Sam Harris On: Equanimity in Turbulent Times; Compassion for Difficult People; And Dualistic vs Non-dualistic Mindfulness
Dan Harris speaks with neuroscientist Sam Harris about maintaining equanimity during crises, cultivating non-hatred for political opponents, and the illusion of free will. They delve into dualistic vs. non-dualistic mindfulness, the 'no head' concept, and eyes-open meditation for profound insights.
Deep Dive Analysis
13 Topic Outline
Introduction to Sam Harris and Episode Themes
Personal Experience with LA Fires and Impermanence
Meditation's Role in Cultivating Equanimity Amidst Chaos
The Challenge of Equanimity in Everyday Annoyances
Cultivating Compassion and Non-Hatred for Political Disagreement
The Illusion of Free Will and its Link to Compassion
Practical Benefits of Dispensing with Free Will
Mindfulness as a Path to Psychological Freedom
The Paradox of Non-Dual Mindfulness: Goal is Already Present
Differentiating Dualistic from Non-Dualistic Mindfulness
Techniques for Glimpsing the Illusion of Self ('No Head')
Eyes-Open and Walking Meditation for Non-Dual Insight
The Waking Up App: A Comprehensive Contemplative Resource
6 Key Concepts
Equanimity
Equanimity is the ability to maintain mental composure and inner peace amidst ceaseless change and entropy. It involves recognizing what one truly possesses in each moment and cultivating a feeling of well-being within conscious experience, avoiding unnecessary contraction or unhappiness in response to challenges.
Impermanence
Impermanence is the fundamental truth that everything is unstable, subject to change, and prone to entropy at any moment. Recognizing this truth can help reduce hysteria and attachment to material things, as it highlights the constant effort required to maintain anything.
Illusion of Free Will
This concept posits that our choices are not truly 'free' in an ethereal sense, but rather arise from a complex interplay of prior causes and conditions, including genetic, environmental, and neurochemical factors. Understanding this can diminish hatred by reframing others' actions as helpless outcomes of these conditions.
Dualistic Mindfulness
Dualistic mindfulness is a common approach where one perceives a separate 'self' (the subject) observing an object of meditation (like the breath, thoughts, or sensations). It's viewed as a progressive path of skill accumulation aimed at managing and improving one's experience.
Non-Dualistic Mindfulness
Non-dualistic mindfulness is a deeper insight where one recognizes that there is no separate 'self' or 'center' to experience; consciousness and its contents are one. It's not about changing experience but recognizing the inherent freedom and openness of consciousness as it already is, prior to identification with thought.
On Having No Head
A concept, popularized by Douglas Harding, used as an anchor point to recognize the illusion of the self. It involves looking for one's own head and realizing it's not part of one's direct visual experience, leading to a sense of openness where the world appears.
9 Questions Answered
Equanimity can be achieved by recognizing what one truly possesses in each moment—conscious experience—and cultivating a feeling of well-being within it, rather than being overly contracted or unhappy in response to challenges.
Recognizing that everything is unstable and subject to change (impermanence) can help to reset priorities, diminish attachment to material things, and reduce hysteria, as it highlights that effort is constantly needed to maintain anything.
By viewing people, even those causing significant problems, as forces of nature or 'malfunctioning robots' helplessly acting out prior causes and conditions, one can detach from personalizing their actions and avoid hatred, focusing instead on containing damage.
While free will may be an illusion, understanding this can be a direct antidote to hatred. The practice of mindfulness still offers a degree of psychological freedom by allowing one to observe thoughts and emotions without identification, enabling a 'choice' to disengage from unhelpful reactions.
Dispensing with the belief in free will can be a direct antidote to hatred, as it allows one to view others' actions as outcomes of prior causes and conditions rather than malicious intent, similar to how one would view a natural disaster.
Mindfulness provides a 'superpower' to observe emotions and thoughts without compulsively re-upping them, creating distance from mere reactivity and allowing for a choice to disengage from unhelpful patterns, thus expanding one's range of choices in each moment.
Dualistic mindfulness involves a perceived 'self' observing experience, often with an agenda to improve it, while non-dualistic mindfulness recognizes that there is no separate self or center to experience, and freedom is found in the inherent openness of consciousness, regardless of its contents.
One can try 'looking for what is looking' or 'looking for one's head,' which involves turning attention upon itself to find the seat of attention. This can reveal that the default sense of being a subject behind the eyes is a misperception, and there is just an open circumstance where experience appears.
Eyes-open meditation, especially walking, can make the shift from duality to non-duality more vivid because our sense of self versus other is strongly tied to visual impressions. It allows one to notice the default sense of subjectivity (moving through the world) and then flip it to feel like everything is moving toward a still point, passing through the non-dual fulcrum.
15 Actionable Insights
1. Look for What is Looking
Turn attention upon itself by looking for the seat of attention, the self, or the thinker of thoughts. This inspects the default sense of being a subject separate from experience and helps recognize the illusion of self.
2. Practice “Having No Head”
Look for your head in your visual field, as if you don’t see it where it’s supposed to be, only the world. This helps recognize the openness of experience and that there is no center to it, revealing the illusion of self.
3. Dispense with Free Will, End Hatred
View people, even those you strongly disagree with, as helplessly acting out prior causes and conditions, like forces of nature, rather than malicious agents. This serves as a direct antidote to hatred, as hatred makes no sense for a force of nature.
4. Become Your Own Wise Friend
Cultivate an inner voice that acts as a wise, compassionate best friend, consistently giving good advice and guiding you to solve problems effectively. This helps you treat yourself with the same care you would a friend, rather than making problems more excruciating.
5. Break Spell of Thought Identification
Practice mindfulness to break the spell of identification with thoughts, recognizing them as mere appearances in consciousness. This helps you wake up from the ‘dream’ of being lost in thought and gain psychological freedom.
6. Ordinary Glitches as Mindfulness Bells
Treat ordinary glitches and annoyances in life as mindfulness bells, making them salient opportunities to pay attention more reliably. This helps you avoid getting lost in dualistic reactivity to minor frustrations, which often consume more daily attention than major crises.
7. Recognize Ceaseless Impermanence
Consistently notice the impermanence of all phenomena, including thoughts, emotions, and sensations, recognizing that everything arises and passes away. This brings radical freedom and reduces suffering by highlighting the non-negotiable truth that nothing is stable.
8. Avoid Covert Agendas in Mindfulness
Be vigilant in noticing ‘counterfeits to mindfulness,’ where you subtly try to change or push away an experience (e.g., anxiety) while thinking you are being mindful. This covert agenda, rooted in aversion or greed, corrupts the practice and prevents true, non-averse mindfulness.
9. Ride Your Apparent Agency
Ride the feeling of your agency to make good decisions and improve the quality of your life, even if free will is an illusion. This practical approach can lead to a visceral experience of the illusion of self and free will, ultimately leading to greater freedom.
10. Follow Your Own Sound Advice
Act on the sound, wise, actionable advice you would give to others or that you know is good for yourself. Most of the time, we know exactly what’s beneficial, and following this advice leads to material improvement and avoids regret.
11. Stoic Reframing for Stress
Use stoic reframing by recognizing how much worse things could be or could have been in the moment. This helps you reset your perspective and feel better about current problems by comparing them to adjacently possible, more dire alternatives.
12. Practice Non-Attachment to Possessions
Cultivate non-attachment to material possessions and the time and attention invested in them. This helps avoid suffering when they are threatened or lost, as everything is impermanent and subject to entropy.
13. Mindfulness of Emotions
Practice mindfulness of your emotions, allowing fear, anger, and frustration to come without compulsively re-upping them. This allows emotions to pass naturally, enabling better decision-making on the other side.
14. Eyes-Open Walking Meditation
Practice walking meditation with eyes open, asking ‘what is knowing all of this?’ or ‘who is even asking this question?’. The visual input can make the shift from duality to non-duality more vivid and help recognize the ‘yawning chasm of knowing’ without a self.
15. Toggle Movement Perception
During walking meditation or as a passenger in a car, toggle between the sensation of moving through space and the sensation of the world moving toward you. This practice helps pass through the ‘fulcrum of non-dual insight’ and recognize the absence of a fixed self.
8 Key Quotes
The Buddhists win in situations like this. You realize that impermanence reigns and, you know, there's no, it's all rented and it's all subject to entropy. There's nothing stable.
Dan Harris
Honestly, in terms of my departure from what I consider a normative state of, you know, well-being and kind of recognition of psychological freedom, the tomato sauce on the shirt is worse for me.
Sam Harris
The moment you see people acting out, that just helplessly acting out the prior causes and conditions of their mind streams, you do view them like you'd view a fire or a hurricane or a wild animal.
Sam Harris
Hatred makes no sense, right? Even for the worst person doing the worst thing, you know, directly to me, again, the moment I think in these terms, now I'm dealing with a grizzly bear on some level.
Sam Harris
So much of our day-to-day frustration with ourselves and our lives and our just kind of the sense of inadequacy and the sense this day was not nearly as good as it should have been is a result of our failure to do what we know we wanted to do anyway, right? Moment to moment.
Sam Harris
Consciousness is already free of an ego, right? It's not like there's an ego really and you somehow get rid of it through diligent practice. No, diligent practice or some combination of happy accidents will get you to recognize that the ego is an illusion, right?
Sam Harris
It's looking for what is looking. It's looking for the seat of attention. It's turning attention upon itself. It's looking for the looker. It's looking for the self. It's looking for the mind. It's looking for the thinker of thoughts.
Sam Harris
The thing you're doing to toggle between those two is kind of very quickly passing over the still point, which when you recognize it on some level, like motion is a concept.
Sam Harris
3 Protocols
Cultivating Non-Hatred for Political Opponents
Sam Harris- View individuals, even those causing significant problems, as forces of nature or 'malfunctioning robots.'
- Recognize that their actions are helplessly playing out prior causes and conditions (genetic, environmental, neurochemical).
- Focus on containing damage and having a clear preference for certain outcomes, rather than personalizing actions with hatred.
Glimpsing the Illusion of Self ('On Having No Head')
Sam Harris- Turn attention upon itself, looking for what is looking, the seat of attention, the looker, the self, the mind, or the thinker of thoughts.
- Specifically, look for your own head and notice that it is not part of your direct visual experience; there is just an openness where the world appears.
- As you fall back into this sense of openness, begin to sense that there is no center to experience.
Eyes-Open Walking Meditation for Non-Dual Insight
Sam Harris- Walk with eyes open, noticing the default sense of subjectivity where you feel like you are in your head, moving through a world of static objects.
- Flip this perception to feel like you are not moving, but rather everything in the world is moving toward you.
- Toggle between these two impressions (you moving vs. world moving toward you) to pass through the 'fulcrum' of non-dual insight, where motion becomes a concept and there's just an inscrutable openness.