (and continue to meet) aid me hugely in my development, and sometimes, theirs too. If he really got under your skin, isn’t that a great opportunity to take a Mindful look and see what’s going on inside yourself and why?
Thank you Melli for this talk, all the others so far and to everyone participating to make this a great learning experience – i’m thoroughly enjoying the Summit.
Agree!
I totally agree with you. We are cultivating kindness, compassion and inconditional love. Therefore, we need to be emphatic, and be walking to equanimity…. hope everyone here keep learning from everyone in this summit, and act with compassion. Hugs to everyone!!
I agree. Your observation is truly on point. It’s often said that those who are not compassionate are most in need of our compassion. Those who seem unlovable are in need of our love. It’s so easy to offer compassion and love and forgiveness to those who agree with our opinions, offer apologizes and show us love…but our true test is to offer these same things to those who “try” us and appear “undeserving”. After all, we are all one. We are all made of the same substances. And often, those that push our buttons are really just holding up a mirror to our own insecurities, fears, and hypocrisies. Sometimes, it’s the most difficult lessons to hear that teach us the most about ourselves. Om Namah Shivaya.
Yup!! Compassion is the key. Sam Harris is a human being like all the rest of us. We all have our things we need to work on and are therefore in the same boat. I have never said I dislike Harris, only that I prefer less arrogant speakers and delivery.
Great comments!
For those who did listen to the lecture today, I have a question. Is he saying that once we recognize there is someone in my mind, thinking my thoughts, the next step is to recognize the illusion that there is no thinker?
So, like a two-fold process. First level of consciousness is, someone is in there, thinking this stream of thoughts, and I am that thinker. And then after this realization, the next level of consciousness is to detach from identifying with that thinker as the self. Resulting in an absence of self.
Which would then imply, with no sense of self that… We are all one. We are nothing and everything all at once. What happens to me happens to you. My success is the world’s success, my suffering is the world’s suffering. And vice versa. The world’s suffering is mine. And from there, perhaps, we can begin to heal the world. (Well, there’s my present moment turning into a stream of thoughts, hahaha.)
Melli,
Just listened to a small part of this as I do not agree with his opinion on religion. As someone who is Jewish my religion is important to me, and to minimize religion is not fair. By the same token I would not comment on his not wanting religion.
My least favorite speaker thus far.
All points were stated already …
Could not connect to him…
For whatever reason.
Will listen again to see if something changes….the second time.
I thought this talk was incredibly important (well done to the organisers of the summit for including Sam Harris), although a fair bit of the detail was way above my intellect – so I will watch it again in the hope that I can grasp. more! Here’s my take on it – look, for centuries and centuries religion has all but dominated our planet. Certainly for the best part of my life I have had to live in this world and take whatever your religions have thrown at me ( and to deny the horror at the hands of some religious followers throughout history frankly would be ridiculous) . Here today we have ONE man sharing his views over a period of two hours ….. and reading through some of the angry comments from insulted people here, I’m almost rendered speechless. Can you see the irony?!
Yes. Indeed.
Thank you. I tend to see the goodness in most religions and feel that a variety of choice is needed for different cultures and different people. I have studied multiple religions deeply, but with that said, find mixing and matching religions becomes a spiritual trap. I have also practiced as an MD and studied science most of my 66 years but strongly reject scientism knowing that the more answers we get in science the more often some or all of us have been wrong and the more questions that further arise. What relationship to religion have the relatively new findings that neutrinos have a low but significant weight and exist in a greater mix of their 3 flavours? Absolutely none is the answer which is true for most scientific findings. Faith is necessary to most religions and I would no more negate faith in religions than faith in science.
I was a little surprised to see Sam Harris among the list of presenters for this summit – anyone familiar with his body of work in neuroscience and philosophy, and knows his passionate support of secularism could predict some of the negative responses here to his point of view. But he represents the viewpoint of many. I didn’t see his talk as condescending at all. The listener must take some responsibility for their reactions to his talk. Shouldn’t one of the lessons of this summit be to listen to people with whom we may not agree?
I think it is a good thing for people that doesn’t have faith in a religion (either one) to know that spirituality is accessible to them, without interfering with their other beliefs (for example, science).
I am therefore not convinced by the way Mr. Harris rejectcs religion altogether. If I learned something from this summit, is that different kinds of spirituality can be good for different kinds of people; you can’t say that one way of praticing spitituality is bad, unless it isn’t done toward kindness. I think it is a little reductionnist to say that this can’t be acheived through religion. Of course, not every follower of the great religions practice in toward kindness (wich is sad), but I think a good deal of them are.
In the optic that it is a good thing the more people meditating is the better, I don’t think we should condemn religious spirituality; instead, let’s make religious people question themselves: “Is my practice of this belief kind, warm and open toward others?”
Wow I can’t agree more with you Marie Rudzinsky, I couldn’t have put it better. Thank you.
Even though I’m not religious, I’m agnostic yet spiritual!! But I respect religious people because as they pray it’s like meditation. Whether it’s the hymns, reciting koran, Torah or Darma talks, it’s a form of meditation, of calming and checking in. There’s no single way and it’s all about love, acceptance and respect of others and their beliefs even if they don’t match ours.
Thank you for an amazing summit that raises all these opinions and makes us think and feel awakened.
I can understand how if you have just started practicing mindfulness, this presentation, and the concept of a non-Self can sound a bit overwhelming. Nonetheless, it is an important aspect of Buddhism that is discussed here, and in fact is what most previous speakers have also touched on, albeit in a more respectful manner.. The thing is, after practicing meditation for a while and gaining more clarity, sooner of later you might start asking yourself the question the question; ‘ok I am witnessing my thoughts and feelings, but WHO is actually doing this witnessing.’? This is where the concept of a non-Self comes in. Personally it wasn’t until a few years after starting meditation that I was ready for these teachings, and it really resonated with me as I am non religious. However, it shouldn’t have to matter at all whether you’re an atheist of not, as was matters most is an understanding and recognition of something inside you that is so much more than just your thoughts and emotions. Something that is always at peace and non judgementful. And whether this is pure awareness as what Sam Harris points to, or your eternal soul, this doesn’t matter.. It’s about the practice, and discovering your own truth. So if you’re Christian and really didn’t like this talk, try to replace the word ‘awareness’ that Sam Harris uses, with the word ‘soul.’ Let that be your witness during meditation, and discover how this is your true nature, rather than your thought or feelings. The way mindfulness has been introduced in the west is to make it approachable for everyone, despite your culture or religious background.
Enjoyed this session, would like to listen again as so much information to take in. I have often said in the past , ” I think therefore I am”. Does that make sense ?I have found this summit to be very interesting, thanks to all concerned for making it available to everyone.
Wow! I did not connect with him at all. I did listen and tried to remain open … yet found it challenging all the way through – from his starting assumption statements (seemed filled with judgement and disdain – like a Chiropractor cannot be informed about quantum physics … ) and his tone/remarks just don’t click with me. I know there is a lesson in that too, so will process that for a bit. I felt like this was so far out of the flow of the rest of the speakers that I am a bit surprised that this is in the mix.
I was disponited with speaker Sam Harris. I found him offensive, arrogant and judgemental. Love the Summit with the exception of this speaker.
A disappointing addition to the line up. Not sure of the relevance and suspect a number will have second thoughts about sticking with this MINDFULNESS summit.
As a psychotherapist, I was a bit put off by Sam’s disparaging remarks regarding The Secret and What The Bleep Do We Know. Yes, I had some issues with The Secret but I have also seen how it changed a lot of people’s lives. The main message of the book is about putting positivity out into the world. What’s wrong with that? Even though I saw What The Bleep Do We Know decades ago, I found it to be an incredible movie. Sam only mentioned a chiropractor who was interviewed which I found to be very judge mental on his part. There were physicists, doctors, psychologists and many professionals interviewed. The basic message of the movie is; the brain gets addicted to certain ways of thinking and reacting and that perception is reality. Both important lessons.
Up until now, I was enjoying and learning a lot. This speaker, with all respect he deserves, was for me not useful. His attitude was arrogant and at the edge of insulting other people’s believes and ways of life. I am a religious person, and, although I do not share some points of vieuw, I respect differences of opinions and the persons who have them. Making fun and projecting images of people, which convey to ridiculizing and misunderstandings is as bad as what he claims religions do to mankind. Mindfulness, meditation, awareness go hand in hand with religion. You just have to read the mistics of any religion on earth at any era. You just have to listen to any spiritual (not religious) teacher and notice that they have profound respect to other ways of explaining the unexplicable. But sure, I am still looking forward for the other guests participating in this summit.
We are very lucky to live in a time when such wise and informed teachings are freely avaialble online – thanks to Mellie & Co. for hosting this wonderful event.
Intelligence is never permission to be a mean person. That is the gist of it for me. Yes he’s intelligent, yes he makes a lot of great points. I’ve watched many of his talks and interviews over the years and read his books. For me, intelligence (superior intelligence implying he is a superiour being), does not permit arrogance. There are plenty of intelligent people who are not as arrogant and are rather humble. That is the bottom line for me. Mindfulness challenges people to be kinder, more compassionate people. Compassion is a cornerstone of mindfulness.
I am very familiar with Sam Harris’ work and I am not religious, so this lecture was not at all upsetting to me. He didn’t offend me with his ability to be articulate and rational. Nor with his personal experiences of meditation or professional experiences of neuroscience (and, for that matter, world religions). To be offended by this is to get a bit of how it feels to be a secular humanist or atheist in an world of “amens,” “namastes,” “blessed bes,” religious holidays, conversations about the soul or heaven, and offers of prayer… All of that is everywhere, and I am used to it, but it is refreshing to consider the self, mindfulness, meditation, the mind, and life itself from a perspective of considered -and, if you gave him a chance, compassionate- reason.
Semantics … so much of life comes down to semantics! It both binds us together and tears us apart … all for the “meaning” of it to each of us! I’ve come to learn that some of what caused me “gristle” with his presentation was semantics.
While I found this lecture challenging and can appreciate some of the negative reactions of other commenters, I found it equally if not more disturbing that these “religious” folks would not even listen to the full lecture. I see the unwillingness to even listen to others’ viewpoints, regardless of how repugnant we find them, one of the most crushing problems we face as human beings. If we can’t listen to one another we have nothing.
I agree 100%. An arguement for arrogant self righteousness.
I agree with Ashleys comment and also stopped watching a few minutes in.. As a Christian by choice who sees the benefit of mindful meditation as well, and doesn’t see these two practices in conflict, I was disappointed this speaker was included in this summit. I tried to watch with an open mind but was offended.
I really appreciate how the speakers in this summit represent such a diversity of perspectives on mindfulness. Some speakers echo my own perspectives well, others not so much, but all are valuable.
I personally really enjoyed Sam’s extremely pragmatic, evidence and experienced based focus. His perspective is very similar to my own. To my ear, he has simply decoupled the practice of present moment awareness from metaphysical explanations, and I have no problem with that
However, the trade off between wise speech and intellectual transparency is especially highlighted here, as well as in the comments and reactions of others. For me this is a good reminder of the importance of kindness and compassion in communication. As soon as people feel threatened by fear/resentment/anger, the message is lost.
Susan, I appreciate your view point as well and also appreciate Sam Harris’ right to his opinion but it was my God given choice not to watch the whole thing and feel confident in that decision.
Not my favorite so far…to say the least
As an atheist with a keen interest in science and how one can still be “spiritual” without religion, I am very much looking forward to this 2 hour treat, Thanks team !! 🙂
I did go back and listen to most of it, I found some of it interesting especially the bit about thinking, but I find that the atheist science based thinking is lacking in a dimension that I need. I don’t practice but I was raised a catholic and though I rebelled against it I believe that having a religious background can add an extra dimension to life.
I can’t get back in to video to finish watching. Have been trying for 15 minutes 1:15 – 1:30 California PDT.
Finally. 1/2 hour of trying, video is streaming.
I’m amazed at all the negative “but respectful” remarks made in the comments about this video… People “disappointed” in he summit and this presenter, people offended by his arrogance, people that disagree and refused to listen to the rest of it… Maybe we should think about our reaction to this man’s lecture, maybe we should be more open to listen, to be aware of other ways of thinking and perhaps be willing to learn a thing or two. Is the summit “disappointing” because one of the speaker is someone you disagree with? why did you expect the summit to only include people who share your views? were people looking for validation of their views or to actually know what else is there to learn, to grow? … Maybe this speaker wasn’t as kind as we thought he “should” have been, but that doesn’t mean we have to be un-kind and definitely doesn’t mean we have to stop listening to what he has to say. I’m not disappointed in anyone’s comment because I didn’t expect* any particular reaction to begin with. I’m in no way a mindfulness expert but this is my heartfelt opinion.
Well said!
Totally agree!!
Well said Graciela! I can’t understand why a viewpoint that denies the existence of a supreme being is any more arrogant than one that claims its existence. Only of course if it is because it is a diffent viewpoint than your own?
It has to do with his delivery not, I repeat again, NOT his beliefs.
I listended to the whole thing, liked some things and disliked others. It is peoples’ right to listen or NOT listen. People who agree with him entirely have no right to look down on or not have an opinion about what they DID. It isn’t for anyone on this comments section to tell others what their path should be, that is a personal decision. Just because I find his style arrogant doesn’t mean others can’t like him and that their view of him as not arrogant is just as valid. Be careful about seeing yourself as above other people on this board.
I really tried to watch this but I could not get past the tone of the speaker. I will defend the right of anyone to hold whatever view they want – even if I do not agree with them – however, I do not think that belittling someone’s faith, whatever that might be, is a good way to get me to listen .
He did seem to belittle any religious beliefs, and I found that off putting. Still, I listened to most of the talk and found a few insights… Including the insight of why I found him difficult to listen to. I wonder if mindfulness can help with that. .
It’s brave of the organizers of the summit to include provocative stuff along with more standard fare, I found Sam Harris to be very clear in his presentation of complex ideas. I especially appreciated the Q&A part. Thanks.
I just read through all of the comments and I would like to offer a suggestion. As I said before I was raised in the church and was quite offended by Sam’s arrogance. I was about at the point to invest in the past for this summit but now I’m questioning that idea it would have perhaps been good for Melly to give a preface to his speech because now I don’t really know what the purpose was of adding his speech to the 30 others and what the actual viewpoint of the mindfulness summit is
Surprised to see the negative reactions to Sam’s talk, I was fascinated by it though would need to listen again as there was a lot to take in. I think it’s been great having diverse speakers!
I loved Sam’s closing message of ‘it is reverence of the ordinary that leads to extra-ordinary experiences.. just need to pay attention’ . There was a lot of information and a lot of it above my level of understanding but I think a lot of what he says made sense once you look beyond his comments on religion.. to which is entitled. Will definitely watch again as I am sure there is more to learn/understand… thank you, I really enjoyed it.
A very interesting session. It is always a challenge when listening to someone else’s view on life and perceptions, especially when they are so different to ourselves. It becomes a challenge in patience, compassion, understanding and “mindfulness” to give them the same time and allowances that we would for ourselves and others.
I found that Sam Harris had an interesting view, and when understanding and respecting that those are his beliefs, the information provided was intriguing and thought provoking. With respect I have a differing views but can be open to what he has said, and in doing so can allow the information that can be taken on board to have a challenging respect to what I perceive, reinforcing or challenging what I think and/or believe. In effect, taking on board the information I felt had relevance for me.
Thank you for a thought provoking session today, looking forward to tomorrow
Thank you for another great presentation. I have enjoyed every speaker so far. I like how they are different.
I’m surprised how many negative comments are here about Sam Harris. I didn’t find him arrogant or offensive, as some viewers suggest; I thought he is very smart and in Q&A he was also very funny.
I think all of us participating in this Summit are trying to be mindful but as a group we have long ways to go. Still so much judgment out there, we should let go.
Thank you Melli and Matt for all your work! I do hope that mindfulness will one day go mainstream!
I enjoyed this talk so much. I’m glad I didn’t listen to the negative reviews. Thank you Sam Harris!
“A reverence for the ordinary.” Or as they say in Zen, “Spiritual insight, supernatural truth: cutting wood, hauling water.
Really enjoyed Sam’s talk….great addition to the summit.
This was the best talk so far for me. Thx Melli for putting it up.