823 Mindfulness vs. Happiness with Sam Harris, Part 1

9 snips

Jul 15, 2019

Sam Harris, a New York Times best-selling author and meditation expert, dives into the origins of our unhappiness, emphasizing how much of our suffering stems from our thoughts. He shares transformative experiences with meditation and psychedelics, illuminating the connection between love and consciousness. Harris explores the tension between survival instincts and the pursuit of happiness, critiquing organized religion's influence on progress. Ultimately, he advocates for mindfulness as a powerful tool to reframe negative experiences and foster deeper connections.

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ANECDOTE

MDMA Experience

At 18, Sam Harris had a transformative experience with MDMA.
This experience revealed the possibility of unconditional love and shifted his perspective on consciousness.

INSIGHT

Self is an Illusion

The feeling of self is an illusion that can be overcome through practices like meditation.
Evolution has not designed us for happiness, but rather for survival and tribalism.

INSIGHT

Conversation vs. Religion

Human conversation is the most important tool for navigating the world.
Religion often hinders this by anchoring us to outdated beliefs.

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ALMOST ALL OF YOUR SUFFERING COMES FROM YOUR THOUGHTS. We all get stuck in the past. We worry about the future. We’re full of anxiety. It can consume us. And makes us ungrateful for what is happening now. In fact, you could say that the root of all our unhappiness is our thoughts. So how can we get more present? It’s not something that happens automatically. You have to practice every day. On today’s episode of The School of Greatness, I dive deep into the idea of eliminating suffering with an expert in meditation: Sam Harris. Sam Harris is a New York Times best-selling author, podcast host, and creator of the Waking Up Course. His books include 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). The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction. His writing and public lectures cover a wide range of topics—neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, meditation practice, human violence, rationality—but generally focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live. Sam explains how experiencing unconditional love got him interested in meditation and how he reframes the “bad things” that happen to him in life. So get ready to learn all about consciousness on Episode 823.
Some Questions I Ask:
When did you get into meditation? (6:00)
Had you ever felt unconditional love before taking MDMA? (10:30)
When did you start to focus on the desire to be happy? (15:50)
Why do so many people believe so firmly in religion? (19:30)
How do we unlock our consciousness? (32:40)
If you could control your thoughts, what would you want to think? (41:00)
In This Episode You Will Learn:
The goal of meditation (14:00)
The main tool we have is human conversation (18:00)
The only important thing in the universe (30:00)
How to reframe anxiety (35:00)
Why worry is pointless (45:30)
If you liked this episode, check out the video, show notes and more at http://www.lewishowes.com/823 and follow at instagram.com/lewishowes

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