DeepSummary
In this episode, Andrew Huberman talks with Sam Harris about meditation and its deeper implications for understanding consciousness and the nature of the self. Harris explains that meditation is not just about changing conscious experiences, but about recognizing the illusory nature of the self as a separate observer. He describes meditation as a way to transcend the duality of subject and object and realize there is no center to experience, leading to greater freedom and peace.
Harris discusses the developmental and evolutionary roots of our sense of self, and how this sense of being a thinker or observer is bound up in thoughts and identification with them. Proper meditation, he argues, allows one to see that thoughts simply arise, and there is no author behind them - an insight that challenges the notion of free will but doesn't negate the reality of voluntary action.
The conversation also covers psychedelics like MDMA and psilocybin, which Harris views as initial gateways that revealed the depth of inner experience possible through practices like meditation. He stresses that while peak psychedelic experiences can be profound, the goal is to cultivate the wisdom they impart into ordinary consciousness through rigorous meditation training over months or years.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Meditation properly practiced is about realizing the illusory nature of the self or sense of being an observer separate from experience, leading to transcendence of this duality.
- The sense of self is rooted in developmental and evolutionary factors that give rise to the feeling of being a thinker or center of awareness, though this is ultimately an illusion.
- Thoughts arise spontaneously and the notion of free will as an author of thoughts is called into question through the insights of meditation, though voluntary action remains possible.
- While psychedelic experiences can provide glimpses into expansive states of consciousness, the aim of committed meditation is to stabilize those insights into everyday life.
- Meditation reveals the recognition that there is no separate self who is an observer, only consciousness and its changing contents - a realization that brings tranquility and freedom.
- The practice involves becoming aware of being "lost in thought" versus being mindfully present, eventually transcending the sense of being the one practicing meditation.
- Different forms of meditation gradually lead to the non-dual insight of selflessness through systematic training over long periods like multi-year retreats.
- Practices range from dualistic mindfulness of anchoring on the breath to open awareness encompassing all phenomena as equally inseparable from consciousness itself.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “The real insight into selflessness, this insight into the non duality of subject and object, is as close to ordinary consciousness as this insight into the optic blind spot.“ by Sam Harris
- “Whatever is extractable from the occasional psychedelic trip has got to be mappable into ordinary awakened consciousness. And the real point of contact does kind of run through this, what I've been calling the illusion of the self.“ by Sam Harris
- “One is most people tend to have, certainly under any kind of guidance, tend to have a very positive pro social experience. But with a psychedelic, you might have a somewhat terrifying experience if you have, quote, a bad trip.“ by Sam Harris
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Episode Information
Huberman Lab
Scicomm Media
1/2/23