Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand The Mind | Huberman Lab Podcast
Link to full podcast summary: https://www.podcastrecap.org/post/sam-harris-using-meditation-to-focus-view-consciousness-expand-the-mind-huberman-lab-podcast
Podcast Summary
Andrew and Sam discuss meditation, consciousness, and free will. Sam also discusses what a proper meditation practice can accomplish, and how we can apply meditation in our daily lives. They also discuss the so-called mind-body problem, issues of duality and free will, and how we can modify our conscious states in ways that allow us to be more functional. Psychedelics were also a point of discussion, for both their therapeutic applications in the treatment of depression and PTSD, as well as for recreational use.
Key Takeaways
The main value of a meditation practice is that it doesn't just allow one to change their conscious experience, but it actually can allow one to view the process of consciousness itself
Meditation perhaps the most potent and important portal by which one can access novel ways of thinking and being and viewing one's life experience
Meditation over time or done properly reveals to us that we're actually not trying to make the gap between actor and observer go away - it was actually never there
Meditation is not a practice that you're adding to your life. It's not a doing more of anything - it's actually ceasing to do something
Sam's major learnings from meditation and psychedelics:
Become more process-oriented - enjoy the process
Be more sensitive to the mirage-like character of achieving our goals
What we're looking for in life is a good enough reasons to let our attention fully rest in the present
Within our finite resource of time, we have the even more precious resource of free and fully-present attention
Meditation allows us be fulfilled before we accomplish or do anything. Happiness is no longer predicated on the next good thing happening
Find your point of rest in the midst of any struggle