Making Sense of Meditation | Episode 10 of The Essential Sam Harris

In this episode, we traverse a decade of Sam’s conversations on
the topic of meditation. 


We start with the very first recorded episode from the archives:
a conversation with Sam’s meditation teacher and friend,
Joseph Goldstein. Goldstein recalls how his
thinking was unlocked—allowing him to fully realize the power of
the practice—by the utterance of one single word.


We then hear from author Richard Lang as he
guides us towards a strangely obvious insight that came to be
known as “the headless way.” Next, philosopher and neuroscientist
Thomas Metzinger employs his vast expertise in
both neurobiology and meditation to show how our brains generate
a model of the world and self, and how meditation can help us
catch that process in the act.


Psychiatrist Judson Brewer then shifts the
conversation to some very practical applications of mindfulness
meditation, addressing the problem of addiction to things like
food, smoking, or drugs by retraining the reward centers in our
brains. Next, Daniel Goleman and
Richard Davidson dig into the
neuroscience of meditation and discuss how experienced meditators
may actually be physically altering their brains. 


We then listen in on Sam’s conversation with author
Robert Wright, who defends the
claim that “Buddhism is true.” Sam and Wright discuss the
validity of this claim while ensuring they keep it separate from
the political and moral behaviors of Buddhist nations and
individuals.


We conclude with Sam delivering the answer to a question posed by
the Belgian neuroscientist Steven
Laureys. In doing so, Sam provides a
comprehensive tour of his philosophies. He ties together his
personal brand of moral analysis, his reverence for science and
truth seeking, and his reasoning as to why he still meditates and
why he proudly promotes the practice.


 


About the Series


Filmmaker Jay Shapiro has produced The Essential Sam
Harris, a new series of audio documentaries exploring
the major topics that Sam has focused on over the course of his
career.


Each episode weaves together original analysis, critical
perspective, and novel thought experiments with some of the most
compelling exchanges from the Making Sense archive. Whether you
are new to a particular topic, or think you have your mind made
up about it, we think you’ll find this series fascinating.