Sam Harris' Book, "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality without Religion"

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I’m in the middle of reading this book and I found it interesting that Sam, an atheist, is able to have “spiritual” experiences despite not having to appeal to a religion. Being a cradle catholic myself I thought we at least had meditation to turn to while the atheist had no such method to resort too. He argues humans are fully capable of meditation and finding inner peace without holding esoteric beliefs found in institutional religion. I guess the problem for Catholics is discerning whether or not time spent meditating in front of the Eucharist is actually different than a Hindu monk on top of a mountain for example. I hope this isn’t too broad of a post, I can clarify anything if need be. Thank you in advance for your thoughts.
 
How can you have a spiritual experience without believing in soul?

A lot of what passes for spirituality is merely a calm or elevated emotional state (“ooh look at the pretty sunset!”).

Now to be fair, beauty adds to our quality of life.
But it shouldn’t be confused with spirituality.
 
Hi,
Sam Addresses why he chose to use the word “spiritual”

The word “spirit” comes from the latin “spiritus” which comes from the greek pneuma meaning, “breath”. It soon became entangled with beliefs about the immortal soul. But it has other meanings as well such as speaking of the spirit of a thing as its most essential principle or certain volatile substances. Its more semantics but throughout the book he discusses certain classically spiritual phenomenon, concepts, and practices in the context of modern understanding of the human mind. Terms such as spiritual, mystical, contemplative, and transcendent are used because he couldn’t restrict himself to terminology of ordinary experiences.
 
I’m only halfway through the book so I can give you a halfway review if you’re still interested? haha.

Chapter 1: Sam goes through what was discussed above also touching on suffering which I didn’t find in conflict with catholic theology, only was missing a few things…namely God (just a minor detail haha) Then he goes on in the chapter to describe east and western spiritual enlightenment. Sam himself spent two years on a silent retreat (in two weeks and three month increments) studying and practicing different techniques of meditation as long as 18 hours a day.

The second chapter is where things get intriguing. Its all on the mystery of Consciousness. I myself had to read some pages three times in order to understand it, but he goes into the scientific ideas around the brain and what actually contributes to consciousness. He brings up a divided mind and how those with a severed corpse callorum can be used as a proof that the immortal soul doesn’t exists because in their brains the right and left hemispheres can be at odds so this begs the question if a soul can be divided if a persons mind is.

Chapter three is the chapter I’m currently on, and he talks about the illusion of “I”. What makes us ourselves. Is it our memories, physical attributes or consciousness?

One could say my post is a bit premature, however, I feel as though I grasped the crux of his argument. I really wanted some insights in mind as I persist with the reading.
 
vincent10395 said:
because in their brains the right and left hemispheres can be at odds so this begs the question if a soul can be divided if a persons mind is.
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Never found that a problem myself.
Always thought of a person’s consciouness as the harmonious interaction of a community of semi autonomous constituent components.
When that harmony cannot be established due to childhood trauma we see the components directly revealed in fragments…ie multiple personality syndrome.
 
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Can you clarify what is meant with his claims Spiritual experiences?
Inner peace is not a spiritual experience…
A monk will meditate on his own inner self and perhaps his place in life but he will not experience Christ.
The Eucharist is not about meditating it is about Adoring Christ.
the world looks inward for self help while the Catholic looks outward to Christ. There is a world of a difference.

I recommend reading books that have worth to your spiritual journey like self abandonment to divine providence by jean-pierre de caussade

Sam Harris is or was part of the demonic deception telling you you are God and his interpretations of Spirituality is not worth a grain of salt if you ask me.
Have a Blessed Christmas.
 
I started a thread called ‘am I an illusion?’ A couple of months ago.

I am an illusion, to myself and everyone else around me and we are subject to delusions regarding self I’ve no doubt. I’m told that there is some evidence to suggest that we actually make decisions up to six seconds before we are consciously aware of having done so for example.

However, what was told us by Jesus was truth and both before and since His birth there are plenty of examples of a spiritual nature to suggest that all He told us is truth.

I believe we have immortal souls and I believe that the safest and most efficacious way to develop them and the true essence of I is through organised religion and specifically Catholicism since it was instigated by God in a very obvious way.
 
vincent10395 said:
he couldn’t restrict himself to terminology of ordinary experiences.
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See, it’s that kind of confusion of definition that makes me shake my head.
The author knows what the modern definition of soul and spirit are. So even if he decides to get all cute and go with older definitions and concepts, the result is he confuses the readers.
And I think that’s what his aim is—to conflate emotional experience with spiritual ones.

Imma pass on this book.
 
Well, the goal of Christian spirituality is not the same as that of the “spirituality” he is talking about. So I think there is a bit more to it than discerning the effects of meditative practice with regards to “inner peace”.
 
When that harmony cannot be established due to childhood trauma we see the components directly revealed in fragments…ie multiple personality syndrome. [/quote said:
So even if a slip-brain patient could belief in the divinity of Jesus in the left hemisphere and doesn’t with the right hemisphere where does that leave us? It is possible for a person to have the left hemisphere removed and still be conscious with the right one alone. What then does it say when a split-brain patient has both functioning hemispheres and its been shown both can hold different dogmas.
Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut!
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If a person has a fragmented consciouness they are not acting freely I would think. The usual moral considerations would then apply.
I am not aware that your armchair hypothesis is possible. Do you have a documented case study?
 
sevenswords said:
Can you clarify what is meant with his claims Spiritual experiences?
Inner peace is not a spiritual experience…
A monk will meditate on his own inner self and perhaps his place in life but he will not experience Christ.
The Eucharist is not about meditating it is about Adoring Christ.
the world looks inward for self help while the Catholic looks outward to Christ. There is a world of a difference.

I recommend reading books that have worth to your spiritual journey like self abandonment to divine providence by jean-pierre de caussade

Sam Harris is or was part of the demonic deception telling you you are God and his interpretations of Spirituality is not worth a grain of salt if you ask me.
Have a Blessed Christmas.
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As I’ve stated in another reply he doesn’t use “spiritual” in the same way catholics would. I believe what he means when talking about spirituality is primarily the mind. What helps form it, what it is, and so on. So even a Hindu monk can get in touch with his “spiritual” side regardless of praying to a deity. Finding happiness that goes beyond the mere pleasures of this world. Meditating on our consciousness. Things of this nature are themes throughout the book. Hoped this helped
 
Thank for that “as you go” report.

Yes, I am interested because I think atheists have a lot to contribute to the purification of our faith and theology. I am hopeful that we can come to a closer understanding, But I am reading others things now, including A Christmas Carol.

What if science, psychology and philosophy can give us new insights into Jesus? That is why I also like to explore other religions and then came back to reconsider Christ, go deeper.
 
I give Sam Harris credit for looking deeply into religion and spirituality. Though his overall world view binds him, I assume, to strict materialism, he recognizes that religion offers something else, and he is trying to find out what it is and make it more accessible to other non-believers.

I believe this shows the seed of faith which God has planted in him. As in the parable, the soil is poor, but with God’s grace all things are possible and the seed may grow and bear fruit. For this let us pray!

I have not read the book and so of course cannot specifically comment on it. I have read some of his blog articles on religion and prayer.
Slightly off topic, but I have read another of his books, Lying, in which:
“Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie. He focuses on ‘white’ lies—those lies we tell for the purpose of sparing people discomfort—for these are the lies that most often tempt us. And they tend to be the only lies that good people tell while imagining that they are being good in the process.”
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I highly recommend the book, and it convinced me that Sam Harris is not far from the Kingdom.
 
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Underneath everything we do, Catholics know, in an objective sense, that there’s meaning and purpose to the world and our lives, and that love and goodness are foundational to this universe. So any meditation or any other activity we do has that as its backdrop. Kind of hard to top IMO.
 
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Sounds to me like it is a meditation experience similar to what Buddhists do. So it is meditation focused on the self not on God. As true inner peace comes only from God, do not be deceived by these illusions passing as spirituality.
 
vincent10395 said:
I’m in the middle of reading this book and I found it interesting that Sam, an atheist, is able to have “spiritual” experiences despite not having to appeal to a religion.
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We are spiritual beings, we experience meaning in our activities, regardless of whether we are religious or not. So it’s not a surprise to me. What is surprising to me is that it doesn’t cause him to question his atheism.
 
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