Sam Harris (@SamHarrisOrg) received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D in neuroscience from UCLA. Sam is the host of the Waking Up podcast, and he is the author of multiple books including The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, Waking Up, and Islam and the Future of Tolerance (with Maajid Nawaz).
This experimental episode came about because a few months back Sam asked me to be a beta tester for his Waking Up meditation app that he was creating at the time. It was recently released, and I highly recommend it. I anticipated it would be good because Sam’s work is always good, and he’s one of those rare humans who seems to think and speak in finished prose, and he has a voice that can very easily lull you into a semi-psychedelic state while you are completely sober. You’ll hear what I mean soon.
Sam has a unique combination of experiences and areas of expertise, and his approach is that of a logical progression of layering on different types of training for learning the skill of meditation. In this episode, Sam will discuss his experiences with MDMA, his spiritual exploration, contact with so-called gurus, duality versus non-duality, and lots more. If you want to dive right into a beginner level guided meditation, skip to [52:32].
Make sure to check out the bonus episode (also found on this page) if you enjoy what you find here and want to jump straight to the guided meditations. The bonus episode also features additional content from Sam not found in the longer episode. Enjoy!
Intro [00:00]
What you can expect from this episode (and why you probably shouldn’t listen to it while you’re driving a car) [07:21]
The Waking Up course app differs from other meditation apps. [08:39]
Sam’s background and his journey after a psychedelic experience [09:22]
Sam's views on religion and the “spiritual” [19:46]
Gradual vs. sudden notions of realization or awakening, enlightenment vs. cessation, and the distinction between meditation and psychedelics as tools [22:09]
Why Sam changed his mind about meditation after lengthy attempts for enlightenment proved unsuccessful [31:05]
The dangers of guru Poonjaji’s “all or nothing” approach, the main difference between Advaita and Dzogchen teachings, and what it took to unravel one fellow student’s apparently confirmed enlightenment [37:12]
Exploring Dzogchen and the context behind Sam’s current view of meditation [42:32]
Perceiving the optic blind spot: the difference between being utterly misled by false information, being nudged in the general direction, and being precisely guided by an expert [45:42]
One does not simply drop out of Stanford: Sam returns to college after 11 years away and finds himself uniquely qualified to unite his philosophical, scientific, and secular perspective with meditation [50:24]
Why Sam believes the Waking Up course app and its guided meditations will benefit beginning and veteran meditators alike [51:38]
Sam shares a 10-minute guided meditation from the course designed for a relative beginner to practice mindfulness [52:32]
Sam shares a lesson from the course on the topic of death. [1:03:24]
Sam shares a lesson on the mystery of being. [1:10:33]
A 12-minute guided meditation from a little later in the course [1:19:54]
Parting thoughts. [1:33:49]
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About Tim Ferriss:
Tim Ferriss is one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and an early-stage tech investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ other companies. He is also the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors. The Observer and other media have named him “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 200 million downloads and been selected for “Best of iTunes” three years running.
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