Sam Harris - Peter's notes

Sam Harris made my favourite [meditation app](https://wakingup.com/). The app teaches meditation as part of a broader attempt to cultivate virtues like self-knowledge, curiosity, compassion and generosity. It’s more than an app: it’s one of the better secular attempts at promoting spirituality, ritual, wisdom. It’s a virtual megachurch, with an atheist priest [1]. On the character of meditation: > Most of us could easily compile a list of goals we want to achieve or personal problems that need to be solved. But what is the real significance of every item on such a list? Everything we want to accomplish—to paint the house, learn a new language, find a better job—is something that promises that, if done, it would allow us to finally relax and enjoy our lives in the present. Generally speaking, this is a false hope. I’m not denying the importance of achieving one’s goals, maintaining one’s health, or keeping one’s children clothed and fed—but most of us spend our time seeking happiness and security without acknowledging the underlying purpose of our search. Each of us is looking for a path back to the present: We are trying to find good enough reasons to be satisfied now. Acknowledging that this is the structure of the game we are playing allows us to play it differently. Along with [[Robert Wright]], Sam stoked my interest in meditation and in trying a silent retreat. Sam’s podcast is also good, for example his early interviews with Geoffrey West, David Deutsch, Paul Bloom, Tristan Harris, and Douglas Murray. Sam spends some of his time commenting on hot button issues like religion, genetics, freedom of speech, and contemporary politics. Some of his positions are controversial, and some are presumably wrong. Some people portray his views as “dangerous” or “beyond the pale”, and would like to eject him from public discourse. I have seen no justification for this, and I’m usually impressed by his willingness to discuss controversial topics in public, despite the predictable blowback. Sam is one of those figures that is worth engaging directly: if you’ve read about him in the Guardian, Vox or similar, there’s a good chance you’ve read a hit piece. Sam recently added a “moments” feature to his app, where he offers brief reflections, delivered by notification at a random time within a window you choose. For example: > Much of our thinking about ourselves and the world is either pointless or actively harmful. Because it is so often born of anxiety or envy or self-judgement or other negative emotions and in turn it perpetuates those other states of mind. Or: > Wherever you are in your day, whether you’re just getting up, making lunch, or getting ready for bed, try resolving to begin again. Everything that has happened today is already in the past, this moment is new. [1] Another interesting attempt: Peloton, the fitness company.